Don’t let this happen to you! A true story of Tom the tomato.

The tomato seed cost about five cents and was planted in the dirt.  It grew into a mighty tomato as it bathed in water and sun.  One day the tomato is sunning itself and minding its own business when it hears a noise.  All of a sudden the ground starts to shake and the tomato tumbles over.  All at once it is scooped up by a metal arm and dropped on top of a thousand other tomatoes.  Smoke fills the air and the tomato can’t see the sky.  Finally the smoke clears and clouds move by.  The tomato travels far from its home, jostling and crowded amongst countless other tomatoes.  Shortly after the motion stops there is a great scoop that reaches in and picks it up.  It is set on a belt that takes it far within the inner workings of a large factory.   A human hand picks up the tomato and eyes inspect it.  The tomato feels exposed and uncomfortable in its new surroundings.  Once inspected, the tomato is put into a crate and loaded on the back of a large truck, it goes dark and the tomato gets scared.  After what seems like forever, light shines once again and the tomato is moved with a forklift into a cool space.  Just when it thinks its adventure is over it is taken into the produce section where it is carefully shined and polished and placed on top of many other tomatoes.  The tomato waits. 

Finally a hand touches the tomato and squeezes it gently.  It is placed into a plastic bag and wheeled around.  Once at the checkstand the tomato is scanned and costs $1.07--marked up over 20 times its original cost.  The person hands over a credit card that she knows she can’t pay and leaves the store.  Now, the tomato travels to the home to be made into sauce for the family dinner.   The bag that the tomato rests in is picked up by some hands and placed on a counter.  Another person comes in with a different bag and knocks into the tomato with great force and the bag falls.  The tomato is crushed by a carton of white liquid and melts to the floor.   There are loud noises as the tomato falls into a great sleep and everything goes silent.  The tomato is scooped into a bucket and carried to the trash--never to be heard from again. 

The moral of this story is:  If you’re going to put charges on your credit card you need to make sure that you have a plan on how to pay them back, otherwise your spaghetti sauce will be lacking in flavor.

 The Debt Lady says, “Buy my book so that this doesn’t happen to you.”

 

 

Have you been served with a law suit?

Do you know what to do in this situation?  Most people don't have a clue, in actuality; most people ignore the paperwork that they get served to go to court.  This is a big mistake because believe it or not, you can handle it with communication.  Attorneys are people too, they just went to school longer than most of us.  Giving them a call, right after you get served and working out something with them, will help you in the long run.  If they get aggressive or angry, remain calm, they are only trying to make you upset, and believe it or not, it will work only if you let it. 

 

If you got sued because you didn’t have the money to pay a bill, then obviously in most cases you won’t have the money to pay the account in full, but you can work out something with the law firm that is favorable to you and the company you owe.  Remember, a law firm is a third party and not the original creditor, they are just working on somebody else’s behalf. 

 

Here are some helpful hints on how to communicate with a law firm:

 

     1. Breathe

     2. Don’t get angry, no matter what happens

3. Figure out the amount you want to pay a head of time    and stick to it

     4. Be persistent and get what YOU want

     5. Be truthful and never lie

 

I know these seem like silly hints, but under everything that you do are these simple tools that you can use to better your life.

 

The Debt Lady says, "You don’t need a hammer or screwdriver to handle an attorney."

Why do we pay money for things?

Did you ever ask yourself that question?  Why do we have to have money?  Why do we have to put so much emphasis on money and why do we care?

 

Most of those questions you can answer for yourself, but I want to give you a different view on this whole thing, lets address this question. 

 

Why pay money for things?

 

Because somebody, at some point in time wanted something that somebody else had.  They had a cow and wanted some chickens, they traded one for the other and they got what they wanted.  At some point somebody realized that they didn’t always have a cow to trade with and wanted more.  They developed a way of making nifty looking coins that someone said was worth something, then they invented the almighty dollar.  Now I don’t know about you, but a green piece of paper that has $100 on it, doesn't seem right to exchange for a DVD player or game system.  How can that piece of paper be of the same value?  Because somebody said so, that’s how.

 

So now that I answered my version of this question, is your answer the same as it was before I addressed it? 

 

The bottom line here is that we have to have money because somebody at some point wanted something and didn’t have anything to exchange for it.  Emphasis is placed so heavily on it because we need it for almost everything that we do.  Since we don’t have a farm anymore to make our own food, or cows grazing in the pasture, we're limited in our means and have to rely on the almighty buck to get us by. 

 

Now that I put this into a different perspective for you, maybe you can realize the real value of money, which is just a means to exchange for something you want and not a big stupid problem that absorbs your life.

 

The Debt Lady says, "Dream big, love life and be happy!"