Pay Off Debt Faster by Using the Right Financial Tools

Written by on January 31, 2012 · 12 Comments
financial tools

How many of you have a plan you consistently follow each month to pay off debt? Based on my own experience (before my wife and I got our financial heads together), I’d guess that many of you do not. I know the drill. You pay off a little debt here and a little debt there but it’s random and not based on any kind of written (or visual) plan. You make some progress and take a few steps forward but then suddenly find yourself taking a few more steps back. Some of you may even be paying just the minimum [...] Read more »

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Kids and Money – Credit Cards for 2 Year Olds?

Written by on January 16, 2012 · 21 Comments
cashregister2

Do you want your 2 year old “learning” to swipe a credit card? This Christmas Noah (our 2 year old) was given a Shop and Learn Cash Register. At first I was excited. The nerd in me eagerly opened it up and secretly drooled over the idea that Noah was going to start learning about money. It had buttons, sounds, lights, a working coin drawer, a scanner and groceries to ring up. Perfect fun right? Then I noticed it also came with a credit card. I’d rather it not have a card at all — debit or credit — but [...] Read more »

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American Consumers Dive 5.6 Billion Dollars Deeper in Credit Card Debt in One Month

Written by on January 12, 2012 · 6 Comments
Statue of Liberty has no credit cards!

While some of us were saying No to Restaurants in November it seems others were saying YES to binge shopping sprees financed by credit card debt. In an article sent to me by my friends over at Impulse Save, consumers racked up 5.6 billion dollars in credit card debt in November alone. Judging by the shape of the economy (specifically unemployment) one would expect these numbers to be down so this is an astonishing statistic. The Time Moneyland article also shared Federal Reserve data that shows consumer borrowing skyrocketed by 20.4 billion and is the highest month-over-month increase in the [...] Read more »

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The Psychology of Getting Out of Debt

Written by on January 9, 2012 · 22 Comments
freedom

One week ago many of you started working on your financial resolutions for 2012. Hopefully those of you with debt resolved to put together a solid plan to destroy it once and for all. There are many factors that go into the process of debt elimination but one that is often overlooked or underestimated is the psychological side. Anyone can say they want to become debt free but it’s our emotionally-driven behaviors and attitudes that will grant us final passage into the world of financial freedom. Math is only a very small component in the game of debt yet it’s [...] Read more »

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The $100 Extra Income Challenge

Written by on January 2, 2012 · 23 Comments
100 Challenge

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve already thought about what you want to accomplish in 2012 with your finances. Are you going to get out of debt in 2012? Regardless of what your financial goals are for this year I want to kick things off with a challenge. When it comes to managing money successfully people have more excuses than they have solutions. Whether it be saving for a rainy day, paying off debt or building retirement there’s always an excuse as to why we can’t do this or that. Usually those excuses have to do with income so [...] Read more »

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End of the Year Inspiration for a Successful 2012

Written by on December 30, 2011 · 4 Comments
dreamstimefree_1081101

Generally I publish an end of year glance at the passing year as well as offer up my goals for the new year. Today I’m going to do something different. If you are looking for a great year in review post Ashley shared her goals for 2012 a few days ago. I didn’t want to be redundant so I wanted to add to what she put together by inspiring you to really think about what you want your 2012 to look like. This inspiration is as much for me as it is for you, because let’s face it, most of [...] Read more »

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Living the Life We Want Because of Debt Freedom

Written by on December 20, 2011 · 12 Comments
shimmering dreams

I have a sneaky suspicion that most people underestimate the power of debt freedom. The benefits of paying your debt off are enormous. The changes we have been able to make because of our debt freedom have been both surprising and very exciting. It was surprising because although I knew getting out of debt would be awesome and beneficial I hardly expected for it to change our lives the way it has. We recently began looking at how we could further mold our life into one that best fits our wants and desires. That’s the inspiration for me finally writing [...] Read more »

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Christmas Stimulus Winners and My Top 15 Most Favorite Resolutions

