Greetings! Welcome to the 15th edition of the Carnival of Debt Management. We have received 12 posts for this edition. I am sure our readers will enjoy reading these. Here are the posts in the order they were received.

Stephanie presents Should You Get a Credit Card to Improve Your Credit Score? posted at Find Credit Online Blog. Will getting a credit card solve your problems when you don’t have a credit history?

Matthew Paulson presents Buying Jewelry On the Secondary Market: It’ll Save You Thousands posted at Getting Green. When buying jewelry from a secondary market, you can save a lot of money. Because most people like to buy jewelry new, there’s just not a very strong secondary market.

Dean presents Save a Ton of Money on Food By Creating a Weekly Menu posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff Online Coupons. Stop spending so much money on food by using this one simple tip.

Vause presents Getting Out of Debt posted at Active Duty Military Money and Matters. One of Vause’s friends had a strategy in how one can get out of debt. He claims that he has saved a lot of money using his simple techinque.

Big Cajun Man presents Canadian Household Net Worth Up posted at Canadian Financial Stuff. Canadians as a whole their debt as a percentage of their net worth is decreasing, but that seems to be due to their assets increasing in value, not due to a nationwide debt reduction strategy.

Trent Hamm presents Figuring Out A Debt Strategy After The Home Purchase posted at The Simple Dollar. A detailed debt management strategy for Trent’s own situation.

Edithyeung presents 7 Habits of Highly Effective Money Managers posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act.. Money can’t work hard for you unless you are in control of the money. Money is like a child. The child can be easily tamed if you spend time to teach and nurture them. Otherwise, they can easily take over your life.

Abdulrasool Sumar presents Good Credit Scores Can Save Money on Mortgages, Home Equity Line of Credit & Auto Loans posted at Debt Consolidation Loans. Have you ever wondered how much money you could save when borrowing loans if you had a good credit score? Small relative shifts on your credit score can make a huge impact on your monthly payments, and these monthly payments added over time can make significant difference as well.

Alfa presents 5 Ways to Know the Home You Can Afford posted at Stop Swimming. When choosing the style of your home, there are several factors to consider such as how many floors you wish your home to have, what kind of materials you’ll be using, and whether you want to build something that’s environmentally friendly and energy-efficient.

Raj Dash presents 5 Reasons To Get Out Of Debt Fast posted at Bootstrapper. A few reasons for getting out of debt, whether you’re an entrepreneur/ business owner, or just managing your personal finances.

Dunstan presents More Proposed changes posted at Up From Bankruptcy!. Briefly discusses a couple proposed changes to the Canadian “Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act” as they pertain to Student Loan Debt.

Jason Elder presents Understanding Chapter 12 Bankruptcy posted at A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog. If a corporation or a partnership needs to file a chapter 12 bankruptcy, they need to meet certain guidelines before they can use this bankruptcy law.

That concludes the 15th edition of the Carnival of Debt Management. Next edition of this carnival will be hosted here on 06 July, 2007. You can submit your posts here.

By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

Debt or rather fear of debt can be a funny thing. As the cost of living rises, just about everything is becoming more exorbitant — health and life insurance, household costs, and just about everything else. And with salaries not rising at the same rate as costs, debt is inevitable.

To avoid falling into the debt trap, many couples are now opting to stay wedded and oppose divorce. Of course the love’s flown out the window, yet the couple lives together. The main reason being that they want to avoid falling into too much debt once they are separated. In some ways things have turned a full circle — decades back, couples stayed together because divorce was a social stigma and forbidden by religious teachings. Today, increasing numbers of couples are deciding to stay on to avoid falling into inevitable debt.

By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

This is Karen’s story — it could easily be mine… or yours. Imagine having a decent well-paying job one moment and the next, you slip into poverty. How does it feel? Scary. When I read her story I was more than just scared. She was just like any of us — a decent job at a good company, single and in her early 50s. Then suddenly the ownership of the company she was working for changed and she lost her job.

Now she works a $6.50-an-hour job with no insurance, no furniture and just enough resources to keep the wolf from the door. One thing her story tells us is that life is absolutely unpredictable. You may think you are on the right track but it takes little to pull you down. Have you got enough savings to tide you through bad times?

Karen has developed a method of reducing her expenditure: Whenever she feels the urge to buy something, she thinks about how many hours she will have to work to pay for it. That helps her put things in perspective. Also despite her desperate situation, she refuses to touch her 401(k) and other retirement accounts. Her argument: “I’m better able to fend for myself now than I will be when I’m in my 70s.”

