Author: Dwight Hyde

Debt 2: Let’s chat

/ Dwight Hyde / 4 Comments

Sipping my morning coffee, I was told it needs to be a light week. (Code words for very little in the checkbook.)

Don’t use that card, use the gold card in the back of your wallet. (Ugh)

“This” is becoming a bit blah. Conversations, sparks, activities are getting to be nil. …Let’s move and buy a new place. Excellent. Let the planning begin. (Oh and possibly the loss of money spent here and of course biggering and spending more)

Sorry mom and dad, the family and I aren’t going to be able to visit after all. Work is just real crazy right now…we understand they say, maybe next year. (In reality there’s just no funds for four plane tickets and boarding the dogs for a week, but boy…I’m sure glad I spent all that money on remodels. I’ll surely treasure those for the rest of my life.)

It’s that dreaded time of year. THE Debt SpreadSheet is created, presented, and a budget is prepared. Brilliant and we’ll put it up on the wall, update it, and watch it decrease month by month. (The next month the beast of a car breaks, the debt goes up, and the budget is tossed out the window.)

Sit down. We need to talk. (I know.)

Do any of these sound familiar to you? I could of went on and on but you get the point. Life doesn’t have to be this way. Some of you are right in the middle of this storm and you, like I did, aren’t taking this seriously. We say, it’s normal. Everyone’s in debt. I’m in too deep at this point, I’ll just keep limping along making minimum payment. I won’t worry I’m one paycheck away from disaster. I’ll just suck up all the stress it causing in my marriage, with my family,..in my life. Not to even mention how it’s affecting my health.

Maybe you didn’t like this little talk. Maybe you’ll quickly go to the next post and leave all this debt messiness behind you. But for those of you that are a bit paused right here. Right at this point in your life. This debt stings a bit doesn’t it?

YouTube Adam Baker: Sell your crap. Pay your debt. https://youtu.be/9XRPbFIN4lk

Life doesn’t have to be lived this way. You can find freedom from this madness. Next post on debt will be on how to start exploring getting out of debt. If I can get out of debt, so can you!

Head uP – acknowledge your situation,

Dwight

Write it down they say!

/ Dwight Hyde / 23 Comments

Put pen to paper. It will keep you focused and on track. Express yourself. What you’re looking at is a workout journal, food journal, “journal” journal, and even creative doodle journal. Yes, I do go overboard at times. Occasionally I actually use them somewhat consistently for a few days, maybe a week, and then the next entries will be a month to two out. Are you frickin tired of writing and never doing? Yes, yes I know I’ve got many issues but today I don’t want to be schooled on them.

Do you ever just want fling all your “shit” off the god damn table and scream ENOUGH?

What would you do if you did? What comes to mind for you?

Took this picture driving the backroads in the Spring…

Here’s mine. I’d start the day with a big old greasy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and home fries,..and maybe 3 cups of plain old black coffee. Next I’d gather my 3 dogs and jump into an old pickup and spend the day driving and mending cattle fences all day enjoying the physical work and the outdoors. I can see the rolling acres now and a big smile on my face…

What would your throw your shit on the floor and do what you never thought you’d do day look like? That was a mouthful.

Maybe I should journal on all this,

Dwight😀

Find that little wild grin again!

/ Dwight Hyde / 6 Comments

When was the last time you dared greatly? Maybe you’ll say something like, once when I was younger and foolish, I did this…I did that..

Were you foolish or is it the wise setting back observing who are foolish? Unable to do this or that with many excuses of this or that. What new lessons could be experienced .. if only?

For you didn’t know all the rules and if you did you threw them aside with your middle finger and followed the roar of your soul!

“Marred by dust and sweat and blood”, reread that and sit with it. You were alive with much life.

It’s never to late to get back into the arena.

Dare greatly and that little grin will come back,

Dwight

Debt 1: Debt and peace

/ Dwight Hyde / 22 Comments

Can you have debt and peace?

Believe it or not this blog started off as a debt blog. I was divorced with a debt of $35,500. I had come across other debt bloggers and found much knowledge and support from their posts, so I took the plunge and started blogging here. The interesting thing though about all this is if you go way back to my early posts you won’t find many on debt. You see this blog started with me being anonymous. I was probably 5 to 10 posts in blogging about debt, and then like many I discovered my heart and soul was gaining courage and they had a few things to say too. On one eventful night, I took the plunge, removed my mask, changed the blog to FadedJeansLiving.com a “Life Blog”, and in the process DELETED most of the blog entries on my personal debt!

