Making money last longer than the month

I am a small business man who strives to run his business finances the way I run my personal finances – debt free. I do not like debt. I cannot stand the weight of a note hanging over my head. For me, borrowing money to get something I want is like being given an A on a test I have not taken. I haven’t always been this way. I was once very much a borrower. I had a car note as well as pretty hefty credit card bills. Things changed for me when I realized that I was borrowing more money than I could hope to repay. My total debt had become over a third of my annual income. So my wife and I set out to do something about it. The first thing we did was quit using credit. If we couldn’t pay for it we didn’t get it. It meant we had to do without, but we found that we didn’t really need all of those things we wanted. Once we got the debt ball to stop rolling, we had to start chiseling it down. What did that mean? It meant that my wife worked her normal job and I worked mine. Then, after hours and on vacations we worked the odd jobs to pay down the bills we had. Between the three of us (my daughter helped some, and was compensated for her help) we installed floor and counter top tile, we cleaned offices and houses, I wrote articles for a trade journal, and I traveled to teach classes to others in my industry. During all of this my wife also home-schooled our daughter. For three years we were extremely busy. But, once the bills were paid off we began to back off on the extra jobs. We saved an paid for the things we wanted. In my business I’ve done pretty much the same thing. I buy what I can afford to buy. Sometimes ,when times get tough, one monthly payment doesn’t get made – my salary. Because we paid the price to get out of debt, occasionally missing a paycheck for me doesn’t hurt as much as it could - but it’s not a habit I want to keep! I have friends around the country that approach their businesses very differently. They are leveraged to the hilt. The bank owns virtually all they have. If they take a serious hit they feel they can choose to walk away from it. After all, the bank owns the business, not them. These are very successful businessmen. Millionaires even. And how can I say they are doing it wrong when they are simply following the example our government has set for them. Now, I’m not a man who likes to get on a political stump. But it bothers me that neither party can set and maintain a budget. It’s time for the government to start setting an example for the rest of us to follow. Get out of debt first, THEN build wealth. Smarter men than I could tell you how, but it needs to be done and it needs to be done NOW. In the meantime, I think it’s also time for us to take some personal responsibility and get rid of the debt in our own lives so we can truly hold the government accountable.