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Our bodies were not meant to be sleep-deprived. We have likely heard and read this many times over, but for some reason, we still think that we can get away with depriving our bodies of the proper rest that we so desperately need. Doing so will only prove to be detrimental to our bodies and minds in the long run, and it will make those simple everyday tasks that we're used to doing with ease much more difficult.

I understand that there are times when we will need to put in some extra hours of work that may interfere with our sleep in the short term. There's nothing wrong with that. However, you have to be realistic if you have to put in extra hours over a longer period of time that will end up robbing you of your proper rest. Your body will eventually give in to the stress. You'll get sick more often. Your full-time job may suffer due to your lack of focus caused by sleep deprivation. A good night's rest is so incredibly important, even if we don't necessarily realize that to be the case most of the time.

It's not just work that keeps us awake, though. Many people lie in bed nearly every night wide awake because they are consumed with worry. Worry is a loud voice that paralyzes us with fear. It keeps us awake because we are desperately troubled by circumstances caused by our own actions, and we want those problems to go away. Worry can come from many sources, but most of the time it's due to money problems.

The good news is that there is an answer to every question, situation, or problem. Sometimes it's not easy to find, but the point is that the answer is out there. We need to take the time to seek out that resolution, and once we find it, we need to take the proper action steps in order to implement the solution.

Over time, we will prove to ourselves that we have a path to resolving our problems that are keeping us up at night. We will train our brains to realize that we're fighting the battle and not running away from it. It's amazing how seeking and implementing the proper solutions to our problems will finally allow for us to be able to drift off to dreamland and start sleeping well once again.

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I am in the process of bridging the financial resources gap by listing a few things on eBay, and I'm excited to keep it going! The stuff that I had listed is doing nothing more than collecting dust, and it's refreshing to see this turn into additional resources for us.

I wanted to make sure that if I was planning to list on eBay that I was going to do it correctly from the get-go. I was careful to write my descriptions well, and I borrowed information as needed from the manufacturer to ensure that the buyer will know exactly what is being sold. I cleaned up the items and took great pictures, making sure that the lighting was good and without using a filter. I was going for a quality description as well as highlighting the condition of the products being sold, and my meticulous attention to detail seems to be paying off.

I am mostly excited because the item that I wanted to sell more than the others has interested watchers and bids with a few more days to go. I'm happy to bring in a little additional income, and I'll admit that this whole renewed eBay experience does make me want to look around the house for more things to sell now that I've had a taste. I want to actually incorporate this as a regular action item in order to purge stuff that we no longer need around the house and earn a little extra in the process.

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There's a certain joy and happiness that comes when we check off a challenging task from our task list. This is especially true if we got into the habit of putting a new date on the same task over and over again because we simply didn't complete it. Chalk it up to laziness, but the point isn't why it happened or what caused it to happen; the point here is to set a realistic time and date of completion and stick to it.

The feeling that you get once you begin accomplishing things on your task list, especially the challenging ones, cannot be overstated. I recently completed a task that I've been putting off for a while, mainly because I knew the amount of work involved. I also knew that collaboration was necessary, so I didn't have the luxury of doing this whenever I wanted; I needed to collaborate with someone else in order to work on this together.

I decided to set my sights on this task and not let go until it was finished. While it wasn't truly enjoyable, the feeling that I had after I had finished the job was nothing short of true joy and happiness. I felt accomplished, and I went to bed for the night feeling like a huge and challenging task was finally off of my plate. It was spectacular.

Do you love to read but don't always have the time to do so? I know that this happens to me more frequently than I'd like to admit. That's why I signed up for Audible. Get your free 30-day trial and get two free audiobooks just for checking it out. Go to http://followmeoutofdebt.com/audible to learn more and get your two free audiobooks today!

Walmart has an online grocery pickup service that we tried for the first time this past weekend, and we loved it. It's a simple and straightforward process, and it not only saves time but it also saves money. Of course, these are two very important things to me - saving time and saving money.

