The best time to start saving mathematically may have truly been years ago; realistically the best time is now. Don’t beat yourself up and think about all the bad decisions you made financially-focus on the good choices you made. You did not make any you say? Well, neither did I my friend. I had to start making good choices to focus on. A literal start from zero (negative when I did the net worth).

Now the conventional wisdom of the day is that we should slash and burn all unnecessary expenses, use this “fluff” to pay off debt and save. There are countless programs, spreadsheets, and other tools to help with this process. Accordingly, we should scrounge through piles of coupons and sales papers to find the best deals; we should haggle small business owners at the checkout to lower our total by 2%; we should find ways to reuse an item three or more times before we through it away, etc. Malarkey is all I have to say.

When we first started this website we were of this mentality. Be frugal, save and reuse, and then slowly get out of debt and build wealth. While this may work for some, it failed miserably for us. Now before we are drawn and quartered, we are still frugal and try to waste the least amount possible of any of our resources. Yet, it was getting us no where near our goals. Also, we have yet to read the story of how someone became wealthy by saving on everyday expenses. Now here we are, mid thirties with little to no retirement, and debt out the wazoo. It was time for another change.

Since the outgoing being reduced drastically was not moving us in the direction we wanted to go fast enough, we took an alternate route. We decided to do what ever it took to increase the income. The days of finding a job and working there for forty years and having a nice pension waiting in your retirement were the days of our grandparents. We are now more than ever responsible for our own retirement-unless drastic changes are made we will not even have full social security benefits to look forward too.

Back to the matter at hand, when you are starting late it is best to put all the odds in your favor in order to help propagate success. First and foremost, if you have a retirement plan at work that matches you ANY amount, do it! This is free money! Our work place offers a 100% match on anything up to 3% of our income. That means that no matter what the stock or bond markets do, we have a 100% return on our first three percent. Secondly, if your employer does not offer retirement accounts, set one up for yourself. We will be writing articles on this in the near future, so if you want to get the information as soon as it is available, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed in a reader or email.

An important aspect of a self directed retirement plan is to place it on automatic. Talk to your Payroll department about having withholdings made each payday and placed into your account. If this is not an option, set up automatic withdrawals from your checking account to make it happen. If you try to do it manually, you will either forget, make other use of the money, or chose not to do it. Make it work so that you don’t have to think about it.

“I don’t have any extra to save” is a phrase we hear often. Two solutions here: 1) Read through some of our past articles and learn to save on living/working expenses or, 2) increase your income. We are going to focus on the latter on this blog. This is where we have had the most success. We will be telling you exactly the jobs and pay that we have achieved in order to speed up the process of reaching our goals.

Finally, when starting late we just have to do more than we would have if we had started younger. But you must ask yourself several questions such as: What do I want my retirement to look like? Will I rely entirely on investment income and social security, or will I still work part time or make money from a hobby? How willing am I to place at risk money that I have (the stock market model of buy and wait is a flawed system in our opinion. With so many emotional players on the field, it is to us the same as going to Vegas and shooting dice.)? How hard am I willing to work and what will I sacrifice to achieve my financial goals?

Thanks for reading, good luck, and we hope to hear from you soon. Your comments, criticisms, and questions are always welcome. Have a great day!

• 30′s Personal Finance: A Change of Pace
• Getting Your Finances in Order

Thanks for all your support, suggestions, criticisms, and questions over the last couple of years. We continue to look forward to hearing your successes as well.

• 30′s Personal Finance: It’s Not Too Late
• True Frugality
• 9 On Assignment: Frugal Family
• Being Frugal: The Original Sustainability? – Chris Farrell
• How to Break the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
• Getting Your Finances in Order
• Eliminating Debt in 2009 Part 2 Extra Income
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-7: Bake Items in “Groups”
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-6: Use a Prgrammable Thermostat
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-5: Switch to CFL’s or LED’s

At some point in life most of us have experienced the aggravation of having to live from one paycheck to the next.  By the time the next paycheck arrives, you are already broke.  When the new payday comes, most or all of it is already spent.  There never seems to be enough money just to put food on the table and cover the normal household bills, let alone provide for any leisure or luxury.  There will come a time or an event in your life, a catalyst, that will make the change that needs to take place less painful than continuing on your current path.  When this happens, here is a good way to get started on your journey off of the payday to payday cycle.

