Follow Me Out of Debt | Get out of debt and get into prosperity!

What did you do this weekend? I decided to earn a little extra money on the Rev.com platform. I mentioned this opportunity on episodes 159 and 192. I was also busy cleaning up my budget and getting things ready for the upcoming month. I wanted to make sure that this upcoming month's budget is lined up as it should be, and I've made some corrections and improvements in the budget from previous mont...

If you've got plans this weekend, first you'll want to make sure that your budget is ready for those plans. Many times, the weekends can be a budget-killer. We tend to spend more carelessly on the weekends than any other time of the week, and because of this, we will typically end up trashing the budget in the process.   This particular episode is not only coming out on the day before a weekend, b...

What do you do when you're going through lean times? Lean times fall upon all of us at one point or another. When you are in this type of particular situation, you've got to do things that may be outside of the norm or outside of your comfort zone. You're lacking resources, and you need to make up for the difference by whatever means necessary (that are legal, of course).   The obvious thing to do...

This episode is all about PMI: Private Mortgage Insurance. Private Mortgage Insurance is money that you pay in addition to your monthly house payment to protect the lender in the event that you are unable or unwilling to continue making payments on your mortgage.   Typically, PMI is only necessary when you are unable to come up with at least a 20 percent down payment at the time of purchase. There...

When it comes to conversations about money between you and your spouse, you have to find common ground first and foremost. In most situations, married couples aren't typically on the same page at the start of things. Both parties feel that they have certain needs that should be met, and until the two of you are able to both win, you won't have much success.   This is one of those situations where...

It's not what you make, it's what you keep. Write this sentence on a small piece of paper and place it somewhere where you will see it every day. Post it on your mirror. Put it on the refrigerator. Realize that you need to be inspired by this tiny and powerful sentence constantly because it's that important.   Spending is not the way. Saving is the way. Of course, you'll need to spend some money a...

There's some astonishing data out there that shows that nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. If you look just 50 years ago, Americans were saving double what they are saving today. We made less money, but we were able to save more of what we made. A lot of this has to do with the mentality back in those days to save first and spend second. The norm for us today is to spend fi...

Storms will come, and that's a certainty. How you react to these storms truly makes all of the difference.   If you tend to react with knee-jerk reactions when faced with a storm, most of the time, you won't be making the right choices that are necessary to properly weather the storm. Remaining calm helps you to assess the situation at hand and make decisions that are based on logic and reason rat...

There are plenty of long-term relationships out there. Some are successful because they are truly healthy relationships, and the people involved in the relationship know how to properly handle conflict when times get rough and how to care for one another all of the other times.   Other relationships that aren't so great may still be lengthy but perhaps are unhealthy because the people involved are...

This has nothing to do with the alphabet. When I refer to ABC yourself, I'm referring to always be challenging yourself. Complacency is the enemy. Don't get comfortable with your aspirations; get yourself to improve upon what you are accomplishing in life on a consistent basis.   When we do this, we come up with harder and more difficult challenges for us to attain. We meet tougher goals, which gi...

Sometimes we get overwhelmed, financially speaking. When this happens, we need to remove ourselves from the situation, at least temporarily. Even if you are experiencing anxiety or fear, you need to be able to look at the situation from the outside as much as you possibly can. Again, this is only temporary.   This will allow you to see the situation from a different perspective and see the problem...

Did you know that a large number of your otherwise important goals may be serving as a distraction? It's true. I wouldn't be saying this unless I read it from a very good source, and that source is none other than Mr. Warren Buffett.   Whenever I read an article that has to do with something that Warren Buffett has said, I tend to pay close attention. In this particular article, Warren Buffett dis...

Sometimes you just need to reevaluate your current situation, make some changes as needed, and get excited all over again. This is especially true if you've been fighting this war on debt for a while now and getting a little too used to the familiar processes that go along with it. You might not be feeling the same excitement that you did in the beginning, and it may take something as simple as re...

You have to establish your own belief system and not rely on those established by others. Here's why.   Over time, there have been financial principles that have been set up to affect how we spend our money. We've been led to feel guilty, ashamed, or out of the loop if we're not following these belief systems. We then spread the same false premises as a justification for why we are doing what we a...

You've got to look for opportunities around you. Not only should you be on the lookout for opportunities, but you also have to take the appropriate action steps in order to take advantage of those opportunities if they will benefit you.   We sometimes let the days go by and become complacent, but that's not going to help us improve over time. Instead, we need to ask ourselves how we can do things...

Our bodies were not meant to be sleep-deprived. We have likely heard and read this many times over, but for some reason, we still think that we can get away with depriving our bodies of the proper rest that we so desperately need. Doing so will only prove to be detrimental to our bodies and minds in the long run, and it will make those simple everyday tasks that we're used to doing with ease much...

I am in the process of bridging the financial resources gap by listing a few things on eBay, and I'm excited to keep it going! The stuff that I had listed is doing nothing more than collecting dust, and it's refreshing to see this turn into additional resources for us.   I wanted to make sure that if I was planning to list on eBay that I was going to do it correctly from the get-go. I was careful...

There's a certain joy and happiness that comes when we check off a challenging task from our task list. This is especially true if we got into the habit of putting a new date on the same task over and over again because we simply didn't complete it. Chalk it up to laziness, but the point isn't why it happened or what caused it to happen; the point here is to set a realistic time and date of comple...

Walmart has an online grocery pickup service that we tried for the first time this past weekend, and we loved it. It's a simple and straightforward process, and it not only saves time but it also saves money. Of course, these are two very important things to me - saving time and saving money.   You basically download the app or go to the Walmart website and select the grocery items that you need....

Sheep are everywhere if you take the time to look around. We're not only creatures of habit, but we also tend to naturally follow the crowd. Sometimes following the crowd can be a bad thing. It truly makes you a sheep, and you don't want to be a sheep.   There are multi-million dollar companies that are spending tons of money on advertising to keep you and those around you trapped in a vicious cyc...

In a marriage, you will have difficult conversations. It's going to happen, and sometimes, these conversations may involve financial issues. It's a well-known fact that many married couples list financial difficulties as being a primary cause of strife and conflict.   The key is to realize prior to sitting down and having this conversation together is that you don't want the conversation to take a...

Mind clutter is a direct result of having too many balls in the air and having less focus, usually because of this. Human beings are built to focus on one thing at a time, so when we attempt to do too many things at once or worry about too many things at once, mind clutter becomes the result of this.   What does mind clutter actually feel like? In my experience, mind clutter seems to be what's hap...

We've all had disappointments in our lives. How we handle those disappointments is what determines whether we pass or fail the test. And believe me, we will be tested plenty of times throughout our lifetimes. What's important is that we consistently build a thick skin of sorts to be able to better handle certain disappointments by accepting the situations and moving on.   I understand that sometim...

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. This is a quote that I heard recently, and it really hit home for me. I know that I keep a pretty strict budget, and I review my budget periodically and make changes as needed, especially if we overspend in a particular category.   Even with that in mind, I realized that we aren't getting as granular as we should be with this. There are plenty of times...

Earn 'til it hurts! It sounds like an exercise program, doesn't it? Perhaps it could be considered an exercise program that can help you to get out of debt and get into prosperity faster. Like exercise, it can be hard work, and you might even sweat a little. The result though, as with many exercise programs, is a better life for you. You'll be out of debt and getting into prosperity faster than yo...