• How I Saved $10,000 in Six Months – Evolution You
• 20 Signs You Need a Financial Makeover – Budgets Are Sexy
• Life After Bankruptcy: 3 Things That Could Change After You File – Stumble Forward
• Too Much Debt? 5 Steps To Pay Off Your Debt – Free From Broke
• Don’t Let Yourself Drown in a Sea of Financial Stress – Financially Poor
• 10 Guiding Principles For The “New Retirement” – Redeeming Riches
• Avoid the Blame Game—Take Responsibility for Your Financial Affairs - Free Money Finance
• Student Loans: Necessary for a College Degree? – Couple Money
• 11 Ways to Convince Your Boss to Give You a Raise – Out of Your Rut

Enemy of Debt Around the Blogosphere

• Best of Money Carnival #65 – Bible Money Matters
• Best of Money carnival #66 – Personal Finance By The Book
• The Top 30 Personal Finance Bloggers You Need To Be Following On Twitter – Own the Dollar
• Create an emergency fund to avoid costly, unnecessary debt – Personal Money Store
• Emergency Savings – Out of Debt Again

Enemy of Fat Updates

• Workout Hell, The Beginning – P90X Day One
• P90X Workout Update -Day 3
• P90X – Days 4 and 5 (Yoga & Legs and Back)

It started two weeks ago, but I thought it started last Thursday. All this excitement on my end lately may have contributed but I am disappointed nonetheless.  The class was a short one and I couldn’t miss even one class, so I blew it. The class was The Psychology of Money and Wealth—right up my alley!! I did contact the professor and we plan on meeting hopefully this week.  He said he was intrigued by this blog and I look forward to talking with him.

Here’s my roundup for this week. I am hoping to start posting more regularly now that things are starting to get back to normal. Baby Noah has been wonderful and is growing like a weed. This week he will be four weeks old, and it seems like he was just born yesterday.  Time flies when you have more to do, and the amount of time to do everything in, stays the same!

My Favorite Reads From Last Week

If I Could Move Back In With My Parents… by my homeboy J. Money at Budgets Are Sexy. I love this post because when you think about it, we are in such a hurry to move out. If I could do it allover again, assuming that I know what I know now—I would better prepare financially for the BIG MOVE.

Patience is a Virtue I Don’t Always Have by Karen at Dreamin’ The Life. To me this post is about attitude and how we can sometimes let life throw us into a negative downward spiral, which in turn can cause even more negativity. We are all guilty of complaining but it is always a good idea to remind yourself what complaining really accomplishes. It has been my experience that it does nothing to solve anything.

The 5 Most Beautiful Things In Life That Are Invisible by Dayne at The Happy Self. With the hustle and bustle of everyday life it is sometimes too easy to forget about what makes life so beautiful. Dayne does a nice job of reminding us, why we should take a second to appreciate the good things in life.

How To Set Your Christmas Budget by Craig at ChristianPF. Personally I think if you have not already done this it might be a little late, but not too late for next year. Craig offers a practical guide to setting up your budget. Also don’t forget to check out my Christmas Challenge.

Hulk Vs. Eeyore: A Simple 6-Step Process to Overcoming Friction in Life by Baker at Man Vs. Debt. Baker is one of the most creative bloggers I know. He has a real talent for creatively making you think about your situation, whether it is about life or your finances. He just posted this one today, but it was too good to not list here.

Carnivals I Participated In This Week/Last Week

Best of Money Carnival #25 hosted by Managing Money God’s Way.

• The Day I Killed My Credit Card was chosen as the number 4 pick out of 41 articles submitted.

Carnival of Personal Finance #230 New Site Edition hosted by Canadian Finance Blog. (Last week’s carnival)

• Saving Money – Paying Yourself First Really Pays Off was my article chosen from The Self Reliance Exchange.

