What would your future-you have to say to you?
The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.
What would your future-you have to say to you?
The last few months have been insane for me.
If I’ve been out of touch, that’s why and I’m sorry. I’ve been feeling a bit neglectful around here. I am actively working to reduce my day-job hours to a reasonable 40-45 per week, without increasing the time spent on the other things in the list. I need to spend more time with my family and friends and spend some more of the side-hustle time here.
Yakezie Carnival – Easter Edition hosted by Roshawn Watson
Carnival of Personal Finance #356 hosted by Money Drain
Totally Money Carnival #62 hosted by Stupid Cents
Carnival of Tax #101 hosted by Don’t Mess with Taxes
Festival of Frugality #331 hosted by One Smart Dollar
Yakezie Carnival – Have Fun Edition hosted by Tackling Our Debt
Yakezie Carnival – April Fool’s Edition hosted by Passive Income to Retire
Yakezie Carnival – Severe Weather Edition hosted by Money Qanda
Carnival of Money Pros – Tax Rush Edition hosted by Novel Investor
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Have a great weekend!
I’ve been a bit of a slacker when it comes to posting the carnivals I’ve been included in. This is me playing catch-up.
Live Real, Now was included in five carnivals last week:
You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader. I prefer Google Reader.
You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.
You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook. Facebook gets more use than Google. It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.
You can follow LRN on Twitter. This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.
You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of. I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.
Have a great week!
When I started this blog in 2009, I was broke and in debt to my eyeballs. It began as a way to publicly hold myself accountable and vent my need to talk about my money problems.
Those needs are changing for me because my circumstances are changing.
When my mother-in-law died, she left us a big physical mess in her house, but the financial picture is coming out nicely. Even though the details and paperwork have been horribly scattered and difficult to piece together, the end result is significant.
I have 2 side businesses that are not generating enough money to quit my day job, but should be by this time next year.
Right now, I have just under $17,000 in credit card debt. By Monday, it will be $3500. By December, it will be gone.
We’ll be dropping $15-20,000 into modernizing the house we’ve inherited, but then we should be able to rent it out for a net profit of $800 per month.
We paid off the inherited car last night. We haven’t decided if we’ll keep it or sell it.
All told–by the end of the year–we’ll have no debt except our primary mortgage and the additional income stream of a rental property. By the end of next year, our mortgage may be gone.
That’s a significantly different place than the one I started in 3 years ago.
What’s it mean for Live Real, Now?
It’s hard to talk about paying off debt every day when you don’t have debt. I imagine I will post more about making money and increasing the top line rather than shrinking debt and reducing the bottom line.
What’s next? I’m not sure, but I do know that I won’t be going away. You’re stuck with me. What would you like to see?
First, the shameless self-promotion:
If you want to see the glorious wisdom that is my Twitter feed, follow me on Twitter. I’m @LiveRealNow.
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Next, for the part you’re here for…
The Cute War.
Budgeting In the Fun Stuff guest-posted here a few days ago. The post was about her dog. Nicole asserted that her kittens were cuter than BFS’s pug. There is some personal risk involved for me, but my pets are cuter. The proof:
The Best Posts of the Week:
Frugal Dad discusses What to Do When Your Beneficiaries are Minors. We settled this by not making our minor children the beneficiaries. If we both leap off the mortal coil at once, my Dad gets the money. I trust him to take care of my kids with it. No, Dad, you can not work on my brakes.
Marko found a fascinating photo series of WWII war photos overlaying modern pictures of the same location. It’s kind of creepy in places.
My favorite dinosaur has a child has been reclassified as a child itself, not an actual dinosaur. That makes youthful me very sad.
Finally, a list of the carnivals I’ve participated in:
Both the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Yakezie Carnival included Selling Your Home: For Sale by Owner.
The Festival of Frugality has It’s Better to Buy a House than Rent.
If I missed a carnival, please let me know.
We’re making some changes to how we manage our finances this year. Our destination isn’t changing, but the trip is.
This is all stuff my wife and I have talked about and agreed to, but now, it’s organized and laid out. We HAVE to do it or something similar. We are both on board with this plan. We should see our debt management plan skyrocket, without feeling like we are missing out on life.