Quick post…able to put 100 bucks or so towards last debt. Now over 71 percent GONE. Check out the new chart on the right. Back with more later…
Archive for October, 2005
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Sick To My Stomach
October 27th, 2005 
NCN Here’s the deal. I THOUGHT that my credit card zero percent offer ended at the END of December. Suprise! It ends December FIRST. ARRRRGH! That means I have two options. ONE, just eat the interest, and pay the thing off with the last paycheck of the year. OR TWO, somehow find 3000 dollars of availiable money THIS MONTH to pay the thing off before interest starts to acrue. CRAP! Lesson learned: Read the details and pay attention. I am a dork!
(Option 3, and I really, really don’t want to do this, but I COULD transfer the balance from this card to another “dormant” card that I have… THUS violating the very premise of this blog, that credit is “not needed”. HMMM…)
We shall see, I guess.
Saved Some Cash
October 27th, 2005 NCN Hi all…
Not much going on with the old debt re-payment. I should send a few more bucks to the last credit card come Monday Morning. I will update then.
As far as saving some money, I did 2 things that I should have done a while ago. Both prove that financial stagnation can sit in, even for those who are focused on their finances.
First, I cancelled “local” channels for my dish network service. I already have locals out of Atlanta, and these were redundant. This saves me about 6 bucks per month. Yay. That is a savings of 72 dollars per year. Second, I cancelled a calling card feature associated with our local phone service. This saved 1.00 per month, or 12 dollars a year. All total, I “made” 84 dollars by making two 3 minute long phone calls.
I think that the above will remind us all that the little things DO add up.
Deal Me In…
October 21st, 2005 NCN Okay, what does it take to “change” yourself, your situation, your future, or your family? Well, I think that it takes a minimum of 3 things:
- You MUST realize the reality of the situation that you find yourself in. You must clearly see that you are over-weight, in too much debt, unhealthy, unholy, whatever. The critical first step towards change is to recognize that change is NECESSARY. When it comes to money, I find that there are 3 types of people. First, people who just assume that they will always be broke, and thus accept their lot in life and do nothing to improve their financial situation. Second, people who have enough money that they can “afford” to be sloppy with their finances. And third, people who are tired of being broke, recognize exactly where they are, and decide to something about their financial live. I am this third type of person.
- After realization, you MUST research and develop a personal finance plan. You must read, study, ask questions, and do whatever else it takes to understand your very own “personal” personal finances. Ignorance is not “bliss”, it is “dangerous”. Focused, intense study and thought lead to knowledge, which leads to change, which leads to growth. You cannot change what you do not know needs changing. Once you have knowledge, you have more than just “power”. You have the ability re-align your priorities and literally shape your destiny.
- Now that you have realization and knowledge, you must put both to work through ACTION. Knowledge without application is USELESS. Don’t draw up 50 plans, don’t invent a dozen scenarios! Do your research, make a plan, and move forward. You can always “change” directions as you gather more and more desire and knowledge, but you will NEVER get anywhere by standing pat. Just as desire without knowledge leads to futility, knowledge without action leads to frustration. JUST DO IT!
Updation
October 16th, 2005 NCN I decided to “zero-out” our checking accounts today, moving every dollar not already ear-marked for a specific check out of our account, and putting it towards our debt. So, I was able to make a tiny little debt re-payment of 71.19 towards our last debt. I will now re-start our budget for October, using the paycheck that I received this week. We had actually gotten away from our budget for awhile, and were just POURING our money into debt re-payments. Now, that we are slowing abit, I am going to start with a clean slate. “MY” checking account (the one with my name on it first that we use for bill payments) will receive the bulk of our deposit. My “Wife’s” checking account will receive very little if any. We keep a mini-mini-fund of 200 dollars in her account at all times for unexpected check writing. She keeps a debit card for both account in case of a bigger emergency. (She also has, despite the name of this blog, a super-duper emergency…gasp!…credit card…) So, I am beginning afresh and anew, with hardly nothing in savings, and with a brand new budget, focused MUCH less on debt re-payment and MUCH more on balanced savings and debt re-payment. I want to rebuild my cash reserves this month, and quickly.
On a side note…and I mean a quirky, left-field side note… I may have found THE BEST mouthwash EVER. Crest PRO-HEALTH. So AWESOME. They gave out free bottles of it at the gym, and the stuff is the best tasting mouthwash in the entire world. Seriously, you have to try this stuff…
EDIT:
I just re-read this post, and my grammar and language usage both really, really stink.
Sorry
