How to Achieve Debt Freedom Without Sacrificing the Fun Stuff

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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 »

Have You Given Up On Your Financial Dreams?

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Parents tell children they can do anything they put their mind to. We encourage them by stating they can be anything they want. The sky is the limit! We want our children to be successful, and tell them they are only limited by their imagination. I know I’ve certainly told my kids these exact same things. But let me ask you a question; When was the last time you told yourself these things? Do you believe it? We tell children they can accomplish anything they put their minds to, but as adults we don’t believe this for ourselves. Life tends […] Read more »

Trouble Starting An Emergency Fund? Try A Change Jar!

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The emergency fund is one of the fundamental tools needed for financial freedom. Without an emergency fund, any unexpected expense results in a financial crisis that could require some extreme measures to recover from. I know this from personal experience all too well. Once you have an emergency fund, keeping it going is easier because a person understands it’s true value. The problem is the initial startup of getting it going. It’s hard to change your spending habits to set aside money for those things that just pop up in life. It’s also hard to see money just sitting there […] Read more »

Book Review: Hustle Away Debt

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What’s the first thing you do when an unexpected expense pops up, or if extra room needs to be cleared in the budget? If you’re like most people, you tighten the spending belt. The entertainment budget gets cut, and monthly expenses are scoured for things that can be discontinued. When faced with a financial dilemma, most people will free up funds in their budget by cutting spending. What doesn’t occur to most people is that there’s another choice. Instead of slashing spending, why not increase income? Cutting spending generally means lifestyle deflation because there are less discretionary funds available. But […] Read more »

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 »

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 »

The Power Of A Support System

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“Why does part of my brain keep wondering if I’m really going to be able to finish next week?” I asked my wife. At 8:00am on this coming Sunday the starting gun will fire, and I’ll begin a 26.2 mile run that is the Twin Cities Marathon. I’ve been training hard for the last 9 months, but a little piece of my consciousness seems to want to focus on how hard the last couple of long runs have been.   Then I think about how much further I have to run to complete the marathon and wonder if I’ll really be […] Read more »

It Takes Money To Save Money

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It takes money to make money. It’s a common phrase you may have heard before. My interpretation of the phrase boils down to investing, whether it be in stocks or a business. If you have money, it gives you more options to be able to generate more money.   Over the weekend I found a similar but less known assertion to be true. It takes money to save money. One of the things that I had let go of while we were paying off our debt was our lawn care. I love having a lush green lawn, but achieving the look […] Read more »

It’s Over. We’re Free!

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This morning I made a quick phone call, and just like that it was over. With our 55th payment, plus a partial payment scheduled to be automatically withdrawn on Tuesday, the last of the $109,000 of credit card debt that we had enrolled in our debt management plan is gone. We’re free!!! Free from the shackles of debt that have have held us down for our entire seventeen year marriage. Free to finally have the decision of what to do with our money fully within our own control instead of having to hand it over to credit card companies.  No […] Read more »

A Taste of Financial Freedom

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On Saturday Vonnie turned the big 4-0.  Forty is the age where people question their place in life, reflect upon what they have or haven’t accomplished, and question their mortality. In other words, their 40th birthday can leave a person feeling old. I wanted to give my wife a day of fun that would make her feel special, and help ease her way into her fifth decade on planet earth. The night before her birthday I told Vonnie that she better get some rest because she was in for a very busy day. She started to ask questions, but I […] Read more »

Dealing With Student Loan Debt

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student loans

  If you have student loans from attending college (Let’s hope you don’t) and you’re a recent graduate, you might be a little concerned about how you’re going to get that student loan debt paid back. As college tuitions have risen over the years and starting salaries have remained flat or even gone down, it has become much more difficult for many people to meet those huge student loan obligations and get them paid off in a timely manner. Total student loan debt is now over $1 Trillion and even exceeds total credit card debt according to Allie Johnson at […] Read more »

You Definitely DON’T Need a Credit Score

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This guy thinks he needs a credit score

Do you have a credit score?  Probably so.  Do you have any idea what your credit score is?  Maybe you do, maybe you don’t.  Do you really believe that it’s totally necessary to have a credit score?  Most people do, and I think they are wrong. First, let’s take a quick look at exactly what your credit score is and why you have one.  Your credit score, also known as the FICO score, was created by the Fair Isaac Company (Thus “FICO”) to estimate a person’s credit worthiness.  Your FICO score is really just a number that tells people how […] Read more »

My Journey to Financial Freedom | Part 2: The Climb

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This is a guest post by my “virtual” friend Dena from Evolution You. I have admired her work for some time now, and am happy to be able to share this post with you here on EOD. It is truly inspirational! Be sure to subscribe to Evolution You so you can receive her awesome updates each week. Enjoy! Three years ago, I was nearly $60,000 in debt. I had a Bachelor’s degree that didn’t appear to be worth its weight in salt and a job that couldn’t cover a fraction of my monthly bills. I was terrified. Today, I am […] Read more »