Carnival of Personal Finance #231 Financial Fables Edition hosted by M is for Money. (Today’s carnival)

• Editor’s Pick: Marriage And Money: How To Improve Communication And Minimize Money Fights was my guest post over at Engaged Marriage.
• A Debt Free Manifesto – 10 Common Sense Reasons To Live Debt Free was my guest post at My Super-Charged Life.
• What Is Your Financial Profile? from here at Enemy of Debt.

My Contributions To The Self Reliance Exchange

Hiking – A Frugal Outdoor Activity, Fun For The Whole Family – A retread of my frugal activities article.

Savings Account Vs. Credit Cards – Which One Do You Rely On?

photo credit

Have I told you how much I love hiking? Have I told you how much I love hiking in the Fall? It’s the most beautiful time to hike because of all the pretty colors.  I go hiking very often and being that I live near so many hiking trails and mountains, I have plenty to choose from.  Gone hiking lately?

Articles I Enjoyed This Week

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps: A Real Path to Family Financial Freedom – Written by Dustin at Engaged Marriage.

Friday Financial Foul Ups: Being Too Eager to “Move Out and Move Up” Kept Me In Debt and Cost Me Thousands – A GREAT series put together by Brian at My Next Buck.

Wealth And Contentment: Two Peas In A Pod – A post written by Craig at Bible Money Matters. He writes so many great posts it’s hard to keep up with them all. Great work Craig!

Are You Talking to Your Kids Enough? – This was such a great find over at Mama Notes. Well are you?

Our Journey To Debt Freedom: Cresting The Hill – Frugal Dad was one of the very first blogs I found as I dove into the blog world of personal finance and life. Congratulations Sir!

Guest Post From ME

A Debt Free Manifesto – 10 Common Sense Reasons To Live Debt Free – posted  over at My Super-Charged Life.  Thanks Jeff!

My Contributions At The Self-Reliance-Exchange

10 Substantial Reasons Why You Should Want To Become Debt Free – A retread of my Debt Free Manifesto that appeared on My Super-Charged Life, with a self reliance approach.

Saving Money – Paying Yourself First Really Pays Off

Carnival Love

Carnival of Personal Finance #229: Candy Edition hosted by The Centsible Life.  Editor’s Choice: Enjoy Frugal Entertainment Without Breaking The Bank

The Best of Money Carnival #23 hosted by Provident Planning. #3 Pick: Are You Under The Influence Of Debt?

“Making A Difference” Giveaway Of The Week

Win a Free iPod nano and Help a Great Charity! – Donate to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation and win a free nano ipod!! You can donate as low as $2.50 or as high as you like.  Make a difference and help a child get their wish! Giveaway hosted by Jeff at My Super-Charged Life.

Posts I Enjoyed This Week

Fight Fair! 6 Simple Conflict Resolution Skills for Your Marriage was  written by Dustin from Engaged Marriage.  You might be thinking—what does this have to do with money?  Try becoming debt free with a spouse that you can’t communicate with.  Teamwork is important and good communication leads the team.

The Entrepreneur’s Seven Priorities for a Successful First Year posted by Jeff from My Super Charged Life.  I have highlighted some of Jeff’s articles before.  His site is filled with helpful information to help you grow.  I liked this article because it is said that the first year of starting a business is the hardest and the most crucial.  It’s always helpful to know what successful entrepreneur’s found to be the most important.

Rocky Balboa’s Guide To Kickin’ Ass was written as a guest post for Man Vs Debt by Paul Norwine from PaulNorwine.com.  As you know I really love motivational posts, and this one is definitely motivational.  Great post Paul!

Motivational Gift Of The Week
courtesy of Money Funk

Created by Money Funk

Motivational Finance Wallpaper was created by Money Funk on her personal finance and frugal living blog.  Again with the motivation I know, but when can you ever get too much motivation?  That’s what I thought!

What I love about these are the fact that they serve as reminders of what you know you need to do financially. 

She was kind enough to create a special EOD color scheme for all of my wonderful readers out there. Download Money Funk’s EOD-Black Wallpaper here. (click link, right click, save) Please check her blog out and be sure to spread the word about the FREE motivational wallpaper to others.  It’s the FREE gift that keeps on giving!  Don’t be afraid to thank her for her kind efforts in the comment section of her blog!!

