2011 October | Enemy of Debt: Where Behavior Meets Reality

Share Your Debt Free Bucket List. Win $500 towards Killing Off Your Debt!!

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 31, 2011 · 356 Comments

Yep, you read that correctly! One of YOU is going to win $500!! Enemy of Debt and Life Insurance Finder have partnered up to help you reach your debt free goals. Life Insurance Finder is an Australian based company that allows you to compare and select the right life insurance for you and your family based on your needs. All you have to do to enter is tell us what's on your Debt Free Bucket List, plus if you want 10 EXTRA ENTRIES you can write about this giveaway on your blog. Don't have a blog? Not to worry because you'll have the chance to earn up to 5 EXTRA ENTRIES by tweeting about the giveaway. Please read and follow the instructions below to ensure your entry is accepted. Read more »

Tags: $500 giveaway, Debt Elimination, debt free buclket list, insurance finder, kill off your debt, pay off debt, pay off your debt

Three Ways to Decrease Your Car Insurance Payments

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 29, 2011 · Leave a Comment

This is a sponsored post provided by the folks at 21st Century Auto Insurance. Sick of paying high monthly costs for your auto insurance policy? According to CNNMoney, there are three ways in which you can lower your car insurance payments each month. 3 Ways to Save on Auto Insurance The source states one relatively new way to cut down on your auto insurance fees is to install a device in your vehicle which can monitor your driving habits, such as acceleration and breaking patterns, as well as how many miles you drive. But, before having one of these devices [...] Read more »

Tags: auto insurance companies, auto insurance rates, car insurance, decrease car insurance payments

Do You Rent or Own?

Written by Meadow Devor on October 28, 2011 · 9 Comments

And no, I’m not talking about houses here. I’m talking about your money. I’m talking about my money. Do you own your money? Or do you rent your money? For the past 19 years, I’ve been renting my money. For the past 19 years, I’ve been in debt in one way or another. Car loans, students loans, credit cards, mortgages, equity lines, business loans, and personal loans. For the past 19 years, I’ve been paying other people for the privilege (seriously makes me want to gag) to rent their money. Chase United Mileage Plus card offered me a deal to [...] Read more »

Tags: moneyt, personal finance, rent or own

I Hear the Secrets that you Keep…

Written by Suzanne Cramer on October 27, 2011 · 6 Comments

I do, I hear them; the denial, self talk, and the inevitable, “What am I going to do?” They are secrets you keep from everyone; your family, your friends, and even your significant other. You’re in debt. It doesn’t matter how it happened, what matters now is that you do something about it. That’s where I come in. I am a certified credit counselor for CareOne Debt Relief Services and everyday I talk to people about their debt. Sometimes I am the first person they have admitted this to and they are scared, apprehensive, and skeptical. I would be too; [...] Read more »

Tags: Bankruptcy, credit cards, Dave Ramsey, Debt Elimination, Debt free, debt freedom, money, pay off debt

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Week 6

Written by Ashley on October 26, 2011 · 5 Comments

This week's lesson is Buyer Beware which is mostly about advertising and marketing. It was interesting because it's easy to forget that almost every company, big and little, has at least one full time person whose only job in life is to figure out how to get your money. It's pretty incredible if you think about it. He started out by saying how we are living in the most marketed culture in the history of the world. Which I totally believe is true. Look back at TV from even 20 or 30 years ago. There is way less marketing built into shows and sports. Well, put it this way, how could it NOT be true. They certainly aren't marketing to us any less, that's for sure. Read more »

Tags: buyer beware, Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace University, FPU, marketing, total money makeover

No Restaurants in November 2011

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 24, 2011 · 49 Comments

Healthy Recipes - Tuna Steak and Veggies

Recently, I ran a poll about what challenges you the most about becoming debt free and I thought the results were great. There were 70 voters total and the results can be found here. Today, I want to talk about one of the TOP 5 challenges picked by you and am excited to bring back something I did last year that was very popular. Of course I’m talking about my No Restaurants in November challenge! According to my EOD Poll, 37% of you picked EATING OUT as one of the five things that challenged you the most about becoming debt [...] Read more »

Tags: Budgeting, dining, eating out, food budget, no restaurants, no restaurants in november, saving money

