To Be or Not To Be…That is the Question

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Thankful that is…today is Thanksgiving a time to spend with loved ones and reflect on what you are thankful for. It has been a tough year for my family and some days I didn’t feel so thankful, but today I have a renewed attitude of thankfulness and realize just how lucky I am to have my health, my family, and the support of communities like this one. Unexpected Gifts of Thanks Sometimes we are dealt a bad hand and just need to make the best of less than perfect situations. Divorce.  On April 5th of this year my divorce was […] Read more »

Thanksgiving: Frugal and Fun

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I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday. One of the reasons is that I met my husband on Thanksgiving day in 2003. I had been invited to my roommate's parents house for the holiday. While I was there I met her brother... who is now my husband. But this great holiday was my favorite even before that. I like Thanksgiving because it's low-key. There isn't a huge lead up to the holiday. You don't spend WEEKS before the actual event listening to commercials and promotions so that you are sick of the holiday before it even arrives. Read more »

19 Important Questions to Ask Yourself When Shopping on Black Friday

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Hello all! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? If you’ve been a reader for more than a year you probably know I hate Black Friday. There are many reasons for this and I won’t go into it again but I really have a problem with what the Christmas season has become. Really what we have let it become but I digress. Gobble up your turkey and say bye to your family because you have early sales to hit up! (Yes, this is sarcasm.) This year I wanted to provide a checklist of questions to ask yourself to make sure you are […] Read more »

The $500 Winner in the Kill Your Debt Giveaway is…

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3 loooooooong weeks ago I posted the Kill Off Your Debt $500 giveaway. Hopefully you entered to win! If not, keep your eyes peeled open for my next giveaway in December. Then I will be co-hosting the 3rd annual Brad & J’s Christmas Stimulus 2011, where we show our appreciation for all of you. The giveaway went great and it was really fun to read all of the great things you would do once you’re debt free. Thank you all for participating!! After 533 entries — including 19 blog post entries and approximately 144 tweets — a winner has been […] Read more »

Vote for my Article in the Impulse Save Turkey Talks Writing Contest!

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I entered a writing contest over at Impulse Save. The rules were simple. Write about my financial journey — the good, the bad, or the ugly — and then share why I’m thankful for where I am today. I’ve told my story so many times in so many places so I decided to try and be a little more creative telling it this time around.I would absolutely love to hear if you loved it or hated it — all opinions are welcome! 😀 I hope you like it ENJOY! Read this excerpt: As I sat on the park bench watching […] Read more »

Last Chance at Winning $500

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Today is your very last chance to enter this giveaway. Comments will be closed at midnight tonight! Click the banner and read the instructions to make sure your entry counts! P.S. I have really enjoyed reading the comments to see all of the different things you would do if you were debt free. The point was to get you to dream about all the things you would do but I hope it doesn’t stop there. I hope you all make those dreams a reality! Good Luck! 😀 Read more »

$571,817.68 Down And $0 To Go – Special Anniversary Celebration

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571,817.68 is a lot of dollars.   On January 18, 2009, this is how much I owed in debt. After a decade of living beyond my means. A couple of lousy real estate transactions. And a failed marriage.   I have carried this debt for nearly three years. Watching each month as the numbers crawled toward zero. And yesterday, I made my very last payment. New balance: $0.00.   If I stacked 571,817 dollar bills into a pile and weighed it – it would be 1,167 pounds.   That’s literally HALF a ton. The debt I carried weighed as much as […] Read more »

Santa Is a Waste Of Money

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In a scene common to many American households during the holiday season, my kids sat at the kitchen table thumbing through a stack of Christmas toy magazines creating their Christmas wish lists. I smiled as I watched them, remembering doing the exact same thing when I was a kid.  I actually folded mine up, put it in an envelope and gave it to my parents to mail to Santa. Feeling their excitement as I walked towards the table, I overheard, “Oooh, I’ve never seen that before, that is SO cool! That’s definitely going on my list!” Suddenly having them go […] Read more »

Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Week 9

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This week's class was called Of Mice and Mutual Funds. It was about investing, obviously. I liked this lesson quite a bit. Lots of good information. He gave a lot of definitions again, like in the insurance class. As I said during the review of the insurance class, knowing the lingo of investing is half the battle. He talked about the following investments. Read more »

The Dangers of Debt from a Financial Pro

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November is No Restaurant Month and if you embrace the concept fully it’s a month to avoid unnecessary expenses. I recently read an article in the New York Times in the “Your Money” section. That issue profiled one of my idols in the industry, Carl Richards; financial planner, blogger, and napkin illustrator. Carl has been in the industry since 1996 and has provided easy to understand illustrations exploring the relationship between people and their money. He refers to this as the “behavior gap”. In short, Carl is an experienced and knowledgeable financial professional. But, as you’ll see in the New […] Read more »

No Restaurants in November 2011 – Do You Have a Checklist?

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Hello guys and gals! So here we are two weeks after starting my “insane” challenge of avoiding restaurants for the entire month of November. I’m excited to see where each of you are and how you’ve managed to do so far. It’s been fun no? LOL I have done perfectly so far but surprisingly had a hard time last week. It wasn’t even because I “wanted” to eat out. It was more of what I referred to in my last post where I talked about not planning meals and being out and about around meal time. Needless to say I […] Read more »

Stop Spending Money – It All Depends on Your Definition of STOP!

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I've touched on the idea that our words influence our beliefs which in turn influence our actions. In this post, I want to discuss the words and actions of two couples who had trouble understanding that the word "stop" meant something other than quit, cease, end, discontinue, terminate, or bring to a halt. It's funny in a way. Who doesn't know what "stop" means - really, come on, you have to be kidding. How might you explain to law enforcement that the meaning of "stop" on that large red sign back there just wasn't abundantly clear in your mind? Read more »

The Most Important Money Advice You Will Ever Receive

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You do not need to buy a bunch of books from Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman or David Bach to get this kind of advice. You don’t have to go to week long seminars to learn this powerful tool either. You don’t even have to leave your home. Look no further than this blog post and you will get the most valuable money advice you could ever need. The power of this strategy is amazing! It will teach your children a valuable lesson. It will save you thousands of dollars. It will help your marriage. It will even allow you to […] Read more »

This Year Just Say No to Chia Pets

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The holiday season is rapidly approaching; Christmas, Kwanzaa, Chanukah, whatever you call it, is about spending time with friends and family, enjoying a meal, and the true meaning of the holiday you choose to celebrate.  It is NOT about who spends the most, who has the biggest pile of gifts, or who got the most Christmas cards. Many of us take the true meaning and purpose of the holiday season and turn it into a spending spree only to find the credit card hangover in January lasts until next year when it starts all over again. The Target, Our Children […] Read more »