Fascinations with Procrastination

Photo courtesy of Mark & the Zebra

Before this recession and the downturn in the economy. It seemed like the hardest thing in the world to get someone to put away money in an emergency fund. But as the unemployment numbers have swelled, so too has the sense of urgency to stash the cash... y'know just in case.


But at the same time, some... no MANY people still refuse to make any serious changes to their approach towards their financial behaviors.


I sometimes find it interesting to study the conditions under which we are forced to shift gears and move into an uncomfortable situation (saving) to avoid the effects of another uncomfortable situation (compulsive spending/shopping, living check-to-check, living the good live, etc.) -- even when we know it was the right thing to do all along, and also know that it will put us in a far better position moving forward.


Okay, I just used alot of words to say very little, let me bottom-line it for you lol. We don't like to change until we HAVE to.


Now, please dont feel like I'm picking on you, trust me when I say this applies to me most of all.


When my car is running strong I dont take nearly as much care to maintain it as when it's giving me trouble. And the same goes with my finances. It took a MAJOR situation before my wife and I decided that we NEEDED to get out of debt completely. Before that event, we were already settling into the "minimum payment mode" on all our accounts.


But once we were faced with that situation, it put us in a place where we really had no choice but to get all the way out of debt and stop digging ourselves deeper or dragging it out any further.
I can't wait for the day that I'll be able to share exactly what that situation was. Hopefully my wife will give me the greenlight someday. But I know for now that it's still too fresh and close to home even though the actual situation was resolved long ago.


Er... but back to the point I was trying to make... ah what was it?


We don't like to change until we HAVE to!

Romans 13:8 puts it this way (NIV):

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law."

And verse 11 continues:

"And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."


See, there really is no time to waste because most of us truly know what 'time' it is. For this year my church leadership selected the phrase "Now is the Time" as the theme for this year's ministerial focus. And although this year is now more than half-way over, I still want to offer those words as something for you to consider...


NOW IS THE TIME!

@W


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I Think We Need A Change...

Photo courtesy of Forgotten memory



As you know if you've been around us for even 5 minutes, we've been at this for almost 2 full years now! September 13th - which also happens to be my birthday - will make it official.





Within those 2 years we've picked up a lot of personal insight and we've also tweaked a number of techniques to find a more 'custom' fit than most of the major programs provide. We took all of the info and then applied our personal filter to it based on our beleif system, our financial situation at the time, and our decisions based on just how aggressive we wanted to be at the outset. Once we got the hang of it we essentially just let it run it's course without much change. Sure there was a streamlining process that we had to go thru but it mostly happened as a result of our weekly budget meetings and in very small increments.





But now I'm coming to a place where I feel we need a change in strategy. And I'd prefer for it to be a MAJOR change! At times I question if we are somehow too 'comfortable' with the pace we've settled into lately. Quite honestly there are times where I dont feel very "Gazelle Intense" at all about what we're doing.





And then when you couple with that the fact that we are quickly becoming role models through the ever-extending reach of this blog, Facebook and Twitter it becomes a challenge sometimes to manage a balance between what we're doing as a household vs. what we want to empower you to do as a person/family.





The bottom line is that I feel the need to possibly change the way we are approaching our debt. I'm looking for a way to make it 'fresh' again to us in spite of the fact that we've accomplished so much and are now at our virtual halfway point in the journey.





I'd love to hear ideas from any of you who have felt this same way and done something about it! Please leave me a comment below or hit me up on Twitter with your suggestions!





See ya next time,

@W




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Why you haven't heard from me lately...

Photo courtesy of *Tiny Dancer*

It's been awful quiet around here lately right? Well I cant say that it's been by design, but I can certainly see that it's been for the better. And for those of you who REALLY stick by @Risk Living, we haven't really been gone at all...

Twitter and Facebook have had a serious impact on how frequently I delve deeper into a personal finance topic. See most of my posts start off as a simple thought or observation. Sometimes, only after I ponder on a thought for a while do I even recognize there might be a post inside my thinking. But with Twitter and Facebook, once I've put that thought or quote out in the open I rarely come back here and unpack that thought the way I used to.

As a blogger I'm learning that there are advantages and disadvantages to tweeting and being 'live' on FB. The advantage is that you get rapid-fire real-time insights into what I see, think, and feel. However, the disadvantage is that once you get accustomed to 'micro-blogging' your way through a day it feels strangely slow and cumbersome to sit down and put together a complete post. One is a hand-grenade: portable, serviceable, and leaves a relatively small mark, while the other is a H-bomb: heavy, broad, and not nearly appropriate for every occasion lol.

As a side-note, I've noticed some pretty impressive spikes of traffic to the site since I've spent more time tweeting and FB'ing. Currently on Twitter I have 1500+ people following the @Risk Living blog! NEVER did I think I would be reaching such a wide audience with the blog and it's focus: Getting OUT of Debt!

Now! Having said all of that, @Risk Living isnt going anywhere, in fact I have HUGE plans for where I'd like to see this site go next. You'll be hearing more on that soon.


Thanks for sticking with us, I hope and pray we are of some help to you!

@W




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