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How to Delete Facebook Permanently

This is simply a followup post to my previous post: “Privacy Issues and Social Networking”

As you may have discovered from the video, content posted on Facebook becomes their property! Even after ‘deactivating’ an account, Facebook has the rights to your personal information, videos, and pictures. Unfortunately, the knowledge to delete a facebook account permanently or officially is not publicly available. Sneaky.

Have no fear! Where there is a will; there is always a way. It’s amazing what you can discover from simply Google’ing a few keywords (How to Delete Facebook Permanently). Protect your identity and prevent identity theft. If you’re planning on quitting Facebook, do it properly and securely.

The secret link to delete a Facebook account can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account”

Steps

1. Make sure your Facebook account contains a functional and legitimate email address. An email confirming this action will be sent to you.
2. Login to your account and delete any personal information on your account. For example, education, work history, and other personal information (date of birth, email addresses, etc.) Just to reiterate the importance of the above step, your e-mail should be the only address listed.
3. Next, deactivate your Facebook account. (Under Settings). This is to confirm that a full deletion process has occurred.

Now you can permanently delete your facebook account by accessing this URL: http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

For the record, I have tested the above inputs myself and have successfully deleted my account. Friends and other peers have confirmed that no account can be located via Facebook search.

Social marketing is a double-edged sword. Privacy data can be used to tailor to a specific niche or demographic. However, when it comes to ethics, companies are able to capitalize on your personal information and sell your information to other 3rd party entities. Protect yourself from identity theft!

Privacy Issues and Social Networking

Over the past 5+ years, social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn have become the biggest and greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, to some people anyways. It really comes down to an individual level and one’s preferences on sharing information on the internet. As the name implies, social networking sites allow users “socialize” or “network” with other peers via the Internet. Often, users with similar interests are able to connect to each other and from there anything goes! The problem herein is that it is a double-edged sword and often too much information is publicly shared on the net.

For example, predators can easily use personal information to stalk or steal one’s identity (in the form of identity theft). It’s ridiculous how much information can be obtained from a “profile”. In fact, you can easily obtain someone’s location, school, work place, and areas where a person can often by found.

Here’s a great video that may make you want to think twice before posting something on the internet:

Personally, I don’t have anything against sharing information on the Internet, however it takes away from the “challenge” or “excitement” from getting to know a person at a face-to-face level.

Adapting the 4-Hour Work Week mentality

One of the most influential and captivating books that I have ever read is “The 4-hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss. The author emphasizes the importance of achieving life goals rather than working the typical 40-hour work week (until retirement)! Ferriss explains his reasoning behind his actions and reveals that much can be accomplished if you set your mind out to it.

Here’s a typical work month for myself: [Click to enlarge]

You will notice that 3-4 hours of each day are spent in long, excruciating meetings. In reality, less than 10% of each meeting may pertain to myself which makes the meetings inefficient in the overall picture. Ferriss explains in his book that 80% of all sales comes from 20% of the products. This, he explains is known as the 80/20 Principle (aka The Pareto Principle). To put things into perspective: if I was able to cut down on the number meetings on a daily basis, I would be more efficient, more effective, and even accomplish more in less time!

Time is a resource that cannot be replaced. A lifetime could be spent working the typical 9 to 5, to one day realize that: I’m old, retired, and I can finally enjoy myself. What I’ve come to learn through careful analysis and consultation, is that the 80/20 principle does makes more sense. Do not simply work to live, nor live to work. Rather, set goals (or even a bucket list) and set out to reach your targets. Step outside your comfort zone, try new things. Ask others to challenge you and expect confrontation and persecution.

In the end, this will build confidence, increase your character, and give you more to talk about! Focus on your strengths and build upon them. One day, for certain, I hope to adapt this 4-hour mentality and pull it together. Until then, I will set out to achieve my own life goals and targets.

Effective Presentation Skills and Communication

I stumbled across this video on Youtube and found it rather amusing and entertaining. Not only does the speaker poke fun at his ethnic background, but he manages to effectively grab the audience’s attention!

Presentation and verbal communication skills are very important skill sets in the business world. These soft skills are sought out from a Human Resourcing perspective. Notably, on a resume, these resume keywords are quickly challenged by an interviewer to confirm validity.

