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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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Are You Passionate About Your Work?

March 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed on several podcast episodes by Dr. Pei Kang as well as her husband, author and coach, Joel Boggess from 4 Points Coaching. What a treat it was to meet both of them.

In reading Joel’s new ebook, Passion, it struck me how we all have a yearning in life to do something that matters in our lives, however most people live their lives as “spectators.”

The stories of people finding their passion in doing the work they love leaves one wanting to jump up and cheer. His message is sure to strengthen one’s desire to take courage to seek out the their own passions in the work they do.

“It’s not by chance or happen that you are wired and emotionally driven the way you are.” ~ Joel Boggess

Joel’s book left me feeling like a changed person after reading. It reaffirmed that God DOES softly whispers to ALL of us – we just need to listen then have the courage and faith to follow His lead.

Have you found or are you working to find passion in your work? If not, I highly encourage you to read Passion - it is sure to leave you inspired to go for it.

Many blessings and thanks for reading.

Live Beyond Awesome.

Jen McDonough

Motivational Storyteller, Live Beyond Awesome

Author, Living Beyond Awesome (Living Beyond Rich Due out 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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Celebrating 20 Years of Being Married to My Best Friend – Leap Day 2012

February 29, 2012 By 2 Comments

Happy Leap Day Gang!

I LOVE Leap Day. How cool is it that we have a extra 24 hours to add to our lives every four years!! It is literally a bonus day for all of us…how cool is that?

20 years ago today, I got to marry my best friend and most favorite husband in the world (Bobby). In some ways, the years have went by in a blink of an eye. Who was that girl with the candy bouquet instead of flowers at her wedding with that kid with the waist long curly hair?  Oh…that was us!

Just a quick post to say I hope you have a awesome Leap Day and to remind you that today is a bonus day – enjoy every minute my friends.

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen

p.s. Happy anniversary Eggs – I LOVE you!!!!

 

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.


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Hills and Valleys We ALL Go Through In Our Lifetime – Turning Valleys Into Blessings

January 20, 2012 By 2 Comments

Robbie and Jen - 1st day of diagnosis January 12, 2009

January 12, 2012 marked our 3 year anniversary when our lives changed forever.  It was the day our Robbie was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 7 years old. A day that we celebrate as it was a major turning point in our lives…one that turned out to be a huge blessing to our whole family, however, one of those blessings that didn’t “feel” like a blessing at the time.

Before this day, life is overall pretty darn awesome as I had just finished up completing my first Ironman Triathlon 2 months earlier (our story on that journey is now available in our newest book Living Beyond Awesome which dipped into the Top 100 Books under Amazon’s Transformation category last month). We literally woke up one morning feeling great and by that evening, our world had been turned upside down.

Throughout the next several weeks, it would be some of the hardest times in our lives. We would not only be emotionally devastated, but financially devastated at well.

In our newest book that is due out this year, Living Beyond Rich, we share our journey in the hopes that 70% of Americans who are currently living paycheck to paycheck will gain inspiration, motivation, and hope. Here is a excerpt from the book…a story our pastor told that rings true for all of us:

Our pastor did a sermon that put it in perspective for us when it came to emergencies. He talked about the hills and valleys in our lifetime. It centered bible verse that refers to “WHEN trouble comes your way” NOT “IF trouble comes your way.” He went on to clarify that God never promised that we wouldn’t have troubles, God clearly states that WHEN trouble comes our way to rely on Him.

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

Our pastor illustrated that there were three phases in EVERYONE’S path that centered around where we were at when it came to storms hitting our lives. 

  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 our troubles in life really look like. We had never looked at it this way before and therefore felt cheated when emergencies did come our way.

We were letting life happen to us versus us happening to life.

Rather than being intentionally prepared for those storms in life, we were unprepared and our poorly built foundation was now being ripped apart. 

It isn’t fair we wanted to yell! We didn’t ask for our son to develop a lifetime disease. If only this wouldn’t have happened to us, we would be okay.

Throughout the years we seemed to always be waiting on something to fix our problem such as a raise at work, a tax return, some unexpected windfall of money. When we got that promotion, tax return, new job, when we could take out another loan, etc. then we would be okay. 

70% of us have built our financial foundations on poor soil by living paycheck to paycheck. Rather than looking to us as the solution, we are waiting for some lottery type event to happen in our lives. If and when that lottery happens to us we tell ourselves, things will be better. 

