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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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Forgiveness – One Tough Thing to Do!

March 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Guilt and shame are many times associated with being in debt. Even though 70% of us today live paycheck to paycheck, being in debt can feel like you are alone.

Last night at church, we had a incredibly moving service. The service centered around forgiveness. We had some amazing guests share

Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

Robert Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

their story. The intro started with a  CBS new story entitled: Love thy neighbor: Son’s killer moves next door.

To listen to this incredibly strong mother whose son was murdered forgive her son’s murder and then encourage a friendship with this young man was beyond incredible. To hear this 35-year-old man’s story of killing this mom’s son when he was 16 years old and then having the son’s mom befriend him was extremely moving.

It was an incredible example of what forgiveness of others and oneself is.

In getting to talk and meet with people on our freedom finance journey, it has been joyful to give a message that being disorganized in one’s  finances can happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter their zip code, what they do for a living, or how many good deeds they have done – debt touches many.

A key reason why people get stuck in either starting on their freedom debt journey or keeping on their journey is due to guilt and/or shame. Guilt and shame robs us of time, energy, and making our way to becoming the persons we were meant to be. By ditching guilt and shame, we are able to forgive ourselves and finally move on to being where we want to be.

If you are in debt today and living a life of embarrassment, guilt, and/or shame when it comes to your finances, ditch the negative feelings and instead, channel them into positive actions that will improve your situation. In doing so, you will become empowered to start taking steps to living a life of financial freedom and peace.

Live Beyond Awesome!

Jen

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.

 


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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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Desperately Broke and Being Ashamed – School Comes Through With An A+

January 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Being in debt can feel like you are living on the edge sometimes. It is a lonely, shameful, and scary place to be for some.

It use to be very humiliating and embarrassing when we first started on our journey to admit we were broke. We were $100,000+ in debt and trying to pay for our son’s medical research visits to help find a cure for his type 1 diabetes. During our first month on our budget, we were $1,000 behind after things were cut out – it made our tight budget even tighter. In addition, we would come to have medical related expenses that were running ~$15,000 a year.

During this dark time in our lives, any little extra out of the ordinary things that came up would sometimes set us over the edge. One example of this was special events.

Dress clothes was were considered frivolous on our priority list…food, shelter, paying off debt, and medical care were our focus. I use to cringe when events such as weddings, school concerts, etc. would come up that required nice clothes. The line of not going into debt had been drawn and nothing was going to make us go over it. The feelings of  embarrassment, guilt, and stress over it many times made us say just forget it, we are not going.

I am not writing this blog today to make you feel sorry for us. I wanted to write this blog because many times we don’t always know what people are facing in their lives. Sometimes realizing that people are under extremely stressful situations can help paint a picture as to why people act and look the way they do.

Knowing what it “feels” like to be in a desperate situation, it made me all the more prouder to brag on what the kids school did recently. Here is a recent quote taken out of their upcoming announcement:

On the night of the concert, remember one thing: Comfort is key. Students should wear nice clothes they already own. Don’t feel the need to go out and buy an outfit. Clean tennis shoes are fine. This is a change from years past for economical reasons.

The note ended with “I can’t wait to see all of you at the concert.”

I think of the families that are struggling right now and  it almost makes me cry reading this kind and thoughtful note. To know that places like our wonderful school are going out of their way to ensure all are welcome no matter what is just heart warming.

So great job out there to all the other schools, churches, etc. that are following suit by welcoming all, no matter what.

Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Live Beyond Awesome,

Jen

 

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7 Out of 10 American’s Live Paycheck to Paycheck

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Money

Image by Mait Jüriado via Flickr

The statistic that 70% of American’s live paycheck to paycheck always makes me sad. We use to be a part of that 70% not long ago.

When we hear of our neighbors, friends, and colleagues struggling with debt, it breaks my heart, but doesn’t surprise me as 7 out of 10 people nowadays live this way. It has just become the norm for our society. We were in those same shoes not long ago and know how hopeless it can feel. When you are in it, it can feel like you are the ONLY ones in this situation. Debt can bring so much pain, shame, embarrassment, and stress.

For those that are struggling with debt, know that you are not alone and that we all need to just start where we are in life. Most of all, there is HOPE!!!!

We hope you subscribe to our blog and follow along with us as we continue our journey of paying off debt.

God bless and thanks for reading!

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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A Debters Legacy

October 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As we get older in life, sometimes we wonder what legacy we will leave behind.  Most of us in this world I think would like to leave something good. 

