THE FOREST THROUGH THE TREES....

How many of us (I include myself) REFUSE to see the forest through the trees?  How many of us have gone to "that" store with the bull's eye on it for a handful of items and got to the register with $78.00 worth of stuff in the cart.  I know I am not the only one!  

A few years ago, I became debt free. It took MAJOR work on myself.  I started to look at what I was doing with my money on a daily basis.  What I found out might surprise you.  I couldn't see the forest through the trees.  Ummmm - how can I say this?  Just because you paid for it doesn't mean you can AFFORD it.  

It WAS NOT easy!!  I had to take a look at my spending habits, my saving habits and what I had been taught about money.  I had to start breaking habits that I had since high school.  I had to break generational curses.  I had to start educating myself on finances and budgets.  More importantly...I had to get rid of THOSE PEOPLE.  You know the ones that always come along and try to crush your dreams. I set a goal to be debt free in 18 months.  I told EVERYBODY who would listen my game plan.  This meant cutting back on lunches, movies, weekend dinners, concerts, kids activities etc etc.  Every so often I would get that call......"You are doing so good with your goal, why don't we go on a cruise to celebrate."  (Sidebar...remind me to tell you my cruise story later.) 
Me:  I cant go on a cruise.  I haven't been able to tell Mr. Macy to kick rocks yet.

Minus: (that's the friend I had to delete):  You can get back on track once we get home.  One mini vaca will not hurt.  It's only going to be $569pp - and that is WITH  a balcony.

Me:  Let me think about it.  
(As far as she is concerned...Im still thinking!) 

At this point in my plan - i was starting to see the "trees."  I wasn't going to let anybody f**k this up for me.  I wasn't going to F**K this up.  You hear the harshness in my typing...(lol)..that is how I was feeling about being "0" balanced.     

14 months later....DEBT FREE!  Now, everybody keeps asking me "how."  So, we are going to do this together as a group. What I learned about money will surprise you.  It has nothing to do with stocks or bonds.  It has more to do with how you THINK about the money coming in.  

Together...we can all get and continue to be DEBT FREE.   

You can continue to be trendy, have lunch with your co-workers, go to the movies, etc etc.  One thing we will not continue to be is BROKE.