Giving is hard!

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My 10 year old son Robbie

was chit chatting on the way home from Christmas services last night. Out of our four kids, he is my most analytical child. Quite frankly, he makes me the most mad, but also makes me laugh the hardest at times.

He was talking about how excited he was about Christmas.  My kids know the true meaning of Christmas, however, they still like the gift part of it too.

He said something that struck a cord…”Mom, it is really fun to give, but it is fun to get stuff too.  You know that saying it is better to give than receive…it is true, but when you actually do it, it can be hard. It is one of those things that sounds easy, but when it comes to actually doing it, it it CAN be harder than it sounds.”

He’s right. It is fun to give, but when it comes down to it, it can be difficult at times. Throughout our journey, we have been blessed to know how awesome it can be to start to become intentional givers versus just giving what is left. We really do enjoy giving, but sometimes, I still hold fast to being hesitant to give my time, talents, and resources.  Easy to say that it is great to give, however, like Robbie mentioned, it can be hard to do when it comes down to it.

When I do break through that selfish part of my heart, it always makes me a better person and feels like we are living beyond awesome.  There is still a lot of room for growth, but I look forward to how God will use our resources to shape us into the people he wants us to be.

God has giving us ALL abilities, talents and resources…are you generous with sharing yours?

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Live Beyond Awesome.

Jen

http://www.fieldofdebt.com

http://www.livingbeyondawesome.com

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Having “More Than Enough” = Contentment

It amazes me how selfish I can be at times with “my” money.

We were at church service last night where I had the privilege to attend with our oldest daughter who is 12. As of last September she

moved up from the kids programming to attend service with us. She is really enjoying it.

She had brought some of her spending money along as they had went out and about their their grandma before service. When it came time for the offering, I saw her with a crisp $10 bill in her hand. Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure why she had it out so I asked her. She looked at me with a “surprised what do you think look” and said in a whisper it was for the offering. Do you know what my first honest knee jerk reaction was? Instead of being happy, proud, etc. I thought “Oh, but that is $10 out of your own money and don’t you want to save it?”

I didn’t say anything, but raised my eyebrows instead. “Mom,” she whispered, “I have more than enough money saved up at home. If I give this, then I will still have $140 leftover.”  I asked her if she was sure she wanted to. ” I want to give this.” she replied back affirmatively. When the offering basket came around, she tossed in her $10 bill with a smile, leaned over and said “Mom, there are two checks in there, isn’t that nice that people give?”

It hit me then how selfish I can be.

My immediate reaction was closed fist “hang on to what you got so you can get more” attitude whereas Maggie saw her money really for what it was suppose to be for…furthering God’s Kingdom by giving. It was humbling to see how much I still need to learn in this category.

She was right…she DID have “enough” – her feeling of being content with what she had made me marvel at how simple it really is. It certainly did make me smile afterwards as I thought, you know what, “we have more than enough too.”

Thanks for reading and God bless.

Live Beyond Awesome.

Jen

http://www.fieldofdebt.com

http://www.livingbeyondawesome.com (Living Beyond Awesome book released on Amazon and through our website)

A great book to read on this subject is Dave Ramsey’s book More Than Enough:
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=fieldofdebt-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=0142000477&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

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Wishing We Did Things Differently in Life

Sometimes do you ever wonder what it would be like if you did things differently in life? I think we all have had that thought at one time or another.

With our finances, it is something that has crossed our minds once or twice these past 3 years. What if we would have done this or that where would be today?

This past week our 12-year-old daughter brought her spending money to school to buy from the book fair (each of our kids has a spending, charity, and savings envelope that they divide their earned money into). She ran into our younger 10-year-old brother at lunch and found out he had a negative balance on his lunch account (this was totally my fault for not getting our budgeted money in the account at the beginning of the month).

Do you know what she did? She pulled out a $20 bill and asked the lunchroom staff to please put it to his account. Then she inquired about her other brother’s account as well just in case money was needed for him too.

When she told us later that night what she did, we were a bit stunned. This wasn’t money that was just laying around…it was her EARNED spending money that she used. When we went to pay her back, she waved her hand  no and said, “that is okay mom, I got his lunch money, I don’t need the money back.” She sincerely meant it. We of course paid her back, but the experience made our hearts swell.

So if you are in one of those times in your life wishing you had done something differently, keep this in mind:

God can take our mistakes and turn them into something good when we are willing to take ACTION to change.

In our case, even though we were irresponsible with our resources (really His resources) by mismanaging our money (really His money) when we were younger, God let us see firsthand through His grace and mercy that it is not too late to change. He can take something that is painful in our lives and let it be used for good. Pretty amazing.

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

http://www.livingbeyondawesome.com

http://www.fieldofdebt.com

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Being in Debt is Like the Frog in a Frying Pan

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Being in debt for us was much like the frog in the frying pan story.  The frog starts off in a cold pan of water that is slowly heated up. To an outsider, it is obvious what is coming. To the frog, he doesn’t know enough to jump out because the pain is so slow coming on.

In our society where 70% of american’s live paycheck to paycheck, we have a lot of frogs  in the frying pan. Many times we don’t know we are at a boiling point until it “feels” too late (I have hope that it is never too late for any of us!).  Speaking from experience, when you are that frog in the frying pan, it is hard to see your way out sometimes.

Here are some useful keys to getting your frog legs out of the frying pan:

• Get on a written budget
• Learn to live beneath your means
• Learn to HATE debt
• Quit borrowing
• Surround yourself with encouraging people/mentors
• Get on a finance plan (see our resource page)
• Consider hiring a financial coach
• Stay away from debt consolidation companies
• Don’t fall for get rich schemes – go for the crock pot method versus the microwave method
• Remember to keep God in the picture – have faith and pray – it is amazing what He can do

See our website at www.fieldofdebt.com or visit our resource page for good areas on where to get more info.