My Contributions At The Self-Reliance-Exchange

Self Improvement Exercise – What Does Your Reflection Say About You?

Debt Consolidation: The Truth Behind The Con

Recession Proof Your Life And Refuse To Be A Victim

10 Important Keys To Effective Parenting

Carnival Love (only one this week)

The Carnival of Personal Finance #228: Halloween 2009 Edition hosted by Erik Folgate at Money Crashers.  Great carnival Erik!  Thanks for hosting and including my article!

Articles I Have Enjoyed Recently That Motivated Me

• How to Survive & Thrive When You Hate Your Job by Dena at Evolution.
• Understanding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs | Motivation Series Part 1 by Ken Kurosawa at Wasabi Burger.
• Maintaining Momentum When You Have No Motivation by Paul at PaulNorwine.com.
• How to Defeat Burnout and Stay Motivated is a guest post by Jeffrey Tang on Zen Habits.
• A Breakdown Of All The Sexy Stocks I Own J Money motivates me over at Budgets Are Sexy by making investing look sexy.

The Power Of You

I am constantly trying to learn how to better myself.  I make mistakes all the time, but it’s what I learn from those mistakes and how I address them that matter the most.  As I always say, YOU are the key to making things happen. If you wait for someone else, then you will live life waiting.  Live life growing instead.  How can you be better?

1. The Death Of Becoming Something by Illuminated Mind
2. The Magic Of Doing Things Slowly by The Happy Self
3. Winning Teams – How To Stop Being A Loser by My Super-Charged Life
4. The Power Of No by Life Excursion
5. The Minimalist Principle – Omit Needless Things by Zen Habits

Your Money Starts With You

Now that you have worked on you, it’s time to work on your money.  These articles were my favorite personal finance blog reads this week.  I think you will like them too!  Check them out…

1. Proper Rate Savings by Frugal Dad
2. Debt Free Story – How Frugality, Hard Work, And Determination Can Lead To Debt Freedom by Bible Money Matters
3. Did You Inherit Your Money Habits? by Stretchy Dollar
4. Top 16 Pieces Of Your Information Identity Thieves Crave by Man Vs. Debt
5. What To Do When Murphy Kills Your Washing Machine by Plain Cents

Carnival I Participated In This Week

Yep just one this week too, but I am excited because my article was #4.  This is becoming my favorite carnival because of the ‘top ten’ aspect of it.  If I don’t make the list, I need to work harder, and if I do make the list, I need to work harder!

1. Best Of Money Carnival hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter.  Great carnival!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Good morning everyone!

It’s Monday and I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!  Some of you who follow me closely know I am ending the summer semester in my public speaking class today.  In fact, I have to squeeze together a persuasive speech to give to my class tonight.  Usually I am in the final stages of writing my speech, but this one is different.  I was hit with a curve ball when I got extremely sick over the weekend.  I work weekends, and didn’t want to call out of work, so the time I spent at home was where I should of been all along…in bed!  I currently have an A+ in the class so I am not worried, but I surely do not want to under perform to bring that grade down.  My final paper is due on Wednesday as well so this is going to be a tough week for me.

With a little “gazelle intensity“ I think I can pull it off so wish me luck!  I was pleased to find out that an article I submitted to The Best Of Money Carnival this week was chosen to appear as one of the top ten selections.  The Best Of Money Carnival: Bento Food Art Edition was hosted by The Digerati Life.  Please head over and check it out, I know you will enjoy it, especially if you like colorful food art! 

I will do my best to publish some great stuff for all of my wonderful subscribers this week, but they may come a little later in the week.  I would also like to share with you that this week, on August 7th, I will be extremely happy to be celebrating my 5 year anniversary with my beautiful wife.  I would say that she is pretty lucky to have such a passionate debt free blogger as her husband, but the truth is I am the lucky one.  Every day that I wake up I am glad she is there beside me.  She is a wonderful wife and an even better mother.  In October, we will be joined by another little Enemy Of Debt, and we can’t wait to meet him.  Two boys raising a ruckus should keep things interesting to say the least.  Again…wish me luck!