We were recently interviewed by KSTP, our local news station, http://kstp.com/article/stories/S2349537.shtml?cat=0.  What  a wonderful experience to share our story.  In the interview, Bob reflected on where we would have ended up eventually had we not faced our personal finance issues.  As a mom, it scares the heck out of me to think what legacy we would have left our children had we continued on this path of destruction.  Not only the financial legacy of debt we would have left, but more importantly, the wrong lessons they would have learned along the way. 

The memories of the last 2 1/2 years have held painful flashbacks, however, the amount of life lessons we have ALL learned as a family has been simply incredible. 

If you are living paycheck to paycheck like 7 out of 10 Americans, what legacy are you leaving for your kids? 

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.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...

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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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Learning to be good stewards – hard sometimes to learn, but when you do, so rewarding! Hear our podcast interview with Glen Steinson from Stewardship Weekly

September 27, 2011 By 3 Comments
Larry Burkett's Money Matters (1993) teaches C...

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We were recently interviewed by Glen Steinson from Stewardship weekly.  Glen has a heart of gold and enjoys passing on the joys of being great stewards for God with not only money, but also one’s time and talents. 

Learning how to be good stewards isn’t always easy at first, but when you start to figure this stuff out, it is beyond rewarding! 

The following is from our book that is soon to be released in late 2011:

We have found we want nothing materially in this world that would make us go into debt again.  Things we use to cherish have become just “stuff”. Stuff we thought we couldn’t live without is now just stuff we don’t need. It’s almost like God used this experience to shove our noses into the ground until we said, we give up, and it is all Yours.  The things we own and the money we have is not “ours”, we are simply stewards for God. The freedom we feel from having learned this is immeasurable. 

We hope you have a chance to tune to Glen’s podcasts.  Click on the link below to hear our story.

http://www.stewardshipweekly.com/15

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

p.s. Glen is also a GREAT dad – listen as he even interviews our 2 oldest kiddos (Maggie and Robbie) towards the end of the podcast.

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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Who is richer? The one who earns less with no debt or the one who earns a good income but has debt?

September 9, 2011 By 1 Comment
house 01

Image by Chris Pederick via Flickr

Steve Stewart, a financial coach, from MoneyPlan SOS recently posted the following:. 

A renter with no debt & earns less than $25k has a greater net worth than a guy earning $100k with a $200k mortgage & $30k student loan debt.

Read the above statement again. 

In our society where debt has become the norm for many, it would seem we would naturally assume the one making $100k was better off than the one earning $25k.

Pretty interesting isn’t it?  What was your first  impression when you read that statement?

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

Steve’s podcast can be found at:  http://www.moneyplansos.com/sos031-house-poor-are-you/

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Don’t open your checkbook – there might be monsters hiding in there! Great Advice from Dave Ramsey Experts

August 29, 2011 By 12 Comments
Cover of "The Total Money Makeover: A Pro...

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Remember when you were a little kid and you were afraid there were monsters under your bed or in the closet?  That is the way it is for some of us when we think of balancing our checkbook.  If we don’t look, there is no pain, so why bother looking we tell ourselves.  Been there, done that for MANY years. 

If you are just getting starting on your personal finance journey or thinking about it, here are some tips from some of Dave Ramsey fans who are experts at paying off debt. 

Enjoy reading and remember, there are no such things as a checkbook monster…the only things lurking could be unknown charges!

God bless and enjoy reading some great advice below.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

Read The Total Money Makeover
Write down date, item, cost of everything spent for 30 days. Use that to refine the budget worked up during. Then write it down for the next 30 days to refine the budget. Then . . . do this until the routine becomes known and only the non-routine causes an adjustment.
Overall:
Be good with God.
Be good to others.
Take care of their health and,
Stay out of debt.

When you start to become interested in focusing on your finances, don’t start right away. Grab a handy-dandy notebook and write down everything you spend money on for the first month. Every single penny! If you throw money in a jar at the end of the night, document that too.

Then ask yourself how much money are you “eating” literally! Between fast food, trips to the convenient stores, dinners out, etc.; that usually shocks many! Now, start your budget.

Post a note somewhere–bathroom mirror, fridge, whatever:
This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Crockpots, not microwaves

Best advice: Stop spending until you figure out how much money needs to go where.

-Read Total Money Makeover
-Don’t take on any new debt.
-Stop spending and live on less than you make.
-Don’t feel that you absolutely have to follow the plan 100% in order to be successful. It can be modified.

Start using cash for EVERYTHING. Once we did this for groceries and gas our budget started working like a well oiled debt kickin’ money saving machine.

I found it easier to do the allocation sheet at the same time as the budget so we could give each dollar a name as well as a time frame.
ETA-visit the Total Money Makeover forums often to help keep up the intensity

Be persistent and don’t get discouraged or stop the plan if you fall off the wagon. I fell off for 1-2 months this spring/summer and I got right back on.