Why you may ask? I was embarrassed by it. The blog now had my real name and even a picture of me. My goodness what would happen if people found out who knew me? You’re probably chuckling after all the “real personal shit” I have since posted. You need to understand though this was over 4 years ago and I was very green about the benefits of being vulnerable and sharing. I wish I had never deleted them now, obviously. It would of been neat to see where I was during those raw moment of my life. Live and learn as they say.

One question I wish I had asked with each new debt was will this bring me peace? Unfortunately, I realize back then I know what the answer would of been. It would of been either well sure it does, OR frick off I don’t have time to think about peace I’ve got living to do! Big sigh. My debt started with college, for that was what you were to do, so I did my part and played along. Then the good job came and a BIG house was needed as dictated in the next part of the song. Buy the biggest you can afford they sang with a 30 year mortgage, you’ll grow into it..trust us. And growing I did. New cars were needed to fill the 2 car garage and with the 3,300 sq ft furniture was needed. Why wait like your parents did and purchase mostly with cash. No problem you now have good credit. Credit is your friend?

So as as the years passed by I kept biggering and so did the debt. I was living the good life so THEY say. Yes, there was some discomforts felt that within this didn’t feel completely right or even good at times, so a bit of action was put in place. Dave Ramsey’s book Financial Peace entered my life, budgets were drawn up, and beans and rice were bought for dinner. Total debt removal was the plan. The problem with plans and actions is you must act. Pull the trigger, live it. Well this other guy also came into the scene named Robert Kiyosaki with his book Rich Dad,Poor Dad. I didn’t want be poor dad, so I said goodbye to old Dave.

I never thought I would ever be a landlord, but at one time I had three houses I “owned” and was renting out. There were home equity loans here and there with credit cards maxed out due to remodeling them and getting them up to snuff. Also I was selling and moving into homes for me and my family along the way. Fixing them up, getting bored, and moving again. Each time going more in debt, but not to worry because I now had investments.

Well, as many of you know, this story didn’t end well. I was divorced in 2015, $35,500 in debt as this story began, had to let go of the big house. I moved into one of our rentals. The ex moved into the other rental. And to top it off they are located one house apart from each other. KARMA. Ha.

Well that’s a good intro to my debt. Have I learned anything from it and do I have any advice? Yes and will share in future posts. In closing, I’m back following Dave. It just works better for me. And just like getting out of the fog from alcohol for me, getting out of debt has brought me peace.  Ironically I got sober and paid of that debt both in the same year – 2019.

It will bring you peace, too. You can remove debt from your life.

More to come,

Dwight

You (2)

/ Dwight Hyde / 14 Comments

You have the answers

Though you think they are out somewhere

You wait

Waiting for stars to align

Angels to sing

Light to cast down

It’s coming

Or maybe it’s in that next book

With a bonus guide for only $199.99

Looking out

Searching

Hoping

While tiring inside

You sink back and sigh

Why

Why does this have to be so hard

Hard

Compared to soft

Compared to flow

From within, to out, and back to you

A freedom crying out

Enough of this hell

This doesn’t have to be so complicated

A start over

But this time it’s part 2 and you make the rules

No longer the past dragging you down

Nor the future whispering fears

Toss them overboard

For NOW is the only reality

The blindfold is removed and love surrounds you

You realize you are the way

You were intended here

As a needed seed built to grow and shine

New maps can be made

It’s time to set sail!

YOU can always change,

Dwight

Peace & Love

/ Dwight Hyde / 20 Comments

Happy Friday, Super Heroes!

Just wanted to send out some peace and love to all. Life can knock us down and toss us around at times, but we always have the choice to get back up and take a step forward. One thing I’ve picked up on this year is to stop ruminating on the why’s of life. For many years that was a major part of my life and nightly practices. Occasionally it might provide some answers or possible insights, but usually I’d find myself going down rabbit holes and sinking more into sadness and depression.

Lately, I’m using more of a what approach to life. What happened? What actions occurred? What did I do? What did life do? How did I interpret it? What can I learn from it? What can I do at this very moment to take a small step FORWARD?

We’ve got an amazing super power within called love! It never fails! Look and reach within and you will find this amazing light and peace❤️

Big hugs,

Dwight

How are you being manipulated?

/ Dwight Hyde / 8 Comments

The dilemma

“Never before have a handful of tech designers had such control over the way billions of us think, act, and live our lives.”

– from https://www.thesocialdilemma.com

If you’re like me and finding yourself more and more glued to your devices and also worried we as a society are more divided then ever, you might be interested in this documentary on Netflix. Even if you think this isn’t an issue for you, I guarantee you’ll find this intriguing.

– from Netflix, the social dilemma

Learn more…https://www.thesocialdilemma.com