Spend More, Save More

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My wife wanted to string globe lights around our patio for ambiance for a party we were hosting over the weekend. We found several lights were burnt out, and needed to be replaced. I found replacement bulbs at Walmart, two bulbs for $3. I needed four bulbs, for a total replacement cost of $6. Nearby I found a brand new strand of lights for $10. I gently placed the new strand of lights in my cart and headed for the self-checkout lane. Why would I pay $10 for an entire new strand when I could replace my burnt out bulbs […] Read more »

I Want My Daughter To Quit Her Job

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My daughter, a junior in high school, has a fantastic part-time job as a food runner blocks away from our house. They work with the students to ensure they get the time off they need for school activities and family functions. Many of her friends work there as well. She earns $10 an hour, but after tips are counted, it’s closer to $20. This all sounds great, but she wants to quit. I support her 100%. Learning Skills My daughter is taking a class in which she learns the skills preparing for the certified nursing assistant exam. She has almost […] Read more »

5 Things I Don’t Mind Spending Money On

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Achieving your ultimate financial goals requires you to be selective in how you spend your hard earned money. Being a wasteful or frivolous spender leaves less money in your pocket to put towards eventual financial freedom. But being wise with your money doesn’t mean living in a cardboard box and subsisting on bread and water – it simply means executing selective spending. Spend your hard earned cash on things that matter to you. Here’s a list of 5 things I don’t mind pulling my wallet out for: Expensive Groceries USDA Prime rated steak, lobster tail, crab legs and beef tenderloin […] Read more »

The Best $250 Gadget Ever Purchased

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A friend of mine suggested I stop fighting with my old, cracked iPod Nano and replace it with something more current. Call me cheap, frugal, or nostalgic – I just can’t bring myself to part with my old friend (the iPod, that is). Gadgets are exciting! Gadgets are fun. Gadgets make life easier. They are also expensive. Americans spend thousands of dollars on new gadgets – sometimes all at once! A new TV, new phones for the family, and upgraded game systems sit under the Christmas tree each year. There is nothing wrong with that, of course – as long […] Read more »

Know Your Warranty, Or Pay The Price

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I watched my wife cringe as she sat in the living room chair. She paused the television and told me to listen. She was irritated by the high pitched squeal emitted by our air conditioning unit each time it started up. I heard it, but it just seemed like background noise. It didn’t bother me in the least, but it was like nails on a chalkboard for her. It’s been making this noise for years. It squeals for a few minutes, and then it quits. We had someone come out to take a look at it a few years ago, […] Read more »

Are You Conscientious or a Slacker?

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Extremely frustrated, I waited in a parking lot for one last person that was running late. They were supposed to arrive at 7:30am and the instructions clearly stated the youth group would leave the church at 8:00am sharp. It was this person’s tardiness that broke my wife’s perfect parent streak. You know what I mean; the mom who waves to her child as they drive away in excitement to a five-day excursion of hiking, singing songs by the bonfire, and getting yelled at by counselors because you’re making everyone in the cabin giggle when you should be sleeping. Here it […] Read more »

Want To Achieve A Big Goal? Better Know Your “Why!”

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The street corner marked the end of my eight mile run, and upon reaching it I peeled off my tank top. It was soaking wet from being in the rain for just over an hour, and I rang it out as I walked the final block to my drive way. I opened my front door to see my wife looking at me with eyes wide open and a smile on her face. “I look out the window and see this beast walking up the driveway without a shirt on!” She went on to explain that it wasn’t just the fact […] Read more »

Tell The Joneses To Go To Hell, They’ll Respect You For It

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It’s taken me over 41 years of walking this earth, but I’m finally getting a grip on the person I want to be. It’s been building for awhile, but my perspective was reinforced at a gathering with friends over the weekend. It was our monthly gourmet club get together, which is basically a modified potluck. The host picks the theme and prepares the main course, and the rest of the guests bring an appetizer, side dish, or dessert that matches the theme. It’s a great group of friends, and we always have a lot of fun. It’s also an event […] Read more »

The One Reason For Eating Out That Is a Big Fat Lie

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I think we would all agree that dining out is more expensive than cooking at home. We all go out to eat from time to time, but did you notice that we always seem to attach some sort of excuse to it? Whether we’re celebrating, or we’re on vacation, or we’re just too busy to cook it seems like we have to justify to ourselves a trip to a restaurant. Sometimes there are some valid reasons, sometimes there isn’t a reason other than we just want to and that’s OK. But there’s one excuse that we tell ourselves over and […] Read more »

The Effect Of Debt….We’ve Come A LONG Way

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I know that my life is very different now that we’ve eliminated $109,000 in credit card debt. We have breathing room in our budget, we have the freedom to decide what we do with our money, and life is just over all less stressful. But every now and then, something happens that brings me back to the days when we were struggling and reminds me just how much better off we are without the weight of debt holding us down. My smoker is in need of some maintenance. The rope gasket I had installed on the cover of my smoker […] Read more »

Breeze Through Your Taxes Through Preparation And TaxACT

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This post is part of the TaxACT #BeatTheDeadline blog tour which shares tips on how to make tax time a smooth and easy process before the April 15 deadline. TaxACT provides the tools and guidance to help you confidently file taxes easy and fast. Do your own taxes today at TaxACT. You got this. When you think about doing your taxes, what picture immediately forms in your head? Is it one of sitting in front of the computer answering questions displayed on the screen by tax preparation software? Or maybe one of an appointment with an accountant? I’ve noticed something […] Read more »

A Conversation Overheard: Teenagers Ordering Pizza For The First Time

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Working at the kitchen table, I had my back to my twelve year old daughter and her friends who were watching TV in the living room. It was the first day of Spring Break, and they were excited for a week without school. I tried to tune out the sounds of whatever teenage girls usually talk about, when suddenly one of them said something that made my ears perk up. “We should order pizza!” The suggestion was meant to be a joke, but I listened to them begin to discuss some details such as what kind of pizza they would […] Read more »

Using Intermittent Spending To Stay On Budget

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A body builder friend of mine recently posted a link to an article that caught my eye. The article described a diet methodology called Intermittent Fasting in which a person would consume all their food for the day in an 8 hour window followed by 16 hours of fasting. This wasn’t just some person’s half cocked idea about how people should eat, there was actually some science behind it. The thought is that eating all the food for a given day in a short period of time more closely resembled how our ancestors lived. Prehistoric man would spend the day […] Read more »

Debt and Cleaning

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 Today’s post is from my friend Prudence, who hails from Prudence Debt Free.  I had the honor of having her guest post once before, and I’m very excited to have her back.  So please, give her a warm EOD Nation welcome! Should we hire house-cleaners again? A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with two colleagues about how we used to hire house-cleaners. “Do you hire cleaners?” I asked Cam. “Of course we do!” he answered. As a working couple with two small children, he and his wife found it made life manageable to have the services of a […] Read more »