+1 with one caveat: Make sure any deviations from the plan are small, and still follows the rule of good common sense.

The budget takes work and you will makes mistakes, especially in the first 3-4 months. Learn from the mistakes, but don’t get discouraged and quit.

You WILL spend more if you use the debit card instead of cash….it’s psychologically more painful to part with cash. Pull the debit card from the wallet.

1. Work your plan everyday.
2. Have a budget meeting with your spouse, even if it is only 5 minutes.
3. Follow the plan; it works.
4. Learn to balance your checkbook.

Make sure you budget blow money or you will fall off the wagon
1.Read Total Money Makeover or financial peace
2. Take the financial peace online course.

Reading the book will familiarize yourself with the baby steps.
Mull the information over. Taking the course online will teach you how to put the steps into action.

1. Take deep breaths when things get stressful. Taking deep breaths literally tells your body to stop the fight/flight response brought on by stress and can clear your mind.

2. Focus on one step at a time. It does no good to worry about BS5 if you still need to finish BS1. Focus on getting that one baby step done then praise yourself for a job well done and focus on the next step. Repeat as necessary.

You must have exceptional self discipline. As for me and my DH, we found the DC to be the secret bleeder, especially with grocery shopping and discount stores.

#1) Cash is your friend.
#2) Don’t give up too easily. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be progress. People tend to cave & take a trip to Starbucks and then figure ‘what the heck, i’ve blown it anyway’ and then proceed to go crazy buying all this stuff on impulse. Perceived ‘needs’ are particularly tempting. When you cave & go to Starbucks, end it there. Just forgive yourself and move on. Something like that does not equal failure!

 

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I’m not poor, just broke!

August 25, 2011 By 2 Comments
crisis comes and goes, debt remains

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Poor is a state of mind.  Broke is a temporary situation.

Since we started our finance journey 28 months ago, we obviously have eliminated many things out of our lives in order to dump $120,000+ worth of debt and cashflow over $25,000 worth of medical related expenses.

Our family has been learning God’s way on how to handle personal finances.   Eliminating things has been freeing in some ways and just plain hard in others. 

I was a bit embarrassed and surprised earlier this last school year when I got a letter in the mail saying our kids had been identified by someone as being candidates to receive new winter jackets and boots for free through a community program. I called our school principal and asked for 6 minutes of his time.  I am sure he was thinking, oh no, but he agreed. 

I came up to school with the letter in my hand.  When I walked in, I gave him the letter and said I wanted to thank whomever nominated our kids for this program from the bottom of my heart.  I knew whoever sent through our kids names were kind enough to have taken the time to notice something had changed with our family.   The kids I know didn’t look quite a sharp with their very worn clothes and shoes.  I was choked up as I was overwhelmed with gratitude that someone would love our kids so much to notice.  “We are not poor, just broke.” I stammered out,  “It is our choice we are living this way”.  I told him what we were intentionally paying off debt and that we didn’t need help.  I extended my sincere gratitude to his staff for taking the time to notice.  It meant that people were keeping an eye out for kids that may need some extra help at home – how wonderful to think of. 

It makes me sad to think of the people all around us that may be hurting financially and we might not notice.  What a wonderful blessing to think of the caring staff in our school systems around the country that take the time to notice kids that may need some help in their personal life.  When someone takes the times to help kids in tough situations, it makes one heart swell with gratitude.

Our kids have been taught that “we are broke, not poor”.  Poor is a state of mind.  Broke is a temporary situation. We are this way because of the way we have chosen to clean up our debt.  We tell them, when they grow up pay cash and don’t allow yourselves to get into debt. 

Learning about personal finance has been permanently imprinted on the three older kids as we are learning by living it.   Not always the easiest thing to learn, but man, can you imagine starting life out financially smart?

If you are the “norm” and live like 70% Americans by living paycheck to paycheck – are you poor or broke? 

God bless and thanks for reading!

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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I am tired of hearing people say, “I am busy” when it comes to finances. Know what? The whole freakin’ world is busy my friend.

August 24, 2011 By 1 Comment
Save Money Vacation

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Don’t you get sick of hearing the phase, “I’m busy” when you ask someone how their day is going?  Heck, I want to say, we are all busy. The world is busy. Really now, how is your day going?

One of many excuses for us not getting our personal finances in order was that we were ”we too busy”.  This was the excuse we told myselves before we had kids and after. For those that have kids, you know what I am talking about when I say your time is a little different after you have kids than before.   It didn’t matter, we were always “busy”.