God bless and thanks for reading.

Jen

http://www.fieldofdebt.com

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Words of Advice for those just starting on their personal finance journey.

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Some words of advice for those that are on the starting line to paying off debt:

Commitment – Pick a plan and commit to it!  So many times when we started we had to keep reminding ourselves of the “rules” of our plan. It seemed like we had the “yea but” attitude.  Yea, we can’t do that because ______, etc.  Believe me, we all think “our case” is special.  Your case is special because of _______ (you fill in the blank).  Recognize whatever it is and don’t let it stop you from reaching your goal.

Forgiveness – Forgive yourself if you do slip up once in a while. We can all be our own worst critic at times.  Not one of us was born a financial genius.  This stuff is a process, so be kind to yourself.

Discipline – The first few months you may feel like there are times it is hard.  Stay disciplined in sticking to your plan and  know it gets easier to do as time goes on.

Patience – Know that you WILL do this. Sometimes, we just need to take it day by day and other days will need to just be taken hour by hour.

Peperseverance – STICK WITH IT no matter what.  Remember why you started and remember your goal.  The turtle wins the race every time!

Good luck on your journey.  We hope you subscribe to our blog and follow us on our journey.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Jen McDonough

www.fieldofdebt.com

I’m not poor, just broke!

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Poor is a state of mind.  Broke is a temporary situation.

Since we started our finance journey 28 months ago, we obviously have eliminated many things out of our lives in order to dump $120,000+ worth of debt and cashflow over $25,000 worth of medical related expenses.

Our family has been learning God’s way on how to handle personal finances.   Eliminating things has been freeing in some ways and just plain hard in others. 

I was a bit embarrassed and surprised earlier this last school year when I got a letter in the mail saying our kids had been identified by someone as being candidates to receive new winter jackets and boots for free through a community program. I called our school principal and asked for 6 minutes of his time.  I am sure he was thinking, oh no, but he agreed. 

I came up to school with the letter in my hand.  When I walked in, I gave him the letter and said I wanted to thank whomever nominated our kids for this program from the bottom of my heart.  I knew whoever sent through our kids names were kind enough to have taken the time to notice something had changed with our family.   The kids I know didn’t look quite a sharp with their very worn clothes and shoes.  I was choked up as I was overwhelmed with gratitude that someone would love our kids so much to notice.  “We are not poor, just broke.” I stammered out,  “It is our choice we are living this way”.  I told him what we were intentionally paying off debt and that we didn’t need help.  I extended my sincere gratitude to his staff for taking the time to notice.  It meant that people were keeping an eye out for kids that may need some extra help at home – how wonderful to think of. 

It makes me sad to think of the people all around us that may be hurting financially and we might not notice.  What a wonderful blessing to think of the caring staff in our school systems around the country that take the time to notice kids that may need some help in their personal life.  When someone takes the times to help kids in tough situations, it makes one heart swell with gratitude.

Our kids have been taught that “we are broke, not poor”.  Poor is a state of mind.  Broke is a temporary situation. We are this way because of the way we have chosen to clean up our debt.  We tell them, when they grow up pay cash and don’t allow yourselves to get into debt. 

Learning about personal finance has been permanently imprinted on the three older kids as we are learning by living it.   Not always the easiest thing to learn, but man, can you imagine starting life out financially smart?

If you are the “norm” and live like 70% Americans by living paycheck to paycheck – are you poor or broke? 

God bless and thanks for reading!

Jen

www.fieldofdebt.com

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Why we started this blog…God has a sense of humor!

Why have I started this blog? 

Well…honestly, have you ever tried to “ignore” God?  I tried!!! He doesn’t let us off the hook too easy does He? I balked at the very idea of taking on this project several weeks ago and tried very hard to ignore His gentle tug to start this journey in life. I tried to tell Him all the reasons I couldn’t do this, but He wouldn’t let up. Thinking (and hoping to prove to God I was right), I started to tell people about the idea of writing a book, starting a blog,  and starting a website to give hope and encouragement to people in regards to personal finance.  Instead, He turned the tables on me and put some exceptionable people on this path that have propelled me forward (no dragging feet could stop it!!). One of those being my incredible, wonderful husband…I am very blessed to be married to my best friend and biggest supporter for the past 19 years! 

 

Before I started this website, I was honestly dreading “learning” it. Do you know what I read the morning I “reluctantly” started? Ecclesiastes 11:4 – “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest”. I took it as a sign to get off my butt and MOVE! 

 

 I think God has a fun sense of humor and enjoys seeing his children do things to give Him glory that they thought were impossible. I hope I don’t let Him down!!! 

 

Jen

Please visit our story at http://www.fieldofdebt.com/

Hello world! It’s our 1st post…THANK YOU for reading

We are pretty darn excited about where God is leading our family on this path in life. The pull to encourage people who are in financial distress and those striving to become debt free is incredible. We are anxious to share our story in the hopes that it will let people know they can get out of debt too!!

Please visit our story at http://www.fieldofdebt.com/.  We are real people who have crawled our way out of $120,000 worth of debt and paid $25,000+ in medical related expenses in the last 27 months.  We still have a long way to go as we continue our debt free journey and hope you join us. There is no “trick” we did to do this.  We simply worked hard, budgeted, and are intentionally focus on arriving at our goal of no longer being a slave to debt.

We hope you visit us often and sign up to receive our posts.

God bless,

Jen