Category Archives: Uncategorized

DH = dear husband DD1 = dear first daughter DD2 = dear second daughter “write about what you’re doing stay out of debt” 2 months ago, I hit a writer’s block for the first time in 6 years of blogging. Why? Our narrative had changed dramatically because we’d received an inheritance, and it no longer […]

This image was chosen by the people at Women Who Money. Pretty dramatic! But it’s true that debt is a freedom-killing set of chains for too many people. Last week, our story was featured at Women Who Money. If you missed it, here it is: Hi, I’m Ruth (aka Prudence Debtfree), and I live in […]

In 6+ years of blogging, this is a first: I’m asking if you would nominate me for a Plutus Award. The Plutus Awards are given out each year at FinCon, a conference for people, including bloggers, involved in the personal finance community. I have never attended FinCon – largely because the travel involved would go […]

Our new-to-us vehicle became our emergency when the lug nuts fell out. DH = Dear husband Emergency & stress The 2nd most stressful part of our emergency last week was the decision to pull off the highway. 5 hours into our road trip, we were behind schedule, but the noise the car had started to […]

Pop the balloons! No debt-free party for us. DH = dear husband DD1 – dear first daughter DD2 – dear second daughter DD3 – dear third dauther “have a barefoot mortgage-burning party” We began our journey out of all debt in June of 2012. In September of 2018 – less than 2 months from now […]

So many dark red walls to paint a light grey!  DH = dear husband When we started our journey out of debt in June of 2012, I was 49 years-old and DH was 53. With retirement on the not-so-distant-anymore horizon, here’s how things were: consumer debt – $21.000 business debt – $81,000 mortgage debt – […]

We said good-bye to our ’99 Dodge Caravan this week.  DH = dear husband DD1 = dear first daughter Symbol of our commitment to debt-freedom Early in the afternoon on Thursday, which happened to be my birthday, I got a call at work from DH. He had just managed to pull off the road and […]

DD2 = Dear second daughter DD2’s discouragement in track DD2 is a track athlete, and two Wednesdays ago, I went to watch her race the 800m. It had been 3 years since she had run a personal best of 2:06.17, and that night, she was determined to break her record. Since 2015, she seemed to […]

Introducing Kobe DH = dear husband DD3 = dear third daughter DD2 = dear second daughter We lost our Rocky in November – two weeks before we lost my mom. They were such great friends! My mom was Rocky’s #1 person. DD3 was most impacted by Rocky’s passing – especially tough as it was followed […]

DH = dear husband DD1, DD2, DD3 = dear daughters – first, second, and third “Even so quickly may one catch the plague?” That’s one of Olivia’s lines from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. A very eligible young lady, Olivia discourages the advances of an equally eligible bachelor. Steadfast in her determination to remain single, she is […]