Thanks for all your support, suggestions, criticisms, and questions over the last couple of years. We continue to look forward to hearing your successes as well.

• 30′s Personal Finance: It’s Not Too Late
• True Frugality
• 9 On Assignment: Frugal Family
• Being Frugal: The Original Sustainability? – Chris Farrell
• How to Break the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle
• Getting Your Finances in Order
• Eliminating Debt in 2009 Part 2 Extra Income
• 100 Ways in 100 Days-7: Bake Items in “Groups”
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-6: Use a Prgrammable Thermostat
• 100 Ways to Save Money in 100 Days-5: Switch to CFL’s or LED’s

photo courtesy of www.accountingunleashed.com

Well, January was a great month for us.  We have paid off our smallest personal loan.  This is our first bill that we have completely paid off since we began our Total Money Makeover.  By sticking to our budget, earning some extra money, and a little sacrifice we paid off this loan a full 13 months early-saving ourselves $427.18 in interest.  Another thing I would like to point out is that this was all aceived on a very modest income.

Now the increase in our assest was nothing to get excited about (an increase of 0.4%), but anything other than a negative number is fine with us.  The percentage of debt reduction was great (though just a little under our goal) at a whoping 3.2%.  If we continue this percentage every month that will have us at a total of 38.4% of debt gone at the end of 2009.  That is just shy of our 40% goal. This summer we are going to do some freelanceing to make up for the other 1.6%.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

How are you doing with your debt reduction progress?

• Getting Your Finances in Order
• What Debt Would You Pay Next?
• Eliminating Debt in 2009 Part 1 Saving Money
• Free Debt Reduction Ebook!

Well-as hard as it is to believe-another year has gone by. What are your plans for 2009? In this economy I am sure some will be looking for new work, or thankful for the work that they have. We have talked before about depression caused by job loss as well as the importance of goal setting. Both of these articles were from experience and were written to try to help some avoid our mistakes.

As far as we go, we are looking forward to 2009. Personally, we feel that this will be a rewarding year. As always, we wish to increase our knowledge and enjoyment of our spiritual journey. We try to learn new things daily. One rather extreme goal we have is to reduce our total debt by at least 40%. This will by no means be an easy task, but we have learned from our mistakes and we are using a budget, paying down debt quickly, saving for emergencies-just trying to keep our financial house in order.

We hope, beginning in January, to give out monthly progress reports on our liabilities and assets.  This is not only to show what we are doing, but to help hold ourselves accountable to our plan.

Also, we are going to try many new things in 2009 and we look forward to reporting all those things that worked wonderfully and on the things that flop miserably.

We welcome you to share some of your dreams and goals for 2009. As always, thank you for reading and have a great day!

• How to Set and Achieve Goals

What is it that defines your life? What makes you get out of bed each morning to face another day? Most of us have asked, or been asked, these questions. After our financial fallout, my wife and I sat down to have this very discussion (which is material for another post entirely).

We thought, and we pondered everything under the sun. We questioned each other and had extensive conversation. After several hours of thought and debate, we finally came up with an answer. Are you ready for what we found? We found that we were defined by…nothing.

Not a singe answer we came up with could answer that question (which was part of the reason we got into our financial mess). We will have another post soon about all the items that were eliminated as possibilities, and the reasoning behind each choice, but for now lets focus on creating the change.

The first thing to do is actually decide on what you want your life to be about. Take you time with this, for if you stick with your choice, it will affect most every major decision made from this point forward. Once you have your answer, we found that we went through four phases during our change. These same truths will probably hold for most any change, not just a lifestyle change.

