Two Is Better Than One

Finances are so much easier when everyone is on the same boat. Too many times there are personality conflicts that prevent the cohesiveness needed to run a successful budget such as one person being the saver and the other person is the spender. Yet when these two personality conflicts are able to come together there can be some financial harmony. The more and more that my wife and I dive into getting our finances back under control the more we realize that too many times people worry way too much.

Think about all the things that we, humans, worry about and how many times over those things we worry about actually never come to fruit. With that said there are many reasons that people give as to why they cannot start their budget today yet truly nothing is a good excuse. It is because of that mentality that we are getting our budget strategically in place so we can change the way we are living. It’s easier said than done especially when you claim that you’re going to live like no one else so eventually you can live like no one else.

More to come on this thought process and an update on the budget and goals.

Focus Upon The End Result

So the more and more that I start to focus in on this financial fitness mumbo jumbo the more that I realize there are a ton of people (just like me) who are financially out-of-shape yet try to appear as if they are financially fit. Whether it be the neighbor down the street or the stranger in the grocery store the fact is there are more and more people trying to live up to the Jones’ expectations.

Sadly though I understand that the Jones’ and my expectations are going to be two totally different concepts. To be honest with you it sucks trying to save money. It is so much easier to keep blowing money but I’d rather not have fun and reap the benefits of saving money than have to deal with the stresses of having more month than money left.

In just a few days I will be celebrating Thirty-One years of being on this earth and sadly for almost all of those years I have been held captive to the slavery of debt. Now I am hoping to break through these chains with a fierceness that will leave the debt trembling into oblivion. The focus needs to be positive and needs to hone in on the baby steps of Dave Ramsey’s program. The very first thing we are going to have to concentrate upon is going to be obtaining $1,000 in our emergency fund to get past baby step one.

Now with that said in the next couple of days it is imperative that my family and I sit down and map out the dreaded budget. It is all about trying to find the right budget though because it cannot be too tough (get discouraged and quit) and not be too loose (not make any traction). If you are where I am, or have been where I am, or you are going to be getting at my starting point….feel free to voice your opinion here.

Dusting Off The Debt-Free Running Shoes

Just getting back into the thicket of this thing called becoming financially free and I must say that I am a little bit tingly about it. There are a couple of things that I realize that need to happen as I write this. The very first thing that I need to do is to evaluate where I am right now and where it is that I want to go. Obviously the end result is becoming debt free but instead of just saying this is where I want to be…I need to give great thought and detail to exactly how I’m going to get there.

There is a saying in the movie The Secret in which it states that energy flows where attention goes. How true is that? If a person wants to lose weight and they start focusing in on losing weight and putting their efforts to weight loss….what happens? They lose weight, right? Typically the answer is yes. So with that said….it is definitely time that I put my focus on losing debt. How great does that sound?

Secretly I am smiling on the inside as I write this tonight with my wife sitting next to me as we are watching the tube. Other than deciding that I need to become more active with the blog, I have also decided to pick up the Total Money Makeover book by Dave Ramsey off the shelf. The first thing I had to do was blow the dust off the cover but the pages are crisp and ripe for the reading. Here’s to the start of what will be many, many blog posts (hopefully).

If you’re reading this I hope you are able to help keep me and my family accountable with our daily grind and battle with debt.

Weaving the Web

It is amazing to me how easy it is to fall off the wagon of life. When I mention this wagon of life you can almost insert any word pertaining to that wagon. Whether it be working out, living on a budget, eating right, doing better at work, whatever that list might pertain the fact is it is easier to go back to slacker ways than to keep moving forward. I cannot but chuckle to myself as I looked on this site to realize that my last post for this site was almost one year ago. In fact it was 10 months ago the last time that I thought to myself I want to get back on my budget.

Truth be told I am not alone in my battle against debt. Let me take that back, I am not alone in my personal war on debt. So I am hopping on the wagon again and this time I am hoping that I can maintain my focus on slimming down my debt as well as slimming down my waistline. I love the lay out of my site here and I have decided to use this as my thoughts on everyday life. I am sure that we will laugh together, we will cry together, maybe disagree with each other, but one things for sure I plan on expressing my ideas and my goal in 2012 is to be able to claim that I am, “Debt Free!” I have made the mistake in the past of falling off the wagon and to be honest I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I’m taking the financial challenge in Twenty Twelve to becoming more financially fit as well as physically fit and this is going to be my stomping ground in doing so. Also I plan on setting the stage here as I grow as a Christian. Like I said this is going to be a mixture of all things in my life because I cannot grow in one area without growing in others. Here’s my spiderweb, let’s weave this web together!

