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 »

No Effort, No Results

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A little over a year ago my mom had major back surgery.  Over the years her spine had become so twisted that it was squishing her internal organs in a way that was extremely uncomfortable, and would only get worse.  Titanium rods were attached to her spine using large screws in hopes that it would force her spine to be straightened, improve her posture, and resolve some breathing and pain issues she had been dealing with for years.  She is in her mid to late 60’s and the doctors advised that if she was going to have surgery the time […] Read more »

Earned an A+ in fun and a C- for my Budget: Vacation Report Card

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I am back from vacation. This trip was perfect; from the house we rented to the weather, everything about this trip gets an A+. My family has not had many opportunities to spend quality time together being spread out across the country.  I know that my brothers feel the same way I do about how amazing this experience was for all of our children and it was pretty awesome for my Mom too. BUT Our vacation budget took a bit of a beating.  Although we did not completely break the bank, there were several key lapses in judgment where spending […] Read more »

I Don’t Want To Be A Deadbeat Geezer

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Over the weekend my mom had major back surgery to correct her scoliosis. The surgery involved attaching metal rods to her spine to straighten it, and “rouging up” the vertebrae which would cause them to fuse together as she heals. My mom has a long road ahead of her as the estimated recovery time is at least a year. But the result should be a better quality of life than what she had, and definitely better than what her life would have become as her scoliosis continued to get worse. The nine hour surgery gave my dad and I the […] Read more »

Financial Peace Will Save My Marriage

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Peace. It’s a word that’s been stuck my head. It all started with a post I read last week in which the author described how budgeting brought peace to her marriage. The title stirred something inside me.  A simple, but powerful word, that for some reason seemed to continuously pop into my mind over the weekend. Friday evening we were trying to decide what to do for dinner. None of the options left on our meal planning list sounded very good to the family. In a moment of frustration as my stomach growled, I suggested we go out to eat. […] Read more »

Just Say No!

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I’ve always had trouble with the word no even as a child. My mom claims she would have raised my brother ten times before having to raise me again. I was strong willed, stubborn and loved to say, “no”. Not much has changed since then, I am still strong willed and stubborn, the difference is now I can’t say no, to anyone. Extra responsibilities at work? Sure, no problem. We’d like you to be the head room parent this year. Ok, I can do that! Would you mind being the website coordinator for football? Yeah, I don’t see why not. […] Read more »

Real Men Use a Shovel

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In Minnesota, we joke that there are only two seasons: Winter, and Road Construction. We DO occasionally say “You betcha,” although not as often, and not as dramatically as in the movies. We eat tator tot hot dish, and in my city the average snow fall is just under 52 inches per year. Walking outside the morning after a fresh snowfall, you can hear snow blowers humming away all over my neighborhood. But you’ll never hear the roar of a snow blower engine coming out of my garage, because I don’t own one. I clear my driveway the old fashioned […] Read more »

It’s Never Too Late to Take Control Of Your Life!

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I’ve been an inconsistent exerciser for my entire adult life. I’ll go through cycles of exercising religiously for months, but then go through a similar span of doing nothing. However, at the beginning of 2011 I looked in the mirror at an overweight, out of shape, middle aged man. My family has a history of some significant health problems, and I knew that if I didn’t make changes, I was sure to follow in their footsteps. Today marks two years of consistently working out 5-7 days a week. I ran my third marathon in October missing a personal best by […] Read more »

My First Trip to Costco: Why I Hate Club Stores

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I’m not a fan of “club” stores. Vonnie and I have a membership at Sam’s Club, but to me it’s useful only for the selection and price of certain cuts of meat worthy to be put on my smoker. Other than that, I could dump the membership and not miss a beat. My problem with club stores is the magical trance that comes over people (including myself) once the store is entered.  It’s the perspective  that if you find a product that you use (no matter how rarely), it should be snatched up immediately because every product is the sale […] Read more »

The Joneses Are Buying an iPhone5. What Should I Do?

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One of the coolest gadgets ever made is about to release the latest version — the iPhone5! All you hear around the water cooler is how your friends and co-workers have already pre-ordered it and are actually losing sleep in anticipation of its release. Your drab, but functional iPhone4 seems like the first phone ever made and the pressure to upgrade is pulling at your purse strings. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the iPhone! It has revolutionized how we interact and surf the web, interact with our friends and family, and in my opinion is quite possibly the best invention […] Read more »

A Family Night At the Movies for $5.50

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We were operating on a shoestring budget due to overspending during some vacation activities the first half of July. My kids had been interested, and in my daughters case begging, to be go see Ice Age 3 Continental Drift as a family. Going to a movie can be an expensive excursion, especially if you visit the concession stand. Our usual movie going technique is go see the movie as a matinee, when the tickets are $4.50 per person. However, even that was more funds than we felt comfortable shelling out. With a little creativity, my family of four were able […] Read more »

My Class Reunion, Was It Worth It?

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Smokin’, drinkin’ and partying too, we’re the class of Ninetytwo! This past weekend I traveled to my hometown to celebrate my 20 year high school class reunion (yikes). My classmates who organized the reunion did a spectacular job putting together an entire weekend of events ranging from a golf outing, to an outdoor meet and greet, a dinner, a pool party and a reserving a special section at a community event involving live music and rib tasting. Vonnie and I had a blast at both my five and ten year reunion, so we were looking forward to this one as […] Read more »

Razor Customer Support Rocks!

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Standing in the kitchen, we told our daughter, Tori, she was only getting one present for her birthday. She looked a little confused as we handed her a small, flat, rectangular present that was very light. She opened it up and screamed in delight as she realized it was the picture cut from the packing box of the Razor electric scooter she had been coveting ever since her friends in the neighborhood had gotten one a year earlier.  We had not intended to purchase such an expensive birthday present, but it was something Tori really wanted. So, we sacrificed a […] Read more »

Togetherness Is The Best Kind of Family Therapy.

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It had been a really rough week for my family. A close friend of ours that lived in the neighborhood had passed away recently, and we had spent the entire week in crisis mode spending time with the family and other neighbors in support of each other. As most families, we have a daily routine. Dinner at 6:00, homework at 7:00, our favorite shows of the evening after that. That routine had been completely disrupted and my wife and I felt like our children had suffered from lack of attention from us. On my way home from work , I […] Read more »