Enemy of Debt Behind the Scenes

Photo Credit: Alan Cleaver

Hello everyone! First of all, I’d like to apologize for my delay in posting the Race to Freedom Introductions post. There are only FOUR participants, and I want to take this time to say, I love all FOUR of you!! (Diva, Crystal, Maurine, Jennifer) Seriously! You rock and I thank you for taking my challenge seriously. One very excited participant had to back out at the last minute due to her losing her job, but I know she would have made a very good contestant in this challenge! (I don’t want to blow up your spot, but you know who you are! I hope you find employment in a hurry and that it doesn’t affect you too much financially before you do. :D)

I am still unsure if there are others that have decided to take the challenge but haven’t submitted the weekly challenge information. If I missed anyone, please let me know and I’ll check my spam folder.

I will post the introductions on Monday for real — I PROMISE!

As most of you know, I have recently embarked on a serious journey to eliminate something from my life that has been an even bigger problem than debt. I’m talking about losing weight!

I had to really shake up my life and my schedule to become serious about it too. I quit blogging on one blog so I could focus on Enemy of Fat. Most days, the morning, afternoon, and most of the evening is spent taking care of my little debt haters, Isaac and Noah. Monday we found out that the next Enemy of Debt to be born is a girl. YAY! Thanks to everyone who took the time to congratulate me in the comments section, on facebook, and twitter. It really meant a lot to me!

My nights are spent doing my P90X workouts, and I recently got a part-time job at my church locking it up at the end of the day. It takes me about an hour from the time I leave the house, lock all the doors and windows, to the time I get home. It actually fits into my schedule quite well, all except for the fact that I lost an additional hour at night — a time when I usually was able to spend writing.

Last Saturday I spent much of my day hiking The Mother of All Hikes! It was a beast but losing weight and getting in shape by the time our new bundle of joy arrives is my TOP PRIORITY!

I just recently joined Perkstreet Financial, as a writer on their blog, where I’ll be writing a couple of posts a month. I’m also collaborating with a good friend of mine to get some quality personal finance eBooks written and published, and I am really wanting to put together a video series that will act as a how to guide to becoming debt free and will focus primarily on the psychological aspects of the journey.

I’ve written before about how I have struggled over the years with getting good, quality sleep. It’s improved since I started exercising regularly, but a few weeks ago my wife and I decided to take the plunge and spend some serious money on a good bed. It came yesterday, and I spent the entire day getting rid of the old bed, rearranging the room to fit a king size bed, and basically cleaning up. By the time I got on the bed for the first time, it was about 7 p.m. and WOW, was it great!! Last night I slept like a baby literally!!

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Well for one, I consider all of you family, and two, I want you to know I’m still here. I’ve shared a lot of myself over the three years I have been blogging on Enemy of Debt,and this is my way of letting you know what’s going on now. Life’s a circus! As I was cleaning up yesterday I realized that my schedule was much like my mess. It really is amazing how fast things can get out of order when you get out of a routine.

I’m in the process of getting that routine organized and efficiently running! I will say this. All you mothers out there, especially you single mothers, HOW DO YOU DO IT? I sincerely admire all of you. Had I not decided to quit my job last year to become the primary care-giver to our children, I may have never truly realized how much work you have done. Being a stay-at-home parent is by far one of the most demanding jobs I have EVER had. I don’t always manage my time as best I can, but one thing is for sure, my kids are taken care of and loved, and I get to be a major part of that! That is one of the best and most rewarding jobs ever!

If I can turn this random update into a financial lesson, it is this. Become debt free so that your options open up to allow you to live the life you want to live. Debt is a hindrance and truly is keeping you from living your dreams. Becoming debt free allowed me to make the decision to quit my job to care for my children. An awkward decision at the time has become one of the greatest decisions I have ever made.

I owe it ALL to becoming debt free!