Anyways, getting back to the video, the presenter does a great job of keeping the audience listening. Active listening is defined as paying close attention to detail and drawing the full attention of a listener. In the noted seminar, the speaker satirizes Asian stereotypes to grab the audience’s attention. By doing so, he stops them in their tracks by switching to his regular speaking pitch.

He does poise some great thoughts nonetheless. At a general level, people prefer to communication and associate with others that they can communicate with easily, without ambiguity. For myself, I prefer associating with users with strong communication and verbal skills as it minimizes ambiguity. I hate to admit it, but like the video, I tend to avoid situations where I have to deal with people with poor English skills.

So what some ways to improve your language skills?

Read the newspaper
Watch the news
Practice public speaking with your friends and a small audience
Review presentations by famous speakers and memorize phrases

Tags: Asian stereotypes, communication skills, Improve presentation skills, presentation skills, soft skills, YouTube

Derek Foster DRiPs stock advice

In the past year, I have abhorred the consequences of investing in a recession due to the economic times. However, now that the economy is starting to pick up and considering that the Bank of Canada has announced that the recession is over, it has shed some light on investing during a recession.

Over the past couple years, I have spent some time reading books by Derek Foster. The acclaimed ‘retiree’ claimed to have made himself known by retiring at the age of 34. Contrary to your ordinary millionaire, he explains that he lives a frugal yet comfortable lifestyle. Nothing extraordinary and a simple outlook.

For many, it’s hard to put aside money for investing. What Foster suggests is putting aside $200 / month every month to get started. $200 x 12 = 2,400 / year and by 4 years, that adds up to approx 10,000, which should be plenty to get started.

In Foster’s book “The Lazy Investor”, his main piece of advice is to invest in companies that offer DRiPs. DRiPs or Dividend Re-investment Plans are dividends that are automatically used to rebuy additional shares within a company. For example, if you have 100 shares and a company pays $0.10 in dividends, you would typically be paid $10 on a quarterly basis. Instead of being issued a cheque for $10, the company would purchase $10 worth of its own shares with the dividends.

The strategy is relatively straight-forward: invest in recession-proof companies. Foster suggests that an indicator for a “good investment” is to look for companies that have historical increased dividends. This is a good indicator for companies with potential growth (attractive investments).

I must admit that the advice from his book has been beneficial thus far. Although my investments are currently associated with my workplace, the tips from his book hold true with my current holdings. As the adage goes: buy low, sell high.

Please note that during the recession, Foster had sold all of his investments due to panic. This is a common trait with investors who try to mitigate their losses.

The important thing to note is that there is always a rebound. Hold and never sell. Warren Buffett is a great example of this. Buy when people are panicking (cheap stocks); never sell.

Tags: derek foster, Dividend Reinvestment plans, DRiPs, stock tips, the lazy investor, Warren Buffett

Hot Topic: Web-Based Computer

‘Remote applications’ seems to be the hot topic with internet technology today and with the fast approaching shift towards IPv6 (IP version 6) companies are extending their websites to a whole new level. This can be explained by examining Google Apps and Microsoft’s Live network.

Both of these companies use web-based applications to store and process content virtually. You can build a Word doc or an excel spreadsheet using Google Apps and you can create photo albums with the Live network. Technically, you don’t even need your own computer or software to create these documents – just use a public one. This is a great budget-friendly alternative than paying retail for various product suites, leading to a potential cost-effective strategy for smaller companies.

Open source has made this all possible: people are willing to share their knowledge (free of cost) to collectively build on a creator’s work. In turn, this allows other users to share their own work and in most cases free of charge as well!

With that all said and done, I came across a very interesting site recently which allows the user to run a computer right in their internet browser. This ‘computer’ includes 15 GB in online storage, 10 GB of email, internet browser, media players, and much more. See below for a screenshot:

http://g.ho.st

As a functional storage medium, the site gives you the freedom to leave that bulky USB flash drive at home and the flexibility to retrieve content from any internet-connected machine. Further, it acts as a proxy and may allow access content which may have been blocked through website filters (I.e. YouTube videos, Flickr photos, and so on).