• The first thing that you must do is get on a budget.  Do not let this “b” word scare you.  I can honestly say that one of the most important steps on our journey out of debt was creating and sticking to a budget.  Bob over at Christian Personal Finance has a great article that list 7 free printable budgeting worksheets that is very handy when you are just beginning.
• Next, look for any place in your budget that you can save money.  Do you really need a  house phone and a cell phone?  Is cable/satellite TV really a necessity?  Are you watching your “phantom” charges from appliances and other electronics that are seldom used? Are your windows and doors sealed for air leaks?  For more ways to save money each and every month click here.
• After you have pinched every penny from you current income, if you still do not have adequate capital to make progress with your debt reduction, it may be time to look for ways to increase your income.  Do you have a unique set of skills that you could market for extra income?  Are there items in your residence that are no longer in use that could be sold at a yard sale or on Ebay?  For a list of ways to make some extra money check out this post.

We can encourage you that it is a process worth undertaking.  Using the strategies that we have listed on this blog we have eliminated two of our monthly bills, we will eliminate a third within the next month, and we are on track to dispose of over 40% of our total debt this year!  Using the strategies that we listed in our Making extra money post we doubled (yes, I did say double) our income in February this year-and it has stayed the same since.  No matter how big the obstacles seem, there is hope.  Will the task be easy? Probably not.  Most things worthwhile are not.  Will people criticize and judge/discourage you? You bet.  We could not even begin to count those that have told us we were fighting a losing battle.  They have repeatedly told us that debt is just a way of life.  We even bought into that lie until we seen that there are a select few that are living debt free.  That is the life we are choosing to live.  Will you join us on this journey to financial freedom?  Please drop us a line and let us know what stage you are in, what goals you have set, and any strategies you have in place.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day!  Have a question or topic your would like to see covered?  Leave a comment and we will respond the first chance we get!

• 30′s Personal Finance: A Change of Pace
• Eliminating Debt in 2009 Part 2 Extra Income
• Comparison Shopping
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-14: Seal Air Leaks
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-13: Fill Your Freezer
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-12: Remove Items in Groups from Refrigerator
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-11: Use Ceiling Fans
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-8-Use a Toaster Oven
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-3: Air Dry Clothes
• 100 Ways to Save in 100 Days-1: Unused Appliances and Electronics

If you are serious about getting out of debt, and changing your life, this is the most crucial step. Since this is such an important step, it is a good idea to take your time and complete this step over several different sittings. Remember, you have to know where you are before you can map out the route to where you want to be.

I will tell you that this is the most difficult step so far that we have experienced. Not difficult to create, but frustrating to keep in check and balanced. If you have not done so, please read our previous posts in this series here and here, they are the first steps to creating a budget. Without further delay, here are the steps we used to create our budget:

1. Gather those receipts The ones that you are going to have saved for a month (we have read recommendations of anywhere from two to six months, but it was not feasible for us as we needed to get started immediately). Sit down in one location, we prefer the kitchen table, grab a legal pad or notebook, and get ready for step two..
2. Categorize Everything that you find a receipt for, assign a category. In the beginning do not worry about specifics (those will be worked out as you go!!), just get a general idea of which category your purchases need to be in. We have such categories as: bills (a free table for you to use is here), home, food, personal care, pet supplies, automobile expenses, insurance, taxes, etc. Notice that these are very broad categories. We kept it simple as long as possible, until we had a firm grasp on just where our money was going.
3. Enter your totals Again, just place items under the main categories for now. That is how we started, and it did not take long to find the biggest leaks in our budget (Dining out, tech toys).
4. Find your soft spot(s) If you are in good shape and have no improvements to make, we commend you ol’ masterful steward of resources. If you find some changes need to be made, welcome to our club.
5. Choose your method Once you have the previous step completed, it is decision time. There is actually a poll on our page about this very question, so if you have a moment, please click your answer and vote. Are you going to continue by hand? We wanted to start this way because it made it more personal for us when we had to hand write each figure and total. Will you use a spreadsheet? Money management software(Quicken, MS Money, etc)? A web-based application (YNAB,Mint,Pearbudget,etc.)? What ever your choice, it is imperative that you like the interface and “usability” of your chosen system, or you will not stick with it.

