Well, it’s finally arrived.  Tomorrow is my birthday. My 40th birthday. The 40th birthday is traditionally when a person gets all that “over the hill” bullshit.  The thing is, I don’t feel old.  I’m in great physical shape, I like to have my fun, AND we’re just over two months away from being done with our debt management program.  My 40th year on earth will be a new beginning, a new chapter of my life free from the shackles of debt and poor spending habits. For me, life really does begin at 40. Now, let’s get down to business.  Get […] Read more »

We’re leaving town for the weekend for our usual holiday tour of Minnesota, but will be back home for Christmas Eve and Day.  We’re getting together with our neighbors for Christmas Eve dinner, and have planned something special.  We’re all chipping in and having prime rib and king crab legs.   I’ve never made prime rib, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.  It’s going to cost each family a bit of funds, but it’s going to be an awesome meal, and Christmas Eve is  a special occasion.  This is the sort of splurging that I can get into. The only […] Read more »

Like clockwork, it happened again.  The lamp for my LCD TV (which is our family’s primary TV) blew again.  This seems to happen every year right around Christmastime.  I checked my Amazon history, and sure enough the last bulb arrived on 12/23/2012.  These things are supposed to last YEARS – however this TV is known for blowing the bulbs.  At one point they did give owners of the TVs a sum of money to go buy a new TV…but you had to know about the offer and contact them.  We found out about it long after the program had ended.  […] Read more »

A lot of buzz surrounds the weekend after Thanksgiving as the official start to the holiday shopping season.  We did get my daughter’s laptop last weekend, but the bulk of our shopping will be done the next two weekends.  I also see a lot of friends on facebook talk about how close to done (or not) their shopping is.  This always confuses me, because we  actually spend very little time shopping for presents.  Most of the work is done at home.  We make our list of people, the gift(s), and where to purchase them.  At that point it’s just a […] Read more »

Happy Black Friday, EOD Nation!  I slept in until 8:30, which is HUGE for me since I normally get up at 4:30 or 5:00am.  A good night’s sleep feels way better than spending a bunch of money on things I don’t need.  I had a house full of family yesterday and had a fantastic Thanksgiving stuffing my face with food and other goodies and watching football. Speaking of goodies, we had a $100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway going on here an Enemy Of Debt the last few weeks, and it closed last night and it’s time to announce the winner: […] Read more »

For the past few years, I have sworn off Black Friday.  However,  I may….repeat MAY brave the Black Friday crowds this year for a very special gift.  Jealous of her brother’s new computer, my daughter wants her own laptop.  A laptop clocks in at way more than what we would budget for a Christmas present, so we made a deal with her.  If she pays for half, we would pitch in the rest as her main Christmas gift.  If I can find a laptop for a killer price on Black Friday, I could potentially make a run at it.  I […] Read more »

Friday baby, YEAH!  It’s payday and our emergency fund is up…unfortunately so is my weight.  I can’t out exercise bad eating habits, I need to remember that.  We don’t have any big plans for the weekend, which feels great.  I do, however, plan to punish myself for the weight gain with some ass kicking workouts.  Maybe I’ll even throw something on the smoker – wait, what’s that about eating better? What do you have going on this weekend? Posts That Make Me Fist Pump  Failing To Plan Ahead Destroys Budgets from Frugaling Your credit card is NOT your emergency fund […] Read more »

Posts That Make Me Fist Pump  What is the Key to Success When Paying off Debt? from Frugal Rules Personal Finance Lessons I Wish I’d Been Taught in School from Blonde on a Budget Debt Payoff Hangover from Budget And the Beach via Debt And The Girl Screw ‘em: Doing What’s Best for You in Your Debt Payoff Journey from The Frugal Farmer How to Flip the Switch and Develop a Budget Mindset from The Heavy Purse Shameless Self Promotion Residual Interest; Why Your Last Payment to a Creditor May Not Close Your Account is my post this week in […] Read more »

It’s accountability Friday, my friends. In last Friday’s roundup I mentioned my desire to have an emergency fund and NOT touch it.  In Monday’s post I declared it’s time for me to finally MAN UP and DO IT.  Today is the first day of the month which marks the beginning of a new bi-monthly budget cycle for the Pizels.  As specified in the post earlier this week, as part of our bill paying / spending plan activity, $100 has been placed into our savings account to begin my challenge to have a $1000 emergency fund by February 28th.    Each Friday […] Read more »

I read quite a few posts this week about emergency funds, one of which gets a fist pump below.  It made me think a lot about our emergency fund situation.  We build it up a little bit, and then we use it – and not necessarily for an emergency.  An emergency fund is the first baby step towards financial freedom.  It gives a person the ability to handle those nasty unexpected breakdowns of water heaters and cars and whatever else without affecting your base budget of food, clothes and the necessites of life.  But it also provides peace of mind […] Read more »

It’s Friday, and this post is coming at you courtesy of a cram writing session between sessions at the Financial Blogger Conference in St. Louis!  The question you might ask yourself is, “Do Personal Finance Bloggers try to save money even when they’re at a conference?”  I think the fact that we crammed so many of us into a taxi van that we were sitting on each others laps just to save a few bucks answers that question.  🙂 Enjoy your weekend! Posts That Make Me Fist Pump What’s Busting Your Budget? from Boomer and Echo Message Monday – Credit […] Read more »

Race weekend is here, RACE WEEKEND IS HERE!  I’m so excited for the Twin Cities 10 Mile on Sunday I’m having trouble sleeping.   The temps look to be great running weather (lows in the 40’s, highs in the 50’s).  As I mentally prepare for the race, I cannot get the lyrics for “Hall Of Fame” by The Script out of my head.  Check back here next Friday to hear how the race went.  🙂 I have to tell you how I found one of my fist pumping posts this week.  If you like reading personal finance blogs you should check […] Read more »