The Power Of Financial Freedom: Affording Opportunities

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When you’re under the constant crushing weight of debt, you develop tunnel vision. All that matters is finding some way to get to the next paycheck. It’s basically simple survival mode. It’s difficult to fully understand just how debt can impact life until you find your way out from underneath it truly begin to live life again. I was reminded again this past week just how much debt can affect the trajectory of life. My son is into online gaming big time. Once a month he hosts a gaming party where 8-12 of his friends bring their computer to our […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/12

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Happy Valentine’s weekend, EOD Nation!  In addition to celebrating love (I hope your plans have been properly vetted for value!), with the end of the NFL season it’s time to construct a project list, and get busy.  My daughter gets confirmed in May, which means a large gathering of family to celebrate the event.  I’m not sure why family gatherings of such proportion requires extra cleaning, painting and other home related projects, but at this point, I just accept it. Fist pump for home projects (what?) and my favorite posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump You […] Read more »

Make Your Valentine’s Day Gift Be About Value

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Unless you haven’t looked at a calendar lately, you’re aware that Valentine’s Day is less than a week away. If you have a significant other you may already have a gift purchased or plans made to give a little extra attention to that special someone in your life. Some people choose to not celebrate Valentine’s Day, seeing it as just another commercial holiday pressuring people to buy stuff. That’s actually a fairly accurate description in my opinion, and that’s great if you and your loved one share that perspective. Others are looking for inexpensive ways to celebrate the day and […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 2/5

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Earlier this week brought the end of January, as well as the conclusion of the first month with a reduced blogging workload.  I have to tell you, I didn’t realize just how much of my time it was taking up until  I was able to back off a little due to the promotion and raise received within my full time career.  I had been redlining for a couple of years, and it feels GREAT to have a couple of evenings each week where I don’t do any blogging at all.  As a result, my stress level has plummeted. They say […] Read more »

The Unbelievable Thing My Wife Said, and How It’s Going To Save Us Hundreds Of Dollars

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My wife said something to me this weekend that blew me away. I could barely believe my ears. It got me excited….really, really excited. I’m telling you, what she said was HOT. Now, you might be reading this, and on the verge of throwing this post into the category of “Too Much Information.” But stay with me, I know that you’ll appreciate it. Vonnie and I decided to go out to eat on Thursday night, heading to our favorite steakhouse. She ordered her usual steak, the filet. When it arrived, she cut it open to ensure it was cooked as […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/29

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I’m feeling a little lost about this weekend.  Normally I spend my Saturday grocery shopping, doing my long run, laundry and any cleaning or other tasks that need to be done. I do this so that my Sunday is completely wide open to watch football. Except there is no football on this weekend.  What will I do with myself? Of course I’m being a little tongue in cheek, as I won’t have any problem filling the void with family activities or projects around the home.  Maybe I’ll even fire up my smoker……… Fist pump for firing up the smoker AND […] Read more »

Costco’s Breakup With American Express Is A HUGE MESS

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My wife encountered a surprise while booking a hotel room for a trip to Florida we’re planning for the beginning of April. She gave the hotel our Costco American Express card number to reserve the room, and requested an email confirmation. Everything seemed to go smoothly, until she opened up the email. In red lettering was a warning stating that the credit card given expires before the hotel reservation, and that a valid card will be needed when we check in. Looking at the card, it’s expiration date was not for several months. I was momentarily confused, but then remembered […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/22

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Tomorrow is my son’s birthday.  His 17th birthday.  How did that happen?  I’m almost positive that just a few days ago I was standing on a chair putting up Christmas decorations, telling a young toddler to stop hitting the cat with the staple gun.  That really happened (it was empty, just in case you were concerned).   Tonight he’s having all his friends over for a computer gaming party for a dual celebration as one of the other boys in the group shares the same birthday.  This particular friend has a computer, but it’s not the best for gaming.  So, the […] Read more »

3 Things You NEED to Do To Be Successful

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I love a good motivational speaker. I have some favorites that I listen to every day on my way to the gym, and have an entire bookmarks folder dedicated to motivational links. I seem to find them while I’m scrolling through my Facebook feed, or just browsing the internet. When I agreed to go to a technological conference for work, I didn’t think for an instant I would come across any motivational material. I was wrong. The subject matter of the conference was disruptive innovation. There was a guy from Intel, and a handful of entrepreneurs on hand as speakers. […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/15

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Today is payday….and it’s my first paycheck reflecting the salary increase from my recent promotion. yes.  Yes. YES. I cannot deny I was a little excited to open up my online bank portal today.  On a similar note, as previously mentioned the promotion has led me down the path of resigning from a few of my freelance writing jobs.  Therefore, I don’t have any personal finance blog posts to shamelessly self-promote.  I do however, have another treat for you, EODNation.  I’ve started my very own BBQ website (purely for FUN!) to document my BBQ and grilling adventures.  I’ve linked to […] Read more »

The Expectation of Spending Money

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Every Sunday evening, my wife and I recap our weekend spending, and then do any budget adjustments required  due to higher than expected spending. After the conclusion of this activity recently, I broke the good news that we had stayed well within our allocated weekend funds. As soon as the words left my mouth, they felt wrong. I was confused as to why they felt wrong, after all isn’t that the goal? Isn’t the goal to live within our means by creating a budget, allocating a finite amount of funds for bills and other activities, and then spend less than […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/8

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I’ve been waiting for it, and it’s FINALLY going to happen.  The NFL season begins in September, when there’s still plenty of nice fall weather to take advantage of.  I feel bad sitting inside watching football when it’s so nice out.  Even when the weather turns colder, there’s fun stuff to do outside.  I long for weekends where the weather just begs you to stay inside. This weekend is that weekend. High temperatures will be in the single digits, wind chill readings way below zero.  It is the PERFECT weekend to whip up a pot of chilli, plop my hind […] Read more »

My Daughter, A Shopping Mall Trip, and A Scary Situation

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I had a scary situation with my teenaged daughter over the weekend with what happened during a shopping trip to the mall with her friends. It was touch and go for a few days, but I’m now confident that everything is going to be just fine. One of her friends asked her to go to the mall shopping on Friday afternoon. Between her allowance and Christmas gifts she had amassed a tidy sum of money.  She thought a shopping trip to get some new clothes would be a fun way to spend time with her friend. When she returned home […] Read more »

Fist Pump Friday: I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/1

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Happy New Year, EOD Nation!  With a start of  a new year will come a lot of talk of starting over and wiping the slate clean.  While January 1st IS a great way to signify the starting point to achieve new goals and change your behavior, I encourage you to NOT forget the mistakes and the lessons learned in 2015 (and the years before that).  Take your experiences that have made you who you are, and use them as the foundation for a BETTER and IMPROVED you in 2016 in finances, health, or just flat out being a better person. […] Read more »