Follow Me Out Of Debt | Get Out Of Debt And Get Into Prosperity!

Happy Friday! What are your weekend plans?   If you're planning on some downtime, you'll want to make sure that you have already budgeted for this fun escape before you set foot outside of the door. It's not fun to go out to have a good time only to come back home and suffer the consequences of overspending because you failed to plan accordingly.   Some of us spend our weekends working, and some of us are even voluntarily putting in some overtime hours or working a part-time job in order to get ahead and pay down debt faster. If that's you, then perhaps you have other days of the week that you may use for downtime rather than the typical Saturday or Sunday.   Regardless of which days of the week you plan your fun, you need to make sure that the budget is tended to first. This will be the best way to ensure that you are on top of things, no matter which days of the week your personal weekend falls upon.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free to share it by sending them to http:/

Did you know that the average American household debt is a staggering $140,000.00? Now, that does include a mortgage, but even with that in mind, this is still quite a significant figure. Whether you are above or below that number, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast unless you had the same goal in mind: to get yourself out of debt and get into prosperity.   Many of us get lulled into complacency and get used to relying on credit cards, especially if we aren't getting large enough raises (or getting raises at all). We try to bridge the gap by utilizing credit cards to continue spending the same way that we have been with less resources. This isn't a good move.   You have to think of ways to change your own life. You can't simply rely on your nine-to-five to do it for you. You've got to think and do differently from what you've been doing before. That's the only thing that's going to work, and before you know it, you're going to win.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free

The story of Ray Kroc and the founding of McDonald's as a national and international chain of restaurants holds plenty of gold nuggets of useful information. This isn't exactly a rags-to-riches story, however, this is a story of someone who maintained an incredible level of persistence while he worked towards fulfilling his vision of a nationwide (and again, now international) fast food burger chain.   Several times, I've read the book titled: McDonald's Behind the Arches by John F. Love. I've also watched the movie: The Founder. This was more recent when I found the movie on Netflix. If you're reading this after it has been removed from the Netflix streaming movie queue, I'm sure you will be able to find it at your local video store. If you're interested in reading the book, go and check out the availability of it at your local library. That's initially where I found the book, and I've checked it out several times until I eventually bought a copy on Amazon.com.   Aside from Mr. Kroc's persistence, he also ke

Someone else is happy with less than you have. I read that quote today, and it inspired me to do an entire episode on this subject.    We take a lot of things for granted and fail to look around with appreciation or gratitude for what we already have. I'm guilty of this, and I've even said things a couple of times on this show along those lines. Sometimes it happens out of frustration, but I also know that our gratitude or thoughts of gratitude sometimes gets buried underneath a lot of negative thoughts.    We should take a few minutes to think about the good things. Allow ourselves to realign in a spirit of gratitude, no matter how dire our situation may seem at the moment. It can truly change our entire perspective.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free to share it by sending them to http://followmeoutofdebt.com. If you're on Facebook, like my page by going to http://facebook.com/followmeoutofdebt. Send a message while you're there; I'd love to hear from you.

I have a pretty consistent method when it comes to tipping. I firmly believe that we should tip well for great service. It's our way of showing appreciation for the folks who work hard to earn as much as they can while they are primarily relying on tips received.   I do not advocate tipping for bad service. However, I advocate tipping well for those who are working hard to earn their tips. Hear more about some of the personal experiences that I've had and seen with folks who are working in the service industry and receiving tips.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free to share it by sending them to http://followmeoutofdebt.com. If you're on Facebook, like my page by going to http://facebook.com/followmeoutofdebt. Send a message while you're there; I'd love to hear from you.

These are the five simple steps that I incorporate daily to help me to consistently think outside of the box. I didn't exactly put these together as five simple steps originally, but when I stopped to think about what habits I've developed over the past year or so, I realized that I could put some of my daily habits together as a task list that will definitely be a benefit to you if you choose to do the same.   The best part about this list is the simplicity of it all. I purposely try to remove the complexity from the things that I do because it helps me to form good habits. If you make something too challenging, you're more likely to not be consistent with staying on top of things. A lack of consistency will never equate to successfully forming a habit over time.   I'll go into more detail for each of these five simple steps, but the high-level overview is as follows. First, ask yourself each and every day: how can I earn more money? This will allow you to think outside of the box when it comes to ways that

Are you making hundreds of dollars a week or thousands of dollars a month but still feel broke? Here's how to stop feeling broke.   First, you have to take the emotion out of the equation. We feel fear, hopelessness, anger, frustration, and other emotions when we consider the fact that while we seem to make a decent amount of money, we're still feeling broke most of the time. Feeling broke and being broke are two different things. You need to inject reality into the equation in order to replace the emotion. You need to break out the budget and take a long, hard look at the numbers.   Look at both sides of your budget and see where improvements can be made. The numbers in the budget do not respond to emotion. Regardless of how strongly your level of frustration may be, the math will always be the same. The only way to change the numbers in your budget is to either add income on the one side or remove expenses on the other. Taking real action of some kind in order to improve your budget's numbers is the only wa

