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No longer worried about mailbox monsters

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
residential mailbox, United States

residential mailbox, United States (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Financial hardships can affect anyone no matter who they are, what they do for a living, and/or what their zip code is.

When we hit our tipping point of heading towards financial disaster just a few short years ago, we were devasted to find ourselves not being able to afford our monthly bills.

It got so bad with our bills coming in, that we actually would get a physical reaction when we opened our mailbox each day. The amount of bills rolling in was terrifying.

It was during this dark time in our lives, that everything debt-related got tossed into a stack of mail that was banished to a table in the garage. We would stop at our mailbox, park in the garage, do a quick shuffle-through to see what would make it to the trash and what could be tossed on the pile as we scurried into the house. It was as if closing the garage door on debts would make them go away (and we could pretend a little longer). Surely this would protect us from any “bill monsters” that were trying to creep into our lives!

Wow, how our lives have changed since then. Except for our house, we are totally debt free. We no longer have credit card statements, car bills, and/or non-mortgage loan statements hitting our mailbox. The first month we stopped getting our non-mortgage bills felt rather strange. Even today, I sometimes “look” for bills that are no longer exist.

How many people are facing fear in reaching for their bills today? Is this happening to loved ones, neighbors, and/or to your own family?

With over 30% of people today not having an emergency fund and/or savings, it is no wonder that it is common to find people in the same boat we once were.

We’ve been there and can relate.

If you are living this way today, know that there is HOPE!

With faith, perseverance, and a plan to action, people can get out of debt.We were a family that never thought it were possible. If this is you or someone you know, sign up with us at our blog, join our future podcasts, and/or join up with me at one of my future speaking events. Visit our website for some awesome resources and look for our Living Beyond Rich book that is bound to give hope and inspiration to many.

Come join in the Live Beyond Awesome journey by joining our blog and watching for our upcoming newsletter sign ups and future podcasts – be prepared most of all to experience your life transform.

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen

Motivational Storyteller, Live Beyond Awesome

Author, Living Beyond Awesome  & soon to be Living Beyond Rich (Due out June 2012) – Look for us through Amazon or through our website:

www.fieldofdebt.com – Please consider subscribing to our blog.

Attention Event Planners: Looking for a motivational storyteller?  I would LOVE to serve your needs.

 

 

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Emergencies Never Come At a Good Time

April 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I am so excited to be in the finishing stages of our book, Living Beyond Richwhich is due out in June 2012.  I am hopeful the book wil

Red emergency light

Red emergency light (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

l give hope and inspiration to many.

In Living Beyond Rich, I tell our own story of how our finance journey started due to an emergency that found its way into our life. At the time, we questioned, why is this emergency happening to us?

Do you ever find yourself asking yourself, “why do emergencies strike our lives”?

The following is taken out of Living Beyond Rich:

Pastor Bob Merritt, author of When Life Isn’t Working, put emergencies in perspective when he talked about the hills and valleys in our lifetime. It centered on a bible verse that refers to “WHEN trouble comes our way” NOT “IF trouble comes our way.” He went on to clarify that God never promised that we wouldn’t have troubles, instead God clearly stated that WHEN trouble comes our way to rely on Him.

What? We must have skipped over that part in the bible. We thought if we were faithful followers, prayed for money fixes, and did good things when we could avoid pain in our lives…wasn’t that right?

He illustrated the three phases in EVERYONE’S path when it comes to storms in our lives. He summed it up wonderfully simply by stating the following is true for all of us:

  1. We were either getting ready to head into a storm.
  2. We were in a storm.
  3. We were coming out of a storm.

What an incredible illustration of what the daily struggles in life really look like. Instead of expecting emergencies, we had felt cheated when emergencies came our way.

 When we look back, we realize we had been living our financial life reactively instead of proactively. We weren’t looking for storms…we were counting on constant sunshine.

Having gone through this experience, our perspectives have certainly been changed when it comes to realizing that getting our lives in order today, will help us tomorrow.

While getting one’s finances in order doesn’t prevent emergencies from striking our lives, it certainly mitigates the frequency of emergencies.

