The price of your favourite supermarket brands is falling by as much as 19%, as global wholesale food prices tumble. This drop in price has seen the supermarket chains locked in a battle to win the hearts of the consumer, with the introduction of a growing number of innovative discount packages, aimed at saving you even more money. In short, it’s a great time to be a supermarket shopper in the UK.

Last week, I wrote an article about the difference between good debt and bad debt, and if you read it you will recall that I said that credit cards could be used to accrue good debt if used appropriately. In that article I covered the use of the British Airways American Express card to reduce airfare costs, and its good to see that the supermarkets are joining the party with their own brand of credit card. Both Sainsburys and Tescos have credit cards that produce cash back if used in their store. I don’t advocate shopping at the same store, but if you do then you should get yourself one of these credit cards and use it purely for shopping. Set yourself a budget for groceries, withdraw the cash from your bank and place it into an envelope. Then when you go shopping make sure you do not exceed your budget, but use your credit card to pay the bill. Then at the end of the month you take the money out of your envelope and pay of your credit card balance. This way you can earn money through the cash back offers that the supermarket will provide you with for using their credit card.

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I used to detest checking my bank account. That sentence still reverberates around my mind like a dull ache. The robotic monotonous voice of the lady changing my mood as soon as I had dialled my banks telephone helpline. Of course, it wasn’t the robots fault – it was my fault – but I hated her all the same. Everyone needs someone to blame, and when it came to my consistent lack of funds I blamed the robotic lady from Barclays Bank.

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Debt only exists if you make a decision to spend more money that you actually have. I have overspent all of my life and I have attributed this behaviour to my childhood, where I believe I was angry at never having the same as my friends in terms of the things that money could buy. I guess I must have decided that when I was older I was going to have anything I wanted. I have enjoyed my life and I did buy everything I wanted, but it did come at a price. Debt weighs heavy on the mind and it is the epicentre for so much pain and suffering. I had no idea how heavy the burden was until I managed to become debt free.

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Quick Recap: I found myself £1,400 overdrawn, I joined the Man Versus Debt website, I purchased three finance books: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, The TOTAL Money Make Over by Dave Ramsay and I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi, I took the very best advice they had, I created 17 Needy Helper financial steps and here I am sharing them with you.The first time I had ever come across the term net worth was after reading the amazing book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. For those of you who are not familiar with the term let me explain.

Net worth is the term used to describe what your net economic position is. Basically, how much are you worth in a cash sense?

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Quick Recap: I found myself £1,400 overdrawn, I joined the Man Versus Debt website, I purchased three finance books: Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, The TOTAL Money Make Over by Dave Ramsay and I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi, I took the very best advice they had, I created 17 Needy Helper financial steps and here I am sharing them with you.

The first step is called Making Peace With the Past and it is an idea that came from the first book I read called our Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez. This step is designed for you to start feeling a little bit more powerful when it comes to money. [Read more...]