Debt Free

Let's get this straight. I am not a financial wizard. However, I have come into some personal financial insights these past few months that is turning me around. It is a simple idea. Live debt free. I have canceled almost all of my credit cards, and my plan is to go down to zero credit cards. I have paid off my car in the last couple of weeks and the only debt I now have is on our house, which we plan to pay off in a few years. I will never buy another car on credit again, neither will I lease a car. In fact, it is unlikely I will ever buy a new car again because of the financial loss of owning a new vehicle -- its just not worth it.

So what do I gain in all this? I gain a lot of freedom! I am ever increasingly living under my paycheck. I am not beholden to my job as I was just weeks ago. I am free to save more, and I am free to give more. I am striking a blow against living as a 21st century serf, a slave to things that I have debts on. I can explore new options, such as starting a business (debt free, of course), I can live with less stress, ready to jump on more opportunities, ready to give more to ministries in need.

Church Web Services

I've been away from blogging for a while. My son and I are creating a Web Services side business. The first product is a scheduler sign up and calendar for church ministries. We noticed at our church, which is a medium sized church (actually, it falls into the "small large" category) goes through the process of signing up and scheduling people for children's Sunday School, Children's Church, Nursery, etc. It is a lot of effort. We're putting together software for people to sign up for each of the positions and allow the Children's coordinators to make the final assignments. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes of the software, which ultimately must produce reports that are needed, provide security with the information, etc. We're not going to be ready with the software in time for the present cycle, which will start shortly, but we'll monitor the process closely and be ready to roll out our services at the end of this year.