I have to be honest, I’ve been feeling just a little “off” the last couple of weeks.  I’ve been going to bed earlier trying to get more sleep, but I just feel tired all the time.  In the gym I haven’t been able to push nearly the weight I had been just a few weeks ago.   I don’t know what the deal is, but I’m hoping a weekend of relaxation and even more sleep will help remedy the situation.  Have any of you ever experienced something like this? September is almost over, which means your chance to vote for Enemy […] Read more »

In Monday’s post I reviewed Jeff Rose’s book Soldier of Finance, and announced that I would be giving a copy away.  I’m very excited, as this is the first give away I’ve done on Enemy Of Debt!  Without any further delay, the winner is…. Susan! I have your email address from your comment entry, and will be contacting you to arrange shipping the book to you. Congratulations! Yesterday I received my statement for my reduced paycheck for the furlough week.  Vonnie and I sat down and did our budget and spending plan for the next two weeks, and I’m very […] Read more »

Today is the last day of my work furlough, which means tomorrow I can officially sign into my email for work and begin the process of wading through an entire week’s email.  I’m looking forward to jumping back into the software development game – I’ve missed my bits and bytes.  🙂 Vonnie and I have been watching our spending closely to make sure our finances are ready when that reduced paycheck arrives a week from today.  You can read about how we’ve planned to make it through this rough spot in my post this week in the CareOne Community. Have […] Read more »

Fridays are normally awesome, but this one is a little different.   When I leave work for the day I’m officially on a one week furlough from my job as a software engineer.  For the week I’m off, I will only be paid 1/3rd my normal salary.  This obviously poses quite a challenge to our household budget.  We’ve known this was coming for about a month, so luckily we’ve had some time to prepare for it.  We have a plan, and believe we have it contained, but it will required us to stick EXACTLY to our budget for the next month. […] Read more »

Happy Friday, EOD Nation!  The last few weeks of Summer are proving to be rather busy for my family and me.  Both kids had their schedule pick up days for the upcoming school year and walked their initial class schedules.  With Tori entering middle school, and Tristan a freshman in High School they are both headed to new schools this year which brings both apprehension and excitement.  This weekend we have a family reunion to attend and then looking forward to a HOT Sunday afternoon lounging by the pool at our already paid for gym membership to let our checkbook […] Read more »

Happy Friday EOD Nation, I’ve got a favor to ask of you!  I’m attending the Financial Blogger’s Conference in St. Louis in October, and part of the conference is something called the Plutus Awards.  These awards are given to blogs  that are the best of their type.  Last year Enemy of Debt won Best Debt Blog, and I’d LOVE to throw EOD into the mix again.  How can you help?  You can click on the link below and throw a vote for EOD!  By clicking on the link, it will fill in the appropriate field to vote for EOD, all […] Read more »

Greetings from vacationland!  The family and I are on vacation in sunny Wisconsin Dells checking out water parks galore.  We’ve been here in the winter, but never in summer and we are having a B-L-A-S-T.  TeamEOD writer Suzanne’s post this week was very timely as it has really helped me pay attention to our budget.  Being the competitive person that I am, I’m motivated to beat her C- grade on sticking to the budget.  LOL. Even though I’m on vacation, I’ve managed to seek out the best personal finance posts of the week.   Get those fists ready, it’s time to […] Read more »

Who has two thumbs and is looking forward to a low key, low cost, recharge your batteries kind of weekend?  Yeah, this guy.  It’s been a hectic, yet very productive week both in software engineer world, as well as on the blogging front.  The weather’s going to be fabulous, and I plan on spending a lot of time on my deck just watching the world go by.  What’s on your agenda for the weekend? Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Don’t Rationalize Your Purchases; Do THIS instead from Money Talks Coach One Year Of Being Credit Card Debt Free! from […] Read more »

My son has his end of the season baseball tournament this weekend.  I very much enjoy watching him play, so this is going to be a fun weekend.  It seems odd to me that the season is over, and we’re barely past the midway point of July, but I think they do it this way to stagger the tournaments of the various age groups, and because football practices usually get into full swing in August. I’ve had such an incredibly busy week that I’ve barely been on social media at all, but I still managed to find some fantastic articles […] Read more »

As a software engineer, I have to come up with innovative ways to solve problems in the code that I write.  Sometimes that creativity leads  to patent applications.  One of the perks of my job is that my employer gives us a monetary award for each idea that is deemed worthy of a patent application by the legal team.   In the last month I’ve had two such ideas marked as requiring a patent application, which will result in a nice bump in funds in an upcoming paycheck.    Within the personal finance circles there’s a lot of talk about unexpected expenses […] Read more »

We’ve had several events in the last few months that has consumed a lot of time, energy, focus………and money.  First there was our son’s confirmation, then our annual Memorial Weekend get together, our anniversary, this week’s 4th of July family outing all leading up to Vonnie’s birthday tomorrow.  After that we have nothing major in the calendar for months.  I have loved each of these events for different reasons, and tomorrow’s birthday celebration will be fun as well.  But I cannot tell you how relieved I will be have all of this in our rear view mirror and we can […] Read more »

This weekend Vonnie and I will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary!  I’m take great pride and joy in our wedding anniversaries given all the adversity that we have endured the last four years as we have worked to pay off our mountain of credit card debt.  Marriage takes a lot of work without having the added stress of financial issues.  I love my wife so much for so many reasons – especially for sticking with me during this very trying time.  Not only are we still together and still fighting, but our marriage is stronger, and we are a better […] Read more »

There’s an eerie calmness with my finances right now.   Things are going reasonably well, we have no big expenses coming up, and nothing exciting has occurred in awhile.   I’m not exactly sure how to feel about it, but I’m trying to convince myself to just relax and enjoy the summer.  I’m going to give it a shot, but I’ve always got one eye on the lookout for something brewing on the horizon….. Alright, EOD nation, let’s get this Friday rollin’ with some fist pumps: Posts That Make Me Fist Pump Party Like You’re a 72-Year-Old Retiree from Afford […] Read more »

Happy Friday, EOD Nation! A strange thing happened to me during the week.  Before the last payment to our debt management program, we had 11 months left.  So naturally I thought after the funds from May’s payment were distributed to our creditors there would be 10 months remaining.  To my surprise the program tracker now says there are  NINE months remaining.   If that’s accurate, that means our DMP would be complete in February of next year!!! If that doesn’t get you fist pumping, I know what will, check out my favorite posts of the week: Posts That Make Me Fist […] Read more »