Here are my simple debt reduction strategies:

1. Gather ALL of your debt information. (This can include your mortgage, or not, depending on if you want to pay it off early or not.)
2. List TOTAL AMOUNTS OWED for each account.
3. List FINANCE RATE next to each account.

Example
Account	Balance	Rate
Auto Loan	15000	6.00%
Visa	6000	12.00%
Master Card	5000	4.00%
Personal Loan	2000	2.00%

1. Okay, now you have an “over-all” picture of your debt.
2. NOW, place the minimum you MUST pay for each loan, next to that loan amount:

Example
Account	Balance	Rate	Minimum
Auto Loan	15000	6.00%	350
Visa	6000	12.00%	75
Master Card	5000	4.00%	50
Personal Loan	2000	2.00%	25

1. Soo, now you know the TOTAL debt re-payment amount for all accounts per month.
2. Now, look at your budget (you do have a budget, don’t you?)
3. Figure how much you can pay EXTRA per month on you total debt.
4. NOW, here it gets tricky. You can do it one of two ways.

• Mathematical: List Loans by INTEREST RATES, pay minimums on ALL accounts, and put extra debt re-payment money towards the HIGHEST INTEREST RATE.
• MY WAY: This is the way I USED because it helped me see my progress faster: List Loans by BALANCE, pay minimums on ALL accounts, and put extra debt re-payment money towards the LOWEST BALANCE. Why do it this way? I like to see those smaller debts go bye-bye as fast as possible.

Mathematical
Account	Balance	Rate	Min. + Extra
Visa	6000	12.00%	75 + Extra
Auto Loan	15000	6.00%	350
Master Card	5000	4.00%	50
Personal Loan	2000	2.00%	25

�My Way�
Account	Balance	Rate	Min. + Extra
Personal Loan	2000	2.00%	25 + Extra
Master Card	5000	4.00%	50
Visa	6000	12.00%	75
Auto Loan	15000	6.00%	350

1. Now, once you pay-off the first account, do not stop. Put the minimum you were paying on that account, and the extra you were paying on that account, towards the balance on the next account. Keep “snow-balling” this way until debt is paid off.

Now, please note. YOU MUST PAY YOUR MINIMUMS on every account. DO NOT let an account get “behind” in order to pay more on another account. IT IS BETTER not to make progress on getting out of debt than it is to get behind on one account in order to get “ahead” on another. Also, if you can, consolidate your cc debts onto 1 cc with a very low rate. I do NOT suggest moving your balance over and over and over. Try to get a rate below 10 percent (zero is the best, but you may not have the credit for it) and pay those suckers off. I personally am on my last debt, at zero percent until December, and I am furiously attacking it.

Hope this helps someone out there…

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I was thinking about how many years I have been an “active” member of the American workforce. I am 30 years old now, and I started my first “paying” job when I was 15. So, I have worked, at a job, for 1/2 of my life. Now, for the first 14 1/2 years of that work-time, I simply went to my work, did my job, waited to get paid, and spent my money. I also amassed credit card, and automobile financing debt. I WORKED for 14 1/2 years, and I had NOTHING to show for it. Yes, I had provided for my family, and I had put food on the table, and shelter over my head, but if you looked at what I owned, and what I had in the bank, I had very, very, little. Something had to change.

SO…In April of this year, I began to get really, really serious about my money. I read books, I talked to older people, I read magazines, I listened to financial radio, I read my Bible…I did everything I could to educate myself about money. Ya wanna know what I found out?

Simple, dimple. The most important thing about PERSONAL finance is that it is PERSONAL. My money had to mean something to me. I had to take ownership of my money, my finances, my behaviors, my desires, my past, and my future. I had to realize that I would never, ever be rich if I kept doing “non-rich” behaviors. I had to stop wasting money, I had to stop impulse shopping, I had to organize my bills, I had to balance my check-book, I had to get a handle on MY finances. See, the problem WAS NOT the amount of money I was making, but the AMOUNT of money I was not paying attention to. I have made lots of money in a year, and very little money in a year. Guess how much money I had at the end of both years. The same amount. Zero.

