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

We took a little road trip to an outlet mall. We weren't going to do a ton of shopping necessarily; it was mostly just for the purpose of getting out of town for a few hours. However, I did want to see what kind of deals outlet malls really offer. What I found out was a bit surprising.   Outlet malls do not seem to have outstanding deals for the most part. There were a couple of notable deals that...

There are four main tenets of personal finance. If you keep these truths in mind, you will always succeed when it comes to your finances. These same tenets apply no matter where you are at in your walk with improving your financial situation.   The first tenet is the budget. The budget is key. I've said this before, and I'll say it continuously: the budget is the core of everything that you do fin...

Today's interview with Christina Eanes from QuitBleepingAround.com is truly informative and packed with valuable takeaways that will help you to become a superachiever. If you're not sure what a superachiever is, you'll learn today!   Learn more about Christina by visiting: https://quitbleepingaround.com   As mentioned on the show, I'm also including the link for the backwards bicycle experiment....

Sometimes when you are in the process of working on a goal that isn't popular with a lot of folks, you might feel that you are part of a small minority and your friends and even your family might just find you to be... weird. I recall times when my wife and I would spend more money than we wanted to when we were included in various plans with others simply because we felt that if we didn't, we wou...

All of us will experience income challenges at some point during our journey out of debt and into prosperity. What is the best way to prepare for these challenges and head them off at the pass?   For my wife and me, extra padding in the savings account really helps. We prepare for income challenges that we try to foresee by saving a little more than usual in order to offset those challenges. While...

Are you having a difficult time with applying theories and strategies on how to get out of debt? Are you feeling frustrated because of all of the cookie-cutter advice that's being spewed out there from the gurus? Well, you're not alone.   The simple truth is that hearing or reading about what worked for someone else doesn't make it your own. You don't feel a sense of ownership when it comes to the...

You can save a ton of money at your local dollar store. If there's one in your area, and you haven't had an opportunity to check it out yet, I highly recommend that you do. We've actually made a list of items that we'll only buy at the dollar store when we need them because of the money that we'll consistently save on those items.   For example, we've saved money on greeting cards, home decoration...

Many of us have become used to using plastic for a large number of our purchases. When we choose to use plastic over paying with cash, the result is that we don't feel the transaction. Because of that, it's easier for us to spend more than we would if we were using cash. This applies if we use a debit card as well as a credit card.   The bottom line is this: using cash is not the same as using pla...

Believe it or not, a credit card company actually did me a favor. I almost fell for the zero percent introductory APR trap. Thankfully, we were denied the credit card. The reason for the denial is irrelevant; the point is that we were seriously close to making a terrible mistake with our finances, and I am thankful that we were never approved and will not receive the card.   With our backs against...

Today's episode is based on a small snippet from the book, Cold Hard Truth On Men, Women, and Money by Kevin O'Leary. The ten items mentioned on this episode will help you to avoid paying interest as much as possible throughout your lifetime. This is a good thing; generally speaking, if you pay less interest, you have the opportunity to earn more interest through investing and other vehicles geare...

There is a lot to be said about giving our kids opportunities to earn money based upon age-appropriate jobs that they can do around the house. I think that kids should have standard chores that they are responsible for, but they can work above and beyond what's expected of them to earn their own money. It helps them to establish a healthy work ethic and provides a way for them to learn where money...

Eating out is a common occurrence nowadays. We likely eat out more often than we realize for the simple convenience factor alone. At the time that we choose to dine out, the meal doesn't seem to cost much. However, if you add up the number of times we may choose to eat out in any given month, that amount can equal a lot more than we even realize.   This goes without saying, but the money used for...

Paying your credit card bills on time isn't enough. You need to scrutinize these bills and find out just how much your interest charges are costing you each and every month. You could have one credit card or several credit cards, but the process is the same. You need to take a good look at your latest statements and find out how much you are really paying for the credit cards that you own.   If yo...

If you've been at the same place of employment for a while, you're probably setting your sights on getting a promotion, and why shouldn't you? With added responsibility comes an increase in pay, which means more income that you can use to get out of debt and get into prosperity that much faster.   These top ten ways to get a promotion will help you to stand out from the crowd. Even if you don't ge...

If you are married and in the process of getting out of debt, is your spouse enthusiastically supporting you? Imagine if all married folks, at the same time, enthusiastically supported one another. If this is true in your world, you can't lose. You'll always win with goals when the two of you are working together as enthusiastic teammates. If you're not there quite yet, don't worry. You will be so...

Today is all about hosting your very own garage sale in order to earn some quick cash and get rid of stuff at the same time. Believe it or not, there is a process to planning a successful garage sale. I'm talking about this entire process today, and the tips included here should help you to best plan for your upcoming sale event. You'll earn the most money possible by strategically placing your me...

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Does most of your financial life seem to be spinning out of control? Do you find yourself burying your head in the sand and hoping that by some miracle everything will just go away?   You're not alone. However, keep in mind that it's critical for us to get a handle on things first and foremost. We have to realize the importance of this, and we have to attend to whateve...

Have you ever experienced a phenomenon known as getting out of debt fatigue? It's a real thing, and it happens to the best of us (myself included). When we're focused on a goal like getting out of debt, most of us are in for the long haul. This isn't a simple two or three month process. This will likely be something that will go on for a number of years, and it's going to require a lot from us.  ...

Money isn't good. Money isn't bad. It's simply money. It's a tool that we utilize, and it doesn't have the capacity to be good or evil. Many folks misquote a well-known Bible verse and will tell us that money is the root of all evil. However, the Bible doesn't say that. What it does say is that the love of money is the root of all evil; in other words, it's the action of putting money over and abo...

You've got to put some fun money into the budget. Personally, I didn't do this for a long time. As a matter of fact, I didn't realize the importance of budgeting for fun money until just recently. When fun money was not budgeted, we would simply go over budget just to squeeze some fun into our lives. Most of the money spent was unplanned, so we likely spent more than we would have if we would have...

Will your interest in the purchases that you make on a credit card or by taking out a loan outlive the interest that you'll pay? In most cases, probably not. When I was younger and less financially savvy, I would see something that I liked, buy it, and eventually got bored with it. I put most of these purchases on credit cards to the tune of two almost maxed-out credit cards. I paid interest on th...

Everyone else has credit card debt. Everyone else has car payments. Everyone else has a 30-year mortgage. Everyone else will not have enough saved up for retirement. Everyone else has student loan debt.   This is an excuse that is used by a lot of folks to justify past financial decisions and even present financial decisions. If everyone else is doing it this way, then it must be fine, right? Abso...

It may seem like a strange question, but I have to ask you: what is your ceiling? In other words, what is the self-limitation that you have set for yourself as far as how much you can earn? Is it $50,000.00 per year? Is it $60,000.00 per year? Is it less? Is it more?   Regardless of the limitations that we may put on ourselves, we need to push through that ceiling. We need to realize that while we...

Think about the last time that you were saddened or angered by some event. In most cases, the event wasn't serious enough for you to care about it in ten weeks from now. Perhaps you wouldn't care ten days from now. It might even be something that you forget about completely ten hours from now. So, why do we bother reacting to these events in the first place?   There are plenty of other self-sabota...

If you're in the process of looking for a new home, you may want to consider a smaller home. A smaller home has many benefits, including a smaller area to clean and maintain. Of course, a smaller home will likely equate to a smaller house payment as well as less that you'll owe for real estate taxes.   There was a time when bigger was better, but nowadays with the public hearing about tiny houses...