How to Achieve Debt Freedom Without Sacrificing the Fun Stuff

Written by on · Leave a Comment

In most cases, it’s not super easy to achieve debt freedom.  But that doesn’t mean your life has to be miserable while you’re getting out of debt.  In fact, you don’t have to sacrifice all the fun in your life just because you’re paying down debt. You can still have fun! In this post I’ll show you how to make a solid plan to achieve debt freedom without being miserable in the process.   You Can Still Have Fun Getting out of debt isn’t completely about deprivation and self-sacrifice, although they do play a role. Some people would rather put […] Read more »

How Much Could You Cut From Your Budget By Downsizing?

Written by on · 1 Comment

It would be easy for you to cut a massive amount of expenses from your monthly budget. That’s a shocking statement, but it holds true for a very large percentage of the population. I came to the conclusion that it was certainly true for me. At the same time, how many of us have whined and complained that we don’t have enough money? With just a couple of lifestyle downgrades, I found I could cut thousands from my monthly budget. Mortgage This would be the hardest one to execute as I’d have to sell my home and move. But disregarding […] Read more »

A Wine Sale, A Blown Budget, and Lessons Learned

Written by on · 10 Comments

Even the most diligent of the financial savvy have an occasional lapse in monetary reason.  I don’t claim to be in the first category, but I can certainly identify with the latter.   When these scenarios play out in life, it’s important to identify what went wrong, what led us down that path, and how we can do better next time. Over the weekend my wife and I stopped by a liquor store that was having a wine tasting event.  The plan was to stop in to taste some new wines and picked up a bottle or two.  We did taste […] Read more »

Will Boredom Bust Your Budget?

Written by on · 3 Comments

Has the unthinkable happened to you? You created a budget, even talked about it with your significant other. You determined the amount of discretionary funds available and how much you wished to spend, and carefully matched those funds to wants and needs. Yet end of the weekend analysis reminded you that somewhere along the way a decision was made to use funds outside the spending plan. How could that possibly be? The answer is simple; you spent out of boredom caused by lack of planning. This exact thing happened to my wife and I this weekend. We wanted to have […] Read more »

I’m Not Spending a Penny On My Wife For Christmas, and She’s Going To Love It

Written by on · 13 Comments

I’m not spending a penny on my wife for Christmas this year, and she’s going to absolutely be thrilled about it. With the holidays approaching, conversations of gift ideas are being had between spouses, family members and friends. My wife and I were having a discussion about tasks that needed to be done yet to prepare for hosting Thanksgiving at our home. She got a little off topic, listing other less Thanksgiving critical tasks she wanted to have done. Sensing I was about to go into my usual speech about prioritization and doing only the things absolutely needing completion by […] Read more »

Nobody Likes Being Reminded Of Their Mistakes

Written by on · 18 Comments

A high school science teacher from Iowa ate nothing but McDonald’s for six months. Maybe you’ve heard this story before, or maybe you’re thinking this was another one of those attempts to show the public the evils of fast food. If you fall into the later category, you might be surprised to learn that the man lost about 60 pounds, lost 21 inches off his chest, waist, and hips, and significantly lowered his cholesterol. The caveat here is that while he did eat fast food for every meal for 6 months, he also stuck to a 2000 calories a day […] Read more »

Marriage And Finances: Compromise and Delayed Gratification

Written by on · 14 Comments

My wife is coordinating a ladies night out to take place mid-November. The original plan was for the group of women to start at our home, have dinner at a nearby restaurant, then head downtown to an art activities place to paint and drink wine. Since there will likely be alcohol involved, there was some discussion about safe transportation. My wife began investigating the option of renting a party bus. After talking to several party bus companies and comparing services, options, and prices she gravitated towards one specific services. Even the cheapest service was rather expensive, but my wife was […] Read more »

How Overpriced Is The Olive Garden? The Post Where I Say “Hell No” To Takeout Pasta

Written by on · 31 Comments

It’s no secret that I dislike going out to eat. To be specific, I don’t like going out to eat just to order something that I could make as good at home, at significantly less cost. I don’t mean to dwell on this subject, but eating out is just such a colossal waste of money.  The absolute worst offender is anything pasta related, including a favorite restaurant of my wife and daughter; The Olive Garden. Look, it’s not The Olive Garden’s fault that they garner such hate from me, it’s just that taking a family of four there for dinner […] Read more »

4 Lines Of Defense Against Impulsively Buying Neon Green Compression Tights

Written by on · 6 Comments

I was at Target picking up some last minute school supplies when I shockingly found myself walking through the men’s athletic wear section. Some black and neon green running compression tights caught my eye. I have a blue pair of the same kind and like how they look and fit. My mind envisioned how they would look together with a shirt I already owned of a very similar color. I had talked myself into buying them. Into the cart they went. I’m a conservative dresser, going with mainly darker colors and things that don’t attract a lot of attention. But […] Read more »

What Does Your Refrigerator Tell You About Your Finances?

Written by on · 28 Comments

I view life as being made up of many strands, all interconnected and affecting each other. Each strand represent some aspect of a person’s personality or a stream of experiences. They are separate, but intertwined, each affecting the other. I looked in my fridge over the weekend, and noticed how cluttered it was. I was reminded of how I had been feeling about our finances lately. Let me show you what I mean: Pizza : I found a container of leftovers from our favorite local pizza place. We got back to town late Saturday evening after being at a lake […] Read more »

Small Victories- Getting Out of Debt One Small Step At a Time

Written by on · Leave a Comment
small victories get out of debt one step at a time

Getting out of debt can seem like a daunting task.  When you finally decide to take the step of getting yourself out of debt, it’s easy to be intimidated by the huge goal you’ve presented for yourself. And when you realize what you’re up against, you’re ready to give up on getting out of debt before you even get started. So how do you overcome that overwhelming feeling when you want to achieve your goal, but you’re so intimidated by all the work you know it will take to get it done? You have to chill out, take a step […] Read more »

How to Get Ahead If You’re Living Paycheck to Paycheck (Part 2)

Written by on · 8 Comments
get ahead living paycheck to paycheck

In the first article in the series, I covered eight things that might cause you to end up trapped in a paycheck to paycheck life. In this second post, I’m going to show you a few things you can do to get your finances under control, stop spending more than you make, and end the paycheck to paycheck cycle for good. If you read the last article, at this point you’ve probably figured out some of the top reasons why you’re struggling financially. Once you understand those reasons, I explained that it was important to get your mindset right and […] Read more »

Credit Cards Are Officially NOT For Me

Written by on · 58 Comments

Some use credit cards for as many of their day to day expenses as possible in order to rack up reward program points. Some even go through a process called credit card churning to earn points for signing up for a new accounts in exchange for cash, airline miles, or travel accommodations.  I know people that have taken their entire family on a free, or nearly free, trip by using such methods. Good for them, as long as they’re using their cards responsibly. But this kind of “beat the system” mentality is not for everyone. Not everyone has the internal […] Read more »

Don’t Cheat Yourself By Living a Life of Half-Assity

Written by on · 38 Comments

I was painfully making my way through a 14 mile run early on a Saturday morning. I was at mile 10, and struggling to find the energy or even the desire to pick up my feet and keep running. “If only I weighed less, this wouldn’t be so hard,” I thought to myself. Last October, when I crossed the finish line of the Twin Cities 10 mile race, I instantly decided I was going to run the full marathon in 2014. I had a full year to get lean, train hard, and run my best marathon ever. Yet here we […] Read more »