The $100 Extra Income Challenge

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’ve already thought about what you want to accomplish in 2012 with your finances. Are you going to get out of debt in 2012? Regardless of what your financial goals are for this year I want to kick things off with a challenge. When it comes to managing money successfully people have more excuses than they have solutions. Whether it be saving for a rainy day, paying off debt or building retirement there’s always an excuse as to why we can’t do this or that. Usually those excuses have to do with income so […] Read more »

End of the Year Inspiration for a Successful 2012

Generally I publish an end of year glance at the passing year as well as offer up my goals for the new year. Today I’m going to do something different. If you are looking for a great year in review post Ashley shared her goals for 2012 a few days ago. I didn’t want to be redundant so I wanted to add to what she put together by inspiring you to really think about what you want your 2012 to look like. This inspiration is as much for me as it is for you, because let’s face it, most of […] Read more »

Did You Get What You Wanted for Christmas?

  Photo Credit: Carolwrightgifts So, how was your Christmas? Mine was simply fabulous. In fact, it was the most enjoyable Christmas I’ve had in years, thanks for asking. What made this Christmas so different? Come with the spirit of Christmas past as we revisit the Pizel family holiday tour of 2011: First, we see a family of four sitting in their living room on Christmas morning. There aren’t as many presents under the tree as their had been in previous years, but the kids don’t seem to notice. Both children got several gifts that were at the top of their […] Read more »

New Year’s Annual Review

I thought I'd take you through my annual reveiw and hopefully inspire you to do one too; and if you are really feeling inspired feel free to share yours with the group. The exercise starts with two questions. •What went well this year? •What did not go well this year? What went well this year? I started my site, Money Talks. I'm happy with the progress my blog has made. I've met a ton of amazing people and went to the Financial Bloggers Conference, which was a total blast. I exceeded my very modest income goal this year and we avoided any major financial set backs. This allowed us to pay down debt and save more than I had been planning on. Read more »

Changing My Money Mind in 2012

It’s that time of year when we all vow to change our ways and resolve to go on a diet, quit smoking, or get out of debt. How many of us actually have a plan in place to make our resolutions a reality? Unfortunately most of us don’t and this is why we are doomed to fail before we even start. Yes, money is necessary to support our lifestyle, but do we let it determine how we live our lives? The fact is many of us do. We allow ourselves to live up to or above our means which often […] Read more »

Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Week 13

The last class is about giving. There are some amazing stories about giving throughout the class. I won't spoil the surprise but I was pretty teary eyed at a lot of them. Ok, I cried. Jeeze. But they are very touching. My fears about the class being very religious were fulfilled in this class. All of the previous classes weren't overly religious. I was worried that because it's held at a church and intended to be given to people who attended church that it would be filled with religion. I mean, that's a reasonable assumption. And I don't have a problem with religion, it's just that I'm not religious. So for those out there who are like me and want to take the class but worry that it will be too "churchy" I can tell you that it's not... until the last class. Read more »

Living the Life We Want Because of Debt Freedom

I have a sneaky suspicion that most people underestimate the power of debt freedom. The benefits of paying your debt off are enormous. The changes we have been able to make because of our debt freedom have been both surprising and very exciting. It was surprising because although I knew getting out of debt would be awesome and beneficial I hardly expected for it to change our lives the way it has. We recently began looking at how we could further mold our life into one that best fits our wants and desires. That’s the inspiration for me finally writing […] Read more »

Christmas Stimulus Winners and My Top 15 Most Favorite Resolutions

Another Christmas Stimulus in the books! 🙂 Something else that I noticed was that we have lots and lots of weddings in 2012! Congratulations to all of you either getting married or that have a child getting married! Lots of love in 2012! 😀 I can’t tell you just how much I enjoyed reading all of your financial resolutions for 2012! Some of you even helped me add a couple more to my list!I liked them so much in fact that I decided to share my 15 most favorite resolutions! Not only that I decided to choose my favorite resolution […] Read more »

12 Months of Christmas Debt (The Song)

On the first day of Christmas my habits gave to me: One Empty Wallet On the second day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Two-hundred Sales And one empty wallet. On the third day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales And One Empty Wallet. On the fourth day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Four Credit Offers Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales and One Empty Wallet. On the fifth day of Christmas my habits gave to me: Five New Credit Cards Four Credit Offers Three Reasons to Shop Two-hundred Sales […] Read more »

My Journey Out of Debt Has Brought Me Closer To God

In November I had a series of posts published in the CareOne Community discussing positive things that have resulted from my journey out of debt. This post was meant to be the last in that series, but I held back writing it because quite honestly I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable revealing this previously undisclosed part of me to my online friends.  However, as the weeks have gone by, I have felt a growing desire to write this post. As is typical of many young children, I gave my parents a hard time about having to get up on […] Read more »

Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University Week 12

This week's class was on Real Estate and Mortgages. I liked this class a lot. Dave has a ton of great information about real estate since he's been in the industry his whole life. He has lots of funny and interesting stories. Dave is anti-mortgage, no surprises there. He would love it if everyone paid cash for their mortgages but he acknowledges that that's not going to happen. He does encourage everyone to pay off their house early, after paying off their debt and saving for retirement. In this lesson he gave tips for selling your home. Things like to clean it perfect, including the windows and the front door. Basically life in your house as if it was a model home. You are moving anyways so pack up most of your personal belongings. You want the new buyer to feel like it's their home as soon as they walk in. That won't happen if you still have your ceramic rooster collection on display. Read more »

Where Do You Focus When You Invest?

Let’s have a little fun and begin with an exercise. Begin by taking a break and go sit anywhere outside. Once your comfortable, take your hand and hold it about a foot in front of your eyes. It’s probably been a while since you really looked at your hands so focus for at least a minute on every detail. Study your nails or the lines in your skin for at least a minute. This next step may be challenging but it is critical that you keep your focus on your hand without allowing your eyes to refocus. Now while focusing […] Read more »

Brad & J’s 2011 $300 Christmas Stimulus

Guess who’s back with my very favorite giveaway of the year? Remember back in 2009 & 2010 when J Money from Budgets Are Sexy and Enemy of Debt joined forces to bring you our Christmas Stimulus Giveaway. Well we’re here for a third year in a row with $300 worth of cash money to give away to our favorite people — YOU THE READER! That’s right, this is when we dig into our own pockets to show our appreciation for all of you! No sponsors here, just two guys who enjoy what we do and want to say THANK YOU […] Read more »

Reducing Monthly Expenses to Pay Down Your Debt

Starting the process of paying down your debt involves a lot more than the simple declaration, “no more.” It also requires a thorough review of your personal finances. That doesn’t just mean an assessment of the debts you owe, but also what you spend, on a monthly basis. The first place to start is to see precisely how much money you bring in on a monthly basis. For some, this is easy as it’s simply their monthly paycheck. For others, it’s more complex. But whether you work for someone else, run your own company, do freelance work, or are currently […] Read more »