Once you have a handle on where most of your disposable income is going (assuming you have disposable income), start your sub-categories in that area. As stated, our biggest problem was dining out. Under food, we created the sub-categories groceries and dining out. We further investigated (but did not create sub-categories for these) our dining out expenses and narrowed them down by restaurant and day of the week. Surprisingly, our biggest expense was through the week, and not our weekend “date” meals. Once we had that category under control, we divided the next biggest, and so on.

The secret to gaining ground is to find those areas that can be trimmed, and then appying that surplus to your financial plan. We have just finished Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness and are going to follow that advice with a few personal tweaks. A post for the near future is one that discusses creating your own financial plan, using the suggestions of authors and combining several ideas, as well as speaking with a personal financial advisor. The latter concerns me somewhat, since no one (other than ourselves) would have my best interest entirely in mind, and most of personal finance advisors earn either a percentage of your total wealth, commission on products sold, or both. It pays to take the time and do the research yourself, make a decision, then put your personal plan to work.

Remember that personal finance is just that-personal. Do what works for you. When you blow your budget to the hot place and back (and you will), recoup, count your losses, adjust accordingly, and move on. Also, the budget is not set in stone at our house. We never make changes without total agreement. If you are not married or in a relationship that requires consent, obviously you are the CEO and can adjust as you see fit. If you are in a relationship, it is not negotiable-you and your spouse must be on the same page. If you are not in harmony with each other, you may as well draw flowers and butterflies on that legal pad. It will not work. If you are not a subscriber, please consider this free service. We are going to do a article on talking about finances with your spouse soon, and you will get it immediately if you are subscribed.

Recently, I have been toying with the free downloadable version of Pearbudget (they just released a web-based subscription service). I like what I have seen so far, and will give a full review in a later post. As always, have a great day!

• How to Set a Budget : Personal Finance Tips
• How to Organize Personal Finances : How to Make a Personal Budget
• One Step at a Time: A Journey Toward Financial Independence
• Origin of the word budget
• How to Budget Personal Finances : The Envelope System for Managing a Budget
• Obama Budget Cuts Visualization
• How to Budget Personal Finances : The Envelope System for Managing a Budget
• how to use debt reduction calculator – morecalculators.com
• How to Budget Personal Finances : Why Budgets Fail
• What Debt Would You Pay Next?

What is it that defines your life? What makes you get out of bed each morning to face another day? Most of us have asked, or been asked, these questions. After our financial fallout, my wife and I sat down to have this very discussion (which is material for another post entirely).

We thought, and we pondered everything under the sun. We questioned each other and had extensive conversation. After several hours of thought and debate, we finally came up with an answer. Are you ready for what we found? We found that we were defined by…nothing.

Not a singe answer we came up with could answer that question (which was part of the reason we got into our financial mess). We will have another post soon about all the items that were eliminated as possibilities, and the reasoning behind each choice, but for now lets focus on creating the change.

The first thing to do is actually decide on what you want your life to be about. Take you time with this, for if you stick with your choice, it will affect most every major decision made from this point forward. Once you have your answer, we found that we went through four phases during our change. These same truths will probably hold for most any change, not just a lifestyle change.

The Four Phases of Lifestyle Change

1. Phase 1: Withdrawal This was definitely the hardest phase. Nothing about our lives was the same anymore. The weekly $40 (a weeks worth of groceries for the two of us I might add) trip to our local Mexican restaurant-gone. The trips with friends a couple times a month with the intention of having fun finding ways to spend money-no more. (Friends who are true will stick around, those who are not will fade and be replaced by new ones that are more in line with your new found values). Spending hours on end lounging in front of the television watching cable or movies-at an end. You get the point. Every aspect of our lives had been flipped, shaken, stirred, and set back up. It was total misery for over two months. Then came…
2. Phase 2: The Honeymoon Once the shock wore off, we entered the “honeymoon” phase; life is good, look at what good choices we are making, I am so glad we are doing this together, we should have done this sooner, etc. If phase one was the hardest, this was by by far the easiest. Everything was in such perfect harmony, and we were beginning to actually see the results of our choices coming to fruition. Then it all went haywire…
3. Phase 3: Disenchantment Ah, yes. These are the tumultuous times. Not nearly as severe externally (like phase 1), but here is where internal problems, the mud-slinging, began. One would specify an amount for an expense and we both would agree upon it, then the other would go above and beyond the amount. Discussion only lead to one party accusing, the other justifying. One would request a task be completed, the other would balk “How can you expect that at a time such as this!” Thankfully, for us, this phase only lasted a little over month, but it was near impossible to be on the same page at anytime during that month I assure you.
4. Phase 4: Normality After we got back in the same ballpark, life became an increasingly smooth experience. By no stretch of the imagination are things perfect (we still have issues once in a while, as is the case with all relationships), but we are in tune with our goals and purposes now. New friends have entered the picture, and we are slowly cultivating those relationships. Most of the issues we had that stem from this change are now handled in a routine, almost reflexive way.

