Want To Achieve Your Goals? Improve a Little Each Day

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I turned the corner, and the numbers came into focus on the clock counting the finishing times of the 5K I was running on Sunday morning. The clock said 25:55 as I crossed through the inflatable finish line. My first thought was that of satisfaction in finishing under my goal of 27 minutes. The next thought was that I knew I could do better. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a race of this specific distance, so I wasn’t sure of what pace to start at. I started too slow, and then slowly increased my speed. My failure […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 2/7

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I didn’t love anyone like a blogger last week.  Instead I announced that Vonnie and I had made our final payment to our debt management program, which is GREAT news, but it has me itching for some fist pumping action. In other news, you’ll notice my emergency fund section has disappeared.  The reason is we utilized all the resources we had to knock off that credit card debt early.  But not to worry, in one week our emergency fund will be at the desired $1000.  Our first payment on our newly refinanced mortgage isn’t due until March 1st, but our […] Read more »

Complete Transformation: My Next Big Goal

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Registration for the Twin Cities Marathon opened at 9:00am on Saturday, February 1st. I was sitting at my computer waiting for the link to go live, and I hit the final “submit” button at 9:09am. This will be my fourth marathon, but it will be unique. 2014 is going to be a year of transformation for myself. As of last Friday, we have completed our debt management program and $109,000 of credit card debt is gone. But that’s only the beginning, as we have other financial goals that we will accomplish this year. I want to extend that transformation to […] 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 With our 55th payment, plus a partial payment scheduled to be automatically withdrawn on Tuesday, the last of the $109,000 of credit card debt that we had enrolled in our debt management plan is gone.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 »

Paying Off Debt Will ROCK My Marriage

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“Should we stop and get the ladies flowers?” suggested the friend I was car pooling with as we pulled into town. The beaming smile on her face told me that Vonnie was very appreciative of the bouquet of flowers I brought her after being out of town for a few days. Relationships are hard work. You need to show your love and appreciation on a daily basis, as well as put their needs before your own. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. These are things I do willingly and joyfully without even thinking about them. When you love someone, […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 1/24

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I’m out of town this weekend on our 3rd annual mid-winter vacation to the Wisconsin Dells.  We’re having a ton of fun at the indoor water parks during the day, and playing games at night.  It’s our way of presenting the middle finger to this whole Polar Vortex thing.   The AWESOME thing is, we saved up enough cash to have a healthy spending budget while we’re away.  We’re still evaluating each purchase to make sure it brings value to our vacation, but we have a little more liberty this vacation than we have in years past.  It took a little […] Read more »

When Frugal Travel Hacks backfire

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Today’s post is a guest post by NZ Muse, a writer from Auckland who’s just completed a six-month trip around the world. She blogs about money, travel, food, and generally bumbling through Gen Y adulthood. Think you can’t afford to travel? Saving dosh while traveling isn’t much different than saving dosh in your day-to-day life. It’s all about weighing your priorities and cutting back in some areas so you can spend more freely on what matters to you. You can fly from point A to B – or you could catch a bus, or even hitchhike. You can eat in […] Read more »

What Does It Mean To Get Our Finances Back On Track?

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Goal: Get our finances back on track. Yep, that’s the goal, but what does that really mean? The thing I talk about most frequently is the $109,000 in credit card debt that my wife and I are paying off through the help of a debt management plan. While it is the biggest and most visible item, it’s not the only thing that needs to be done to repair the damage done by the thirteen years of over spending that left us at the edge of financial disaster. It’s completion, however, will unlock our ability to finally put into place the […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/17

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It’s been a rather exciting week in the Pizel household. First,  we closed on our mortgage refinance last Friday and now have our mortgage nicely wrapped up in one fixed rate loan.  More on that adventure in an upcoming staff post bia My Personal Finance Journey.  Watch my twitter feed for when it goes live, or check here in next week’s Shameless Self Promotion section.  🙂 This was the first full week implementing the home grown weight loss plan I cooked up using lessons learned from getting our finances back on track.  As per the info in the newly renamed […] Read more »

What We Learned About Finances Will Help us Lose Weight

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I’m not doing very well with my weight loss goal. As of last Friday, after over three months of effort I’ve lost a total of 1.1 pounds. I know the problem is that I struggle with eating too much. With the start of a new year, Vonnie also has made a commitment to be more healthy. We investigated several weight loss programs including Weight Watchers, which we have been a part of in the past and were very successful. We were literally putting our coats and shoes on to drive to a nearby center and enroll again when something stopped […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 1/10

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Vonnie and I are refinancing our mortgage, and we close today!  The interesting thing is, given how the process works we skip our January mortgage payment. With that extra cash, we may have the ability to finish off our debt management program at the end of January instead of a month later.  The downside is that it could take some serious penny pinching and all of our reserves.  We’re not sure what path we’re going to take yet,  but stay tuned here on EOD for how this developing scenario unfolds. 🙂 Now, let’s get those fists pumping! Posts That Make […] Read more »

How Much Do Your Teeth Cost You Each Year?

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One of the foundations of handling your finances successfully is to know where all your money goes, and what you spend it on. Our family just went through our beginning of the year round of teeth cleanings and checkups and as I sat in the chair wondering why it’s so freaking hard for the hygienist to prevent herself from poking me in the gums repeatedly (I HATE that), I also wondered just how much the maintenance of my our teeth costs us for a calendar year. So when I got home, I broke it down: Cleanings: Our family of four […] Read more »

I Don’t Want To Pay Off My Debt Anymore!

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Today’s post is courtesy of John Schmoll, who is the founder of Frugal Rules, a blog created to help people experience financial freedom through frugality. John is passionate about budgeting, saving and investing and enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with others so they can avoid making some of the mistakes that he made. A veteran of the financial services industry, John has an MBA in Finance and experience as a licensed stockbroker. Now that I’ve got your attention, let me tell you that I’m not thinking of giving up on paying off my debt. 🙂 Instead, I’m expressing the […] Read more »

Before You Start To Pay Off Debt….Do THIS

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The comment reminded me of myself four and a half years ago. A reader of a post featuring my get out of debt story asked for insight regarding how I handled unexpected expenses during my debt pay-off period. I’d like to say that I had done everything perfectly during my four and a half year quest to eliminate $109,000 of credit card debt, but there were plenty of bumps along the way. If I had to single out one thing as my biggest mistake, it would be not having an emergency fund in place from the very start. The importance […] Read more »