Shredded Cards, Weight Loss, and My Reality Series!

Hello everyone! I do not say this enough, but THANK YOU for reading and continuing to support Enemy of Debt! It really does mean the world to me. This week I received an email that really makes what I do here COMPLETELY WORTH IT!

“Hi Brad, Marvelous site! “Enemy of Debt” has not only saved me a tremendous amount of money, but the peace of mind from the extra money in the bank has been life changing! I have been captivated by your blog because the posts are relevant and touch all the ‘real’ areas of my life. Your motivation to realize that the amount of money I make is not the primary contributor to my ‘wealth’ has been huge. I really appreciated “Becoming Debt Free Is 99% Intensity and 1% Basic Math” because I feel it is important to remind myself (and others!) that saving money is not rocket science!”EOD Reader Mail

It is emails like these that make me SO GLAD I didn’t sell Enemy of debt last summer. I considered it and even had a few buyers lined up, but ultimately, it was my good friend J Money from Budgets Are Sexy, and ALL OF YOU that made me decide to keep rocking the debt free message!

Thank You! 😀

Now for some quick updates.

Shredded Credit Cards Are The Best Credit Cards

Back in December, I told all of you about a contest put together by the good folks at Perkstreet Financial and Lending Club on ShredYourCreditCard.com. Let me just say, I heart Perkstreet Financial and have opened up a checking account where I can earn rewards by using my debit card all year long.

Any way, The Shred Your Credit Card contest has ended and winners have been selected. The contest was awesome and a huge success! 23 videos were submitted (including a video I made back in 2008 to inspire all you debt haters), over 300 comments, and more than 5000 votes were cast.

In my post, I said I would give $25 to someone who submitted a video because of Enemy of Debt. Well, unfortunately, no one submitted a video but a video was still chosen. That video won $50 for getting the most votes in one week and the $25 gift card as well. Congratulations to Lucia Giacomantonio for her unique submission where Lola, her debt free dog chewed up her credit cards to help save her from herself! Way to go Lola!

One Small Step For Me, and One Giant Leap for My Waistline

I’m going to try and make this SHORT. The bottom line is this.

I’m fat! (Yep I said it!)

Anyone who has really paid attention to Enemy of Debt knows, I am not afraid to say what’s on my mind. You’ll be happy to know I hold myself and my feelings to the same fire.

Over the years I have battled my bulging waistline. I’ve gone up and I’ve gone down. I’ve gained a bunch of weight and lost a bunch of weight SO MANY TIMES! This problem has cost me more than I’d like to admit to, but let me just keep it simple. It has kept me from taking Enemy of Debt in the direction I want to.

I want to make videos. I want to create a video workshop. I want to meet other bloggers without worrying about what they’ll think of me. Most importantly I want to be truly in your face about your debt free journey. I wish for it to be more personal, but my feelings about myself have really hindered all of my plans to do any of those things. I am quite frankly embarrassed.

I’ve not always been fat.

This is a picture of me in 2002 with my beautiful daughter, after losing 150 pounds in 9 months. I was in the best shape of my life and that’s exactly where I want to be again. It’s time I make it happen and stop all the talking and feeling sorry for myself!

Starting next week, ALL THAT IS GOING TO CHANGE!

I’m putting myself out there! And in doing so, I hope to inspire all of you wanting to pay off your debt to PAY OFF YOUR DEBT! I have written about the link between what it takes to lose weight and what it takes to become debt free. I’ve also written about the psychological reasons why we are most of the time our biggest obstacle in life.

I’m going to prove it and I am going to be more transparent than I’ve EVER been!

I recently finished a book called If I’m So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight? This book was to my motivation to lose weight, what The Total Money Makeover was to my motivation to become debt free!

Guess what? It’s a psychological approach to weight loss, something most people ignore. You can know how to get out of debt and not do it, just like you can know how to lose weight and never keep it off. I know how to lose weight but I have never dealt with the psychological reasons as to why I struggle in the first place.

It’s time to start. Expect my first video next week. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but it is going to happen. I’m not running from this anymore!!

The Debt Elimination Challenge

Ahhhh! Now that that’s off my chest, let’s talk about my never-been-done-before reality series. LOL

Things are falling into place but most of what I can tell you, I already have. Now I am working out some of the details and those details are going to make or break my attempt to rock your world!