This is the one question that you need to ask yourself before you whip out the plastic. This question is essential in order to stop yourself from continuing to use credit cards while you're in the process of getting out of debt. Obviously, adding more debt to the total debt payoff is the last thing that you want to do when you're trying to be wise and responsible. Being unwise and irresponsible is how most of us got into trouble with debt in the first place!   Here it is. The question to ask yourself each and every time you are tempted to use plastic to make a purchase is simply, why? Why are you doing what you are about to do? Asking this one simple question gives you some pause. It gives you pause in order to reflect on your action before taking said action, so you are not merely acting on a whim.   You force yourself to make a more conscious decision. This is a much better plan than haphazardly using your credit card whenever the urge comes, and it helps you to understand the surface psychology behind why

Are you currently in debt crisis mode? Perhaps your utilities are falling behind, and you're afraid that the lights will be shut off. Perhaps your vehicle is behind in payments and in danger of being repossessed. Your home may be in danger of foreclosure because you've neglected your mortgage payments.   There is a myriad of situations out there, and most of us in a debt crisis fall somewhere along a spectrum, but the good news is that there is general information that can help you to get out of crisis mode and start to downgrade the situation to something other than a full-blown crisis.   First off, you have to have hope. Hopelessness is not going to help you here. You must realize that no matter how dire the situation may be, you have to continue to have hope that it will get better someday. You'll need to take a look inside to admit your own mistakes that you've been making and realize the true situation that you're currently experiencing. Next, it's time to take action. This is where it gets tricky, becau

What are your three biggest frustrations when it comes to personal finance? I would like you to take some time and think about this question. Get back to me this weekend by sending your answers to me in an e-mail sent to the address mentioned on this episode.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free to share it by sending them to http://followmeoutofdebt.com. If you're on Twitter, follow me at @fmoodpodcast for all of the latest tips, updates, and strategies to get out of debt and get into prosperity. I'm also on Facebook at http://facebook.com/followmeoutofdebt.

If you're looking for cheap kitchen countertops that still look like granite, you'll want to check out the Giani Granite Countertop Kit. We bought this last week, and I completed the project in a little over a weekend. Admittedly, I was skeptical at first, but I was amazed at the results afterwards. Our kitchen countertops were an ugly pink color, and now they have the correct color scheme and really do look like granite countertops.   Do they look exactly like granite? Of course not. However, I don't think people are going to be asking questions once they see these countertops. Most folks are going to be paying more attention to the rich texture and look of the finished product rather than wondering whether or not it was from a kit.   I will say that out of the entire process, the most important thing is to go through the videos and read the instructions carefully. The process is straightforward, but it's still necessary to follow the instructions and take your time. The Giani Granite Countertop Kit comes wi

You need to think outside of the job box. Many of us get used to collecting a paycheck or getting a direct deposit into our savings or checking from our full-time job (or a part-time job). Because we're so used to this, we find it increasingly difficult to imagine what it would be like to collect revenue from something other than a job. Our ability to uncover opportunities for ourselves continues to disappear over time as we stop utilizing our imaginations for our own benefit.   Think of ways that you can supplement the income that you're already getting so that you can maximize the time that you have to earn. Take those earnings and apply them towards your goals, including getting out of debt and getting into prosperity. Search online for topics that interest you, and take a look to see if there might be some e-mail lists that you can subscribe to that will provide you with ideas for new opportunities. Start thinking of ways to earn income outside of the norm. Better yet, see if starting your own business is

Visualization is important while we're on the journey to get out of debt and get into prosperity. I'm a big believer in visualizing where you're at and where you want to be someday. It's too easy to get stuck within our own confines and limitations if we refuse to allow our imaginations to run free a bit for our own benefit.   Most of us think of ramen noodles and equate it as a significant part of a college student's diet. While it's on the lighter side to reflect back on those days, there are some who are actually buying ramen noodles now in order to have enough groceries to feed the family until the next paycheck. This isn't a fun or lighthearted scenario; it's actually a real source of pain and discouragement.   It's too easy to get demoralized by constantly focusing on the ramen days. We need to force ourselves to break away from this line of thinking by envisioning the Rolex days to come. Without sounding like a rah-rah session, I will say that while you may never actually purchase a Rolex watch someday

