Excellent book! This book answered many questions I have had regarding finances that I had not found anywhere else and in terms that weren’t so over my head I had to look up accounting and law terms to decipher. Michelle Singletary is a terrific writer and does not give you a bunch of vague stuff this lady cuts right to the chase in a direct manner that you only get from someone who really knows you. Michelle Singletary knows us people! We can’t pull anything over on her she has been there herself and knows from want to prosperity. She knows from true need and she knows from desire to have which is not need but greed. She shows in simple steps how to set up a budget, how to arrive at your financial worth, how to keep going when the tightening of your belt may not be what your family, friends and lovers want to hear from you. She also tells you how to keep heart for 21 days –just 3 weeks-to get your spending under your notice and under control. She knows how easy it is to spend when all you have to do is whip out a credit card and she cites studies that show how when the average individual is using a credit card instead of cash more will be spent because psychologically we don’t link the credit card to cash – we think – oh we have a month or more to pay this off so why not get a few more things. During the 21 days of the financial fast - not a doing without food fast but a doing without spending fast for 3 weeks except for only what is needed not what is wanted - Michelle wants you to only spend cash because when we see our cash going out we find it dearer and want to spenf less because when we actually see our hard earned dollars that we have toiled for leaving our hand to go into someone else’s cash register, it makes us pause and settle for only 2 things when Visa and Mastercard would have given us the go ahead to purchase 5 or 6 things. Cash says, “You want WHAT??? Credit says, “Oh Baby let me get that for you!” And we believe it. Credit seduces us subliminally. Like my 6 year old nephew told me once, “don’t worry about it, just write a check!” I schooled him, “Yeah, but, I have to have the money in the bank to cover that check!” Michelle Singletary will become your new best friend in this book or at least you will want her to be. She is the mentor we all need with wise councel in all things financial and like a best friend who gives you that dose of reality when you’re thinking, “I want to go on that trip,” but actually you owe 14 creditors and only have $5 in cash to your name thinking you’ll just put everything on your credit cards. Michelle counters like the voice of your conscience, “That trip is a WANT not a NEED no matter how badly you want to go. If you really want to go on this trip – pay your creditors first then save up to go when you are financially able when you will be able to truly enjoy yourself without the worry of how you are going to pay your bills when you get back.” This lady knows her stuff. I recommend this book to everyone on the planet.
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