I Will Now Cease Any and All Complaining

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It was a 30 minute ride to and from the office during my two week stay in India, and since I wasn’t driving I had a lot of time to look at the scenery. I was surprised to see empty lots in the middle of a metropolitan area of millions of people. The driver told me that owners don’t want to leave their property empty for very long, or they’d end up with squatters which are almost impossible to get rid off. He pointed at just such an empty lot, which was dotted with small tin shacks covered with blue […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 9/28

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It’s the last Friday in September. Whew! I don’t know about you, but it has been an action packed month. Four weeks ago, I was returning from my India business trip. Three weeks ago I was at #Fincon12. Two weeks ago I had gone to CareOne’s headquarters. After a recovery week, I’ve spent this past week playing catchup at work, and with my writing. We’re all busy, so I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you didn’t have time to check out all the financial blogosphere has to offer. But not to worry, that’s why I keep close tabs on […] Read more »

Debt Free News #25 – Scraps

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Every debt free story submitted is special. I smile from ear to ear every time I read a new submission. I’m equally as excited about today’s Debt Free News because today’s story comes from someone who has followed Enemy of Debt since the beginning.  It was readers like Scraps that kept me on the path to educating the world about debt and living a debt free life. Scraps is special to me because we have continued to chat over the years and we have often emailed back and forth about things she’s going through or just to chat about something […] Read more »

What Kind Of People Live Without Credit Cards?

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Businesses have stopped taking checks, and we’re constantly being bombarded with offers for credit cards that offer low introductory interest rates and rewards point programs of some sort. Some experts even tell us jumping on the credit bandwagon to build up a healthy credit score is a necessity. It seems as if we are being pushed towards swiping a card to make our purchases. But is it possible to ignore all of this and live a credit card free life? My friend Brad Chaffee, founder of this site, is dedicated to living a credit free, cash only lifestyle. While he […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup 9/21

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Happy Friday, EOD Nation! I’ve been bursting with excitement anxiously waiting being able to share with you my favorite articles from the past week.  There have been some great ones, so I don’t want to waste anymore of your time – let’s get to the list already! 4 Steps to Avoid Financial Infidelity  from Dr. Jason Cabler via Kylie Ofiu Definitions Of A Middle Class Income: Do You Consider Yourself Middle Class? from Financial Samurai 14 Things I learned On Debt Management from a fellow customer of CareOne Debt Relief Services who is literally DAYS away from being debt free. […] Read more »

7 Habits of Debt-Free People

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As an indebted individual I always admire those that live a completely debt-free lifestyle. My in-debtedness is for the most part to what most consider “good” debt; a mortgage and a few outstanding medical bills. My goal is to set up a payment plan for them and pay them all off by this time next year. I cut credit card debt out of my life in my late twenty’s only using credit cards to my advantage and paying the balances in full each month. Living debt free is a lifestyle choice that requires hard work and an affirmation for saying […] Read more »

Visa GiftCard: Bad Birthday Present?

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With the clock reading 11:20am, we didn’t have much time to get a present for the birthday party Tori was invited to at 1:00pm. Scrambling, we asked our daughter what her friend might enjoy receiving as a gift, but unfortunately she couldn’t come up with much.  The one good idea she did give us was a gift card to a popular clothing store for kids, but we didn’t have the time to go to the mall to get it.  Vonnie suggested getting the birthday girl a Visa gift card that could be spent practically anywhere, further stating we could even […] Read more »

Link Love 9/15

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My whirlwind month of travel has come to and end. In the last 30 days I’ve been to India for work, Denver for the Financial Blogger Conference, and to the Baltimore area for an event with CareOne Debt Relief Services. Each one of these has been a unique, once in a lifetime experience. Along that same train of thought, these five blog posts are also unique and one of a kind articles that you should definitely read this weekend. I command you to do so. I’ve heard that women swoon for guys that are confident, and assertive.  Ladies, how’d I […] 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 »

Enemy of Debt: Best Debt-Focused Personal Finance Blog

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Some of you may know that we recently attended the second annual Financial Bloggers Conference known as #FinCon12. We networked, brainstormed and listened to others inspire us to make EOD (and our personal blogs) an even better experience for those of you getting out of debt and wanting to learn solid personal finance. Enemy of Debt was nominated for two Plutus Awards — Best Debt Focused Personal Finance Blog and Best Multiple Author Personal Finance Blog. We won Best Debt-Focused Personal Finance Blog!! I may have created and launched my passionate mission to eradicate debt from this world, but without […] Read more »

Short Term Sacrifice For Long Term Gain

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One of the biggest lessons we learned while getting out of debt was that sacrifice was critical to our success. And by success I don’t mean paying off our final debt before we die, I mean paying off our debt as fast as we could SO WE COULD LIVE…NOW! Think about that for a second. People spend money on things they want now (instant gratification), but isn’t that what I was getting by paying down my debt as fast as I could? I was instantly gratified each time I paid down my debt. And now we are definitely living although […] Read more »

4 Steps to Never Having a Car Payment Again

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no car payment

Ever experience that sick feeling when your car payment is due every month?  You realize that you don’t have a much of a choice when it comes to making that payment because you need that vehicle to get to work and run the kids around town. But you knew if you were able to have a paid for vehicle that your family’s finances would be so much easier to deal with.  What if something unexpected happened like getting laid off or an accident/ illness that keeps you out of work for several months?  Would you end up losing your vehicle […] Read more »

Chase Put Me On the Road to Financial Recovery, But it Cost them $100,000,000

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I recently received an unexpected letter in the mail from a law firm. Curiously, I opened the envelope, and read the title of the enclosed letter: Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement and hearing to Chase Credit Cardholders I was instantly reminded of the terror that I felt back in June of 2009 when we received five identical envelopes in the mail from Chase; one for each of the credit card accounts we had with them. The letter inside stated that terms of our accounts were being changed, and the minimum payment percentage was being increased. Our monthly payment was […] Read more »

The Problem with Money – It Just Goes!!!

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Whether it's a wad of currency in your pocket, a piece of plastic in your wallet, a jar full of coins, or paper checks in a checkbook, the main problem with money is it just goes! And, sometimes it goes quickly. Why is it that money seems to slip through our fingers so quickly? I believe the answer is found in the breadth of things one might spend money on. Whether it's a product, service, investment opportunity, real estate, housing, transportation, food, drink, or leisure activity, there is no end to the wide range of things that money can buy. And, the more money we have to spend in a discretionary manner, the more apt we are to make unwise and perhaps even reckless decisions. Read more »