By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

Most financial experts harp on the necessity of having three to six months’ income in the bank to help you tide over any financial difficulties. Problem is, saving so much money is well, next to impossible. Try calculating how much time it would take you to save up six months’ pay after you have paid all your taxes, premiums, loans and other expenses. It could take over two years to save up three months worth, assuming that in this duration you don’t face any kind of emergency.

So, is it a very scary, dangerous situation? Surprisingly no. The basic premise of the six-month saving idea is that you should have a decent amount of money stashed away if the need arises. However, saving a certain amount is not as important as your total financial flexibility. Can you command enough resources to help you tide over a crisis? Well, then you are home and dry.

By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

If you thought people fall into debt because of their careless spending habits, it’s time for a serious rethink. According to recent statistics, across the nation, seniors are becoming the face of the indebted. Take the case of Ronald and Carol Godwin, 65 and 63, from Austin. This couple depleted its savings years ago and has since turned to credit cards and home equity to pay their medical bills. They’re struggling in retirement to pay off loans they took out years ago for a grandchild’s college education. Then, there’s Carl Brown, 68, whose Social Security check usually doesn’t cover his entire mortgage, utility, food and medical costs.

There was a time when retirement meant a time to relax, a time for people to enjoy life after having paid off all their bills and dues. No mortgages, no credit card bills, nothing. The rosy picture no longer exists though. And the worst thing is that a growing number of seniors are in debt because they have no choice.

Soaring health-care costs are hitting seniors at a time when more employers are cutting back on retirees’ medical and pension benefits. People are living longer. Yet many seniors subsist on fixed incomes and have little means to boost their incomes. For them, debt provides a temporary and often costly reprieve from unexpected expenses.

By Priya Jestin, Staff Writer

Well, it may not be the smartest or the sexiest thing to carry to work every day. But it sure does save you a whole lot of money — money that you desperately need to pay off your loans. What am I talking about? A brown-bag lunch of course. Did you know that if you brown bag your lunch, you could easily save five per cent of your annual personal spending?

Yes, it is incredibly boring to go into how you can save a penny here and a penny there. But you really don’t need to sit down and do the number crunching. Just look for the cheapest viable option. This means instead of driving down to office, walk it down or take public transit, renegotiate your mortgage rates, consolidate credit card debts and make your own meals. Basically it all boils down to cultivating the frugality habit.

Most Americans would like to think that this great nation is a great example of a diverse nation. But there is one thread that unites all Americans across great divides: we just love to spend money. Americans have increasingly been spending more than what they earn. And the trend is worrisome to say the least. According to a poll conducted by ACNielsen, Americans, along with the Portuguese, are the world’s worst savers!

And there are more statistics to increase the worry lines on your forehead. According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. consumer debt stood at $2.16 trillion as of October 2005. Some people are known to have $60,000 in credit card debt! Scary statistics but if are one more number in that statistic, you better do something fast before your house of cards tumbles.

Are you considering debt consolidation? If yes, you are probably planning to take on one BIG loan to repay all existing loans. Good idea but could you hold on a minute? Until recently, the best way to consolidate debts that got out of hand, was to take on one more loan. But what most people don’t realize is that taking on a big loan is just ONE of the many ways to consolidate your debts. And guess what, taking on that big loan could be the biggest mistake you make.

Did you know that you could prioritize and reorganize your payments without having to go deeper into debt? There are various options available nowadays to help you handle your debts and the debt consolidation loan is just one of these options — not the only one. So consider a consolidation loan only after you have evaluated your debts and come up with a workable action plan. It is necessary to examine your specific financial situation and check what option suits you best.

What you may not know is that there are six levels of debt consolidation. Try each one step by step. You didn’t get neck-deep in debt in just one day. It was a slow growth of unpaid bills, and other debts. So getting out of debt is also not going to be a quick fix solution. It is a slow and steady progress.

The first step is to create a pay off plan. First thing to do is find out how much you actually owe and how many more months of payment remain before you can pay off your debts in full. It is good to keep paying regularly but it is more important to know when you can stop paying.

Once you know the exact amount, you must create your repayment plan. And believe me, there are numerous people out there who staved off bankruptcy with a rock solid debt consolidation pay off plan. Next time, we’ll try to create a rock solid pay off plan. Any suggestions?