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Tags: 10 gb email, 15 gb storage, network attached storage, online computer, online storage medium, rdc through browser, remote connection, remote desktop

Poor Customer Service – Fido – Breach of Contract

Dear Fido,

This letter is to advise you of my frustrations encontered with your organization within the past 2 months. Up to this point in time, the only other issues that I’ve had “coincidentally” (note the quotations) occurred 2 years prior. Note: both of these times occurred during the renewal process.

We’ll ignore the past problems as I had let that go after much work to “fix my account” at that point in time (when Fido had operated under Microcell).

Let’s go Back to my current standing. It all started when my 2-year agreement was coming to an end last month. I was constantly called during the day from your renewals department. I had no problems with this as I figured they were just doing their job.

However, my concerns come from a customer service perspective: every time they called, I requested to have them call during the evenings and asked them for a call-back number. Time after time, they had apologized for not reading the notes on the account and failed to give me a number where they could be reached.

The sad part of this is that I spoke with 3 CSRs who acknowledged my request but have failed to review the notes on the account before calling. (Pay particular attention to this area as it foreshadows my growing frustrations with Fido).

After 1 week of daily calls, your renewal department decides to call me on a Saturday!

Fast forward a week or so, I decided to call Fido to cancel my contract. I had some problems with the data usage on my account and had decided that I would rather cancel my account rather than dealing with more frustrations from Fido. I spoke with a few individuals and the first of which offered to add a data-plan pro-rata to the beginningo my billing cycle which turned into a nightmare to correct. (Errors from inputs from the CSR + duplicated charges).

The CSR quickly transferred me to your loyalty department (AKA retentions) and I had told the rep that I was planning on switching to Rogers due to my growing pains with Fido. The response that I gave when asked “why?” was simply that my entire family uses Rogers and I’m interested in buying a Blackberry Bold. Also, the amount of work that was required to correct issues

The retention rep then asked me what it would take for me to stay with Rogers and I simply said: if you an offer me a decent plan then I would consider resigning with Fido. (At this point in time, Fido had just released their BIS [Blackberry Internet Services] so I figured that I would simply buy an unlocked Blackberry Bold and make arrangements with Fido. I made it very clear that this was my intent and received acknowledgement from the rep that this was OK.

At the end of the conversation, we had come to the agreement that I would be getting the iPhone for $230 ($299 – $50 credit – $Fido).

Make a note of this amount.

I had also been offered a plan which had met my needs and I had confirmed that there would be no problems adding BIS onto my account at a later time.

A week passed by and I called Fido back to add the BIS account to my account. I had managed to get my hands on a Blackberry Bold within the week. Remember: I mentioned to the retention rep that I was really seeking a Blackberry. The CSR that I spoke to at this point in time walked me through activating the handset and I was on my way. At the time, I was a happy camper: I had renegotiated my contract to the terms that I was looking for, at the price that I was looking for, and I had my new Blackberry to play with.

Who knew that this would eventually stem into a whole new stem of problems. Two days after I had added the BIS service, I checked my online account to find that my contract had been RE-EXTENDED for a WHOPPING 6-YEAR contract. I was obvious furious at this point, since this was a breach of contract and I HAD NEVER agreed to re-extend the contract. My concern was that if I had NOT paid attention to my account standings, this would eventually be missed down the line.

I called in again and spoke with a very understanding individual (they all seem that way, don’t they). As I spoke with this CSR and advised her of the breach in my contract terms, I made it very clear that I would like to confirm all of my terms and ensure that all aspects were met. I made it very clear that the CSR should make VERY detailed notes explaining the terms and costs on all of my existing terms.

At the end of the end of the call, we had confirmed that my plan rate would be: $17.50 + 10 (unlimited Fido2Fido and Fido2Rogers) + 15 (BIS) = $42.50 with the system access fee and 911 charges waived for the entire term.

Fast forward to today, I review my online billing and am charged $310 for the iPhone (if you recall from earlier, I was quoted $230 on my renewal) and additionally $62.50 for my monthly charges. Obviously, I am frustrated. After more than 7 calls (4+ hours), falsified claims, breach of contracts, I am still back at square one: trying to correct my terms back to my AGREED upon price at Renewal. (That’s not asking for much.)