It is hard to put into words how much more peaceful and joyful our lives are today compared to 3 years ago. The weight of paying off over $146,0000 worth of debt and paying cash for over $30,000 worth of medical related expenses is absolutely freeing.

If you are struggling or know someone that is struggling with finances today, please know that there is hope. With faith, perseverance and a plan to action, we can ALL do extraordinary things in life and that includes getting our finances in order.

What actions are you taking today to help mitigate emergencies tomorrow?

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen

Motivational Storyteller, Live Beyond Awesome

Author, Living Beyond Awesome  & soon to be Living Beyond Rich (Due out June 2012) – Look for us through Amazon or through our website:

www.fieldofdebt.com – Please consider subscribing to our blog.

Attention Event Planners: Looking for a motivational storyteller?  I would LOVE to serve your needs.

 

 

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“We’re Going to Disney” – Goal When Debt is Eliminated – Trip is Getting Closer!

March 4, 2012 By 4 Comments
Disney pincess

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Bob and I celebrated our 20th anniversary earlier this week. It was a time of reflection as we chuckled at the grand things we had planned to do when we talked about this great occasion years ago. Would we go on a cruise? Would we take a two-week vacation overseas as a family?

Since we started our debt elimination journey almost 3 years ago, we have focused on the goal of paying off our debt. Working extra jobs, time away from the family, scrimping, doing without, and making do with what we have is how we have been living. Our house needs some serious updating, our newest car has over 160,000 miles, our clothes are getting worn, and my running shoes are from my Ironman Triathlon training days three years ago. It feels like we have been running an extremely long marathon and we are getting close to the end, but not quite there.

So, what did we do for our 20th anniversary? We splurged and bought 2 toilet seats and 3 bags of water softener salt. A far cry from what we pictured a few years ago, but pure luxury today!

We made a commitment that instead of some grand trip and/or gifts, we would give our family the gift of putting the pedal to the medal and getting this debt elimination journey finished. Bob and I would want nothing more than to be DONE with all of our debt (except our 1st mortgage) by New Years Eve of 2012. It is a enormous and overwhelming goal to think of, however, we know that by setting this goal, it will get us there faster.

When we are done, we can’t wait to pay CASH for a Disney type vacation and celebrate our years of marriage and our incredible journey of success with our kids. Our kids and us know that EACH and EVERY dollar we toss at our debt gets us to our trip sooner.

Sitting here today, I am dreaming what it would be like blogging from our Disney type trip around this time next year. I thought it would be fun to write a note to my debt free future self to look back on…here it goes:

This is March 2012 Jen writing a note to my future debt free self. We are SO READY to be DONE RIGHT NOW!  The last three years have been a time of discipline, sacrifice, and hard work and we know our family has learned their lesson well. While at the time it seems like forever, but looking back the years have gone by in a blink of the eye. The next 9 or so months feel like an enternity, but we know we are going to make it and can’t wait to read back on this post remembering the feeling of  wanting to be debt free so badly. We have pictured and dreamed about that debt free day every day along our journey. It is what keeps us going day after day. Within the next month, our debt left to pay on will drop down to the 30′s – it seems like a ton, however, when we see we have paid off $142,000 and paid cash for over $30,000 worth of medical, we know we can do this. So, to my future self, I say hug your kids and husband…take a break to celebrate and enjoy the victory. See you soon. Sincerely,

The Jen from March 2012

Many blessings and thanks for reading!

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen

Motivational Storyteller, Live Beyond Awesome

Author, Living Beyond Awesome (Living Beyond Rich Due out Spring 2012) – Look for us through Amazon or through our website:

www.fieldofdebt.com – Please consider subscribing to our blog.

ATTENTION  Event Planners:  Please consider me when planning your next event as my motivational storytelling will give hope, encouragement, and INSPIRATION to your audiences.

 

 

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Wanna Write a Book? Be a Lottery Winner and Learn How

February 9, 2012 By 13 Comments

I am a published author! WHOO HOOOO!!!

