I wish I could recall how I learned about this movie, but I heard it was a must-see indie film. Since my interest is in finance, and my family is following the “Total Money Makeover” plan to get out of debt and live life without it, I decided to take a look.

This independent documentary about the credit business knocked my socks off. It was amazing. I found it through the library, but it’s also available for purchase or via Netflix or Amazon video on Demand.

The film hit home in many ways–about how credit cards prey on people (in ways I’d never imagined) and about how people fall victim to various credit ploys. I’m not quite in the “all credit is evil” camp, because I choose to live without it, but certainly this painted some shocking pictures–including of one credit card company that was shredding checks upon receipt and then billing customers interest and late fees because their checks were lost in the mail.

It told the story of a woman who committed suicide after leading a double-life with a spending-addiction and of college students so maxed out on credit cards that they choose to end their lives over a $12,000 credit card balance.

After watching this film, I tracked down my high school civics teacher on Facebook and requested that he show this film to all of his students every year-I hope that he’ll consider if he hasn’t already. The stories of these college students, as told by their parents was heart-wrenching.

There’s a number of great guests on the documentary–from specialists in credit and bankruptcy statistics to Dave Ramsey himself, Jimmy Carter, and that guy from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Debt collectors and agents are also interviewed. All together it was a well-rounded and informative view of the industry. “Maxed Out” was passionate and informative and energetic and earns four stars from me.

If I were to offer any criticism at all, it would be my most common criticism of indie films–that the volume is inconsistent throughout the film, leaving me holding on to the remote for dear life to keep it somewhere between too loud and too quiet.

Our favorite affordable breakfast is Steel Cut Oats (also called Irish Oats). These are whole oats, which are sliced instead of rolled or crushed. Buy these bulk only, not in one of those canisters–those can be as much as $7.00 per pound. Steel cut oats should be under $.70 a pound, and right now we’re buying them 5 pounds at a time for $0.46.

To make steel cut oats, boil eight cups of water and sprinkle in two cups of oats (or halve this recipe for a smaller family). You’ll have to boil all of this for about 30 minutes. Or until it’s reached the texture and consistency that your family likes.

Top steel cut oats with a variety of different things for variety:

• Maple syrup
• Brown sugar
• Butter
• Dried fruit
• Fresh fruit
• Nuts (pecans are my favorite)
• Jam/Jelly
• Berries

Steel cut oats without toppings are 140 calories and 6 grams of protien for 1 cup prepared.

• Cut dryer sheets in half to make them last longer.
• Use dehydrated eggs for cooking sweets (I use dehydrated milk for baking Abby, but I’ve never seen dehydrated eggs).
• Make bread from scratch
• Make milk from powdered milk and mask the flavor with chocolate powder or syrup.
• Buy milk in bulk and freeze it.
• Make home-made deodorant (if it works, please send us the recipe Abby… if it doesn’t, please warn us ).
• Learn to can/preserve and freeze.

I’m also learning about making my own dishwasher detergent, but I want to experiment with my dishes before I post a recipe here. I’d hate to etch or damage someone’s dishes with a bad one, so when I’ve got it perfected I shall let everyone know.

Thanks Abby for sharing your tips!

This is day 14 of 30 in a series for April, which is “Financial Literacy Month”

One tip that Mr. Ramsey offers that I find especially interesting is that to know if you’re saving enough, you need to take the amount you have saved in your nest egg (savings/retirement) and multiply it by .08.

If you can live off the resulting figure, then you’re saving enough. If not, you’d better step it up (after paying off your debts of course).

I was surprised. I consider our savings rather paltry, but we actually *could* live off the results. Granted, we’d cut the cable and be living on rice and beans, but we would only have to cut our household expenses by another $300, which wouldn’t be hard.

What they say in the Total Money Makeover is true–the closer you get, the easier it becomes. We now are on the last of our “snowballs” (only one remaining debt to pay off), and it’s disappearing quickly because every extra resource can be dedicated there.

We haven’t followed one of the guidelines–we haven’t stopped saving. We’re still saving for retirement and for planned major expenses (one daughter’s adoption finalization, etc). If we’d stopped this, we could speed up the process even more.

If you’re just starting your Total Money Makeover, or considering starting the program, don’t loose heart. It goes so much faster than you’d expect. Good luck!

This is part 10 of a 30 part series on financial literacy for the month of April, Financial Literacy Month.