Sometimes it is better to be sorry!

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Do you dream about the day when all your debt will be paid off and you’ll feel safe again? I did that! Four years ago, faced with a consumer debt of $160,000 I mourned my safety and feared the risks to my family this meant. Then I forgot to be safe and started living an exciting life. I changed the way we spend. I changed the way we manage our finances. I learned about money, finance and business. I stood at the bottom of a snowy hill asking to buy ski-passes (now, this is so outside my comfort zone). I […] Read more »

I Love You Like A Blogger Roundup – 8/15

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We’ve picked up all the supplies our kids need for school.  That was the easy part.  All we had to do was go to the school district website  and print off the recommended list of items.  This weekend comes the more difficult part of getting ready for the school year. We’re going clothes shopping. My son will find shirts he likes in just under 0.5 seconds.  Finding jeans that he likes….well, that’s another story. I had no idea that teenage boys could be so picky about jeans.  The good news is, I’m not even sure that my daughter needs anything.  […] Read more »

Don’t Cheat Yourself By Living a Life of Half-Assity

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I was painfully making my way through a 14 mile run early on a Saturday morning. I was at mile 10, and struggling to find the energy or even the desire to pick up my feet and keep running. “If only I weighed less, this wouldn’t be so hard,” I thought to myself. Last October, when I crossed the finish line of the Twin Cities 10 mile race, I instantly decided I was going to run the full marathon in 2014. I had a full year to get lean, train hard, and run my best marathon ever. Yet here we […] Read more »

Multipoint video collaboration preferred amongst big businesses

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Small businesses without the Fortune 500 budget can take advantage of Fortune 500 level technology to cut the expenses associated with meetings to nearly nothing. Video conferencing is the not the future, it’s a tool you can use right now to pull your teams together and engage everyone in moving forward instead of running around in circles. How to Herd Cats 101 You are in Los Angeles, but your supplier is in Baoji, China, your engineering firm is in in Berlin, and your machinist’s shop is in Mobile. Welcome to the real meaning of worldwide business – a huge phone […] Read more »

To Own or to Hire: This is the Question!

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Have you ever wished to spend your summer on a luxury yacht? I did today. I was on the beach, in the Algarve (Portugal), relaxing and looking at the yachts passing by. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those?’ – I thought. And just before I started dreaming about buying a smart yacht with great facilities, another question popped into my mind: is the dream to buy a yacht or to hire one for a month? It’s better to hire one, I decided. Now, I do realise that this may be having you, my reader, ready to denounce […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 8/8

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On Tuesday night Vonnie and I went out  with our neighbors and played organized Bingo.  Yelling out “BINGO!” was quite a thrill, and as you can tell from the picture I was pretty stoked to win $50.  One may even say I was in the mood to fist pump! How about it, EOD Nation?   Get ’em up for Five of THE BEST posts of the week! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump I Hate Cash from Money Ramblings 3 Frugal Tips for Foodies Who Love Eating Out from Frugal Rules Heads up: Credit Karma now shows your full credit […] Read more »

How to Talk Yourself Out of Debt By Creating a New Script

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How to Talk Yourself Out of Debt By Creating a New Script

Could it really be possible to talk yourself out of debt?  Can getting out of debt really be that easy? Actually, no, I don’t believe it is. Getting out of debt is not as easy as talking to yourself using the right words.  You have to take action as well. Even the bible says “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty”- Proverbs 14:23   The Right Self Talk Helps But using the right kind of self talk can get you into the right mindset to change habits and get out of debt for good. […] Read more »

Millennials should skip the 401(k) and go ROTH all the way

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When I was a young adult there were only two options to prepare for retirement: Pensions and 401(k)s. Well, there was also Social Security – but we won’t go there! The investing landscape has changed dramatically. The government has created other venues for tax favored accounts – and all of them are better than doing nothing. Everyone’s situation is different. I’m not a Financial Advisor so you need to seek the advice of a trained professional but I do think Millennials have the best opportunities to become investors and get complete control over their financial destinies if they skip the […] Read more »

Five debt induced feelings that can ruin your relationship (and how to cope with them)

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Do the words you screamed at him/her still taste bitter on your tongue? Did he/she snap at you when you asked an innocent question? Well, chances are that if you recently had a serious argument with your ‘loved one’, this was because of either love or money. One of the most often cited reason for divorce is ‘fall out of love’. Statistics also tells us that money problems are mentioned in about half of the divorce cases in the developed world. You know, I believe that debt is a curse. When it comes to relationships, debt can be a killer […] Read more »

You Can’t Beat Kohls Return Policy

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Coffee drinkers are passionate about their morning go-juice. Maybe you’re one of these people, my wife certainly is. Which is why she was very concerned when her Keurig single cup coffee brewing system started acting up. Her particular model has a choice of three difference size cups, and even though she always chooses the largest of the three, she noticed that it just wasn’t filling up the cup as far as it should. She had to resort to running the cycle twice or even three times to get her morning cup of brew. It obviously was not working right. Consulting […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 8/01

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Welcome to August, EOD Nation!   August has traditionally been a challenging month financially for us, as it is when we pick up the things our kids need for the upcoming school year.  In years past this meant checking out Old Navy and Kohls because we had store credit cards for those retailers and we could get new clothes without having to spend any money immediately out of pocket.  Over the last few years, with the lines of credit unavailable due to our debt management program, we have struggled to save up the funds needed to get clothes and school supplies.  […] Read more »

Why Camping is a Very Expensive Holiday Option for Me

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camping costs

Last Sunday we drove to the airport and my son boarded a plane. On his own and he is only thirteen. He is off for a week camping with a friend and his family. Why we are not with him, you may ask? We are staying put because, contrary to popular belief, camping for me has always been a very expensive holiday option. “Always” as in the three times I’ve tried it, that is. I tried camping for the first time about twenty years ago; we were young(ish) and my step sons were still at an age when sleeping in […] Read more »

Would You Bust Your Budget to Boycott a Business?

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We have a running joke at my house that I should never tell my brother-in-law where I purchased the food I cook for him when he visits. When I happen to accidentally say it out loud he plugs his ears with his fingers and loudly repeats, “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA,” as to try to tune out what I’m saying. The reason being that the vast majority of our grocery shopping is done at Walmart. He refuses to shop there because he disagrees with how Walmart generally pays and treats its employees. These kinds of boycotts are not […] Read more »

I Love You Like a Blogger Roundup – 7/25

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After a summer that started out with so much rain that it caused flooding problems in many parts of the great state of Minnesota, it’s been awfully dry lately.  This morning, however, I woke up to the sweet sound of thunder and the pitter patter of rain hitting my bedroom window.  I LOVE aimlessly drifting in and out of consciousness listening to a thunderstorm, and I allowed myself to this pleasure for darn near an hour.  I can’t think of a better way to start out a Friday morning….especially when it’s followed by some fist pumping! Let’s get it on! […] Read more »