Had you asked me if I would become a published author 7 months ago, I would have assumed you were mistakenly talking to the wrong Jen McDonough.

Dan Miller is someone I am very proud to call my mentor. As with our money and time, I am very intentional about who I choose for my mentors. In utilizing mentors in our lives, our family has gotten to do some incredibly awesome things as there is always room to grow.

Dan is not only a mentor to me, but also to tens of thousands of others through his bestselling books, podcasts, seminars, newsletters, forums, and websites.

Since having our book hit in Amazon’s Top 100 for Transformational books within the first two weeks of being released, I have been asked by MANY people how to get a book published, how to go about writing a book, etc. Without a doubt, I recomme

nd they join Dan’s 48days Community right away. Once you join and start participating, you will see why.

If you want to get a real jump start on writing a book – consider getting over to Dan’s Write to the Bank Seminar (the next one is 3/8/12 and 8/2/12  in Franklin TN). Many of you probably know by now that I am a very frugal person. It was a HUGE decision for my family to invest the time and money into attending this event last Setpember. I tell you truthfully and honestly that it was worth EVERY penny and EVERY minute. The conference is purposely held in a intimate setting where one has the opportunity to be a part of the event. Like many, I was star struck when I got to meet Dan. By the time the conference was done, I went from being star struck to feeling like I had made a life long friend. That is just how Dan and his family is. Warm, personable, and generous.

Getting to attend is like winning the lottery. 81% of people today want to write a book. If this is you, quit wanting and start doing!

Many blessings and thanks for reading.

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen McDonough

Motivational Storyteller

Author, Living Beyond Awesome

Debt Elimination Coach

Mom to 4 incredible kids, wife to 1 awesome husband

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Finances can be like cobwebs

December 2, 2011 By 5 Comments

I am not the best house cleaner – I freely admit this, but hey we can only be good at so many things right?

Even I was quite surprised however at how many cobwebs a house could have when we did a thorough cleaning for a media crew that was visiting us (see our website at www.fieldofdebt.com under our media page). It was obvious to someone on the outside that we didn’t dust much, but honestly it isn’t something I really noticed until I took a fresh look at it.

Our finances can be like cobwebs in our lives. Sometimes they are a mess, but we don’t notice them because we have lived with the mess for so long. Sometimes it takes seeing someone living cobweb free to notice how bad ours really are.

If this describes you, get your duster out and start dusting…it always feels much better when you breathe a little easier with not as much mess in your life.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

www.livingbeyondawesome.com

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How to Gain More Hours in a Day (This post will make some mad I know!)

November 19, 2011 By 5 Comments
Clock

Image via Wikipedia

People these days are “BUSY”.  How many times a day do you ask someone “how are you doing?” and person replies back, “oh, I am really BUSY”. It doesn’t matter the time of day or the time of year you ask, the reply always seems to be the same from these people. Sometimes there is an emphasis on the word BUSY along with a sagging of the shoulders to emphasize that they are “busier than anyone can possibly imagine”.

Last week at our Weightwatchers meeting, I read in our weekly handout that the average person watches 28 hours of TV a week!  I was outraged!

When I mentioned to my husband I was going to blog about this unbelievable statistic, he answered with a smile, “Are you going to lobby to people that they should watch more TV per week?”

My husband loves to watch TV. I definitely do not. Years ago, I used to jump in front of the TV and say, “name in me 5 seconds or less watch you are watching.”  To see the deer in the headlight panicked look on his face made me smile inwardly. If the correct show couldn’t be named, the TV would be snapped off.

After almost 20 years of marriage, we have learned to compromise. I am reluctantly okay with cooking shows being on Saturday mornings as well as any hometown sporting events and educational series (no, the show where they build cars is not educational in my book). Anything outside of these parameters and I just plain get mad.

To those looking to get out of debt, if you are too busy to work on a budget, take on second jobs, find ways to earn extra income, etc, my advice to gain more hours in a day would be to (I know this is going to make some of you mad and that is okay) TURN OFF THE TV!!