The Four Phases of Lifestyle Change

1. Phase 1: Withdrawal This was definitely the hardest phase. Nothing about our lives was the same anymore. The weekly $40 (a weeks worth of groceries for the two of us I might add) trip to our local Mexican restaurant-gone. The trips with friends a couple times a month with the intention of having fun finding ways to spend money-no more. (Friends who are true will stick around, those who are not will fade and be replaced by new ones that are more in line with your new found values). Spending hours on end lounging in front of the television watching cable or movies-at an end. You get the point. Every aspect of our lives had been flipped, shaken, stirred, and set back up. It was total misery for over two months. Then came…
2. Phase 2: The Honeymoon Once the shock wore off, we entered the “honeymoon” phase; life is good, look at what good choices we are making, I am so glad we are doing this together, we should have done this sooner, etc. If phase one was the hardest, this was by by far the easiest. Everything was in such perfect harmony, and we were beginning to actually see the results of our choices coming to fruition. Then it all went haywire…
3. Phase 3: Disenchantment Ah, yes. These are the tumultuous times. Not nearly as severe externally (like phase 1), but here is where internal problems, the mud-slinging, began. One would specify an amount for an expense and we both would agree upon it, then the other would go above and beyond the amount. Discussion only lead to one party accusing, the other justifying. One would request a task be completed, the other would balk “How can you expect that at a time such as this!” Thankfully, for us, this phase only lasted a little over month, but it was near impossible to be on the same page at anytime during that month I assure you.
4. Phase 4: Normality After we got back in the same ballpark, life became an increasingly smooth experience. By no stretch of the imagination are things perfect (we still have issues once in a while, as is the case with all relationships), but we are in tune with our goals and purposes now. New friends have entered the picture, and we are slowly cultivating those relationships. Most of the issues we had that stem from this change are now handled in a routine, almost reflexive way.

I must say that we are enjoying the results, and would not change the journey one iota. As always, hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, even though I do not think we would of had the level of success that we have experienced, I can not help but wonder if we did not change too much too quick; maybe we should have tackled one area at a time, which is something you may wish to consider. I would also like to say that you can not go into a cycle like this half-heartedly.

Unless you are at the point that you are totally disgusted with the way things are; a time when to continue on you current course is going to be so painful and depressing you have no choice but to take drastic action; whether you experience this ordeal alone, or with a significant other, if you are not 100% committed, you will fail. Just the hard facts. The siren call of your former life will sound sweeter and sweeter each day, until finally you give in. We had tried before, and failed miserably; it was not until we had a lifestyle change in our heart first that we succeeded. The countless hours of support and prayer from loved ones and others who understood also helped tremendously. Without faith and prayers we could have never made it; if you do not believe in God or a supreme being, at least find like minded individuals or a support group to help you through this. It is overwhelming when you decide to change everything at once, but the pain and aggravation will go away eventually, and your effort will be greatly rewarded. Are we enjoying a perfect life now? No, but we are a little closer.

Good luck, and have a great day!

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What is the main objective to your life.  If it could be said that you accomplished one thing in your life, what would you have it be?  Personally, we do not think that “they made a lot of money” should be the main topic at our funerals.  If you did not have any bills, and loads of money, what would you wish to achieve in this life?

Money alone is not a worthy goal.  Most people who say they want a million dollars (or some other figure) in the bank before they can consider their life a success.  I have never heard of a case where money was the only destination.  More often than not, the desired result is something the person believes the money can provide.  Security, freedom,  conveniences, are usually the end result that is sought.

Be careful not to tie your success to a finite object or amount of money.  If you define your success as getting the newest Lamborghini  Diablo, one of two things could happen: (a)If you do not purchase the object or achieve the large bankroll in your lifetime, you may consider yourself a failure, or (b) Once you have the object, you will become complacent and think that you have “arrived.”

It is of some debate now, but this quote was at one time attributed to Emerson.  Regardless, the meaning is an awesome statement and a great way to define success:

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

This is by far one of the best definitions of success I have ever heard.  Another great way to live a successful life: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your might.  To love your neighbor as you love yourself.  If we all lived that way, this would be a better world.

Finally, make sure that it is YOUR definition.  We are so bombarded by television and the media about how we should define success.  I look at these people (movie stars, singers, and so forth) and I feel sorry for them.  They have no privacy.  Many end up on drugs and alcohol.  Even though they “have it all,” many are never satisfied.  Be sure that you define what your life should be about.  Take the time to consider this carefully.  By defining what is truly wanted out of life, you may find that the eighty hours a week or more that you are working are doing nothing to get you closer to your idea of success.

Take a few minutes to think about your definition of success.  Are you currently getting closer?  Farther away?  What can you change to make your life a success as you define it? 

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