that how you treat your parents, how you take care of your body, and how you take care of your money will all matter one day – even if that day seems far, far away.
Most of all, we learned that we wanted our lives to be different – we wanted something more, something amazing. While we were still here on Earth, we wanted to LIVE.
“If you wait too long to create the life you want, it will eventually be too late.”
Once we realized we were wasting some of our best years being miserable, we started thinking about what we really wanted. For me, it was to find a way to leave my job without taking a pay cut and harming my family. I loved working at the mortuary, I really did, but the pain had become unbearable. And at the end of the day, I knew I needed a way out.
But that’s not all I wanted. Even though my children were just babies, I wanted to pay for their college educations. I wanted to retire early, travel the world, and experience places and things other people only dream of.
My husband’s goals were similar: He wanted a career with better hours, the ability to earn more money, a home that was paid off, and more control over our spending. For him, that also meant getting out of debt as soon as humanly possible. Once we made the commitment, we were ready to put it all behind us and move on… and that’s exactly what we did.
Here’s the truth no one wants to hear: Inside every elderly man or woman is a young person wondering what the hell happened. In the blink of an eye, you go from 25 to 40 to 60 to 79, and boy, what a ride. But once you reach old age, the dreams you had – or thought you had – begin to die. When you’re 82 years old, it’s too late to start saving for retirement. With each passing year, the possibilities dwindle. If you wait too long to create the life you want, it will eventually be too late.
Our initial steps were to examine our lives and ask ourselves the big questions: Are we where we want to be? If not, how can we get there? What do we really, truly want out of our lives? If we died today, what would we regret? And what can we do to begin changing that right now?
I wish I could say our journey was easy – that paying off $50,000 in debt, starting a lucrative side business, and changing the way we thought about money was a breeze – but I’d be lying if I did. The truth is, figuring out that we needed to change was a piece of cake. Actually changing ourselves and our behavior? That was an enormous challenge.
We wanted it so badly that we were willing to do anything to change our situation for the better. We wanted a new life – one without the pain and stress we had endured for so long – filled with more joy, more fun, and (most of all) more freedom.
The money connection made more and more sense as we plotted our path toward a debt-free, more exciting, and easier life. If we could just get our money straight, we figured, we could live the life we wanted. Unlike some of our customers who had spent decades in careers they hated to retire in a heap of misery and disgust, we could save our money, invest wisely, become more responsible spenders, and create any life of our choosing.
What a gift that realization was! Once we made that connection, we began to see our customers as our potential future selves. We looked at their sometimes tragic ends not just through the lens of shared humanity, but as if we could see ourselves in their shoes.
We began tying their final outcomes to the things they did and didn’t do along the way. The father who didn’t have life insurance and left a wife and three kids with almost nothing. The couple who saved 10 years for a Hawaiian cruise to celebrate the husband’s 55th birthday, only for him to die a week before. And the woman who confessed privately that she’d been counting down to her husband’s death for years so she could finally spend all the money she’d saved without guilt.
But for every lesson in what not to do, we also found stories of inspiration. We buried people who lived full, wonderful lives without an ounce of regret (according to their loved ones, anyway), and we saw ends that were both dignified and motivating. We buried people who were true heroes – beloved by their families, accomplished, and seemingly at peace with everything left done and undone. And we knew that’s what we wanted.
By now you’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with you. But just as we were inspired to change our lives, there’s a reason you picked up this book, too. Perhaps the title spoke to you – the idea of becoming debt-free and accomplishing a list of goals yourself. Or maybe you’re just tired of living paycheck to paycheck, and ready for something better – something more.
Either way, a zero-sum budget is the key to getting what you want out of life. We suggest “zeroing down your debt” because that is exactly what we did. Can you imagine becoming debt-free without hitting the lottery or receiving a big inheritance? It’s time to start.
I believe you can do it with every fiber of my being, and it’s not just because I’m an optimist; it’s because I’ve done it myself. With just a paper and pen, my family went from struggling to get by to saving a large percentage of our income, reaching small and mid-sized goals, and planning a future that includes checking off our bucket list – one big goal at a time.
The amazing part about what I’m suggesting is that you don’t even need anything to get started. Other than this book, all you need is a pen, some paper, and a sincere desire to change your life in powerful, long-lasting ways. There’s nothing to buy and nothing to download. Yet, following the advice in this book will buy you more freedom than you ever dreamed.
“We all have one life to live on this planet – one life! Yet, far too many of us don’t really know what we want – just that we don’t have it. We spend too much, don’t save enough, and believe the lie that it’s all out of our hands.”
My time in the mortuary business fundamentally changed me, and I feel compelled to share the lessons in this book with everyone who will listen. I feel it’s my calling to shake some sense into people before it’s too late. We all have one life to live on this planet – one life! Yet, far too many of us don’t really know what we want – just that we don’t have it. We spend too much, don’t save enough, and believe the lie that it’s all out of our hands.
It doesn’t have to be that way. With the right attitude, anyone can turn their situation around and start living the life they dreamed. Yes, you read that right. Anyone.
An elderly woman once told me that I would look back one day and realize all that mattered was memories. And time is the most important thing, she said – more important than the world’s most valuable possessions. “Be careful with your time,” she said, because one day you’ll look back and realize that “it’s the only thing you really ever had.”
Hearing those words changed me because I knew they were true. The stuff we buy will all be worthless one day, and the material possessions we pined over won’t mean a thing. But how we spent our time – and what kind of lives we lived – will linger in our memories for as long as we have them.
If you’re like I was, you’re finally realizing you want more than the memories of slaving away at a thankless job, of stressing over your debts, of putting in overtime at work to catch up instead of spending that time with your family. You want more than a mediocre existence; you don’t want to look back with regret; you want to look back in awe.
All of that and more can be yours, but you have to truly want it.
Remember, everything matters – even what you’re doing right now. And there’s no better way to spend your time than plotting your journey out of debt and toward the life of your dreams.
So let’s get started.
How