I’ll say this. You won’t be disappointed!! POSSIBLE CONTESTANTS: please know that some of what I have revealed will change and your commitment to actually see this through will have to change too. That’s all I can say right now but I wanted you to know that what will be required of each contestant has changed. Nothing that will cost you money — actually it will save you money — but when the time comes for me to reveal the details I will.

My goal is to make sure you are successful in paying off as much debt in 2011 as you can. Anything I can think of and implement to make that happen I will. The rest will be up to YOU!!

I ask you again. HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU ABOUT PAYING OFF AS MUCH DEBT AS YOU CAN THIS YEAR??

Have a great rest of the week! 😀

About Brad Chaffee

18 Responses to “Shredded Cards, Weight Loss, and My Reality Series!”

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  1. That’s terrific that you’re going to focus anew on your health. I’m looking forward to following your progress. I agree, there’s a huge mental aspect to weight loss and one that I’ve been working on for a few years now.

    A group of locals are starting a new walking group. Holler if you ever want to join.

    As for debt elimination, I’m not joining the challenge because the only debt my family has is our mortgage, which we’re already paying down as quickly as we can. With any luck, we’ll be mortgage-free in a decade or thereabouts.

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      Thanks Jen! Weight loss is such a hard thing to manage when it has been out of control for so long. I’m definitely interested in walking with the group when I can. When it warms up I plan to start hiking again — one of my passions — and Charlottesville is definitely a good place to live when you love hiking. (I plan on reviewing all of the trails on the Rivanna Trail and then doing the entire 20 miles at one time — I can’t wait!)

      It is AWESOME that you are already debt free, except for your house, and that you are working on paying that off too! I love it!! Being debt free sure makes life a whole lot easier! 😀

  2. Brandi says:

    I’m excited to see all the crazy awesome changes your life is gonna see when you start working on getting healthy!

    I think this contest will help to keep you focused too 🙂 GOOD LUCK!!!

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      Yeah me too Brandi! I always try to find something to get involved in to try and combat this problem for me, but unfortunately I’ve never had to be completely transparent. The reality series was thought up by wondering how I could create something on Enemy of Debt that would help me lose the weight I need and motivate others to get rid of their debt. I’ve always said that if I ever went on the Biggest Loser I would rock it because I wouldn’t be able to handle failing in front of the world. LOL Plus I am super competitive! This is my Biggest Loser! 😀

  3. Nunzio Bruno says:

    It def looks like you have been busy! I think that the dog chewing the credit cards was an awesome video. I also wanted to commend you on taking a more transparent stance. It takes a lot of guts and trust to throw yourself out there like you are planning to do. The more I read about his reality series the more I want to see it so I hope it all comes together 🙂 Like I said in an earlier comment you totally have the support of Financially Digital if you need it!

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      Transparency works, but it is a scary thing especially when you are kind of shy and embarrassed about what you’re trying to be tranparent about. LOL Thanks for the support. I’ll probably be contacting you about the reality series in the near future. 😀

  4. Brad did you know a guy called into the Dave Ramsey show that was on the biggest loser and won? How friggin cool is that! The Feb 1st show!

    his name was Patrick, check him out!

  5. Sam says:

    Hi Brad! You look great just the way you are. However, if you still want to lose weight, I suggest going to a third world country full of poverty. From there, I swear you will never overeat again.

    Have a read http://www.financialsamurai.com/2011/01/05/best-weight-loss-tips/

  6. Erin says:

    120% serious about paying off debt this year!!! I want it gone….and gone for good! 🙂

    Good luck on your weight loss journey! I will be cheering you on lb by lb.

  7. Chris says:

    Reading your site for the first time, great stuff. Definitely adding the feed to my Google Reader account. As someone who has struggled with weight loss in the past I am so stocked for you, I have a feeling you are going to ROCK IT! I am excited to see your results. Good luck man. BTW…if you want to be really transparent with your weight loss you could get one of these Wifi scales which automatically posts your weight to Twitter and Facebook. http://www.withings.com/en/bodyscale 😉

    • Brad Chaffee says:

      OMG there is NOTHING you can’t do!! LOL That is awesome man!! I’m going to have to save up for that for sure! that is so cool! thanks for sharing man and thank you for reading enemy of debt!!

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