I must say that we are enjoying the results, and would not change the journey one iota. As always, hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, even though I do not think we would of had the level of success that we have experienced, I can not help but wonder if we did not change too much too quick; maybe we should have tackled one area at a time, which is something you may wish to consider. I would also like to say that you can not go into a cycle like this half-heartedly.

Unless you are at the point that you are totally disgusted with the way things are; a time when to continue on you current course is going to be so painful and depressing you have no choice but to take drastic action; whether you experience this ordeal alone, or with a significant other, if you are not 100% committed, you will fail. Just the hard facts. The siren call of your former life will sound sweeter and sweeter each day, until finally you give in. We had tried before, and failed miserably; it was not until we had a lifestyle change in our heart first that we succeeded. The countless hours of support and prayer from loved ones and others who understood also helped tremendously. Without faith and prayers we could have never made it; if you do not believe in God or a supreme being, at least find like minded individuals or a support group to help you through this. It is overwhelming when you decide to change everything at once, but the pain and aggravation will go away eventually, and your effort will be greatly rewarded. Are we enjoying a perfect life now? No, but we are a little closer.

Good luck, and have a great day!

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Before I receive all the hate mail, I would like to say that I know that a recession is not a great economic cycle to go through. The point is that a recession is just that: an economic cycle. Things cannot grow continually, no matter how bad we desire it. The media loves to hype these things way out of proportion because they know it will get your attention, and you will listen to what their advertisers have to say. It is all about the bottom dollar. Now, I have just gradually stepped down off my soap box, so lets get on with the post.

The rise in the cost of living and fall of the dollar’s value make a recession extremely difficult on the poor and financially stretched. Even though it can make things harder for some just to maintain day to day living, lets look at some ways a recession could actually be a good thing.

• Forced frugality

While going through a recession, many people are forced to become more frugal in all areas of their lives. Not just with money, but with all aspects of their time, energy, and resources as well. We are to be good stewards of what has been given us, and this just gives us the chance to become better at it. A great resource to try to get a copy of is The Complete Tightwad Gazette. Not all of the advice is for everyone, but you could easily save a considerable amount of money by practicing only a few of the ideas.  Sometimes a copy can be found for free at paperbackswap.com.  Check out the link on our homepage.

• Learning experience

When we survive this economic downturn (I am still not necessarily convinced that it is a full blown recession) we will be better suited to not only help ourselves, but share our knowledge with others as well. Make no mistake, whether it be a tech crunch, terrorist attack, sub-prime mortgage mess, war…whatever, it will come again; when it does, we will be better prepared.

• Position to learn a new trade

If you happen to lose your job, or just need extra income from part-time work, this is an opportunity to learn a new trade or skill set that can be used in the future. Even if you get back full swing in your primary profession, the new knowledge can allow an extra income stream if you choose to continue your endeavor. Some have found their true calling in dark times such as we are discussing.

• Better planning

This one is directly related to the first item mentioned, frugality. It will become second nature to find creative ways to use all available materials for day to day living. My Grandmother survived the depression of the late 1920′s-30′s. Until the day she died that woman epitomized frugality and creative ways to use everything, and waste almost nothing. When she passed away and we were getting the house in order, each family member took loads of preserved food. She could have easily lived at least six months without setting foot in a grocery store. Who can do that now?

• Investment opportunities

If a person has managed their finances correctly, a recession is a great time to seriously study a few avenues of investment. You may research thoroughly a couple stocks to invest in. My favorite-real estate. In some areas home prices are down thirty percent. Think of that, a house that would have cost you $200,000 eighteen months ago is now on sale for $140,000. This is another scenario, unless a landfill comes into play, or the government decides to place a highway through your kitchen, house prices will climb again. I am convinced that now is the time for people with expendable capital to invest. Completely research your market, then attack no holds barred!

