Therein lies my dilemma.

The gazelle in me says “Make Dave Ramsey proud – throw it at the debt!”  But then there’s the other part of me that looks at a chunk of unfinished items that also need to be addressed in my home and wonders if I shouldn’t siphon off some of that money to cover a few of them.

This is really tough for me because all I really want to do is pay off those stupid credit cards… Then again, some of these things aren’t exactly luxuries.  Sigh.

I’ll be having my monthly budget meeting with Shanna in a few weeks, but in the meantime as I’m thinking through this stuff, I thought some of you might be willing to give me your two cents.

The open items requiring money are:

• Downstairs Baseboards ($?) – These were left undone after my wood floors were put in and need to be completed.
• Bed ($600…?) – I hate my bed.  I’ve suffered with it for 2 years and don’t think I can really take much more.
• Kitchen floor ($?) – Also left undone after the wood floors were installed.  Needs to be tiled and sealed.
• Patio door ($1,000+) – This is an issue because the current patio door is leaking in heavy rain which seeps in at the foundation and will ruin my wood floors if not corrected.
• Upstairs bathroom ($?) – Disgusting.  I’ve dealt with it for 3 years, but it has a mildewy smell and needs to be gutted.
• Landscaping/patio installation ($3,000) – I’ll get into this more in a minute, but essentially it’s extra living space and a chance to clean up someone else’s terrible mess that I inherited when I bought the place.

In thinking through the priority of said items, I think for me it goes something like this:

1. Kitchen floor
2. Patio door
3. Downstairs Baseboards
4. Bed
5. Landscaping
6. Upstairs bathroom

Now I know that the landscaping thing is the most expensive by far except for the bathroom, probably, but it would be so great to have that done.

In order to understand why this is a priority for me, you’d have to know that today both my backyard & front yard are an absolute mess.  There are 6-foot tall weeds growing along the side of my back fence which I have been unable to get rid of.  The rest of the “planting boxes” (for lack of a better way to describe the crummy brick boarder around the yard) are full of jungle-like vegetation during the warmer months of the year that all but threaten to overthrow the yard itself and displace me from my home.  The yard itself floods easily which makes for a real swamp in the rain.  There’s nowhere to sit or do anything outside right now which is something I really love when the weather’s nice.  The front of the house has a large, barren garden with 2 dying bushes in it.  The fence on the front porch is rotten.  There is a built-up garden area to one side of the porch which has rotten railroad ties which are falling down.  In short, it’s just awful.  I would love to have a place where I could sit in the front or the back.  In a small townhouse like I have, any extra living space is a big deal, and my yards are the only additional living space options I have.

Basically, I know I could spend away all of the extra funds I’ll be seeing in the next couple of months if I’m not careful, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad idea to use that money to cover even a few of these things.  Say, maybe items 1-5.  Part of what makes it difficult is that I don’t know exactly how much most of those things will cost, although I suspect the kitchen floor will only be a few hundred, and the baseboards will not be that much either.

So I can either pay off my remaining credit cards completely, or get some items in my home completed and I have no idea what to do.  Of course it also doesn’t help that I don’t know how much my bonus will be yet either – we’ll find that out closer to the end of this month.  This will certainly have an impact on my decision here as well.

Thoughts anyone?  The lines are open.

In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin

In our present society, one might almost think that this famous quote by one of my favorite founding fathers could be reworded to replace “death” with “debt”.  It is staggering how in such a relatively short amount of time, we have managed to rearrange our finances and priorities into a place where our economy relies so heavily on debt that if everyone were to stop using it, our economy would essentially collapse.  Yikes.  Of course that would never happen – there are way too many people and way too many credit cards, but it’s still a frightening reality when you think about it in those terms.

However, if we all were to get on board with the likes of Dave Ramsey (and others) and slowly migrated ourselves out of debt and instead focused on building wealth and giving, our economy would be way stronger than it is now.  Imagine a world where there are no credit cards, no interest payments, no fees & penalties, no foreclosures, no repossessions…  Well, maybe someday.  I am, however, beginning to be able to imagine my own life in those terms.