If you are new here today, why don’t you take a look around and please subscribe.  If you are battling with debt of your own I hope you will find a little bit of hope here to get you moving in the right direction.  One thing I know is that no matter how bad you think your situation is, YOU CAN DO IT!  Now is the best time to start!  Eliminate that debt and find out why financial peace is the best kind of peace to have.  Saddle up.

If you have any questions, I respond to ALL submissions.  Please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer your question in a timely manner.  Have a great week!

LIVE DEBT FREE!

These articles are some of my favorites from blogs I follow via RSS Feed.  I really could have added another five articles but didn’t want to cause a brain overload.  After all it is Friday!  Enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend!

Oh yeah, you’ll notice I finally was able to “left-align” my sidebars and comments section.  You’ll also notice that it caused my navigation bar to left align.  Ugh! Web Design will likely be my next class in the cross hairs.

Money Help For Christians presents Debt: Upside Down And Backwards.

You can find a guest post over at Debt Free Adventure titled Debt Reduction With The Debt Snowflake, written by Jessica Ward from Penny Wise Family.

Peter Anderson from Bible Money Matters wrote The Corrupting Power Of Wealth: Warning Signs Of Materialism.

You can find 50 Actions You Can Take Right Now to Pay Off Debt over at Consumerism Commentary.

You can read I’m Getting A Divorce from The Wisdom Journal.  I thought this was a great post!  I have had some problems with my bank here recently so I am considering divorce as well.

I am a huge fan of Gazelle Intensity.  Christian Personal Finance has put together an article about it.

Dave Ozment over at Do You Dave Ramsey, wrote Plant Your Financial Tree.  A great message about doing it NOW!

SD Guy over at Stretchy Dollar asks, Did You Inherit Your Money Habits?

Personal Finance Carnivals I Participated In This Week

Carnival Of Personal Finance #214:  United States Presidents Edition hosted by Poorer Than You.  My submission was chosen to be included in this very well done carnival.  Baby Emergency Fund – Do It Your Way!.  Thank you Stephanie!!

Carnival Of Money Stories #11:  Money Quotes Edition hosted by Bible Money Matters.  Peter Anderson even chose my article to be in the “Editors Pick” section.  Loans, Gifts, And Boundaries: How Loans And Gifts Create Bondage And Why Boundaries Are Important.  Awesome, thank you very much Peter!!

Money Hacks Carnival #74 – Saturday Morning Cartoons Edition hosted by Suburban Dollar.  Kyle selected my article An Inconvenient Myth – The Marketing Effect to appear in this carnival.  I used to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Saturday morning cartoons!!  Thanks for a great carnival Kyle!

Carnival of Pecuniary Delights #17 – “Online Slang” Edition hosted by Budgets Are Sexy.  J. Money decided to include my submission, A Sacrifice Is Not A Loss But A Gain.  J’s theme was interesting to me especially since before I met J I was a “NOOB” to the PF Carnivals.  Nice carnival dude!

My Top Two Frugality Posts Of The Week

I like Living Off The Grid from Frugal Dad.  Here he talks about how the accumulation of stuff has caused us to become slaves to our own lifestyle.

Shawanda Greene from You Have More Than You Think wrote The Case For Frugality and I must say, she did an excellent job of making the case.  The title alone grabbed my attention because it reminded me of one of my favorite authors.  She makes the point that if you live a frugal life, you will have more time and money to spend doing something you love and are deeply passionate about.

Other Favorites

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy talks about how to Control Lifestyle Inflation Before It Controls You.  We have all done it, so you know the drill.  You get a raise and instead of sitting down to figure out how to save or invest that extra money, you decide to upgrade your lifestyle.

Matt Jabs over at Debt Free Adventure wrote a great article titled, Emergency Fund Is For Emergencies ONLY – 6 Ways To Leave It Alone.  Do I really need to explain this one?  Leave your emergency fund alone unless of course you are having a REAL emergency.