There we go. Some may consider these ideas optimistic, but I say that all the nay-sayers and doomsday advocates are only being pesimistic? Half full, or half empty, how do you see the glass?

As noted above, a great place to start for reducing expenses is with The Complete Tightwad Gazette. A wonderful book to give you some initial ideas. We easily saved $200 our first month by just implementing a few ideas in the first couple of chapters!

• Being Frugal: The Original Sustainability? – Chris Farrell
• Extreme Frugality: Meet the Carters – Gourmet Magazine
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-13: Fill Your Freezer
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-12: Remove Items in Groups from Refrigerator
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-9: Clean Refridgerator Coils
• Get Ready for 100 Days of Saving Money

Scatterbrained…forgetful…absent minded…I, and most people that I am close to, have used these labels to describe my mental state at one point or another. I get upstairs only to forget why I am there. I remember a task that I needed to complete two weeks after I should have done it. Just a couple of the dilemmas I used to find myself in frequently.

There are several ways to remedy the type of situations described above, but the one that works best for me is to focus continually. Here are several ways that I have found to keep on track and maintain good focus.

• Quiet time- One of the things that helps me focus is setting aside a small block of time (usually around fifteen minutes or so) and just quieting my mind. I try not to think about anything, and if I find that impossible I will pick a phrase, word, or scripture to meditate on repeatedly.
• Use a good note system- This has by far helped me the most. I first started this system after reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. Mr. Allen’s theory is that everything we need to do that is not properly noted or planned for creates and “open loop” in your mind. This causes the chaos that can sometimes make it hard to focus. I plan on doing a complete review of this book soon, for it greatly helped me increase productivity and decrease confusion.
• Turn off your email client- It can be somewhat hard to do, especially in todays fast moving environment, yet I found that this constant interruption was a great hindrance to my ability to focus. An excellent train of thought would be flowing like water, and then lost because someone sends an email that says “What are you doing for lunch?” Now lunch was still three hours away, and my brilliant idea would not return. I have found checking email once an hour or every two hours to be more than sufficient.
• Set aside time- For every task that must be completed, set a specified amount of time for that task. Even if you do not finish, having that focus time where all your attention is on the situation at hand, will allow you to accomplish more than you realize. I know from personal experience that I can get more completed in twenty minutes without email, phone, or visitors, than I can do in an hour with those same interruptions.

The ability to focus has developed slowly over time. It is kind of like going to the gym-the first time; almost kills you, but every time gets a little easier from there on. As noted a couple of times above, my productivity goes through the roof when I stay focused. It is also a good safety precaution. How many accidents could be avoided if only people were focused (like on there driving instead of the cell phone) on what was going on around them instead of something else? Lastly, being focused brings clarity to my life that was all together impossible before. At any given time you can be sure that you are giving your current task 100% of your best. Have a great (and Focused!) day!

How do you remain focused? Or do you feel more can be accomplished by multi-tasking?

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What is the main objective to your life.  If it could be said that you accomplished one thing in your life, what would you have it be?  Personally, we do not think that “they made a lot of money” should be the main topic at our funerals.  If you did not have any bills, and loads of money, what would you wish to achieve in this life?

Money alone is not a worthy goal.  Most people who say they want a million dollars (or some other figure) in the bank before they can consider their life a success.  I have never heard of a case where money was the only destination.  More often than not, the desired result is something the person believes the money can provide.  Security, freedom,  conveniences, are usually the end result that is sought.

Be careful not to tie your success to a finite object or amount of money.  If you define your success as getting the newest Lamborghini  Diablo, one of two things could happen: (a)If you do not purchase the object or achieve the large bankroll in your lifetime, you may consider yourself a failure, or (b) Once you have the object, you will become complacent and think that you have “arrived.”

It is of some debate now, but this quote was at one time attributed to Emerson.  Regardless, the meaning is an awesome statement and a great way to define success:

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

This is by far one of the best definitions of success I have ever heard.  Another great way to live a successful life: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your might.  To love your neighbor as you love yourself.  If we all lived that way, this would be a better world.

Finally, make sure that it is YOUR definition.  We are so bombarded by television and the media about how we should define success.  I look at these people (movie stars, singers, and so forth) and I feel sorry for them.  They have no privacy.  Many end up on drugs and alcohol.  Even though they “have it all,” many are never satisfied.  Be sure that you define what your life should be about.  Take the time to consider this carefully.  By defining what is truly wanted out of life, you may find that the eighty hours a week or more that you are working are doing nothing to get you closer to your idea of success.