Personal Finance For A Nine Year Old

Written by Travis on October 20, 2011 · 17 Comments

A few weeks ago, one of my daughter’s friends got a new computer game, and the two have been playing it ever since. However, my daughter, Tori, cannot play it unless her friend brings it over to our house, or she goes down her her friend’s house. So, naturally she wants her own copy. She had recently spent all her saved allowance money, so she was starting from scratch saving up the $20 for the game. Last Friday afternoon, when she got home from school, she exploded through the front door, ran up to her room, and grabbed her piggy [...] Read more »

Tags: kids, Kids and Money, Money Management, personal finance

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Week 5

Written by Ashley on October 19, 2011 · 4 Comments

This week is called “Credit Sharks in Suits” and is about dealing with creditors. If you missed the previous week’s reviews you can catch them here; Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4. The Class I had a complaint that in the first week that Dave uses extreme language and examples to make his point. He follows that up again in this lesson. He went on a long rant about how debt collectors are evil scum. Which I don’t disagree with the fact that the debt collection industry is out of control and basically unregulated. I mean, there [...] Read more »

2 Sure-Fire Ways to Lose Your Money…Guaranteed

Written by Paul Puckett on October 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment

A few years ago, I bought my daughters a fun, entertaining, and great inspirational book. The title is, How to Be Totally Miserable: A Self-Hinder Book by John Bytheway (Clearly a pen name). I highly recommend it! Inspired by this book, I am writing a short book focused on money. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of books have been written on making money. Few, if any, help you find fun, innovative, creative and entertaining ways to lose money. Soon, at least one book will address this very needed niche for those who have grown tired of the constant battle to [...] Read more »

Tags: book, personal finance, ways to lose money

Are Your Actions Setting Up Your Children for a Lifetime of Debt?

Written by Jessica on October 15, 2011 · 3 Comments

avoid giving in to a child be a positive role model

When my oldest son was little I was a frequent customer at places like Target, the mall, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Shopping for me meant a lot of things. It was therapeutic, especially when I was feeling depressed (oddly enough, depressed about my lack of money was often the case). It was in search of bargains, which in hindsight ended up not being much of a bargain by the time I left. And it was a social activity. My then-husband and I would go shopping whenever we were bored. We said it was just to look around but we [...] Read more »

Tags: financial behaviors, financial literacy, habits, Kids and Money, lack of money, lifetime of debt, role model, shopping

Love Drop October — The Triplets

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 15, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Hey guys! The Love Drop team is at it again! They just came back from the Boston area where they dropped $5,000 worth of appliances and gifts to a woman who recently got hit by a car and is recovering in a wheelchair, and THIS month they’re trying to round up the love for precious newborn triplets! We want to help Jeff and Becca (the parents) prepare to bring them home from the hospital, as all three were born very underweight and are currently in the Neonatal ICU (they’re doing great though! And will be coming home soon). With four [...] Read more »

UPDATE: Expect to See Some Changes Over the Weekend

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope your weekend is even better. I just want to let you know I’ll be working on the layout of Enemy of Debt over the weekend starting today. If you come to the site and notice something seems a little off, it probably is but it won’t stay that way for long — hopefully — unless I break something. For the kind of changes I want to make there’s no way around it short of throwing the entire site into maintenance mode. That’s just ugly and not at [...] Read more »

Is Blood Thicker than Inheritance Money?

Written by Suzanne Cramer on October 13, 2011 · 15 Comments

According to study by the AARP roughly 2/3 of baby boomers are expecting some sort of an inheritance and are spending it before they even have it. They dig deep holes of debt with inheritance money in the back of their mind; failing to understand using inheritance money to pay off debt is not a sound financial plan. In fact inheritances often don’t turn out the way those expecting them think they should. A Family Torn I have a friend who recently had a grandmother pass away. Her frugal lifestyle and previously deceased husband’s good business sense left her with [...] Read more »

Tags: accountability, debt, financial planning, Giving, inheritance, Motivation

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Week 4

Written by Ashley on October 12, 2011 · 11 Comments

This week's lesson was "Dumping Debt". Which everyone says is the best lesson. Maybe it had been built up too much but I was actually a little disappointed and bored. (Don't shoot!) I was expecting more of a motivational speech about getting rid of your debt, but instead it was "myth busting" of debt myths. Which maybe was boring for me because I'm already fully on board with debt free living. I don't need my myths busted. There was some powerful stuff at the end with clips of people sharing how they are living debt free and how amazing it is. At the end Dave yells at the top of his lungs "I'M DEBT FREE!!!!" which pretty much made you want to leap out of your chair and yell "YEAH!". Read more »