You basically download the app or go to the Walmart website and select the grocery items that you need. You'll see a running total throughout the process, which helps you to stay within budget. You also aren't going to be tempted by the special deals that are advertised inside of the grocery store at the end of almost every aisle. You will instead simply get what you need and will know exactly what you will pay before you check out. This definitely helps to stay within budget.

After you have processed the sale, you will select a time to pick up your groceries. They will track your arrival using the GPS on your smartphone, or you can call them and give them a heads up that you're on your way. They ask for you to call at least ten minutes prior to your arrival. Once you arrive, you'll pull your vehicle into a designated parking spot for pickup. The Walmart employee will come out to you with all of your purchases and load them into your vehicle for you. This is all part of their free service; it doesn't cost you an additional dime to use it.

What's more, you can get $10.00 off of your first $50.00 order by getting your special promo code at http://followmeoutofdebt.com/walmart. It's that easy.

Sheep are everywhere if you take the time to look around. We're not only creatures of habit, but we also tend to naturally follow the crowd. Sometimes following the crowd can be a bad thing. It truly makes you a sheep, and you don't want to be a sheep.

There are multi-million dollar companies that are spending tons of money on advertising to keep you and those around you trapped in a vicious cycle of consumerism. They are banking (literally) on the fact that you care what vehicle your neighbor is driving, what clothes your friends are wearing, and who has the biggest house with the most amenities in the neighborhood.

If you are following the crowd, you can only go as far as the crowd. That's a scary limitation. Instead, stand out from the crowd and claim your own stake in life. Don't care about who's driving what and what clothes they're wearing. Know that a healthy retirement savings will always be better for you than a collection of things that only provide you with temporary happiness. We've been brainwashed by the advertising companies to forget the difference between what we truly need versus what we simply want. That confusion makes us buy more and more to fill a void that can never be filled. It makes us spend more and keeps us going further into debt.

Stop the debt propaganda cycle. Spread this message instead. Post a link to this episode so that your friends and family can listen (http://followmeoutofdebt.com/episode231). Post it on social media. Send it in an e-mail if you're not on social media. Get the word out however you can to slow down the consumerism machine as much as possible. A small impact still makes a difference.

In a marriage, you will have difficult conversations. It's going to happen, and sometimes, these conversations may involve financial issues. It's a well-known fact that many married couples list financial difficulties as being a primary cause of strife and conflict.

The key is to realize prior to sitting down and having this conversation together is that you don't want the conversation to take an angry or fearful tone. Instead, you want to approach the discussion about the difficulties with a calm mindset. Both you and your spouse need to simply take a deep breath before you start, and realize that the two of you are doing better than most by simply taking action steps towards sitting down together. It's the first step to becoming a truly unstoppable team.

I highly recommend that you don't start out the initial conversation with a bunch of spreadsheets, charts, graphs, diagrams, etc. It's time to discuss the emotional side of things and get that out of the way first. It's time to address the possible fears and issues that are causing anxiety and panic that may be settling in right now and to squash it before it gets out of control.

Once you've calmed things down on the emotional front, it's time to set realistic expectations. These expectations should allow for you to take action steps and experience some wins in order to gain confidence in the overall process. Keep the end game in mind while you are discussing the preliminary action steps that need to be taken. Your focus on the end game is crucial right now.

You'll come to eventually find that there is a very real possibility of resolution. You'll finally see some light in the murky darkness that is the overwhelming burden of debt. Both you and your spouse will finally be in agreement about things, and both of you will take on what needs to be done and do it while working together, for what may be the first time, as a team.

Do you love to read but don't always have the time to do so? I know that this happens to me more frequently than I'd like to admit. That's why I signed up for Audible. Get your free 30-day trial and get two free audiobooks just for checking it out. Go to http://followmeoutofdebt.com/audible to learn more and get your two free audiobooks today!

Mind clutter is a direct result of having too many balls in the air and having less focus, usually because of this. Human beings are built to focus on one thing at a time, so when we attempt to do too many things at once or worry about too many things at once, mind clutter becomes the result of this.

