13 Ways You Can Save Money On A Low Income

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save money low income limited income

I get a lot of questions from readers wanting to know how they can save money on a low income, so I thought I would write a post about some of the suggestions I’ve been giving out that can help you put money in the bank, even when you’re living on a limited income.  I’ve also included some great resources along with the suggestions that will help you get started putting money in the bank right now!   You Can Still Save Money On A Low Income When you’re living on a small income, it can be especially hard to […] Read more »

Four Ways to Tackle Your Debt and How to Decide Which One is For You

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Did you think that to tackle your debt is simple and straight forward? Think again! You see, when we first realised how much debt we had all I wanted was that it disappears. Oh, I know this would have taken magic I regretfully don’t possess. It may have been done by going bankrupt were we ready to take the consequences. This wasn’t our way and we did it ‘the proper way’. We reduced our spending by developing and using the ERR strategy for money management. We learned how to make more money. And we put it all against the debt. […] Read more »

Budgets make me feel inadequate, but made me rich

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Last year I recorded a show about the 7 Common Denominators of the Wealthy. It was then I realized there were many commonalities related to having – and operating on – a household budget. With so many wealthy habits tied to being on a budget, why is it that most people don’t do one? It is because budgets makes us feel inadequate. It certainly has made me feel inadequate. Tell me if you’ve felt the same way before too. Budgeting makes me feel inadequate Think back to the last time you created a budget. How did that make you feel? […] Read more »

Small Victories- Getting Out of Debt One Small Step At a Time

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small victories get out of debt one step at a time

Getting out of debt can seem like a daunting task.  When you finally decide to take the step of getting yourself out of debt, it’s easy to be intimidated by the huge goal you’ve presented for yourself. And when you realize what you’re up against, you’re ready to give up on getting out of debt before you even get started. So how do you overcome that overwhelming feeling when you want to achieve your goal, but you’re so intimidated by all the work you know it will take to get it done? You have to chill out, take a step […] Read more »

10 Rules to Keep in Mind When You Borrow Money

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In an ideal world you’ll never have to borrow money. In an ideal world, you’ll buy your house and cars for cash. In an ideal world, you’ll have cash to cover emergencies. In an ideal world, you’ll never overspend and get in trouble. In an ideal world, I’ll look like Julia Roberts and be a Hollywood star. Thing is, we don’t live in an ideal world. Just look at me. I look like…well, like me and I’m a university professor, not a movie star. When I was young, I often ran out of money. Heck, when I was in my […] Read more »

7 Ways You Can Stay Motivated to Get Out of Debt

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7 ways to stay motivated to get out of debt resources

Over the years I’ve seen plenty of people get motivated to get out of debt, but they never end up following through with the process.  They are usually pretty fired up about getting out of debt and start out very motivated.  But not long after they start the process, their energy flags and it’s not long before they lose their motivation. I’ve seen a lot of other people make decent progress in paying down debt, but for whatever reason, they end up losing their focus and go back to their old habits, never finishing the get out of debt process.   How to […] Read more »

Financial Discipline: You Play How You Practice

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“Well, hello stranger!” said a loud voice from somewhere behind the Subway counter.   I quickly found the familiar face smiling back at me. It’s the same young lady that is working at the nearby Subway most Saturdays when I stop in to get lunch for my family. Saturday Subway is a tradition of sorts at the Pizel household. As the cashier rang up my sandwiches, she asked me if I wanted to get one of my sandwiches for free by purchasing a $20 gift card. I politely declined. Buying the gift card would violate three of my foundational spending guidelines: […] Read more »

How to Get Ahead If You’re Living Paycheck to Paycheck (Part 2)

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In the first article in the series, I covered eight things that might cause you to end up trapped in a paycheck to paycheck life. In this second post, I’m going to show you a few things you can do to get your finances under control, stop spending more than you make, and end the paycheck to paycheck cycle for good. If you read the last article, at this point you’ve probably figured out some of the top reasons why you’re struggling financially. Once you understand those reasons, I explained that it was important to get your mindset right and […] Read more »

How to Get Ahead if You’re Living Paycheck to Paycheck

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get ahead living paycheck to paycheck

Some recent studies showed that more than two thirds of people are living paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time. That’s pretty incredible! It seems to be getting harder and harder to keep your head above water financially, and there is no lack of reasons why that’s happening. Some of it is because our attitudes about money have changed over the years.  Some of it is also because of the changing economy, and some of it is probably due to the fact that the world is rapidly changing, and some are getting left behind because they refuse to […] Read more »

Don’t be sloppy with your money: make sure to get what is due to you

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sloppy with money

One thing I know well is debt. Small wonder this is: I lived with debt for quite a few years before we reached a crisis point and dealt with it once and for all. Debt, however, is just a symptom while the illness is in a number of behaviour patterns we acquire on the way. My illness was in: Refusing to talk about money; Refusing to check on my money; Convincing myself that I need stuff (I didn’t really); Not having a big, fat dream for my life; and Being sloppy about money. How can one be sloppy about money, […] Read more »

Two rules of wealth building: our debt story

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Good day, Enemy of Debt readers. Travis already mentioned that I’ve joined the EOD Team so I’m writing this in a way of introduction. After all, before anyone pays any heed to anyone on the Internet these days, they wish to know what their credentials are. What makes my relationship with Enemy of Debt passionate (yep, I hope the site loves me as much as I love the site) is that I am a big, gigantic enemy of debt. I am a debt destroyer: I destroyed sh*tload of our debt and I support others to do the same! I started […] Read more »

“I Don’t Have Time” and Other Budgeting Excuses You Can Fix Right Now

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I’ve been recommending doing a written monthly budget for many years now.  That’s not gonna change any time soon. Today I’ll cover what are probably the most common excuses for not making a budget.  I’ll give you tips on how to overcome those excuses, and provide you with a load of killer resources at the end to help get you moving forward.   Everybody Has a Budgeting Excuse Doing a consistent, written budget is the best thing you can do to start getting your finances under control.  When you start this valuable habit and stick to it, you’ll stop living […] Read more »

5 Simple Steps to Start Getting Out of Debt Right Now

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Have you ever tried to get out of debt but just didn’t know where to start?  I think most anybody who’s attempted to get out of debt has experienced that feeling at some point. You have decided you’re no longer comfortable with your debt load, and now it’s time to do something about it, but you’re just not sure what to do. So how do you get started? You can start by taking some small, easy steps to set yourself up for success.  In this post I’ll show you the best small steps you can take right now to get […] Read more »

Build Your Budget Foundation

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The foundation of a couple being successful with their finances requires a clearly defined method of budgeting, and frequent, open, and honest communication between the two people involved. Do you have this foundation? Vonnie and I didn’t for the first thirteen years of our marriage. Our budget, and I use that term extremely loosely, consisted of a piece of paper that listed about half of our monthly bills that I folded up and stored in the back of my checkbook folder. Our communication about our finances was non-existent, so it was no wonder that our finances failed miserably. Building a […] Read more »