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

Do you currently have cable or satellite services? How much would you save per month if you didn't have this subscription? Is it time for you to seriously consider cutting the cord, so to speak?   On today's episode, I'll tell my brief story of when I decided to get rid of cable (we've been cable-free for nine years now, and we don't miss it a bit). We currently have nothing but our local channels...

If you're in the market for your next vehicle purchase, you'll want to listen to this episode first before you head off to the dealership. I've purchased several vehicles, and with these experiences in mind, I have been able to condense the entire vehicle purchasing process into a concise, easy-to-follow method that will save you money.   I'll step you through the entire vehicle-purchasing process...

It's a question that will come up at some point along your journey towards getting out of debt: do you continue saving for retirement (or start saving for retirement) before you are completely out of debt?   There are several schools of thought on this. I'll discuss the main ones and will discuss how I personally feel about this topic. The final decision that you make on this will be based on seve...

Today I'm going to be talking about some of the uncommon ways for us to save some money every month. These methods are mostly considered uncommon because they are typically overlooked. The smaller things that we may overlook could potentially add up to hundreds of dollars per month in savings.   Some of the uncommon ways that we can save money that are mentioned in detail on this episode include o...

What would happen if you set out to improve yourself in various areas of your life by one percent per day? It may not sound like much, but if you focus on this every single day consistently, you will find that you will earn more income, improve your marriage, and increase your spirituality. Yes, it's true; if you focus on improving yourself by one percent per day, you will pick up a habit that wil...

Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, we tend to cheat ourselves sometimes. We do this by not questioning whether or not there may be better options and opportunities out there for us. We follow the same process day in and day out without questioning a thing, which makes us passive. It prevents us from taking a functional and active role in our worth, effectively cheating ourselves out of...

What is the best way for us to save some money on what is typically an otherwise expensive line item in our budget? The answer is properly maintaining our vehicles. If you're currently making car payments, you already know that vehicles can be expensive. Even if your vehicle is paid in full (good for you!), you still want that vehicle to last as long as possible. The best way to do this is to sche...

Medical bills and the associated entities that we owe money to are probably the most friendly of the folks that we'll have to deal with if we need to make payment arrangements, but there's a caveat. We have to address what we owe before the medical bill goes off to a collection agency. If we let it go that far, it's a new game at that point, and we most likely lose our ability to make a fair payme...

How do you handle unexpected expenses? Do you allow them to shred your budget into pieces, or do you mindfully handle the situation to ensure that the impact to your budget is minimal?   The best course of action is to not immediately react to an unexpected expense by making the purchase without considering your budget. Instead, you should take some time to work this unexpected expense in with the...

Have you ever heard of a mastermind group before? If not, you may want to listen to this episode to learn more, then consider forming your own mastermind group to help you to accomplish your goal of getting out of debt.   To start things out, consider some like-minded friends that you may have who are also trying to get out of debt, and ask them if they would like to join a mastermind group. Arran...

Do you have a lot of stuff in your home that has slowly accumulated over the years? I'd like to take some time to tell you what my wife and I have been up to lately. We've been decluttering our home. It's not only a fun and nostalgic process, but it also gives us a new sense of freedom and a few extra dollars in our pockets.   We've only tackled one part of our basement, but we had so much garbage...

It's that time of the year again. It's tax time, and 75% of us can expect a tax refund from the government. On average, the typical tax refund is a little over $2,800.00. It seems like this is an exciting time of the year, doesn't it?   Well, let's take a step back and think about this for a moment. We're giving the government our money to borrow, interest-free, so that we can fill out lots of pap...

Today I'm going to be talking about the sinking fund. I'll talk about what it is and how we can use it to better our budgeting processes. If a sinking fund sounds a little intimidating, you'll want to tune in to this episode to learn more. A sinking fund can help you with saving for Christmas, paying for your auto insurance, paying for taxes, and any other expected large amount that you'll need to...

Sometimes the first $1,000 is the hardest part. If you're having difficulties saving that initial $1,000 for your starter emergency fund, you're in the right place. Today I'm going to be talking about some of the frustrations that we've felt when we want to get going with the debt payoff, but it's taking too long to get that starter emergency fund going.   You may try to get away with saving $500,...

Have you heard about the envelope system? If not, this episode will explain the system in detail along with some tips on implementing the envelope system to use with your monthly budget.   The envelope system allows for us to separate our cash for the month into individual envelopes for each category in our budget. The envelope system is typically used with the grocery category, clothing category,...

Remember the days when you could call your credit card company and negotiate a lower APR by suggesting that you would move the balance to a competing card if they didn't comply? I tried this recently and found out that this trick simply doesn't work. It took me by surprise.   Now, moving a balance from card to card isn't always the best idea. Especially if you think that you may keep the card open...

While there are plenty of reasons to get out of debt, I've condensed them down into a top-five list that I'd like to share with you today. In addition to listing the reasons, I'll also be explaining how these reasons truly make a difference in your life: your health, your relationships, and your spirituality.   Debt is a burden. Debt traps us. Debt chains us up and restricts our freedom. We all kn...

There are tons of work from home opportunities out there if you do a search using your favorite search engine. Be aware. Not all of them are legitimate, and you will need to do your due diligence to ensure that the opportunity that you are pursuing is not only right for you, but it's also one that is not a scam of one type or another.   Working from home has its benefits. The obvious one is being...

We don't always get it right the first time (myself included). If you tried at one time to get out of debt but failed at doing so, you're not alone. It's okay to give yourself permission to fail and permission to start all over again.   I'll tell my story about how I've also started, stopped, and started again on a journey to get out of debt. This is my third time around, and I don't feel that the...

Yes, it may be a trite expression, but an attitude of gratitude is important. When we have this attitude, we find ourselves to be more thankful for what we have and what's going right in our lives. We also tend to do a better job at analyzing what is and what is not an important purchase. This, in turn, helps us to not accumulate as much junk that we don't need. When we stop accumulating junk, we...

Are you a multitasker? You might think that you are, but the truth of the matter is (at least in my opinion), we can only truly focus on one thing at a time. While we might believe that we are doing two or three things at once, the truth is that we are simply switching gears between tasks so quickly that we fool ourselves into thinking that we're multitasking.   We absolutely should avoid multitas...

Sometimes we just want to give up. It seems like we're going to be on this journey to get out of debt for a really long time. While that may be the reality of all of this, we do need to keep going. We can do this, and we need to have a great support system in place in order to remind us of this every once in a while!   If you're married, your spouse should be your support system (and vise-versa)....

It's time to do some housecleaning!   Do you have a gym membership but rarely make it to the gym? Do you pay for magazines that sit on the coffee table for a few weeks before making their way to the garbage can? Do you have a lot of junk sitting around the house that needs to make its way to a garage sale or on to eBay? When we take some time to look into wasteful spending and do some financially...

While credit cards are not necessarily dangerous by themselves, we may find ourselves in what I call the credit card danger zones. We need to be aware of these dangers and take the appropriate actions in order to avoid these at all costs.   Some of the danger zones that I cover in this episode are: getting dangerously close to the credit limit on the card, not preparing for the 0% introductory APR...

Do you see playing the lottery and gambling at a casino as one in the same? If you don't, you may be fooling yourself. Gambling is gambling is gambling, including your state-sponsored lottery.   The cold, hard truth is that while there are a few people who do win, the vast majority of folks who gamble do not win. If they do win from time to time, then it's likely that the money that they had alrea...