Tag: financial freedom

January 21, 2016

My Unintentional No-Spend Challenge

One more step toward success

So, if you’re a writer, you’ll understand this. As I was writing my post for Fruclassity -the site I own along with Ruth from Prudence Debt Free – this week, I started to get super passionate about the subject of saving money. Before I realized it, I was issuing a challenge to readers to spend as little as they could for 30 days. That’s a good idea, I thought to myself after I’d written it.

Then I realized I couldn’t very well offer a challenge like that to our readers without committing to participating in it myself. Oh, crap. I didn’t mean it. I DIDN’T MEAN IT!

A secret you may or may not know about me is that I’m pretty good at pushing myself- within certain limits. I’m a total type-A that goes, goes, goes all the time. But there’s a strict circle around my “pushing myself” that never treads into the waters of “scary” or “highly uncomfortable”. Read more

January 11, 2016

The Frugal Farmer 2016 Goals

2016 Goals

Setting goals is something I do personally and we do as a family every single year. Usually, I look forward to these goal-setting session with great anticipation. This year, not so much. It’s been an exhausting year here from a personal standpoint, and although we are praising God that we came through the many bumps in the road that we experienced with success, I’m Just. Plain Tired. Although I can’t share all of the details of our hurdles, they were intense to say the least.

Have you ever had a year like that? No need to share the details, it’s just that, in spite of the many tribulations I’ve experienced in my life (see more on that here, here and here) I’ve usually come out with a victorious attitude. This year I just feel kind of like I escaped certain destruction by the skin of my nose and I’m darn worn out. Read more

January 7, 2016

What to Do if You’re Serious About Getting Out of Debt This Year

Hey, frugal friends! As I wrote on Fruclassity on Monday, I’ve got a serious itch to dump the remainder of our consumer debt this year and to lower our mortgage as well. Not sure what’s prompting it, but the urge has been going strong for three straight weeks now. The conspiracy theorist in me tells me it’s because America is headed for a nasty financial meltdown, but I’ll spare you from that rant for now. 🙂

Meltdown or no meltdown, it’s always good to get out of debt and to take advantage of those times when your motivation is strongest. So, in that vein, here are some rock solid tips for dumping debt if you’re really serious about becoming debt free. Read more

December 21, 2015

7 Reasons Why You Can’t Get Out of Debt

Here’s Why You Can’t Seem to Dump Your Debt

For years – years – Rick and I struggled to overcome debt. We failed every time. Oh, there were times of debt freedom, but we inevitably fell back into debt again. So what made the difference for us between failing at getting out of debt and succeeding at getting out of debt? One huge key was attitude. We learned to overcome the mistakes that broke people make and to stop believing the lies that broke people believe.

Another vital key was that we learned to understand what it was that was prohibiting us from getting out of debt in the first place. There were several habits and mindsets that were keeping us from succeeding on a long-term basis from dumping debt. Now that we’ve overcome them and are successfully dumping our debt, I thought it would be a good time to share what we’ve learned. Enter, 7 reasons why you can’t get out of debt. Read more

December 17, 2015

5 Mistakes You Need to Avoid to Spend Money More Wisely

Money Mistakes You Need to Avoid

Greetings, Frugal Farmer friends! Today we welcome Tina Roth, a blogging cohort who blogs over at ProFinance blog

. Read this awesome article and then head over and check out the great articles on Tina’s blog.

True, mistakes do give you the chance to learn, but repetitive mistakes lower the odds of success. Making one or two mistakes early in the life is okay – but make too many of them when you are all grown up, and you are sure to fail in life.

When we become adults, everyone around us expects us to be responsible with money. During teenage years, we recklessly spend money. But when we are in our late 20s or early 30s, we have to take care of it to secure our future.

It is that time in life when committing a mistake results in paying a hefty price. However, a lot of people still commit mistakes. In this article, I’ll discuss some common mistakes with money, made by us, and how to avoid them. Read more

December 9, 2013

What You Might Have to Do if You Want to Get out of Debt

We’re nearly a year into our “getting out of debt” journey here at The Frugal Farmer Family. I finally feel like we’ve got some experience under our belts, so to speak, and can share a bit about what it takes to get out of debt. For most in serious debt, there is no easy road. Most people with debt aren’t going to be able to buckle down for six months and be debt free. For the majority of those who want to get out of debt, it’s going to be a road that takes a few years to finish.

But those years are likely going to pass anyway, whether or not you choose to use them to get out of debt. So the question remains: What do you want your financial life to be like 5 years from now? Read more