As most of you may know, I am a HUGE FAN of paying off the mortgage early.  In fact I can’t wait until I make it to the point in my plan to be as aggressive as I would like to be.  Suburban Dollar posted Pay Your Mortgage Off Early.

Last but certainly not least, Craig from Money Help For Christians gets us to sit on the couch, to help us figure out  Why People Keep Making Bad Money Decisions?.  I really liked this article a lot!  Great job Craig!

Carnivals That I Participated In This Week:

Carnival of Personal Finance: New Zealand Edition hosted by ManVs Debt.

Carnival of Pecuniary Delights: Sweet 16 Edition hosted by Wisebread.

Have a GREAT WEEKEND everyone!

Here Are 5 Links To Help You Have A Less Stressful Budget Experience

Found on the Carnival of Personal Finance: Vacation Time Edition – hosted by Funny About Money

Don’t Bust Your Budget: Remember Key Budget Items – written by Aryn over at Sound Money Matters.  This is one of the biggest issues I have found that people struggle with when budgeting.  It’s the very reason I made a place on my FREE budget for this kind of thing.  Next month we have to renew our insurance, which ends up being about $300.  Forgetting that is devastating to a budget.

A Simple Way To Feel Wealthy On A Middle Class Income – from Mr Tough Money Love at Tough Money Love.  I like this one because it deals with psychological aspects of money.  Those are things people do not often think about or very easily dismiss.  How you feel says a lot about how you act.  When you are less stressed out isn’t that better.

Track Your Spending: The First Battle On The War On Debt – by Baker at Man Vs. Debt.  Baker is the man and is currently moving from the U.S. to Australia.  He is proof that having a plan, and seeing it through can allow you to do anything you want regardless of what others think is impossible.  Good luck Baker!

Found on the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights #10: The Summer Storm Edition – hosted by Counting My Pennies.

50 Bad Money Habits That Will Leave You Eating Alpo For Dinner – from Jeff from My Super-Charged Life.  This is a good list post that will show you some things NOT to do to have an easier time budgeting.  No one wants to eat Alpo, so make a plan, and better decisions and you should be ok.

A Way To Control Spending: The Envelope System – written by Peter over at Bible Money Matters.  I believe strongly in the envelope system and like this article very much.  The envelope system really works to control impulse spending, as well as make managing your checkbook so much easier.  On a perfect month we only pay our main bills using online bill pay and fund our envelopes for the rest.  When we do it, it works.

These are some of my favorite bloggers from my Google feed reader, and as you read these articles you will see why.

EOD Updates For The Week

I was finally able to post the page for newcomers this week.  Sorry it took me so long, as you can see it meant that I had to dig through the archives for articles to use.  It was time consuming but very worth it.  I think it will give someone a good place to start and a better understanding of what to expect from me here at EOD.

Keys To Effective Money Management Update

I just wanted to let you know that I was scheduled to post the first part to my new series this week.  It didn’t happen because I was not happy with what I had.  I did not want to publish something mediocre, so I plan to work on it a little more and hopefully this week I will post it.  If it isn’t qaulity it’s not worth posting.  I want this series to really help you, not just sound good.  When I am satisfied, hopefully you will be too!

Edited to add this:

I am hoping to work on a tutorial for the EOD FREE Budget in the coming weeks.  I also realize there are some things that could be better, so I plan to handle those specific things when I work on the next version.  For starters I am planning to add a Debt Snowball Worksheet, and if I can figure it out, I want to tie the different worksheets together so you don’t have to enter some numbers more than once.  Another thing I am hoping to accomplish is that I want to create some PDF Budget forms for those of you that would rather just print and manually write your budget out.  Not everyone likes spreadsheets!

Have a great weekend everyone!