A New Adventure

After starting and stopping then starting and stopping again my wife and I have finally decided to make a solid push to the gazelle intensity of being debt-free.  In fact with the way we have our finances set up we should complete the first baby step (saving $1,000 as an emergency fund) by the 8^th of April.  At that point in time we will be looking at our snowball and what we can do to make the debt decrease to where it is nil.

We’ve also started considering and have decided to partake in a home-based business for my wife of selling jewelry.  There’s an initial upfront investment but we have several friends of the family who have been able to make a steady profit from the business.  One of these individuals grosses a monthly income of $15,000 per month from the line of work and I must admit I was skeptical at first until I saw the numbers myself.

With that said these people do not treat this business as a part-time job but attack it as a passion to do well.  Now does everyone make this kind of money per month?  The answer is simply no but I do believe a person will reap the benefits of what they sow.  Ideally I would like to build the business up to about $8,000 per month.  I figure this would be a solid way to change the rest of our lives.  With that kind of money coming in would mean that my focus on employment would turn to this line of work.  I expect to get to this level would take us some where between 6-8 years of steadily pushing the business.

I think to myself what we could do with this amount of money and if we take the Dave Ramsey method of living simple I can only imagine the amount of money we could put back.  I understand it doesn’t hurt dreaming but I am bound and determine to make this a success.  I would love to be able to stay-at-home with my wife and master this business working it daily together.  Only time will tell but I must admit I am excited to get started!

Getting more for our dollar?

Here lately my wife and I have been looking at ways to cut expenses.  One of the most recent areas we have been looking into is with our cell phones.  There was a time in which we had cell phones and a home phone but then we decided to do away with the cell phone.  My wife is a stay-at-home mom and my previous job required me to be on the phone for 8 to 10 hours a day.  Needless to say when I got home I had no desire of talking on the phone.

Then came our move to Alabama and this is when we decided to drop the home phone and go with the cell phones.  We signed our contract with a major carrier and recently we became aware of Wal-Mart’s Smart Talk plan and the concept has me scratching my head at what is the catch?  There’s got to be a catch as the plan seems too good to be true.  We’re talking about a yearly savings of $720 in comparison to our current phone plan.  $720, wow!  I don’t know about you but there are a lot of things I could do with an extra $720 laying around like paying off another medical bill or paying down our debt snowball.

My question for those readers is what have you done to help decrease your expenditures in reducing your monthly bills?

My Passions:

Family: My goal is to be able to provide for my immediate family.  The idea being that when I find out what it is that I want to be career wise then I will be able to reach a greater fulfillment to the ones that I love.  Ideally I would like to be able to be there for my family at a drop of a hat and the last thing that I want to do is look back on my life with regrets.

Technology: This passion stems from tinkering with computers, building databases, to utilizing the Internet.  I am fascinated with this realm and I understand there are stable companies within the computer repair market.  There must be some kind of market share that has not been tapped (as of yet) that I can cross over into.

Politics: I have my political views and let’s just say I find a passion in writing about current events.

Religion: This has not always been a strong passion of mine but the more I am immersed in the readings of the Bible the more I realize the path I need to take.  I have my religious beliefs and there is no influence in to changing my mind away from my savior, Jesus Christ.

Sales: This is a money maker for me (no pun intended).  I am very comfortable with building a rapport with others in establishing a solid trust base.  In the present and past I have had extreme success on the sales side.  I wonder what it would be like to dabble into the commission side of sales but if you go back to passion number 1 there are 3 other people depending upon my earnings.

Spanish: Even though many people will disagree with this the fact remains the United States of America is going away from an English-only speaking country to a wide array of languages being heard from coast-to-coast.  My love of the language is high and I have a general knowledge of the language but I know that I need to step up my study habits and immerse myself more into learning the language.  I know that the better my understanding of Spanish is the more opportunities will open as knowledge is power.  This power will open many doorways to regions of success unknown to me before.

Thinking out loud

I believe that I have a lot of great ideas but too often is the case that I do not allow my ideas, visions or dreams to come to fruit.  I believe this is the case with most people and I have to wonder what it is that allows for others to go from ordinary to extraordinary.  A person could contemplate this and contemplate this, toggle thought after thought through their mind and not come up with a conclusion.