If you used that AVERAGE stat of watching TV for 28 hours a week and instead took on a part time job at $10 an hour, it would equal $280 extra a week which equates to an extra $14,560 a year! That $14,560 is even without commercials!!

Being intentional with your time and how you spend it will make it seem like you gained more hours in a day. Don’t worry, you can always ask around who got voted off the island…there are plenty around who would love to share.

Thanks for reading and God bless

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

www.livingbeyondawesome.com

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Being in Debt is Like the Frog in a Frying Pan

October 13, 2011 By 1 Comment
The Red-eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris) found...

Image via Wikipedia

Being in debt for us was much like the frog in the frying pan story.  The frog starts off in a cold pan of water that is slowly heated up. To an outsider, it is obvious what is coming. To the frog, he doesn’t know enough to jump out because the pain is so slow coming on.

In our society where 70% of american’s live paycheck to paycheck, we have a lot of frogs  in the frying pan. Many times we don’t know we are at a boiling point until it ”feels” too late (I have hope that it is never too late for any of us!).  Speaking from experience, when you are that frog in the frying pan, it is hard to see your way out sometimes.

Here are some useful keys to getting your frog legs out of the frying pan:

  • Get on a written budget
  • Learn to live beneath your means
  • Learn to HATE debt
  • Quit borrowing
  • Surround yourself with encouraging people/mentors
  • Get on a finance plan (see our resource page)
  • Consider hiring a financial coach
  • Stay away from debt consolidation companies
  • Don’t fall for get rich schemes – go for the crock pot method versus the microwave method
  • Remember to keep God in the picture – have faith and pray – it is amazing what He can do

See our website at www.fieldofdebt.com or visit our resource page for good areas on where to get more info.

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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Words of Advice for those just starting on their personal finance journey.

October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Starting line of the 2007 LOTOJA bicycle race....

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Some words of advice for those that are on the starting line to paying off debt:

Commitment – Pick a plan and commit to it!  So many times when we started we had to keep reminding ourselves of the “rules” of our plan. It seemed like we had the “yea but” attitude.  Yea, we can’t do that because ______, etc.  Believe me, we all think “our case” is special.  Your case is special because of _______ (you fill in the blank).  Recognize whatever it is and don’t let it stop you from reaching your goal.

Forgiveness – Forgive yourself if you do slip up once in a while. We can all be our own worst critic at times.  Not one of us was born a financial genius.  This stuff is a process, so be kind to yourself.

Discipline - The first few months you may feel like there are times it is hard.  Stay disciplined in sticking to your plan and  know it gets easier to do as time goes on.

Patience - Know that you WILL do this. Sometimes, we just need to take it day by day and other days will need to just be taken hour by hour.

Peperseverance - STICK WITH IT no matter what.  Remember why you started and remember your goal.  The turtle wins the race every time!

Good luck on your journey.  We hope you subscribe to our blog and follow us on our journey.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Jen McDonough

www.fieldofdebt.com

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How does this budget thing work if I don’t get paid until the middle or end of the month?

September 13, 2011 By 6 Comments
Budgeting

If 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, a good guess is that most don’t do a budget.  We were certainly among those 70% just a few years ago. 

A budget can be intimidating to some people when first starting. to take control of their personal finances. I get it. It can seem overwhelming, but I promise you, it will be worth the effort over time.  You will be able to tell your money what to do versus having your life controlled by out of control spending habits that can lead to many emergencies – I can say this as I speak from firsthand experience (see our story at www.fieldofdebt.com).

Some people have asked how do they “start” a budget if they don’t get paid until the middle or the end of the month. Great question!

I recently posted this question to Dave Ramsey fans and as usual, they had some great advice.

  • Start your budget on pay-day
  • Go on a week to week budget at first.
  • Payday to payday the budget. (i.e. instead of 9/1-9/30, budget could be 8/26 – 9/8 and 9/9 – 9/22)

The main thing is to START.   Don’t allow your doubts to delay you from starting.  Use your own method or start with one of the great suggestions above. 

For those that have advice or suggestions of what worked for them, please share them by adding a comment below. 

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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