6 Saving Money Articles To Help You Get Financially Fit!

My number one goal here at EOD is to empower you when it comes to your finances.  When you have knowledge, you have control!  With that said, my plan is to give you some extra nutrition for your financial diet, from a variety of sources.  Let’s face it, there are tons of great PF bloggers out there that you can benefit from, so go check them out, and learn as much as you can to help you in your new journey to financial fitness! Now go get some knowledge!

Saving Money List of Lists:

1. Use It Up: Frugality And Food at Bible Money Matters – This is a guest post from the writer of stretchydollar.com.  It’s part one of a four-part series titled, “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without.”  This article is great because it tackles the importance of buying what you will use, instead of wasting what you don’t.  In a nutshell, he says when you waste food, you waste money.  Be sure to check out the others in the series: Part 2: Wear It Out, Part 3: Make It Do, and Part 4: Or Do Without.
2. 16 Depression Era Money Saving Tips presented by BillShrink.com – I have to admit that I am new to this blog, but this article caught my eye.  No, we’re not experiencing a depression, but if you did what people did when there was one, how much financial stress could you eliminate from your life?
3. 75 Money Saving Tips For Surviving A Recession given to us by Frugal Dad – This is really a very resourceful site.  This guy can pump out some articles, and the information given is solid.  With economic times as they are, this post is a must read!
4. 50 Frugal Things You Aren’t Doing from The Wisdom Journal – Ever wonder why you are broke, or at least struggling?  These 50 ideas could give you a glimpse into reality.  Not Struggling?  Maybe there is something here that could strengthen your position even more.
5. 50 Ways To Save $1,000 A Year at Squawkfox – I am a new subscriber to this blog as well, but from what I have seen so far I really like it, and who doesn’t want to learn 50 ways to save $1,000 a year?
6. 7 More Ways To Cool Your House For Less This Summer from the blog, One Caveman’s Financial Journey – Summer is here and these summer saving tips are great to put into use right now!!

The Blog Carnival Grab Bag

I have been blogging for one year, and I feel as though I was trapped inside a cave, because for most of that time, I only peaked my head out occasionally to speak my mind.  Thanks to Darren at Problogger for showing me the importance of solid interaction with other bloggers, and J Money, from Budgets Are Sexy, for yanking me out of the cave and encouraging me to participate in these carnivals.  Yeah J Money, now I understand your addiction a little bit better.  My Google feed page is seriously suffering from a capacity overload!!  Good thing I like to read, and hopefully soon I’ll be ready to host some carnivals myself!

Carnival of Pecuniary Delights: Hosted by Almost Frugal .

Carnival of Debt Reduction: Hosted on Carnival of Debt Reduction.

Carnival of Money Stories: Hosted by Prime Time Money. (last week)

Carnival of Money Stories: Hosted by Money Pop. (just added)

Carnival of Personal Finance # 206: Hosted by Greener Pastures.

• The article I submitted has been chosen to appear in this carnival: A Destructive Mindset: Is This What You Believe Too? Thank you Lisa!!

Kids and Money Blog Carnival: Hosted by Money Hacks.

My Pick For The #1 Super Savings Post From This Weeks Carnival of Personal Finance #206: The Memorial Day Stars and Stripes Edition:

(drum roll please…)

1. 3 Tips For Easy Short Term Savings written by Jason Unger over at Automatic Finances.  Jason gives you 3 quick tips to make you feel better about saving short-term.  Do you have trouble managing your money?  He has written a book, and gives you the first three days for free! The book is called Automatic Finances: 17 Days To Your Financial Freedom, which teaches you how to:

Track and categorize all your spending

Find your net worth and watch it grow

Save money and invest for the future without pinching pennies

Ensure your money is getting the highest rates of return possible

Have your bills paid automatically and never write a check again

Follow me over there and preview the first three days for FREE!  That is definitely a super savings!!  Thanks Jason!

That is it folks!  I hope you have enjoyed this weeks very first edition of Debt Free Addicts Anonymous.  Come back later this week to find out how this new project inspired something a little bigger.  Happy Memorial Day, and keep in mind that getting out of debt could be one of the best choices you ever make!! Try it and see for yourself!