Our guest today is Matt Jabs, blogger and founder of Debt Free Adventure, a blog designed to help the author stay accountable for getting out of debt. Debt Free Adventure is one of my favorites among new personal finance blogs.
Today’s discussion focuses on the concept of giving yourself a raise, an important way to improve your financial condition, particularly in an economic environment that is supporting fewer raises from your employer. Tom Dziubek and I explore this concept with Matt Jabs and discover a number of ways you can give yourself a raise today.
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[00:00] Introduction from Tom Dziubek
[00:33] Interview with Matt Jabs of Debt Free Adventure
– [01:10] Matt’s inspiration for writing about personal finance
– [02:57] Giving yourself a raise at home
– [04:26] How to give yourself a raise
– [08:41] Creating a personal trigger to change your mindset
– [10:24] Living outside the box
– [12:16] Finding and following your passions
– [14:29] The journey is as important as reaching the goal itself
– [15:59] Dealing with customer service reps
– [21:39] Do it yourself
– [25:17] How it adds up
[28:04] End
We always welcome feedback from listeners. If you have any comments for this episode or for any other, or if you have suggestions for future episodes, please leave us comments here or email us at podcast at this domain name.
Updated February 6, 2012 and originally published August 30, 2009. If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to the RSS feed or receive daily emails. Follow @flexo on Twitter and visit our Facebook page for more updates.
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Luke Landes founded Consumerism Commentary in 2003 and has been building online communities since 1990. Luke, also known as Flexo, has contributed to PC World Magazine, US News, Forbes, and other publications. 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great podcast! Especially the ideas of Living Outside The Box.
One great point missed on giving yourself a raise is that every dollar saved is worth way more than a dollar earned. A $1 raise from work gets taxed, then often with the remainder a portion goes to rent, heat, electric and other expenses before any (usually pennies) will be seen as discretionary income that can be saved or applied to debt. Whereas any and all dollars saved in expenses can go straight to the bottom line or debt reduction! It is always easier to save a dollar than make a dollar!
Great audio. Some great food for thought from Matt Jabs. I think that once you get going, it gets easier to save money. I like the idea of having the control to give yourself a raise and not relying on anyone else to change your circumstances. The other point in the audio which i found really powerful is the ability to change your mindset. Once you have the right mindset, it is possible to achieve a lot of things that you didn’t think you could do, including finding areas in your life where you can save money. A very pertinent discussion given our economic times.
I had a really good time doing this interview and would like to extend a hearty thank you to Flexo and Tom for the opportunity and for a job well done!
Aw shucks Matt, thanks…and don’t forget that good conversation works both ways. BTW, there’s quite a bit of good content that was cut out of this interview that Flexo and I are debating what to do with, such as Matt and I enacting a customer / customer service rep role-playing scenario and Matt offering up a recipe for homemade detergent.