As many of you know, I enjoy reading books and listening to shows on the topic of personal finance. I weed out the garbage and leave behind only the best information out there and further distill it for you right here on this show. It's the whole reason that I started the podcast. With that said, the one thing that bothers me the most is that these gurus are richer than me!   I'm not jealous. Please don't take this the wrong way. I also want to get into prosperity someday, and I want you to do the same. The problem that I have is the apparent disconnect of some of the gurus out there with some of us more common folk. The riches that some of the gurus have acquired over the years has clouded their perception of how it is to be in the struggle. They may be able to give us the same advice over and over again, but they no longer seem to be able to look at individual situations and empathize with how it is to be in the trenches in this war that we're all in to get out of debt and get into prosperity.    Several of

There's a new technique that I've been using to help me with better utilizing additional income resources outside of my standard full-time income. I started to use this technique a while back, and most recently, I used it to help us afford our most recent vacation that we took. This technique helps me to stay focused and reminds me every single day why I'm doing what I'm doing for a particular goal.   I'll discuss the details of the technique itself as well as provide a real-world example of how I recently used this technique. The prerequisites are that you have sources of income coming in other than your full-time work and that you purchase a whiteboard and related materials. You'll use the whiteboard every single day, and on the whiteboard you'll be including your goal amount in dollars on the right side of the whiteboard and your progress on the left side of the whiteboard.   It's really not as important to reach your goal with this technique as it is to focus on the progress that you're making day to day.

Help to build a healthy financial foundation with your children by showing them how they can earn their own money. From there, help them to connect the dots when it comes to the various uses of money. Kids are much more likely to be attentive to our teachings that we provide to them as parents, even from a very young age. We have a golden opportunity right now with our children to teach them and guide them in the way that they should go financially.   We can teach them how to save for something that they want. We can encourage them and praise them for turning down candy and gum in the spirit of saving up for what it is that they are currently focused on. By doing this, we'll reinforce the importance of perseverance and patience, and they'll also learn that they don't need to get something right away just because they want it now. They'll learn that they can take the time to save up cash for something that they want rather than defaulting to an immediate purchase through some form of debt (once they are older,

If you're planning a vacation to Niagara Falls (on the Canadian side), you'll want to ask around to find out where you can find Golden Elvis. That's likely not his real name, stage name or otherwise, but that's what I dubbed him while I was there. He's a one-man ingenious marketing and money-making machine that you have to see to believe.   While most folks in the area that were watching him were focused on this guy's talent to throw necklaces of beads on to people's heads, I was amazed at something completely different. I was watching someone who knew how to not only get noticed but also how to work a crowd, both big and small. He controlled the size of his audience (and income) by his own actions, and it was impressive to watch this play out. We were in Niagara Falls for a few nights, and it was amazing to watch every single time.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, please feel free to share it by sending them to http://followmeoutofdebt.com. If you're on Twitter, follow me at @fmoodpodcas

Why do I have this particular podcast? I thought it would be a good idea today to get into why I do what I do. To me, this show seemed like a good fit in a world where financial gurus seem to all have one thing in common: a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach to personal finance. I couldn't disagree with this concept more.   There's a lot of room for improvement on several radio programs, books, and television programs out there meant to help us with personal finance. While they can serve as a source of inspiration, the advice given was nearly the same for each and every individual, regardless of the individual's particular situation. This simply doesn't make sense to me.   I felt that a show needed to be done to blend advice from multiple sources and empower folks by suggesting to do your own thinking. I don't think that you should follow one individual or concept; instead, I think we all need to dig deeper in order to determine what fits our individual situations before we implement a plan.   Never bl

While we are in the process of getting out of debt, we naturally make sacrifices here and there in order to focus more resources on our goals towards debt payoff. Some of us will take this a little further and stop buying new clothes, hair products, or will cut back on other personal maintenance items, such as haircuts.   While this will save money, it's not absolutely necessary to let ourselves go completely in the name of getting out of debt. As a matter of fact, this can have an opposite effect on our lives. When we hurt our own self confidence or fail to look presentable at our place of employment, we can actually do damage without even realizing it. Our employer may pass us up for a promotion if they feel that we're letting ourselves go downhill. We may look in the mirror and realize that we actually look the part of someone who is struggling. This will equate to taking our focus off of any other healthy visualizations that we may have had for ourselves once before. It's simply not worth it.   Instead, r

Many folks consider home improvement projects to equate to big bucks, and rightfully so. Many of them are expensive. When you are in the process of getting out of debt, you may have to let home improvement projects to stay on hold for a while because of this reason. If you're itching to do something to your home even while you're getting out of debt, I came up with a great list of inexpensive home improvement ideas that won't break the bank.   Many of these projects were found by simply doing a few Google searches. I haven't completed all of these projects yet, but I did do a few of them and were happy with the results. It will require some resources in order to complete the projects, including time and money, but it is totally reasonable to be able to do these projects without having to spend a ton of money. It will help to keep your spirits up by being able to take care of your home even while you are currently focused on your personal finance goals.   If you know someone who may benefit from this show, ple