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

Superheroes do not exist. Sorry, Superman fans, that's just reality. However, nobody is stopping you from being a superhero of personal finance. You can be a hero who stands proud and tall above all of the rest. All you need to do is take your goals seriously, and make sure that you are handling things in the same way a superhero would do it.   First, you need to own up to the problems that you se...

There's a lot to be said about morning routines. Setting your alarm a half-hour earlier or even an hour earlier will help you to set the entire tone for the day by getting yourself out of bed and completing your morning routine.   The morning routine in of itself can be pretty much anything that you want to do to get your engines running right off of the bat. For me personally, I enjoy meditating...

If you truly take a good look at yourself, are you being a little too risk averse? Are you leading a safe and careful life rather than taking some strategic risks? Not taking calculated risks in life can lead to a boring existence that may come with a large dose of regret down the road.   It's understandable that we want to be careful, especially when we're in the process of paying down our debt a...

Today I read a great article from Erin Cullum/Popsugar US. The article was an informational article about some things that we may not know about our local Aldi store. I can definitely say that while there were some items mentioned that I knew about already, there was also plenty that I learned for the first time.   If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend checking out your local Aldi sto...

Sometimes you end up taking a few steps back on this journey out of debt, but that doesn't mean that you can't make up for it by taking several steps forward once again. When we fall behind on things or stop our progress towards our goals completely, we need to get ourselves back on track. Believe it or not, this happens more often than you realize and to tons of people, myself included.   I found...

Have you ever added more layers to a decision than what was absolutely necessary? Do you overthink things or muddy the waters unnecessarily with too many details, and you end up not making a decision at all?   Rather than going through every possible scenario and making things more complicated, it's best to focus on getting the simplest answer and going from there. That way, you can take action as...

I've found myself doing this before. I get desperate for a few extra dollars in a particular budget month where I found myself in the red. The emergency fund is just sitting there, so I justify borrowing from the savings by telling myself that I'll just pay it back the following month. This isn't a good habit to get into, and it can turn into a very slippery slope once started.   When we do this,...

You need to be intentional and have the right levels of focus and intensity towards accomplishing your goals. Are you lax with your debt payoff strategies? Are you letting 0% interest rate credit cards lie around without paying them off because it's still 0% for another year or so?   It's really easy to get into that mode where you tend to ease back on your debt payoff. You take your foot off of t...

I'm pleased to welcome Ericka Young from TailorMadeBudgets.com on the show today. If you're married, you'll definitely discover some great gold nuggets of value throughout our conversation that will help you with personal finance in your marriage, and if you're single, you'll learn a lot as well. There's a little something for everyone on the show today.   Pick up a copy of Ericka's book, "Naked a...

I'm tired of all of these pie-in-the-sky promises that are posted in various forums, social media groups, etc. Most of the headlines used for these posts are describing obviously unrealistic concepts, but somehow, they still get folks to click on the links. The headlines catch somebody's eye, and they'll end up clicking on the links out of curiosity.   Here's the bottom line. Regardless of your go...

We all know that budgeting money is important. However, how often do we think about budgeting time? Time is much more valuable than money, in my opinion. We can always earn more money, but we can't earn time. We're all given the same amount of hours each and every day, and how we spend those hours is completely up to us.   For me, clutter slows me down. When I have a desk that's messy or an e-mail...

If you're in the process of getting out of debt, there are certain things that you shouldn't be paying for. You should be redirecting the monetary resources for these items towards getting out of debt instead.   I feel that you shouldn't be paying for someone to mow your lawn or any other services that are related to yardwork while you're still in the process of paying off debt. I do understand th...

If we're in debt, it's difficult to imagine an ideal budget. Many of us are budgeting for multiple credit cards, a couple of auto loans, and perhaps some personal loans. All of this debt makes it very challenging to realize what an ideal budget would actually look like.   While you may not be able to implement this budget right now, I think it's important to realize what an ideal budget looks like...

There are plenty of ways to spend little or no money at all and have fun at the same time. While this list won't apply to everyone (we all have different personalities and preferences), it will at least get you thinking about ways that you can find things to do that won't cost much.   You may be someone who enjoys going for a hike, riding a bike, having a picnic, or even going swimming at the beac...

If you're loyal to certain brand names, you may want to rethink your shopping strategy. Companies spend tons of money to get their brands in front of your eyeballs, and understandably, they want a return on their investment. That return on investment typically comes to them in the form of higher prices.   What's interesting is, if you're willing to experiment here and there, you may find that you...

Today's a good day to take a look at your resume. See if it looks a bit outdated. Are you still using the tired Word template resume that was popular in the 90's? Do you need to spruce up your resume a bit and bring it more current and up-to-date? You'll want to take some time to do this, even if you're not currently on a job hunt.   There are certain qualities of a resume that Human Resources man...

I'm starting a new segment of the show that I'll be doing from time to time where I sign up and try out various work from home opportunities and let you know what I find out. Well, to be more specific, if the opportunity makes it as a subject of an entire show episode, it can be assumed that said opportunity is rated five out of five stars on my end.   I heard about and checked out Rev.com. They d...

It's too easy to get lazy about staying focused on our target debt. The target debt is the current debt that has almost all of the focus and available resources towards it to eliminate it as quickly as possible. It sounds great on paper, but sometimes life happens and we may forget to do what we need to do in order to make this a priority.   The best thing for us to do is to set out at the start o...

You've got a somewhat significant purchase coming up, and you might be wondering if you should take out a small loan or save up and pay cash. You might be tempted by a same-as-cash offer or introductory APR offer.   While you may be able to pay it off in time, you'll want to be aware of the fine print to find out what happens if you don't pay off the amount in time. In a lot of these scenarios, yo...

A common trap for folks who are in the process of improving their financial situation is to hold off on giving. The justification that is usually applied is to come to the conclusion that giving can be done once a certain milestone is reached. That milestone might be getting out of debt, saving a certain amount of money, or anything else that can be viewed as a positive personal financial accompli...

Dreaming is good for you. It gives you hope. It allows you to look forward to the future. It helps to motivate you.   Don't be ashamed of your dreams or assume that they aren't worth focusing on. Your dreams may seem to only be wishes, but once you apply work and action to accomplish goals and tasks related to your dreams, they will eventually come true. Does every dream come true? Of course not....

If you ask most people, they won't see much of a difference between someone who is considered to be frugal and someone who is considered to be cheap. Unfortunately, for most of us in the process of trying to improve our lives financially, we may run into some harsh critics out there who may refer to us as being a cheapskate, a scrooge, etc.   The truth of the matter is that there is a definite dif...

Budgeting in of itself can be a challenge, but what happens when you have payments or other bills that have fallen behind? Adding this to trying to maintain a monthly budget can make things quite difficult. However, you do have to do something about it. You can't bury your head in the sand and hope that it will go away, because it simply won't.   The first step is to open the lines of communicatio...

The other day, I purchased a large whiteboard for the sole purpose of providing both my wife and me with a high-level overview of our budget. I highly recommend that you do the same, especially if one of you handles the budget for the most part while the other spouse is in more of an advisory role. It's a great way to keep the budget out in the open as well as having the overall debt information i...

What is the Worry Bully? I didn't personally make this up, but I overheard it in a conversation. You have to use your imagination, but picture this: a Worry Bully is inside of your mind and keeps you in a constant state of worry. Regardless of the reason, the Worry Bully keeps you worried and raises your level of anxiety. This leads to stress. Stress leads to more worry, and the cycle goes on and...