Take a few minutes to think about your definition of success.  Are you currently getting closer?  Farther away?  What can you change to make your life a success as you define it? 

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Here we are going to list some of the Firefox add-ons that have been extremely helpful in saving us time and effort on a daily basis. There are too many add-ons available to count, just don’t get carried away and install too many (it will affect browser performance, I know!). My advice is to stick with only the add-ons that you will be using more than once a day. I look at them as ways to increase productivity, or to save time and money; they must meet one of these criteria before I will install them.

1. Session Manager. This is the first add-on that I use when I open my browser. It probably saves me 10-15 minutes daily. You can create as many sessions as you wish and label them all. I have several, but my core session is the one that I use daily. It includes all the pages I visit daily. Be sure to create a master password before you save a session. It will open in tabs and log you in automatically after you enter your password. Try it out.
2. Scribefire. This add-on will only appeal to you fellow bloggers out there. It opens an interface at the bottom of the page and allows you to post to your blog instantly.
3. PDF Download. This is a great tool. How many times have you clicked on a link only to find it is a .pdf file that takes 5 minutes to download? This add-on stops that. Whenever you click on a link that is a .pdf, it automatically detects the file and lets you choose how you want to handle the file.
4. No Script. If you visit sites that you are not familiar with often, this add-on is a great security feature. It will allow absolutely no script to run on the page without your permission. You only have to allow sites that you frequent often once, and there is a menu if you change your mind about certain scripts.
5. Auto Shutdown. This allows your computer to automatically shutdown once all files have been downloaded. I usually grab any music, podcast, or videos before bed and let them download. Whenever they are finished, my PC automatically shuts down. At the time of this post, the add-on was not found. It is possible that an update is being processed.
6. StumbleUpon. This will add a StumbleUpon toolbar. If you frequently use this application, this is a great tool. All of your stumble options can be managed from the toolbar.
7. Twitterbar. If you use Twitter to let friends know what you are into, this allows you to post to Twitter directly from your address bar by clicking a little green circle.
8. Answers. Provides one click information on words or phrases that you may encounter on the net.

These next two are for the Thunderbird email client developed by Mozilla.

1. Lightning. Adds calendar functionality to Thunderbird.
2. Provider for Google Calendar. Allows Lightning and Sunbird to sync with Google calendar.

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It seems that some people loose hope and feel that they must stay in their current situations forever. Although it may not be easy, there always exist a way for people to improve their earning potential. Again, it could require self sacrifice, and less sleep sometimes, but these are some of the ways to increase your marketability.

Free/Low cost

Here are three ways to educate yourself that will only require your time, and maybe transportation cost:

1. Your local library. Whatever your decision, your library is the best place to start. There you can find information on job markets, the process for getting certified to certain jobs and so forth. For a list of some ways your library can be a great place to visit check here. Your library will also have an array of books on just about any skill set. This will not only help you decide if you want to pursue that avenue, you may be able to glean enough information to gain an entry level position with demonstrated knowledge.
2. The internet. The world wide web is choke full of information. There are literally thousands of sites with. Although you must validate the authority of the site, usually a .org, .gov, or .edu are sites that will give you accurate information. I have found free ebooks and tutorials on such things as HTML programming, internet marketing, how to run a saw mill, and the list goes on. Again, this information may not get you the job, but it may increase your chances if you are able to talk intelligently with the interviewer about their companies operations.
3. Find a mentor. This is a great way to learn a particular skill. Find someone who is an expert in any field, and ask them to teach you. Now, never expect nor ask for anything for free; rather offer to volunteer to help them a couple hours a week, or even join their team and get on their payroll. There are many high demand jobs on the blue collar front that only require a demonstration of the skill. Welding, car repair, HVAC helper, and a few others.

• How to Set a Budget : Personal Finance Tips
• How to Organize Personal Finances : How to Make a Personal Budget
• What Debt Would You Pay Next?
• One Step at a Time: A Journey Toward Financial Independence Step 3: The “B” word (Createing a Budget)
• Beating Depression caused by Job Loss
• One Step at a Time: A Journey Toward Financial Independence
• It Pays to be Financially Organized