Written by on December 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Christmas decoration

Another Christmas Stimulus in the books! Something else that I noticed was that we have lots and lots of weddings in 2012! Congratulations to all of you either getting married or that have a child getting married! Lots of love in 2012! I can’t tell you just how much I enjoyed reading all of your financial resolutions for 2012! Some of you even helped me add a couple more to my list!I liked them so much in fact that I decided to share my 15 most favorite resolutions! Not only that I decided to choose my favorite resolution for one [...] Read more »

12 Months of Christmas Debt (The Song)

Written by on December 16, 2011 · 9 Comments
Christmas Debt

On the first day of Christmas my habits gave to me: One Empty Wallet On the second day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Two-hundred Sales And one empty wallet. On the third day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales And One Empty Wallet. On the fourth day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Four Credit Offers Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales and One Empty Wallet. On the fifth day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Five New Credit Cards Four Credit Offers Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales [...] Read more »

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Brad & J’s 2011 $300 Christmas Stimulus

Written by on December 12, 2011 · 192 Comments
Christmas decoration

Guess who’s back with my very favorite giveaway of the year? Remember back in 2009 & 2010 when J Money from Budgets Are Sexy and Enemy of Debt joined forces to bring you our Christmas Stimulus Giveaway. Well we’re here for a third year in a row with $300 worth of cash money to give away to our favorite people — YOU THE READER! That’s right, this is when we dig into our own pockets to show our appreciation for all of you! No sponsors here, just two guys who enjoy what we do and want to say THANK YOU [...] Read more »

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No Restaurants in November 2011 – Final Results

Written by on December 4, 2011 · 24 Comments
dreamstimefree_538079

Hello everyone. First let me apologize to you all for the delay in getting this post up. Last week was a beast of a week and Friday was probably the most insane day of them all. My wife went back to work after 3 great months of maternity leave. We did learn some things and feel very blessed to have been able to share that time together. For starters it inspired and motivated us to develop a plan to bring my wife home so we’re both stay-at-home parents. My wife is a great nurse and loves her job but who [...] Read more »

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No Restaurants in November 2011 Update and a New Challenge

Written by on November 28, 2011 · 19 Comments
Tired of flushing money down the toilet...

Well the month has almost come and gone and I cant say I’ve really missed going out to eat all that much. For the most part it has given our family extra time in the kitchen to bond. My wife and I have tag teamed the meals as well as taken turns cooking meals individually. When it’s time to do dishes Isaac has enthusiastically helped clear the table and load the dishwasher. So we have saved money but also created a fine little helper in the process. Isaac helped in more ways than one too. We really only had a [...] Read more »

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The Worst Day of my Entire Life

Written by on November 25, 2011 · 23 Comments
frustration

As I sat on the park bench watching other families laugh and play, I couldn’t help but feel resentment. That was supposed to be me and my family, but recent events would clearly make that impossible. How could my wife do this to me? What did she do? Only the worst thing a wife could do to her passionate husband dedicated to ridding the world of debt that’s all. I checked the mail and found out that my wife racked up almost $2,000 on a credit card she had been hiding from me for over a year. Imagine the look on my face – THE Enemy of Debt – as I peeled open the envelope to reveal such news. We’ve been through so much together financially and I thought we were on the same team. It was only four years ago that we pledged to eradicate our debt together once and for all. At that time we were like everyone else -- broke, living paycheck to paycheck, and seriously on edge about our finances. Read more »

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19 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping on Black Friday

Written by on November 22, 2011 · 3 Comments
Christmas shopping

Hello all! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? If you’ve been a reader for more than a year you probably know I hate Black Friday. There are many reasons for this and I won’t go into it again but I really have a problem with what the Christmas season has become. Really what we have let it become but I digress. Gobble up your turkey and say bye to your family because you have early sales to hit up! (Yes, this is sarcasm.) This year I wanted to provide a checklist of questions to ask yourself to make sure you are [...] Read more »

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