Why do you want to get out of debt? "Why?" is the most important question. Do you want to be more generous? Is there a beach that is calling your name? Maybe your debt is the only thing standing in the way of having a pet kangaroo. Maybe not. Maybe it's because you want to save for your kid's college education. Or maybe you just want to be free of the shackles of debt and its litany of misgivings. Without a clearly defined purpose (the "why?"), you are unlikely to achieve financial freedom. Ask … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #21 Stimulate
January 18, 2013 By
#21 Stimulate When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me. Erma Bombeck. Put all politics aside for this moment. It's obvious you prefer a monarchy anyway. Your king is telling the story of how we paid off over $127,000.00 of debt in 4 years. This post is recollection as opposed to commentary. Fact is we received a … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #20 Adjust
January 16, 2013 By
#20 adjust withholdings A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. Proverbs 1:5 (NKJV). Raise your right hand. Repeat the following: "the King of Free is not a tax advisor. The following is not tax advice. I will seek the services of a competent professional to advise me on tax matters and not a guy that uses the third person and lives in a fairy tale." Thanks. You can adjust your withholdings. … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #28 Just say no
January 15, 2013 By
#28 no. (The Nancy Reagan Paragraph) Just say no. No to convention. No to salespeople. No to consumerism. No to old habits. No to impatience. No to greed. No to being like everybody else. No to being a hamster in a wheel. No to living paycheck to paycheck. No to expensive invitations from your friends. No worked for us. No is a positive. No is powerful. No launched an epic battle against the Dragon. No slayed the Dragon. No will keep us out of bondage. No can get you out too. … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #19 Give Away Your Car
January 4, 2013 By
#19 Give Away Your Car I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. C.S. Lewis. If you are trying to get out of debt, your car is going to explode. The Emergency Fund (#3), handles the replacement, but what do you do with your lifeless carriage? When our original car (the Plymouth Breeze - sweet ride - photo is similarly sweet, but not ours) passed away it was like losing an old friend. An old friend … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #27 Life Insurance Dumped
December 31, 2012 By
#27 life insurance dumped. The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down. Proverbs 14:1. We cashed out a variable life insurance policy. Still a little mad at myself that we even had a variable life insurance policy. We used every dime of this $50,000.00 face value policy (read: we received a little over $400.00). We used part of the $50.00 per month premium to fund an $18 per month premium for term insurance and … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #26 Garage Sale Fail
December 31, 2012 By
#26 Garage Sale Fail You can tell a lot about a person by what they sell at a garage sale. We actually held a garage sale. I love garage sales. Probably not the best use of my time. Sure we were in hock to our eyeballs, but we really didn’t have that great of stuff. Our garage sale failed. Miserably. We even had an ad in the local newspaper. It poured rain the day of our sale. I began to fashion an ark just in case. We barely made money back for the ad. I don’t wanna have a garage sale … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #25 Gold Sold
December 31, 2012 By
#25 Gold Sold "The man with the gold rules." Mr. T. The King loves his bling. Not true. Just wanted to give you a comical mental image of me in a Mr. T starter set. We did not sell gold until later in our DSJ, but it did help defray costs one Christmas. Gold prices went outrageous and we cashed in on some old broken gold jewelry fortunately still in our possession. We’re not jewelry people. If you're getting out of debt, any attachment to jewelry has to go. If you're contemplating a jewelry … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #24 Savings Bonds
December 31, 2012 By
#24 Savings Bonds So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ Luke 19:13. This was also an issue of emotional attachment (like #22 & #23). The QoF had a handfull of savings bonds that were given to her by her grandparents. Mine were from a speech contest that I won as a young fella (did I mention I’m available to speak at your event?). So there was a push back from both of us to relinquish these bonds. It seems silly … [Read more...]
Debt Free 101 – #22 Sell Books
December 31, 2012 By
#22 Sell Books "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything." Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything. When we first started our DSJ, I grabbed every book I could off of our shelves and took them to the discount used book store. Didn’t get much money. Not much at all. What money we did receive went toward Dragon slaying. It was more symbolic than profitable. A “make every effort” sort of move. We nickel and dimed our way into debt, why not nickel and dime our way out? We’re … [Read more...]