What does mind clutter actually feel like? In my experience, mind clutter seems to be what's happening when my thoughts are random and sporadic. I'm not focused on one thing; I'm thinking of multiple things, and thoughts are coming in at a fast and chaotic pace. I find it hard to focus on one thing because my focus is split all over the place.

We need to calm down our minds and allow the organic purging of our worries, thoughts, and other mind clutter that occurs by forcing ourselves to focus in on one thing at a time. This isn't limited to work, either. We also need to focus on who we're spending our time with. When we're with our spouse, friends, or children, we shouldn't be looking at our cell phones. We should be present and attentive to what's going on in the here and now.

Decreasing mind clutter and increasing focus will only help us to improve our work, our relationships, and pretty much anything else that would benefit from laser-focused attentiveness. It may be challenging at first to train our brains to do this, but we will get better at this over time. The outcome from this will be beneficial to us and those around us, but it will also allow us to experience a greater sense of peace and less stress. We could all use that, right?

Do you love to read but don't always have the time to do so? I know that this happens to me more frequently than I'd like to admit. That's why I signed up for Audible. Get your free 30-day trial and get two free audiobooks just for checking it out. Go to http://followmeoutofdebt.com/audible to learn more and get your two free audiobooks today!

We've all had disappointments in our lives. How we handle those disappointments is what determines whether we pass or fail the test. And believe me, we will be tested plenty of times throughout our lifetimes. What's important is that we consistently build a thick skin of sorts to be able to better handle certain disappointments by accepting the situations and moving on.

I understand that sometimes this can be easier said than done. Sometimes we are disappointed by someone who is very close to us. Sometimes we experience disappointment over something that comes out of left field. Regardless of the situation or the initial shock of the situation, we need to gauge the appropriate response based on the facts at hand. In some cases, if the disappointment is too much for us to handle on our own, we may need to seek external resources for resolution, such as counseling.

The bottom line is this. We need to make sure that we accept disappointments in our life first and foremost. The next step is to move past those disappointments and get ourselves back on track as quickly as possible. This is the best way for us to keep our lives moving forward, even when times get tough.

Do you love to read but don't always have the time to do so? I know that this happens to me more frequently than I'd like to admit. That's why I signed up for Audible. Get your free 30-day trial and get two free audiobooks just for checking it out. Go to http://followmeoutofdebt.com/audible to learn more and get your two free audiobooks today!

I wanted to take a few moments to let the folks in Florida know that you're in my thoughts and prayers. This is a scary time for you with this hurricane in particular and the potential damage from the series of storms that are predicted to be associated with it. Keep praying, and God bless you and keep you.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. This is a quote that I heard recently, and it really hit home for me. I know that I keep a pretty strict budget, and I review my budget periodically and make changes as needed, especially if we overspend in a particular category.

Even with that in mind, I realized that we aren't getting as granular as we should be with this. There are plenty of times when we've probably purchased items in a given month that we didn't need to purchase. We also pay interest charges on credit cards, and it's easy to forget this because we aren't actively purchasing something. The interest charges that hit our credit card will still need to be paid back, so we really should be adding this into the equation of how we measure the outgo in any given month.

Knowing more specifics on how resources are being spent is incredibly crucial to how we manage our personal finances overall. If we ignore certain expenses, especially those that go unnoticed, it will hurt our ability to best manage our situation when it comes to our finances.

It's time to get granular. It's time to track every nickel, dime, quarter, and penny. It's time to know what's going on financially each and every month, including hidden charges, fees, and interest charges on our credit cards and loans. It will help us to effectively manage as we need to, and it will only help us to become better at this whole money management thing.

Do you love to read but don't always have the time to do so? I know that this happens to me more frequently than I'd like to admit. That's why I signed up for Audible. Get your free 30-day trial and get two free audiobooks just for checking it out. Go to http://followmeoutofdebt.com/audible to learn more and get your two free audiobooks today!