I’m coming up on a year since starting my Dave Ramsey plan, cut up my credit cards, and began a whole new way of financial living.  Have I missed my credit cards?  Not once.  My starter emergency fund has been more than sufficient to carry me through a few minor unexpected expenses which have come up over the course of the year.  I have made sacrifices, changed habits, and have been the subject of a lot of teasing – not by my friends, but mostly by my coworkers.  It seems that many people believe that the only reason the whole budget-thing works for me is because I’m single with no kids (although I do have a dog and while I’m sure she’s not as costly as a kid, she still isn’t cheap  by any means!)  “It’s totally different when you have a wife and family,” one of my colleagues had said.  I didn’t respond since it was clear he didn’t “get it” and I didn’t want to get into a debate, but what I wanted to point out to him is that solid financial principles and teaching are only solid if they work across the board for everyone, regardless of your marital status or family-size.  I know my fellow debt-free crusaders understand me on this point – there’s quite a few of you out there with blogs that tell of your respective journeys…most of whom, might I add, are married with kids:  Debt Free 2009, My Personal Debt Free Journal, and many of the blogs off of the Snowflake Revolution web site to name a few.  I’m just saying.

Moving right along…

Now that we’re past Christmas and New Years, the next thing that begins to occupy my thoughts is tax season.  Tax time begins rearing its ugly head in January and the insanity usually builds until we hit April 15th.  April 15th also happens to be one of my cousin Aubrynn’s birthday.  Poor kid.  Thankfully she’s still too young to know what a stressful deadline date that is for most people, but hopefully the fact that it’s her birthday will serve to add some joy to that otherwise annoying day.

Anyhow, in general I have not minded tax season because it usually means money in my pocket.  I’ve often been told that I must be doing something wrong if I’m always getting money back after paying thousands into the hands of the IRS all year, but I do my best to estimate out my “real” tax liability for the year and so keep more money in my paychecks while still giving the IRS what I should.

Last year I failed miserably at this and ended up with a $8K+ refund.  Oops.  This year I’ve been dreading doing my taxes because I was CERTAIN I was going to owe.  Big.  Like $4K or so at least which made me nervous…not because I can’t pay it (budgeting works, I’m tellin’ ya!) but because I just would far rather use that money for good (pay off debt) than evil (give it to the IRS).   So why the liability?  Earlier in 2008, I had converted a traditional IRA to a Roth.  What I didn’t do was consider the tax implications of this.  Later I realized that I may have just thrown myself directly into the path of an oncoming tax bill.  Major oops.

In my great journey to become debt free, any extra money I bring in serves to bring me closer to that goal.  The thought of having to use some (or even all) of my bonus check to cover a stupid tax liability absolutely burned me up.  And then to add massive insult to critical injury, the market tanked AFTER the conversion so if I had converted in December, let’s say, my tax liability would have been less than half of that estimated $4K.  Fabulous.

The good news is I think I may have found a way to fix it…

As I began my yearly TurboTax Online interview, I did a little investigating and discovered that my mistake is not without recourse.  I can actually undo this.  It’s called a “recharacterization” and I as long as I submit the paperwork and complete the recharacterization before April 15, it’ll be like the conversion never happened!  30 days after that, if I want to reconvert it, I can but with the much much much lower account value.  Score…although I’m not sure I’ll bother.  This has been such a hassle and the IRA isn’t really worth that much so I might be better off just leaving it alone.

Anyway, so if I do all this and erase my tax liability, this also means that I’ll be getting back at least a couple grand which I can throw back at the debt!  (This is also great because it might help to make up for the decrease in bonus I’ll most likely be looking at for this year).

Oh, and on that note, I should mention that I managed to pay off another credit card yesterday!  This is a HUGE deal for me since it’s the first debt payoff I’ve been able to make happen in 6 months, so I’m pretty excited.  Party on Wayne.  This was my Best Buy card which I had used under a 0% for 2 years interest deal to purchase my fridge & dishwasher.  The 0% interest promotion was good though mid-April and by paying it off now, I saved myself from having to contend with $858 in deferred finance charges!  Exciting stuff…and yes, I probably do need to get out more.

So I’m now down to only 2 credit cards with balances left – one with no interest until August, and the other with 10.99%.  I should have the interest-bearing one paid off easily with the tax refund I’ll now be getting and/or bonus (whichever comes in first).  And who knows, if my bonus is hefty enough, I may even be able to kill off the other one by the end of March leaving me to tackle my car loan next…and, might I add, WAY ahead of schedule!

