Personal Finance Advice

The other day, in a different context, I heard someone talking about “embracing a different way of life”. It got me to thinking about what that oft-repeated phrase really means in relation to a debt free life. When I think of embracing a different way of life, I think of going after something with so [...]

I’m often asked two things: First, how can someone become debt free and second, how does one really live debt free? The people who ask these questions are usually seeking a blueprint; a set of fail safe steps that will get them debt free and give them instructions on how to live a debt free [...]

I’m constantly amazed by how little value we place on the older things in our society these days (and our older people, but that’s a whole other issue). I can remember looking around my grandmother’s house and seeing the piano that had belonged to her great grandmother, the quilts that her mother and grandmother had [...]

This week’s lecture was about credit reports, credit reporting bureaus, identity theft, and collection agencies. Quite a scattering of topics. The first part of the class was on credit scores and credit bureaus. Dave makes the point that a FICO score is an, “I love debt score” because the only way to get a FICO [...]

I frequently hear people bemoan the choices they have made when it comes time to “man up” and be financially responsible. They grieve over the vacation they have to cancel due to a layoff. They cry over the kitchen renovation that has to be put off when the roof needs replacing. They sob when they [...]

This is a series of posts about what you will find in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course. This is week four (week one — week two and week three) This week’s lesson focused on getting out of debt. We’re getting to the meat of the plan now, and I was eager to hear Dave’s [...]

One of the ways we’ve managed to avoid debt is very simple: We take care of all of our possessions so that they will last. Making things last longer means we don’t have to replace them as often, saving us large amounts of money. This sounds like a no brainer, but I’m always surprised by [...]

This is a series of posts about what you will find in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course. This is week three (week one and week two) The lesson for this week was cash flow planning, also known as budgeting. You could see everybody approaching this lesson with trepidation. Not only does it mean more [...]

I’ve been giving this some thought lately and I’m beginning to suspect that time moves differently for debt free people than for those with loads of debt. Speaking from my own experience and the experiences of other debt free people that I know, the debt free seem to experience life at a much slower pace [...]

One of the biggest enemies of a debt free life is complacency. Not only is it an enemy, it’s a very sneaky enemy. When you become complacent (apathetic is another good word for this problem) you relax too much. You stop worrying about where your money is going. You start spending more and more, thinking [...]

One of the great things about being debt free is the freedom it gives me to pursue the hobbies I love without compromising my participation because I’m tapped out. I recently got back into photography, something I’d done in high school but pushed aside over the years as other things took priority. To get started, [...]

Most people seem to have a lot of false beliefs about being debt free. They seem to think that those of us who are debt free never have to worry about money, or that we are somehow free from the concerns of everyday life. Some people work to become debt free because they believe that [...]

I’m a huge Star Wars nerd and many of my favorite quotes come from the Jedi Master, Yoda. My personal favorite is the following: “Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not.” When I think about my debt free life, I often change [...]

A couple of weeks ago we got the news that the company my husband works for is cutting pay by twenty percent for all employees, for an indefinite period of time. Once I got past the anger and frustration, I took stock of our situation and worked on damage control. While we do have a [...]

Those large expenses that don’t occur monthly are a big reason why some people end up in debt. Even people who are well intentioned and good at avoiding debt in other circumstances are often caught by surprise by these big expenses. Insurance, taxes, and other bills that are paid yearly rather than monthly are all [...]

In order to avoid debt, it is crucial that we get the best price and value for our money on almost everything we buy. Over the years we’ve found that buying many items used makes this much easier than if we were buying things at retail prices. This was particularly true when we were young [...]

I married a man just like me. He had no debt going into our marriage and no desire to incur any. This has made it very easy for us to create a financial life together that we both agree on and enjoy. I know many other couples who are not so lucky and this has [...]

I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m really about fifty-eight years old. Mentally, at least. In actuality I’m in my upper thirties. But if you look at my lifestyle, my spending choices, and my account balances, I’m much closer to someone who is nearing retirement. Financially I’ve always been about twenty years older than [...]

Many people want to be out of debt. They talk about it and they may even take steps toward the goal. They may make up their minds that they will never have debt (again) and that may become their mantra. They may have the best can-do attitude out there. Yet they may still fail. Why? [...]

I’ve noticed that some respondents to my previous articles seem to think that I’m living a life of deprivation because I choose to save money aggressively and live debt free. I want to set the record straight: A debt free life is not a poor life; it’s not a life of deprivation and suffering. It’s [...]