As my readers know I am pretty big on personal responsibility. By staying away from the blame game that keeps us static, we should tap into our own abilities to resolve the most complex of problems. I believe that we have within us a tremendous ability to make things happen for ourselves. Today, there seems to be a growing effort to stifle those abilities, and I believe that is a big mistake. We have gone from a country of creativity and ingenuity to what seems to be one of entitlements and dependence. I am very happy to announce that I […] Read more »
Passion Fuels Success – Use It To Your Advantage!
Society as a whole seems to follow the “Thank god it’s Friday!” mentality when it comes to work. What comes next is the follow-up phrase, “Oh no, it’s Monday!”, as the alarm clock shocks you into reality first thing Monday morning. What’s the purpose of that? Why do we subject ourselves to hating more about our life than we like? Out of 365 days each year we work approximately 260 of them, and we spend 208 of those 260 days waiting for Friday to arrive. Why? “Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart […] Read more »
We’re Debt FREEEEEEEE!!!
…20 months in the making. We are finally debt free! Two months to save $2,000, and 18 months to pay off about $26,000! The feeling is amazing! We owe NO ONE but our mortgage company! NO car payments! No furniture payments! No student loans! No more stupid debt for us please! A lot of people dream about this day, but it seems like fewer people actually work towards it! Are you that person? We used to be. We accepted all of the social standards for having and using debt and it didn’t work out. Freedom is so much more sweet […] Read more »
Special Announcement On Monday
I have a special announcement to make here on ENEMY OF DEBT! I wanted to make it today but since it is sooo special I wanted to take a little more time to post it as an audio blog. I am also running short on time today since I have to go to work at 5:30. I want to thank all of you for being patient with me as I have not posted as regularly as I would have liked lately. I would also like to thank each and every single one of my subscribers for allowing me to share […] Read more »
SAVE MONEY, NOT MOVIES!
There are lots of things that people waste money on, but I want to talk about something that I used to waste money on. Movies! Do you have a DVD collection that rocks? I have noticed that people take great pride in their DVD collection, and you often hear them proclaim it’s greatness with enthusiasm. I used to be one of those people that collected movies, that was at least until I realized how much money I WASTED on movies that I hardly ever watched. I started asking myself if the value was worth the expense. People like to brag […] Read more »
Brad Goes To Sweet Briar
Well everybody, the big day has come and gone. Friday was quite the day indeed. For those of you that do not know I was asked to speak at Sweet Briar College (a girls college) about starting out with topics such as savings, budgeting, student loans, and buying a house. The event was being held for a local Grapevine group called Virginia Network of Black/African-American Women in Higher Education. It was a great bunch of ladies! As far as being nervous I never really got nervous. That came as a huge surprise for me but I am pretty sure my […] Read more »
Changing Your Behavior Requires A Paradigm Shift
What Is A Paradigm Shift? As defined, is ¹) a fundamental change in approach or assumptions, and ²) the acceptance by a majority of a changed belief, attitude, or way of doing things. What if your way of thinking changed completely? Would your behaviors change as well? People are afraid of change, but change for the better should be nothing to fear! Change is growth and maturity, because if you are not changing you are not learning. Learn to change and you will be amazed at what you can do! Become a butterfly! Check out these four articles from four […] Read more »
The Time Is Near – Wish Me Luck!
Hello everyone! As some of you know I am speaking at a college this Friday, for one whole hour, to a group of ladies about budgeting, saving, student loans, and buying a home. I was asked to speak about those topics for people who are just starting out, and I said yes, while a little but very loud voice screamed NOOOOOOO!! Fear caused me to want to say no, but courage caused me to step outside of my comfort zone to get things done. If I want to get better at communicating my message, saying YES was the only answer. […] Read more »
From Car Payment To Clunker To Upgrade
A Little History When we started our Total Money Makeover in January of 2008 with just over $25,000 in debt, not including our house, we made some extreme decisions. I only say extreme because most people looked at me like I was insane. The truth is that I was. I was insane to keep driving a car with a payment. We had a very nice 2004 Pontiac Vibe that we absolutely loved. It was a great car! The problem was that the car had a monthly price tag of $300 a month plus additional costs such as higher insurance and […] Read more »
My Mission Is To Be Debt Free And Fat Free
I Have Been Busy Hello everyone! Sorry about the slow week, but I hope to make up for it this week. I have been busy with other projects and was even able to take a trip down south to visit my sister and her beautiful children. (I even had a little trampoline fun while I was there.) I have some updates for you. Here’s what you can expect from Enemy Of Debt this week: Monday – I upgraded my car, and I am pretty excited to tell you about it. Yep, the blue rocket has been retired, but for good […] Read more »
Alleviate The Anguish Of Debt – Commit Yourself To A Frugal Lifestyle
This is a guest post from my good friend Clair Schwan from Frugal Living Freedom. I hope you enjoy it and please go over to his site and check out all of the great information he has worked hard to provide you. ENJOY! If you’re in need of help with your debt, you’ll likely need help with your approach to living as well. Debt doesn’t sneak up on us and capture us one day. It slowly creeps into our lives because we allow it to happen. Quite often our lifestyle has encouraged it, condoned it and promoted it. We are […] Read more »
Enemy Of Debt Christmas Challenge #2 – “Help Your Neighbor” Christmas Stimulus
A Debt Free Christmas Is A Stress Free Christmas The first challenge I put out there was to make it through this Christmas WITHOUT accumulating ANY debt at all. That’s right, a NO credit card Christmas. I received such a great response to that post I wanted to step it up a notch. I will be posting updates to allow everyone to share their debt free Christmas goals starting next month. Start thinking about how much you want to spend this year and make a plan to start saving that goal amount. No debt this Christmas! You can do it! […] Read more »
Roundup: You And Your Money Plus A Carnival Edition
The Power Of You I am constantly trying to learn how to better myself. I make mistakes all the time, but it’s what I learn from those mistakes and how I address them that matter the most. As I always say, YOU are the key to making things happen. If you wait for someone else, then you will live life waiting. Live life growing instead. How can you be better? The Death Of Becoming Something by Illuminated Mind The Magic Of Doing Things Slowly by The Happy Self Winning Teams – How To Stop Being A Loser by My Super-Charged […] Read more »
This Is What Debt Free Looks And Feels Like!
Surprise Double Post!! On Fridays I LOVE To Motivate!! I thought I would give you something to think about this weekend. When you are out this weekend and pull out your plastic companion to pay for something I want you to think about this post. I want you to think about Enemy of Debt. I want you to think about debt freedom. Most importantly I want you to THINK! 😀 You deserve the best and debt is not the best! Where there is no debt there is freedom, and it is greener on the other side. Think Green! 😀 The […] Read more »