People open their wallets to push Dow to 10,000 October 15, 2009

Posted by BDO in News.
Tags: 10000, 401K, anti-consumerism, consumer, Debt, Dow, economy, frugal, milestone, News, spending
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If the recession is over and the recovery is around the corner, volunteers at BDO understand that we will have a more difficult time in convincing people to stay away from debt.

“Dow 10,000 may be largely psychological”, said Lawrence Glazer, managing partner at Mayflower Advisors in Boston

However, that euphoria of good news will trickle down to people’s wallets and help them buy more stuff. The optimism of the good times can have people take on more debt now, thinking that they will be able to pay it off with their newly inflated 401K later. But does that make long term financial sense?

Does a bigger 401K create a sense of frivolity to your spending decisions?

As the Dow achieves milestones, does that give you the feeling to be less frugal?

Do events like these create ideas of taking out more personal debt for “nice” things during this “nice” time?

The BDO volunteers will continue the hard work in trying to convince people to stay away from debt, even in the “good times”. Because remember, the “bad times” will come again eventually and how will you be prepared for those times, if you go into debt during the “good times”?

For more on this article, click here.

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

Are you going to have a Debt Free Christmas? October 5, 2009

Posted by BDO in Debt is Slavery, Multimedia, Organizational.
Tags: 2009, anti-consumerism, baby, beating, charity, christmas, community, Debt, generous, gifts, Jesus, organizing, protest, shopping
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DebtFreeChristmas.org

Let us rise up and be an alternate voice to the corporations marketing to us to buy, buy, buy this Christmas season.

Will America stay thrifty? September 18, 2009

Posted by BDO in Multimedia, News, VLog.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, consumer, Debt, green, live, recession, thrifty
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Articles used in this week’s video.

Face the numbers with personal finance “stress test” – By PAMELA YIP

Debt puts a strain on relationships – By MARK CIOCCA

Cheap is the new cool but will Americans stay thrifty? - By CLAUDIA PARSONS

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

Another quarter of less debt for Americans September 17, 2009

Posted by BDO in Debt is Slavery, Organizational.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, card, clock, consumer, credit, Debt, federal, loan, mortgage, outstanding, quarter, reserve
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On September 17th, the Federal Reserve released its latest findings on Consumer Debt Outstanding. In reflection of good personal choices, personal debt went down by 1.7% for the second quarter 2009. This is amazing because it brings the total personal national debt down to just under $13.7 trillion. Also, for the first time ever, personal debt did not grow for the fourth quarter in a row. This decrease was due to a 1.4% drop in household home mortgage debt AND a 6.5% drop in consumer credit.

Maybe we can interpret that as people are starting to turn away from using loans and credit cards and are starting to pay off their debts and earning their freedom. This is great news! Since debt is going down, BeatingDebt.org updated the scripts on the Consumer Debt Clock to continue counting down. Isn’t that wonderful?!

Check out the Consumer Debt Clock that is going down in value and feel free to add it to your website to encourage others to help decrease our consumer debt addiction.

Can we keep up the trend of the clock going down for another quarter?

Can we help it along by paying off our personal debt?

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

What should I wear today? September 14, 2009

Posted by BDO in Spiritual.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, clothing, Colossians, compassion, Debt, humility, kindness, patience
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Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,

i.e. stay away from debt so that you can give more generously to those in need.

kindness,

i.e. showing good works to even strangers and your enemies.

humility,

i.e. stop trying to keep up or show off for the Joneses, but live a life humble in appearance.

gentleness

i.e. sacrifice what is merited to you for the good of others.

and patience. -Colossians 3:12

i.e. save for the future and wait for good things to come instead of trying to have everything right now.

What does this verse mean to you?

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

Beating Debt Live: 1,000% increase in debt September 3, 2009

Posted by BDO in VLog.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, card, college, consumer, credit, Debt, education, live, loan, show
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Here are the articles, I used for this week’s show.

Skyrocketing Consumer Debt by Keith Vance

Students not following national credit card use trends by Jeffrey Saulton

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

The Story of Stuff August 24, 2009

Posted by BDO in Debt is Slavery, Multimedia, Reviews.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, businesses, consumerism, Debt, economy, government, marketers, story, stuff
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The Story of Stuff is an excellent analysis on where our stuff comes from, where it goes, and its impact. Annie Leonard, sponsored by Tides Foundation and Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, explains the grave international and environmental impacts of our consumption. The movie shows us how the government, businesses, and marketers keep us locked into the cycle of consuming stuff so they achieve profits.

After watching the video and seeing the “rat race” they are keeping most people on, commit to telling others about this atrocity and addiction to consumerism and debt.

Tell others, so we can convince more people to stay away from debt.

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

Back to School Debt Protest 09 August 22, 2009

Posted by BDO in Organizational.
Tags: anti-consumerism, back, beating, Debt, education, nc, protest, raleigh, school
1 comment so far

On August 22, 2009, I stationed myself at the corner of Louisburg Rd and New Hope Rd in Raleigh to protest debt and to help convince people to stay away from debt this “Back to School” season.

Our three slogans for this “Back to School Debt Protest” was:

We will not go into debt buying Back to School products.
Just because it is on sale and it is for our kids does not mean I have to go into debt.
Debt does not lead to happiness!

This protest was different than the last time, because I wore a jail-suit costume. I hope that it helped visualize the confinement one is in when they are in debt. I got many glances and curious looks. I hope our message that happiness will not come through more debt will resonate and motivate people to stay away from debt.

To help us get this message out further, consider becoming a

BDO Ambassador.

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

BeatingDebt Live: WSJ & Crosswalk.com commentary August 18, 2009

Posted by BDO in News, VLog.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, Debt, live, mortgage, News, school
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Questions for discussion:

What is your definition of the “American Dream”?

Do you see marketers continually changing the definition of the “American Dream” in order to keep people unsatisfied and continually buying?

Are you staying away from debt this “Back-to-School” season?

Articles reviewed can be found on the YouTube video.

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Volunteer or Donate to Help Convince More People To Stay Away From Debt.

Show others how much you’ve beaten debt
for the price of one latte a year. – – Beating Debt Charts

Three reasons to stay away from debt August 18, 2009

Posted by BDO in Descriptions, Multimedia, Organizational.
Tags: anti-consumerism, beating, cost, Debt, education, environment, finance, nonprofit, personal, reasons, Spiritual, three
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