To me though I think the answer is relatively simple in that too often we do not allow ourselves the personal time to enable our minds to dictate our future.  Too often we tend to think in a negative manner of how that job promotion will not occur, or I will not be able to accomplish this feat, or that feat, and the biggest factor is we tend to worry too much about things that are beyond our control.  I’ve heard the saying of, “90% of the things I worry about do not occur.”  How true this statement is in my life and I’m sure it is for you as well.

I’m here to make a difference in my life and it begins with this blog.  My idea or thought process behind this is to enable my thoughts to be written down.  I’m not talking about thoughts such as what’s for dinner, what time does the game come on.  No, I’m not talking about useless thoughts.  I am speaking about processes that we allow me the opportunity to go from ordinary to extraordinary in all facets of life.  Who knows maybe along the journey you have personal testimonies about yourself or someone that you know that can help get me over a hump, through the woods, to Victory I come.  I look forward to the ride and to the path traveled by few.  Sit back, relax, and let’s take this journey together.

Taking Can’t Out of the Vocabulary

In surfing the Internet over the past couple of days I have been searching.  Searching for people who are in debt and instead of making excuses they are actually doing something about it.  I recently came across an individual who is unemployed, stated he owes more than $60,000 in student loans and cannot get on at McDonalds.  I find this hard to believe.  This person said he is waiting on a call back, waiting to hear from them, and I believe he is waiting and holding on to the same excuses.

Yes the job market is down.  Truthfully it sucks but there are jobs out there.  It is times like these that we are living in that people need to be thankful for having employment and making for damn sure they are doing whatever necessary to stand apart from the other employees.  I work in a production based non-factory atmosphere with a lucrative bonus structure for hitting numbers and exceeding budgets.  Before I was in management my motto as an employee was I was not there for the regular paycheck, I was there to make bonus checks.  This mentality helped me achieve more bonus money and paved the way for the company advancements I have earned.

With that said I have employees who openly admit to being satisfied with the regular paycheck and it’s not that great of money so it’s not like these people are receiving fat paychecks.  The drive and mentality of people are different with each individual spoken to and what motivates me is different than what will motivate you.  I grow increasingly tired of hearing people say they cannot do this or they cannot do that. 

Folks it is time to take the word “Can’t” out of the vocabulary banks.  If a person says they cannot doing something then they will never accomplish the feat unless by pure chance and coincidence.  Show me a person who uses phrases such as “I will”, “I can”, “I have” and I’ll show you someone who is more likely to be successful than the person who constantly gives up.

As for that $60,000 person in debt who cannot get a job even at McDonalds I have to call bull shit.  Jobs are out there it takes being proactive not reactive and sometimes we have to do jobs that are below us.  Until you have done everything in your power and exhausted all options do not say “I can’t get a job” be honest with yourself and everyone else and say the real reason, “I don’t want to work at XYZ place.”

Do you fail to plan or plan to win?

I came across an interesting article by Zig Ziglar today in regards to the tendencies of individuals in sales organizations.  According to the findings of Mr. Ziglar the top sales people are seated at or very close to the front while the bottom-feeders tend to arrive late or at the last moment and unprepared.  In the article he notes these low-producing people are also the ones who most likely squirm in their seats, leave early or talk to the person next to them.

He goes on to mention a great point.  These bottom-feeders are typically the same people who arrive at an athletic or entertainment event wanting the best seat in the house.  Generally arriving in plenty of time and are irritated when there are distractions from anyone else.

This is my friend sounds to me like a Piker who is someone who holds back, looking forward to vacation time and giving very little effort at work.  In my line of work I have one person that comes to mind while I was reading Ziglar’s post.  In fact most recently he was talking about his recent trip to a professional sporting event, how the tailgating before the game was fun, how he was drunk 3 hours before the game, the annoying person in front of him, and then the after-game party.  All of this coming from the same person who shows up 1-3 minutes before his scheduled shift and he wonders why he is having a hard time producing.

I cannot help but chuckle out loud as to how right Zig Ziglar is on this.  The individuals at my work who are successful have two things in common.  They do whatever it takes, every time.  They are the people who sit in the front, who continuously want to learn, unlike the above-mentioned individual, they show up early to meetings and generally are the last people to leave.  I leave you with the closing comments from the article:

“In short, these people are winners because they plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win.  That’s a good approach to life.  Try it and I’LL SEE YOU AT THE TOP!”