saving money | Enemy of Debt: Where Behavior Meets Reality

Day 1: No Restaurants in November 2011 – Let the Savings Begin!

Written by Brad Chaffee on November 1, 2011 · 20 Comments

So today it begins. No Restaurants in November baby! If you missed the rules I am giving myself (and possibly you) click here to see if you have what it takes. Yep those are challenging words! :D Have you decided to be TOTALLY WEIRD by participating in such a thing? WARNING: Your friends may laugh at you. You may get called some names. Your actions may cause people to feel judged. If this happens to you, please tread carefully. Unpredictable behavior may ensue. I get it. It totally sucks to be the only person at work with a bagged lunch, but guess what? It also sucks to be broke and/or keeping yourself from reaching your goals. Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011

Written by Brad Chaffee on October 24, 2011 · 49 Comments

Healthy Recipes - Tuna Steak and Veggies

Recently, I ran a poll about what challenges you the most about becoming debt free and I thought the results were great. There were 70 voters total and the results can be found here. Today, I want to talk about one of the TOP 5 challenges picked by you and am excited to bring back something I did last year that was very popular. Of course I’m talking about my No Restaurants in November challenge! According to my EOD Poll, 37% of you picked EATING OUT as one of the five things that challenged you the most about becoming debt [...] Read more »

Take a Step Back…Put your Financial Behavior in Check

Written by Suzanne Cramer on September 15, 2011 · 7 Comments

Debt is sometimes inevitable, unavoidable, and well a fact of life for many. No matter what your stage of life you may be faced with financial issues. Life can take its toll on your finances; unemployment, an unexpected illness, divorce or a death in the family can send you into a financial tailspin. But sometimes financial issues stem from a cause deeper than the unexpected; the way you think about money. To snap out of bad financial habits it may require some lifestyle and behavioral changes. 10 Financial Principles Dr. Bernard Poduska, author of For Love or Money writes about [...] Read more »

Frugal Fun: Geocaching

Written by Ashley on August 8, 2011 · 2 Comments

My family started a new hobby this weekend and we are totally hooked! Geocaching. It’s completely free and a total blast. If you’ve never heard of geocaching it’s a world-wide treasure hunt. You can sign up for free at geocaching.com and there are lists and lists of hidden caches. (The caches are the treasures.) You can search by zip code to find ones near you. Each treasure has coordinates that you can plug into your GPS that will bring you within feet of the cache. Then you have to use your noggin. So far I’ve found three. They were an [...] Read more »

Christmas is Coming, Will You Be Ready?

Written by Brad Chaffee on May 25, 2011 · 8 Comments

Here on Enemy of Debt, I have made it a point to get people to think ahead, especially when it comes to Christmas. In 2009, I challenged all of you to have a Debt free Christmas by preparing for it early instead of last minute. Today's post comes from Tyson Morgan and promotes the same idea of being prepared for something that happens every single year. Nope, Christmas is not an "emergency", although far too often, people are putting Christmas on plastic because they failed to properly plan for what's become a MONSTER CONSUMER HOLIDAY. I love sharing different perspectives from different writers, so I hope you enjoy today's post. Will you have a Debt free Christmas in 2011? Read more »

No Eating Out Check-in: How Have You Done?

Written by Brad Chaffee on April 20, 2011 · 25 Comments

Okay folks. I wanted to check in with everyone on the No Eating Out Challenge last week, but got kind of busy so here goes. How are you doing? Are you sticking to your goals of not eating out at all? Some of you, like me, gave yourself a smaller eating out budget; how have you done? I’m almost ashamed to admit I have done lousy. I mean, I’m still doing WAY BETTER than I would on a normal month, but I have really struggled with saying “NO” on a couple of occasions. We said we wanted to eat out [...] Read more »

It’s Not a Myth, It’s a Lie; You Don’t Need a Car Payment

Written by Brad Chaffee on April 12, 2011 · 35 Comments

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own and drive a nice car without payments? Wonder no more. It's AWESOME! Imagine driving down the road care-free, except for the road in front of you of course, without having to spend the next 3-6 years paying for it. It's yours. You own it. And the best part is, you didn't have to pay any interest AT ALL. If you lose your job, you know your car will not be repossessed because you failed to make the payments. Ahhh, the good life! Read more »

Final Results: No Restaurants Equal Big Savings

Written by Brad Chaffee on November 30, 2010 · 23 Comments

Photo Credit: scott.eyre Well November has come and gone! As most of you already know, I wanted to challenge myself — and you — to commit to not eating out at any restaurants at all for the month of November. So I started the No Restaurants in November Challenge. Some were excited, some were pessimistic, and some even questioned the reality of doing such a thing. While I definitely consider it to be more realistic than some claim, I still see how different lifestyles could make it more difficult for someone to accomplish this. With that said, I say anything [...] Read more »