I am changing the format of the Dzine slowly over the next few weeks and hope that you like it. Please feel free to share with me any of your feedback and those things that you would like to know about or to see as we begin the redesign. After all, this is about YOU! Providing you with all that you need to move from married life to divorce lifestyle!

This week, I have had a tough time deciding what to write about as I have two things I would like to share with you. So, I have decided to write about both!

One is practical and the other is more of a recommendation. As I move through each day and week, there are countless things that I encounter that I wish to share with you and therefore, I will be creating a section for my recommendations, whether they are products, services, books…that I think will be useful, helpful or motivational for you.

As well, my own personal experiences and what learning lessons I harnass from them will always be the driving force behind offering all of my wisdom with you!

So, as we embark on the 2008 holiday season and all of the joy (sadness), celebration (reflection) and overspending (cost saving) that comes with it…know that you are not alone.

My next D Spot Open Call on the first Monday of December, will be an open discussion about how we are all going to get through this season with our hearts, stomachs and wallets full! Please join me for one hour of humor, sharing and learning together!

The first few years after my divorce were all about learning to OWN and CONTROL my financial situation. Whether I ever get married again, I will never give up this power and know that it is I who will take care of me! It is not someone else’s job to take care of me and once I fully embraced this notion…I was propelled forward!

This year I embraced a strategy that has changed my life and I want to share it with you. It was the easiest thing to do and has changed my life financially!

I can assume that most if not all of you utilize a bank for a checking account. If not, you need to open an account of your own. Despite the banking fiasco of recent months, today’s online banking tools are going to be your best friend!

This year, I decided to go paperless and never write another check again! Okay, maybe one or two, but I no longer pay bills at my kitchen counter with a checkbook and I don’t use credit anymore!

Here is what I want you to do so that you too can step into your financial power!

Step One: Sign Up

Sign up for online banking. It is a simple process that only requires you to create a login name and password. If you need help, just stop into your local branch and they will walk you through it!

Step Two: Enter all Vendors

After your account is registered online, you will need to enter all of the places, people and vendors that you pay on a regular basis. The best way to do this is to collect every bill that comes to you in a month. Then, take one day, for about 2 hours, to sit and enter each one into the Bill Paying Module of the online system. It is SIMPLE! You do it once and they remain in your system.

Step Three: Recurring Bills

For those bills that you pay monthly, you can then set up automatic bill pay so that the payments get made monthly without you having to do a thing! At the same time, you can have the bills set up to arrive electronically so that you don’t even have to see the bill arrive each month! Talk about stress reduction!

Step Four: Monitoring

Once you have set up your system, you will know at ANY GIVEN MOMENT, what you have in your account, what is scheduled to be paid and when. If necessary, you can change a payment date if funds are low or add an extra payment if you are in great shape for the month.

If you have debt, you can also schedule automatic payments to be made once a month, twice a month or however frequently you wish. As part of your monthly budget, debt repayment can be included.

Step Five: No More Credit

Once you know your financial situation to the penny, you will be able to manage your monthly cash flow. DO NOT USE CREDIT ANYMORE…unless it is an emergency.

IF IT IS NOT IN THE BANK, YOU CAN’T BUY IT

This strategy has changed my life and now, in addition to being almost debt free…I am ontime with all of my payments and my credit is strong.

The concept is simple. So simple, in fact, that it is no more complicated than the old saying “do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”.

Unbelievably enough…it is actually true! What you do for others will, over time, come back to you tenfold!

As we each move along our own journey of divorce, we are thrown into a situation of having to do whatever we need to do to take care of the many areas of our lives that need our attention.

In their book, Burg and Mann introduce us to the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I won’t be sharing what these Five Laws are. Rather I would like to talk about another short concept that they talk about which I found particularly useful.

The concept is of Survive, Save and Serve.

The share that “there are three universal reasons for working. Survive – to meet your basic living needs. Save – to go beyond your basic needs and expand your life. And Serve – to make a contribution to the world around you.”

They go on, “Unfortunately, most people spend their entire lives focusing on the first. A smaller number focus on the second. But those rare few who are truly successful - not just financially, but genuinely successful in all aspects of their lives – keep their focus squarely on the third.”

This small, yet impactful, concept is indeed true. When it seems as though you don’t know how to survive, to focus on the SERVE end of our lives is what propels us forward.

I strongly encourage you to read this book and share it with everyone that you know!

That is my recommendation of the week!

I invite you to join me on the D-Spot Group Coaching Call, on Monday, December1st @ 6:30 pm EST - just call, 616-712-8000 and enter the access code: 379361#

 The D spot Affiliate program is in place so please sign up and help spread the word!

Keep your eye out this fall for a NEW calendar of classes, workshops and special events! My new calendar can be found at:

www.lauracampbellcompanies.com
Click on Events and Workshops!

If you should like to request that a certain topic get addressed, please do not hesitate to contact me at:

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