21
Oct
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 5 Comments
Last night I swear I saw the emotional switch connecting work to money flip…
This Summer we got more serious about our backyard garden than ever before. Most everything we planted actually grew too.
Peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, cantaloupe, basil, rosemary, chives, blackberries and holy-crap-it’s-trying-to-take-over-the-world mint. That stuff sends out runners and pops up everywhere!
The best part was watching the kids experience the joy of planting, watering, watching. Seeing those first little leaves poke out of the ground. Finally eating the harvest.
For their fifth birthday we planted a few new seeds of our own. Like it or not, our kids are along for the debt-free ride. …continue reading
1
Oct
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 8 Comments
We have 15 years to get our act together and I mean really together.
Halloween may still be a month away, but there’s a whole lot of death going around in our home.
Not so much death-death as death-talk; as in, how big a party does The Wife get to have when I croak? Turns out, if I get walloped by a bus it’s going to be a huge one!
In my last post I talked about finally getting our wills done. Sticking with our theme, today I sent off my first life insurance premium. Now if, in the next 15 years, I wake up on the wrong side of the dirt The Wife gets at least $900,000 …continue reading
4
Aug
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 6 Comments
The Wife went so far as to fill out applications at Home Depot and Barnes and Noble, but balked when I asked if that was really what she thought she was put on this planet to do.
It was chilly this morning. Finally. After weeks over 100F we were due for a little cooling off.
I opened all the west-facing windows to tempt the cool air in while I packed lunch, made coffee and thought about a conversation The Wife and I had last night on the back porch.
Is it a business or a hobby? What’s best for our family? When is it time to say “when”? Who should we ask for guidance?
Six years ago The Wife took a leap, left a desk job and opened her own business: a fitness studio. She had a passion for the work and it showed. Clients loved coming to her and the first year was a success. …continue reading
9
Jul
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 10 Comments
If only he had looked back. A huge smile burst across my face like a badge of honor…
The huge spot of missing hair you chopped off with kitchen shears in kindergarten, a pimple on the end of your nose as a teenager, the dent along the side of the car in college… some days we all plod-on hoping against, but nonetheless awaiting, the inevitable: someone to notice and say it out loud.
Living like no one else, paying off debt, spending less than one makes, all of it is supposed to garner a certain amount of ridicule and contempt. Yet thus far I found it almost easy to live with a plan, cut up the cards and look forward to a day of freedom from debt.
Today I finally got made fun of! …continue reading
1
Jul
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 2 Comments
…find work that fits your passions and natural skills. [...] chuck your TV out the window and fire yourself.
A simple fact: climbing out of debt requires a paycheck.
Yesterday the company I work for laid off 44 people. That’s about 15% of the work force. Five of them were in my department. That hit pretty darned close to home.
We may be living on a plan these days, but I was up last night thinking about those 44 folks and wondering what they were doing. I wonder if they are debt-free with an emergency fund, just climbing out, or lying awake stunned and scared. …continue reading
13
Apr
Posted by the Dad in Climbing Out. 3 Comments
What’s going on around here? Where ya been?!
Sorry for the radio silence this past week. The Dad works in the entertainment industry and sometimes things kick into overdrive when a deadline nears.
Last week sported 17-hour days and very little sleep.
Still, that means lots of overtime and more snow to pack on to our debt snowball!
More soon,
the Dad
