Welcome to the Man Vs. Debt Community!

My name is Baker. Well, actually it’s Adam Baker, but I have lazy friends.  Most just prefer Baker.

I’m blessed to be joined on my journey by:

  • Courtney - my beautiful, thrill-seeking wife of 6 years!
  • Milligan (“Milli”) – a spunky, stubborn almost-4-year-old girl!
  • Charlotte (“Charlie”) – our beautiful baby born in April 2012!

Courtney and Milligan are the core of my life and my deepest passion. You’ll see both of them frequently popping in for cameos and guest appearances.

Our message is simple:

The first step to living a life of passion and purpose is to remove the barriers that hold you back.

We hope that by sharing a transparent and honest account of our own journey to remove barriers – primarily our debt and excess clutter – we can empower and inspire others who find themselves on similar paths.

Our new motto on life (and the tagline of this community) is:

Sell Your Crap…  Pay Off Your Debt…  Do What You Love…

For us, the first two parts of this motto have allowed us to more passionately pursue the third.

In 2008, after the birth of Milligan, Courtney and I decided to sell everything we owned, pay off our consumer debt, and spend a year traveling abroad as a family.  We began sharing our journey publicly in early 2009 – forming the community you see here today at Man Vs. Debt.

We spent a year leading up to our trip selling all of our possessions (down to two backpacks) and paying down $18,000 in consumer debt.  In June 2009, we left for what was to be a year in Australia, but quickly turned into more mobile travels through Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and finally back to Indiana.

In sharing our ups and downs in the areas of personal finance, consumerism, clutter, travel, minimalism, and passionate entrepreneurship – we realized that we aren’t alone in our desire to explore and grow. Fortunately, a community of like-minded people has emerged, contributed, and rallied together.

We call the sharing of our journey and its supportive community… Man Vs. Debt.

In late 2011, our community grew to include editor, writer and community manager Joan Otto. You’ll hear from Joan pretty regularly, so I figured I’d let her introduce herself in her own words:

I’m Joan. I’m 29, and I’ve been a rabid Baker fan since maybe early 2010 and a regular blogger on a variety of sites since 2001. (That’s, like, old. Geez.) In addition to working with Baker, I’m also the part-time online editor for my local newspaper, where I’m a columnist and … you guessed it… blogger. My big passion is being a great wife to Chris and a wonderful mother to Sarah, who’s 12. We homeschool, and I blog daily about my adventures in that arena, too, via Our School at Home. Those blogs are awesome, but writing for this one is DEFINITELY one of the top experiences of my life. I’m also studying tae kwon do; I’m currently a brown belt and hope to get my black belt before I turn 31. In my “free” time – wait, what’s that? – I love to read, do logic problems, play Facebook games and scrapbook. Oh, and spend ridiculous amounts of time on Pinterest. You can read more about me here.

Ways To Join The Community:

  • Enter your email in the form at the top right of this page to receive free updates of new content. Alternatively, you can subscribe to updates via RSS.
  • Follow @ManVsDebt on Twitter - I’m obsessed with fairly active on Twitter these days.
  • E-mail Baker @ ManVsDebt . com and say hello.  I respond to each email personally if I can!

Media Coverage:

We’ve had the great fortune of being featured in and covered on:

  • Traditional Media (Print): USA Today, Psychology Today, and The Art of Non-Conformity.
  • Traditional Media (Online): MSN.com, CNNMoney, Fox Business, Time, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, The Dallas News, and The San Francisco Chronicle.
  • New Media & Blogs: Zen Habits, SxSw 2010 Web Awards Finalist, The Art of Non-Conformity, ProBlogger, LifeHacker, Get Rich Slowly, The Simple Dollar, WiseBread, and Digg.com.

New? – Start Here:

Featured Pages:
  • “Our Finances” – Here we share MvD’s annual income/expense reports and more.
  • “MvD Store” - Find more information on my premium courses and guides – You Vs. Debt and Sell Your Crap – as well as a handful of products/tools I use on a daily basis.
  • NEW! “MvD Podcast” – The official description says listening to this podcast will help you “Break free from the daily grind of the typical financial life and take back control of your freedom with empowering tips, strategies, success stories and guest interviews.” The unofficial version is that I love speaking about life-changing stuff, and this is a great way to hear me do it.


Most Popular Posts (All-Time):

Posts with Passionate Comments:

Must-Read Blogging Resources:

Other Fun Posts:

More About Our Personal Story:

We were on the typical American life path.  Courtney and I had only been married a year, but had managed to collect two car loans, several credit cards, a line of credit at the jewelry store, a loan from the parents, and enough student loans to take down an elephant.  At our peak, we were able to amass over $80,000 in non-mortgage debt, through a mesmerizing variety of avenues.

Did I mention we had financed (no-money-down) an 8-unit apartment building?  Those numbers don’t even account for that.

Life has a couple ways of rapidly changing your perspective.  For us, it was the birth of our daughter, Milligan, that did the trick.  Although we had been trying to clean up our finances, bringing her home from the hospital took it to a whole new level.  In the spring of 2008, we finally made the connection between achieving true freedom and living a debt-free life.

Milligan and MamaWe decided we weren’t ready or willing to continue along our current path.  We wanted freedom, not only for ourselves, but for Milligan.  We made the decision right then and there to take back control over our life.  We would aggressively clean up our debt, sell everything we owned, and spend a couple years living in Australia.  It was a daunting task, but one that was exciting enough to keep us passionate!

Over the next year we struggled to adopt frugality, budgeting, and life without constant credit.  We kept our heads down, stayed committed to our plan, and continued to up the intensity.  We sold our small business, our rental property, and everything that didn’t fit into our two backpacks.  We drastically slashed our lifestyle, while studying and testing every financial technique we came across.

So far it’s been worth it! We’ve had our share of set-backs and stumbles, but I’m proud to be able to say that we were able to completely eliminate our non-student loan debt (paid off $18,000) and save over $17,000 before embarking on our adventure overseas!

Our war is far from over, though. We’ve shifted our focus onto student loans (just over $50,000), while still traveling freely around the United States and living the life we love.  With the insight and accountability of the Man Vs. Debt community, I’m confident we’ll be able to stay the course!  I hope you’ll come along for the ride!

Disclaimer:

Please keep in mind that I am in no way, shape, or form a financial professional.  I’m simply a passionate guy who has some experience, both positive and negative, in dealing with debt and personal finance.  It’s impossible for me to know all the facts regarding your personal situation.  Therefore, it would be ineffective to apply any advice or information on this site blindly.  Well-intentioned financial professionals are in every community and you should consult one on any major financial decision.

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