Part of my excitement in all this is that since I’ve not been able to actually pay anything off in awhile, I am feeling a lot of renewed vigor with all these potential upcoming wins which serve to bring me that much closer to my ultimate goals…and will give me more flexibility to move as God leads.  I’m still probably looking at another 24 months before I can call Dave Ramsey and scream over the radio, but it’s all about those baby steps!

2009 looks to be off to a running start…and away we go!

It’s that time of year again…  Time for cookies, trees, gifts, snow (if you’re lucky), songs, mistletoe, ornaments, lights, and joy at celebrating the birth of Jesus.  It’s also time for yearly updates.  Every year I receive tons of letters from my friends telling me all about the seemingly endless amounts of awesome things their kids accomplished – Johnny took his first steps, Billy said his first word, Jane walked on the moon, Susie found the cure for cancer…  And each year as I sit and read through these letters, I’m struck by just how much I have NOT done.

Or at least, the past few years have been like that.

Prior to 2005, I typically felt like I had a lot to say come December.  I was moving to or living in or traveling through amazing places – Alaska, Europe, Asia, New York City…  But then I moved back to Bucks County – not far from where I grew up – and the excitement seems to have ceased.

I debated as to whether or not to even write something for this year having felt outdone by just about everyone else out there…after all, how can you beat out someone taking their first steps?  But after some thought on the matter, I decided that perhaps it was more important do go through this exercise for 2008 because it would help me focus on finding the things that were worth mentioning.

So in the name of hoping 2008 was worth it, I give you…

2008: Year of the Rat

(I’m not making that up – check the Chinese calendar if you don’t believe me)

Let’s begin with 10 “stills” in my life (because it would be more depressing to end there – not that they’re all negatives or anything, but you know what I mean):

1. I’m still in Pennsylvania
2. I’m still single
3. I still live in the same townhouse
4. I still have the same fabulous roommate
5. I still have Chena the Amazing Dog & Brighton the Great Bird – Chena turned 2 this year and Brighton turned 10
6. I still work for the same company
7. I still have the same job…or in this environment, perhaps it’s most meaningful to say I still HAVE a job
8. I still have debt
9. I still love coffee
10. I still hate raw tomatoes

Below is a summary of 2008…such as it was:

January

I went to Atlanta to visit my family while Jo & Josh were there. I also found Dave Ramsey and decided set New Years Resolutions to lose weight, start living on a budget, and begin a plan to pay off my debt.

February

I started my budget.  I also found out that my foot which I broke in Vermont in 2005 was, in fact, still broken so I was going to have to treat it by wearing this weird bone stimulator (no, it’s not like that – get your mind out of the gutter)  10 hours/day for 6 months.  Yay.

March

Gas prices really started soaring, but I still managed to budget in a trip up to Boston to visit Esther & the girls for a long weekend over my birthday.

April

I started attending a Financial Peace University class that was being held locally and I found an amazing church…FINALLY.

May & June

Absolutely nothing of note took place.  Nothing.  May & June were a total waste this year.

July

I discovered I had a nest of yellowjackets my attic.  That was it.

August

Like its predecessors of May & June, August failed to contribute anything of interest for 2008.  I think I saw a movie.

September

The most exciting month all year!  I went to Seattle to visit Jel & Co.  A blast, as always, made even better by the fact that we had a full week to relax & hang.

October

Not as fun as September, but pretty.  Great foliage this year.  I also had new hardwood floors installed on the ground floor of my home. Oh, and I handed out candy to a lot of princesses & vampires with a few Harry Potter’s thrown in.

November

The removal of all the election paraphernalia from yards & TV was a highlight of my month, second only to the birth of my first nephew – Ronan Powell Rogers.  Yay!  And then of course there was Thanksgiving.  Yum.

December

I calculated that by the end of this year, I’ll have paid off 52% of my unsecured debt (36% of my overall debt) thanks to my budget, Dave Ramsey, and God.  I’ve lost 20 pounds of the untold amount I put on after moving out of NYC – still some to go, but I’m on the right track!  I got a Wii & a Wii Fit.

I really can’t underscore the importance of this task.  It’s huge and has required a lot of sacrifice which, in turn, has made for a relatively boring 2008.  And perhaps I should go ahead and warn everyone now that 2009 & 2010 will be going up against 2008 on that front.  In 2011, I’ll be sure to give the title of Most Boring Year to one of these 3 contenders because, let’s face it, until I get my debt paid off, I may not being doing much else between now and then…although I do foresee a trip to North Dakota to see my nephew this coming year and perhaps a smaller getaway or two if I can manage it – we’ll see if that budget will allow me that!  I became a moderator in December of last year for the GAP Adventures travel forum called The Watering Hole which, while a technically a volunteer position, carries with it some other nice perks like credit towards GAP trips which I might be able to leverage towards this end.