At the end of my call today with ZYIAD, I had been told that my monthly charges will be amended to 41.50 NO SAF&911 but I highly doubt that this will be accomplished. I mean, let’s face it, 8 calls later and I’m still back at square one. On top of that, no changes will be applied to the phone price that I agreed to sign on? Absolutely ridiculous.
As for your CRM system (ticketing system), I specifically asked the 3 individuals that I spoke with today to review my call history. I mentioned that I have made 7 calls in the past month and a half just to correct my terms back to my renewal. For the majority of the calls made, very limited notes were made and some listed without the agent’s names? How is this even possible???

At the end of the day, I have wasted my time, been accused of a liar, have had my hopes shot down time after time (believing that Fido had rectified my problems), and ultimately regret resigning with Fido.

Should I have known that I would encounter these issues, I would have never re-signed with Fido.

Alternatively, I would have:
a) saved myself the hassle of buying an unlocked BB Bold and activating the BIS through Fido
b) bought a discounted phone @ Rogers
c) would not have bothered to negotiate a unlimited network calling plan (my family uses Rogers)
d) automatically have access to Fido’s so-called “Expanded network”

In due time, I will either cancel with Fido or simply WILL NOT re-renew after the 2 consecutive renewal experiences that I have dealt with. To be blunt, I would rather pay a $400 cancellation fee than deal with your CSR department. Who knows, I might even get an 8-year contract next time!

I hope this email serves the purpose of highlighting the poor performance delivered by your CSRs and Retention departments. As you know, customer service is key to retaining a customer but from my experiences, Fido is just too much of a hassle to continue a lasting relationship.

Also, for illustrative purposes, CRM works in a two-fold manner: excellent customer service is rewarded and often shared with 1 or more individuals; poor customer is shared with 7 or more individuals. As a result, I will never refer a peer to Fido ever again due to your poor customer service standards.

Regards,
Alan

Tags: Bad experience Fido, Breach of contract Fido, Fido breach of contract, Fido escalation, Fido garbage, fido retention department, Fido screwed up my account, Fido sucks, Note to Fido

Blackjack Basic Strategy: Reference cards

Blackjack, also known as “21″, is one of the most popular casino games that is played. The game is relatively simple to learn and involves players going head-to-head against a dealer. In short, the person closest to 21 without going over wins (I will go into more details below). The game is essentially a game of probability and forecasting cards. If played statistically, you can significantly increase your odds.

In addition, often various side-bets are applicable depending on the game of Blackjack being played. Some examples of these variations include: Spanish 21, Lucky Queens, Blackjack Swap, etc. Whilst I won’t go into too much detail with these mini-games, it is quite possible to have a great return simply on these side bets.

The following chart illustrates the point values of each card in a standard deck of cards. As you will see, the “Ace” can have a point value of either 1 or 11. Note that in Blackjack multiple decks are used to try and reduce the ability to count cards and cheating.

Card	Value
A	1 or 11
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	10
J	10
Q	10
K	10

,
The Game

The standard game of blackjack works in the following way:
1. Players are asked to place their bets on the table. Once all bets have been made, the dealer will issue a last call.
2. The dealer then hands each player with a bet a single card “face up” (including himself). (This reveals all cards on the table.) Once a round of cards has been issued, the dealer distributes the next card to each player — again face up. Note: the dealer then places his/her card face down masking his/her card total.
3. The dealer puts “the action” to the the player on his/her left (clockwise). The player becomes the active player and is asked what play he would like to make.

The player has a few options:

Option	Description	Hand Motion
Stand	Player is comfortable with his/her card total. No further action required	Wave or Stop
Hit	Player is dealt another card	Index finger pointing down and making contact with the table
Double	Player is dealt one additional card at the expense of doubling the initial bet	Player matches initial wager and on the table and says “double”
Split	Player is issued two same-value cards (I.e. 2-2, 3-3, 10-10, 10-J, J-K, Q-10) and has the ability to “split” the cards into two separate bets.	Player matches initial wager on the table and touches the table with both the index and middle finger spread apart (inverted “peace sign”)

4. If the player “busts” (has a card total greater than 21), the player loses his or her bet, and the action goes to the next player on the table (if any).
5. Repeat steps 3-4 for the remaining players. Once all parties have particpated, the dealer the flips over his/her “face-down” card. The dealer must hit until they have a total of 17 or greater. For example, if a dealer shows a 6+7 (card total of 13), the dealer MUST take a hit.
6. Once the dealer has reached the minimum total, the dealer compares his hit-total with the other players on the table. This is done in a counter-clockwise fashion and bets are either taken away or matched, depending on the outcome.