You must learn to VALUE not just what money can buy in the now, but VALUE what your knowledge about money can do for you in the future. Managing money can be as simple or complex as you make it, but you MUST manage it. Do not allow yourself to be dragged around by the almighty green-back. It’s YOUR wallet, YOUR bank account, YOUR retirement, YOUR money.

Here is my rule of thumb: I will use the same energy and effort learning about how to manage my money as I use to earn my money. Pay-check to pay-check stinks. Get off of that miserable mouse-wheel right now! Today! Find the strength, from you faith, your family, your friends, wherever, but find the strength to put a stake in the ground and declare that your finances are PERSONAL. Take charge, today!

End of motivational speech…

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Here are 2 new, cool tools that I just found today. I thought you might like them.

First off, Coinstar is now offering Amazon gift cards when you cash your change in. If you do not get a gift card, you pay an 8% fee. If you get a gift card, you pay no fee. Cool.

Second, Google now offers a blog search feature. Neat.

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Okay, this might not come as a shocker to most, but to a big-boy like me, who likes to eat junk, I realized today that “real” food can be very, very expensive. Wow. Fresh fruits and veggies can cost more than frozen or packaged, and healthy breads cost 2 or 3 times more than plain white or wheat. And organic? Hmmm..

I will have to re-do my shopping list so that I actually TRACK the prices of some of these goods. I think I will also check into some online sites for healthy stuff to eat.

Well…
TODAY IS DAY ONE of the “diet”. I know, I know. I am not supposed to say “diet”. I am supposed to say, “way of life” or “way of eating”. Hush. It’s a diet, folks.

Today’s goals:
8 x 8 oz. water
Eat grilled chicken and veggies
Eat fresh fruit
exercise

That’s about it. We shall see how it goes.

Now, I wanted to do this post now as well, so this shall be a two-parter. Hope you read this far, personal finance warriors.

This is my FAVORITE trick for having more money at Christmas. Now, I know that it does not work out for all of you “keep my money in savings, earning interest, until the very last moment” folks, but it works GREAT for anyone who loves to give gifts and always seems to charge up things on their credit cards for others at Christmas time:

Here is the simple trick: There are 12 months in the year, right? Well, what if you only had to make 11 payments, and could “skip” December. Well, you can, and here is how. Let’s assume a monthly cable bill of 50 bucks.

1. Multiply 50 x 12 = 600
2. Divide 600 / 11 = 54.54
3. Pay 54.54 each MONTH instead of 50
4. You will not have a bill for December.

Now, I KNOW that this does not create “extra” money, but it is cool not to get a bill in December. And look, this only “cost” me 4.54 a month. I spend that on junk food at the 7-11 almost everyday. (Well, I used too, anyways) I use this technique, and though the affect is merely psychological, I “feel” like I have more cash available to buy things for folks at Christmas. I use this with 5 different “fixed” bills, and I love it. By the way, if you use DISH NETWORK service, you can pre-pay your bill for a year, and they knock of 1 months service cost (you pre-pay the base price for your plan).

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Alright, I know that this is a personal finance blog…but I need to get this off my chest. I am a “huge” football fan, but I was sickened by the opening of Monday Night Football tonight. So mad, in fact, that I emailed the following letter to both abc and to espn. I post it here for all to read. (If you did not see the skit, it featured several “actors” in a simulated air-traffic-control tower, watching two “planes” almost collide)

To ESPN and ABC,
The opening of Monday Night Football (Featuring a fake “plane-crash” scenario)
was highly offensive. Considering the date of the broadcast (one day after
the anniversary of 9/11) I was shocked and appalled. Insinuating that “jets” needed
to be called on to handle “run-away” planes was a disgusting reminder of the
events of 4 years ago. I think that whoever was in charge of this “skit” should be
fired, and a public apology should be issued immediately. The “Desperate Housewives”
skit from last year was stupid. This skit was reprehensible.

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