When our life came to a screeching halt and life punched us in the face, we were forced to face our finances.  We suddenly made time for it.  We quit making excuses and just did it.  Was it worth it?  YES, it definitely was worth it!  The 5 minutes a day invested in ourselves has certainly paid off  as we paid off $120,000+ worth of debt and cashflowed $25,000+ worth of medical in 28 months. 

I would save that 5 minutes a day working on our finances was a good investment.  

If you are one of those that haven’t had your nose punched in like we had with your finances, but are still on the fence with this whole finance stuff, I am talking to you.   It is worth it worth the time. 

For us, it changed much more than our finances.  It has strengthened our marriage, deepened our faith, allowed us to give more to charity, and has been the most freeing things we have ever done.  It has been empowering.

For those already on board, how do you make time for it?

For those on the “fence” are and using time as an excuse, what can you do to make time?

 God bless and thanks for reading. 

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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I use to roll my eyes when ‘discipline’ and ‘finances’ were used in the same sentence. “NERD” would usually come to mind.

August 22, 2011 By 6 Comments
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Our Senior Pastor Bob Merritt from Eagle Brook Church (www.eaglebrookchurh.org)  had a great quote from his sermon this past week.  It struck me as being so true when it comes to many things in our lives, especially personal finances. 

“Discipline happens in private, but the results always show up in public” –

                                                 Bob Merritt, Senior Pastor, Eagle Brook Church.

I use to envy skinny people and think, “they are just lucky”.  As I have gotten older and compare finance to weight control, I now look at those same people and admire their discipline and think “good for them”.  I have a lack of discipline in this area – something I need to work on.

How true this was for us and many others that are not disciplined when it comes to finances.  When discipline and finances were used in the same sentence, I immediately would think “Nerd” with a roll of my eyes!  Now, I still think “Nerd”, but done so in admiration.

When lack of discipline happens in regards to finance, it can show up as debt whether it can be in car loans, credit car loans, etc.   It can also show up in marriage fights.  Did you know that money fights are the #1 cause of divorce in America today?

What areas has discipline or lack of discipline showed up in your life? 

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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Get out of that “grey” zone of wanting to change, but not doing anything about it

August 10, 2011 By 9 Comments

It is sometimes scary and uncomfortable to start new things when we know it will involve some sort of sacrifice.  Me, I hate thought of joining up for a weight loss plan again, however, I have lost 60lbs before I had our last kiddo and know I can do it again if I put my mind to it. 

It is almost like being in the grey area in life.  That grey area made up of indecision is harder than just committing to something and sticking with it.  With our finances, before we were “forced” to change, we were in the grey area for many years.  We didn’t overly worry about our finances, but we knew we SHOULD change.  When emergencies came up, it was then that we would feel a little panicked, however, when the crisis was over and we found a way to shift our money around, the panic went away and we never really did anything about it.  As our income was squeezed tighter and tighter due to our 401k loans we took out, the emergencies came more often and that yo yo feeling of being in that grey zone was getting harder. 

Fast forward several years to today and there is NO grey zone when it comes to our finances – we are totally on board of controlling our finances by staying on a budget, paying off debt, and earning money where and when we can.  When I did a phone interview this week about our story, the reporter asked how the economy was affecting our family.  I responded that we are doing what we can to “economy proof” our family by paying off our debt so we can build wealth.  We are doing the best we can do and because of this, we have such a sense of peace and empowerment that we wouldn’t have felt years ago.  As Dave Ramsey says in his www.the greatrecovery.com message, the economy can be built back up from the ground up by changing one family at a time versus waiting on the government to fix it.  With all my heart, I believe this is true and we have a great hope for people that they will get their personal finances in order by eliminating debt and getting on a budget.  If you are interested in finding out more info, please visit our website at www.fieldofdebt.com  and/or visit Dave Ramsey’s website at www.daveramsey.com.

As far as the weight loss thing….I am still choosing to be in that grey zone even though I hate that yo yo feeling of feeling fat, but not wanting to do the work to change it.  Hmmm….good lesson for me to get OUT OF THE GREY ZONE and get back to Weightwatchers!

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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Sense of Peace With Being on a Plan

August 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Without a plan, I remember every bump in the road was major when it came to finances.  For example, if our furnace went out, our car broke down, our dryer broke, etc. these would send us for a loop on how to pay for it  (i.e. line of credit, visa, etc.). I would at times think, “why me, if this hadn’t happened, we would be okay financially”.  What we have come to realize is that debt is only a symptom and not the problem.  The problem was us and not having a plan to control our money.  While crummy things still happen, they don’t cost us near the trauma and drama it did in the past as we now have a small emergency fun and most of all a plan.  What a sense of peace we now feel. 

Thanks for reading and God bless,

Jen

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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