Once you have grasped the basic concept of Blackjack, the following reference tables should give you an idea of when to hit, stand, split, or double. For example, if a dealer shows a face card of 2-6, it can be assumed that the face card will be a 10 or a upper valued card. This means that the dealer is likely standing on a 12-16 card total and must take a hit. In other words, the dealer has a high chance of busting.

Note that casino players assume that you have a grasp of the basic play listed below. Although players go head-to-head with the dealer, ultimately, your plays will affect the other players on the table. This means that a foolish play could cause aggression and frustration to others. However, note: at the end of the day, it’s your money on the table and that should be the deciding factor on any play that you make.

Good luck on the tables!

S = Stand

H = Hit

Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)

Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)

SP = Split

SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

S = Stand

H = Hit

Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)

Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)

SP = Split

SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

S = Stand

H = Hit

Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)

Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)

SP = Split

SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

Tags: basic blackjack plays, basic blackjack strategy, blackjack odds, blackjack reference card, blackjack reference table, blackjack when to double, blackjack when to split, how to play blackjack

AirMiles Toolbar – Free Airmiles!

AirMiles released a new Yahoo toolbar recently to collect 5 AirMiles per every 50 searches through Yahoo search engine (up to a maximum 30 AirMiles per month or 300 searches/month).  The concept is simple:  collect AirMiles on your everday searches, with a couple of conditions:

• Must install the AirMiles Toolbar
• Must use Yahoo search as your search medium

For full details on how to use the toolbar, please visit:  https://www.airmiles.ca/arrow/ToolbarInstall

Pay particular attention to the FAQ on the above link.  Namely the following:

Q. Who is FreeCause?
A. FreeCause is a private company we have partnered with to bring you the AIR MILES® Toolbar.

Q. Why am I accepting a FreeCause End User License Agreement (EULA) when downloading the AIR MILES® Toolbar?
A. Because AIR MILES® has partnered with a FreeCause, a private company, to bring you the Toolbar, it’s necessary that you accept their End User License Agreement.

This should be an indicator that AirMiles has partnered with a 3rd party company to collect data and send/receive potentially secured information involving everyday searches and/or purchases made online.  The toolbar itself works in an interesting factor:

1. Tracking the number of unique searches made within the cycle (1 month).
2. Alert messages when accessing sites that do not earn AirMiles and suggesting alternatives (partnered companies).
3. Listing your previous month’s AirMiles balance.

This all sounds like a great idea, but what’s the catch?  There has to be a catch, right?

The simple answer is No.  However, more realistically there is a catch.   As I noted earlier, the 3rd party EULA (end-user license agreement) allows FreeCause to collect data which the toolbar is in use.  What this translates to is that your search criteria and habits are all being tracked by the toolbar software.

Other Concerns?  (For webmasters)

The AirMiles toolbar is a nightmare for affiliate marketing.  The problem with the toolbar is that it hijacks all purchases made through various links and/or websites and treats them as their own.  In simpler terms, referral links and affiliate companies will not given credit for links that were used on a pariticular website.  That is, if you have your own website with your own affiliate links, you are not being credited for links that are being clicked on — EVEN on your own site!

In summary, the AirMiles Toolbar is a great tool for everyday consumers that use the Yahoo search engine on a regular basis.  For others that prefer using the Google search engine, the Yahoo search is a bit hard to get used to.  Personally, I found it frustrating to ’switch over’ to the Yahoo search because it does not match my searching needs as much as Google.  However, for earning up to 30 AirMiles per month, this is a small sacrifice to pay.

The disadvantages of the toolbar that I could find are:

1. Hijacking of affiliate links/referrals
2. Alert messages can get irritating after a while
3. Seems to slow down “the interet experience”

Overall, I think it’s a great way to earn AirMiles.  If you maximize your searches each month, you could potentially earn up to 360 AirMiles per calendar year!