We definitely lived with this type of attitude for the first 17+ years of our marriage. Always waiting, but never hitting that lottery. When would it come? We were just sure we would “catch a break” someday. 

The lottery did come our way, but certainly not how we pictured it would come.

If you are waiting on that lottery in your life to happen, join our blog and follow along our journey. We were once in the shoes of the 70% of Americans that live paycheck to paycheck. If getting personal finances in order seems impossible, you are visiting the right blog!

Many blessings and remember to sign up to receive our blogs as they post.

Live Beyond Awesome.

Jen

Field of Debt

Living Beyond Awesome

Author, Debt Elimination Coach, and Inspirational Storyteller

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2 Year Research Study Is Done – A Long Road Traveled

July 31, 2011 By 1 Comment

Wow, hard to believe that 2 years has gone by since we started taking Robbie out to the Barbara Davis Center in Aurora Colorado for his Type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease that affects 1 in 300 people. Body kills off the insulin producing cells in the pancreas which requires insulin be present in the body basically at all times).  His last visit was last week and it is somewhat bittersweet.  It involved a 2 year commitment which equated to 16 trips which totaled 48 days.  Those first few stays and the time leading up to it held a lot of trauma and drama.  It is definitely the most painful times in our lives to think back on.  For those that have kids that are affected by an illness, you can certainly relate to it when I say the pain can hit you in a place you didn’t even know you had.   While as a parent, you wan to do anything to take this away, you realize that this is their path in life.  

I think back to who we were as a family then and who we are now - we have been totally transformed. In some ways, I feel much older, however overall, our family’s destiny has been changed for the better. 

The whole reason we started our personal finance journey was because of Robbie’s diagnosis and the strong pull from above to comb through 300+ research studies on our own within 2 weeks of him being diagnosed. Denver was our best option as he didn’t quality for ones around here – it is where God led us and we had faith that this is where we were meant to be.

Reflecting back, it was such an incredibly painful time in our lives and one that we wouldn’t want to go through again.  Because of the life lessons we learned throughout this period, we wouldn’t have wanted to miss it however.  God has showered us with a lifetime of blessings these past 2 1/2 years and He is pushing us forward to share our story with others.

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Why we started this blog…God has a sense of humor!

July 28, 2011 By 4 Comments

Why have I started this blog? 

Well…honestly, have you ever tried to “ignore” God?  I tried!!! He doesn’t let us off the hook too easy does He? I balked at the very idea of taking on this project several weeks ago and tried very hard to ignore His gentle tug to start this journey in life. I tried to tell Him all the reasons I couldn’t do this, but He wouldn’t let up. Thinking (and hoping to prove to God I was right), I started to tell people about the idea of writing a book, starting a blog,  and starting a website to give hope and encouragement to people in regards to personal finance.  Instead, He turned the tables on me and put some exceptionable people on this path that have propelled me forward (no dragging feet could stop it!!). One of those being my incredible, wonderful husband…I am very blessed to be married to my best friend and biggest supporter for the past 19 years! 
 
Before I started this website, I was honestly dreading “learning” it. Do you know what I read the morning I ”reluctantly” started? Ecclesiastes 11:4 – “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest”. I took it as a sign to get off my butt and MOVE! 
 
 I think God has a fun sense of humor and enjoys seeing his children do things to give Him glory that they thought were impossible. I hope I don’t let Him down!!! 
 
Jen
Please visit our story at http://www.fieldofdebt.com/
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Hello world! It’s our 1st post…THANK YOU for reading

July 28, 2011 By 5 Comments

We are pretty darn excited about where God is leading our family on this path in life. The pull to encourage people who are in financial distress and those striving to become debt free is incredible. We are anxious to share our story in the hopes that it will let people know they can get out of debt too!!

Please visit our story at http://www.fieldofdebt.com/.  We are real people who have crawled our way out of $120,000 worth of debt and paid $25,000+ in medical related expenses in the last 27 months.  We still have a long way to go as we continue our debt free journey and hope you join us. There is no “trick” we did to do this.  We simply worked hard, budgeted, and are intentionally focus on arriving at our goal of no longer being a slave to debt.

We hope you visit us often and sign up to receive our posts.

God bless,

Jen

 

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