Home Equity Going Down

Apparently the equity in your home is related to the amount that your home is worth based on the housing market rather than the original purchase price of your home. So what is going to happen to the home equity loans when the market price of people's homes goes down? Will the home owners no longer be able to sell their home for a profit but instead will need to take a loss b/c they have essentially two mortgages that add up to more than the selling price of their home?

Debt Reduction 101

1) Don't get into debt in the first place
A) Normally that advice comes too late
B) Debt comes with living in America
C) We all want the American dream of being mortgaged to the hilt

I have been trying to figure out the history behind how the home equity loan got started. Did someone realize that home owners actually had some equity that they could borrow against? How is this good for the consumer? The home owner already has a mortgage and then they get a home equity loan.
Several times we have been approached to get a home equity line of credit "just in case" it was needed.

Self Esteem

Information from the University of Texas at Austin
The Counseling and Mental Health Center
Healthy Self-Esteem
Childhood experiences that lead to healthy self-esteem include-
being praised
being listened to
being spoken to respectfully
getting attention and hugs
experiencing success in sports or school
having trustworthy friends

Low Self-Esteem
Childhood experiences that lead to low self-esteem include-
being harshly criticized
being yelled at, or beaten
being ignored, ridiculed or teased
being expected to be "perfect" all the time
experiencing failures in sports or school
People with low self-esteem were often given messages that failed experiences (losing a game, getting a poor grade, etc.) were failures of their whole self.

http://www.utexas.edu/student/cmhc/booklets/selfesteem/selfest.html#anchor963911

Step 3: Get Help from Others
Getting help from others is often the most important step a person can take to improve his or her self-esteem, but it can also be the most difficult. People with low self-esteem often don't ask for help because they feel they don't deserve it. But since low self-esteem is often caused by how other people treated you in the past, you may need the help of other people in the present to challenge the critical messages that come from negative past experiences. Here are some ways to get help from others:

Ask for Support from Friends

Ask friends to tell you what they like about you or think you do well.
Ask someone who cares about you to just listen to you "vent" for a little while without trying to "fix" things.
Ask for a hug.
Ask someone who loves you to remind you that they do.

new week

Well it is a brand new week. Hopefully all will go well this week.
Organizational purchases made yesterday:
Hanging folders, regular file folders, half sheet envelopes, and 2008-2009 small date book.

Easter Egg Hunt

Dear Baby Michael and Baby Kathleen,
We had a fabulous day today. I wish you both were there to celebrate LIFE with us!

Love,
Mommy

Spring is just around the corner

Wouldn't it be nice to put everything out for a yard sale and it all just be wisked away. Why have a yard sale when you can just donate and take a tax deduction? In reality you will only get about $6 off for every $100 of stuff overall but it eliminates all the extra work. We just have too much stuff. Which makes things impossible to find but also impossible to know where to begin. There is not one area of our house that does not need improving.

I feel that I am just going from event to event and holiday to holiday and trying to cram in more and more stuff into the same square footage of house.

I guess it is time to do some spring cleaning!

Kitchen Challenge

Awesome video from Organized Everyday on her before kitchen.
Video takes less than 5 minutes to watch.
http://organizedeveryday.blogspot.com/2008/03/organizing-roundup-in-kitchen-before.html.