Tags: Affiliate Marketing, Airmiles Hijacks referrals, AirMiles toolbar, AirMiles Toolbar hacking, Free AirMiles, Free AirMiles Toolbar, Hijack marketing, iMacro

Tips on Repaying loans and improving your credit score

The current market conditions can be blamed heavily on incurred debt and the inability to repay loans: on a mass scale, this is what caused  the recession and the current market conditions.  Further to this, banks haved tightened up on their lending procedures to avoid making the situation evern worse.  Fortunately in Canada, we were not so much impacted by the subprime crisis and are in better standings than the American economy.  However, this does not necessarily mean that the Canadian economy will rebound quicker than our American counterparts.  Typically, during a recession, consumers tighten up on their spending habits which inevitably causes the market to shrink. For an individual trying to get out of debt, the goal here is to curb the unrequired spending habits while ensuring that  safety standards are met.

People with large oustanding credit balances, may feel the credit crunch and may resort to relying more heavily on their credit cards, loans, or line of credits (LOCs).  The impact of these types of measures is that the interest that is charged on each account could possibly outweigh the minimum dues.  In other words, debt becomes an endless cycle of minimum payments that are equal to or less than the interest being charged!!

This article will suggest a few technique to manage debt and how to repay debt.  The first step in reducing debt is to acknowledge your mistakes and make life-changing decisions to get out of your stiuation.  This might include packing your own lunch, taking public transportation, carpooling with a colleague, and so forth.  The more cash flow that you have or can create, the quicker and easier it will be to rectify your debt situation.

Now, let’s take a moment and begin by listing out all of your credit-related balances as well as their corresponding interest rates.  For example you might have something like the following:
1.  Credit card #1 — Outstanding balance of $5,000 @ 9.99% AIR (Annual Interest Rate)
2.  Credit card #2 — Outstanding balance of $8,000 @ 17.99% AIR
3.  Line of Credit (LOC) — $15,000 @ 4% AIR
4.  Mortgage — $250,000 @ 7%

At this point in time, you should have an idea of where you stand with your credit.  It is important to note that should ALWAYS make your minimum payments for each of your accounts to avoid having your credit score taking a hit!  Various credit bureaus such as TransUnion, Equifax, FairIsaac, Odyssey, etc. calculate credit (beacon/FICO) scores based on credit utilization and payment history.  Therefore, make sure that all payments are made on time with at least the minimum payments!

Now, list out the minimum payments for each of the “variable” accounts.  By this, I’m referring to the accounts that are “not-as” important as the other accounts.  To explain this thought, let’s look at the mortgage.  Regardless of the interest rate, mortgage payments should take priority in terms of which bills should be paid.  Let’s face it:  you could potentially have your house foreclosed.  Next, failing to pay an LOC would affect your future ability to take out a loan.  You should also plan a monthly budget to have a better picture of your current standings.  Food, shelter, and other satety needs should be met first before making any plans on paying off debt.

Getting back on the case in point, let’s put some random numbers in place:
1.  Credit card #1 – $20/month
2.  Credit card #2 – $40/month

Now, while it is important to make the minimum payments on all our your credit balances, the key point in reducing your debt is to pay off one element at a time.  As you may recall from earlier, you should have an idea of which accountsare being charged at a higer interest rate.  To reduce your long term debt, the best approach is to take things one step at a time:  Pay off the cards with higher interest ratings first.  Then, rinse and repeat and pay off the next one, until finally you are complelely out of debt.

The reason for this is is relatively straight forward:  the higher interest card will cost you more in the long run.  In the same regard, another recommendation is to apply for a line of credit and do a balance transfer to your credit card accounts.  This will lower the amount of interest that you will pay throughout the year and should give you more leverage in paying back other loans.  Be careful with this advice however.  As I noted near the beginning, managing your debt should be a life-changing decision.  If you have not accepted this, you may in fact put yourself in a deeper hole by applying for a line of credit.  (I.e. maxing out your LOC would be a terrible mishap).

In summary, debt management is simply a method of keeping track of your expenses and cash inflows. Once you have established your goals in reducing debt, managing it shouldn’t be too hard.  The important thing is to keep a budget and pay off the higher interest items first and take things one step at a time.

Tags: budget, credit card debt, credit crunch, Debt consolidation, increase cash flows, recession, reduce your debt, repay debt, setting a debt reduction goal, tighten up on spending, tips on reducing debt