In closing, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I sincerely hope your 2008 was more interesting than mine…  But now look out 2009 – here we come!

Here’s the thing – I’m a writer.  No really, I am.   I’m not a writer in the sense that I actually publish stuff (unless you count my blog – my blog would probably count itself, but I would disagree because I control the printing).  So maybe I’m not a writer in the Pulitzer-Prize-winning-New-York-Times-Bestseller-Hollywood-wants-the-movie-rights sense, but I do write and always have.

I wrote my first full-length book at age 11 called “Dana of Warm Springs” which was inspired by and shamelessly modeled after – you guessed it – “Anne of Green Gables”.  I should probably mention that my first full-length story at age 7 called “The Oddness of Andrew” was inspired by and shamelessly centered on a boy in my 1st grade class named – you guessed it – Andrew.

Given these real (and somewhat embarrassing) facts, I feel like it just shouldn’t be that hard to string together enough words to create a new blog post.  And yet, it somehow is.

This is partially driven by the fact that I know I have readers, and I don’t want to disappoint you.   I don’t want to bother writing something that would either offend, annoy, or cause any of you to fall into a coma or wish for death.  I would hate to think that anyone would read my ramblings strictly out of a sense of duty either – I want this to be a fun and (dare I say) engaging experience for all. It would break my heart to think that reading one of my posts would be second only to a root canal in the amount of pain and anguish caused.

My blog is now telling me to shut-up and change the subject or it’s going to walk.  Fine.  Maybe if I just keep typing, something of interest will come to me.   I can’t believe I’m listening to a stupid blog.

Okay, so I’m just going to aimlessly type now.  Here goes…  Wish me luck!

So, the bulk of 2008 is behind us (phew!) and the future is in front of us (isn’t it always?), and I find myself again staring at the calendar in bewilderment wondering where the time has gone.  Seems to me I do this every year.  How very déjà vu.

I love November in general, mainly because it’s Thanksgiving month which is one of my favorite holidays. Christmas would be top of that list, but Thanksgiving is just plain fun with its pre-Winter weather and fabulous food. Yum. I think Americans (or at least this one) tend to see Thanksgiving as the official start of the “Holiday Season” which of course runs through New Years.

Since we’re nearing the end of the year, I’ve been taking a look back and trying to see how I’m doing on my 2008 resolutions overall.

For those who haven’t been following along all year, my resolutions were:

• Lose weight
• Live on a budget

To-date, I managed to get (and mostly stay) on Weight Watchers since January.  From January through July, I got myself almost  back to where I was when I moved from NYC.   To be totally honest, I fell off the proverbial wagon and into a vat of junk food for about 2.5 months, but a couple of weeks ago I got my slightly-fatter ass back on track and am almost back to where I had landed in August.  Of course the holidays will be tough, but I think I can do it.

The budget has been even better.  For quite possibly the first time in my life, I can actually tell you where every single cent that has come into my possession this year has gone.  I know what I’ve spent and where.   I know how much I have currently, and I know exactly what my last 3 paychecks of the year are going to do.   It is an amazing the control & peace that comes with being able to say that!  Part of this budget living has been with the objective of paying off as much debt as possible this year.  As I’ve said previously, my ultimate goal is to be debt-free by the end of 2010 (if not sooner) and I’m definitely on track to achieve that having gotten almost 50% paid off in 2008 alone.

Can I get a “WOW!”?

Now I know that 2009 will probably not allow me to make as huge a dent in this mountain – we’ve already been told that bonuses will be down and we may not see any raises this year.  Additionally, it’s looking like thanks to a miscalculation on my part, I may end up owing taxes as well.  But none of that matters right now because 2008 will still have been a smashing success in this area, and I am primed to at least keep moving forward.  Considering I have acquired no new debt since January and my credit cards were hacked to pieces in February, I think it’s safe to say that I will end in a much much MUCH better place than I did last year.

It’s still too early to start writing my 2009 resolutions as 2008 isn’t over yet.  But for what remains of the year, I just have to keep playing that line from the end of Star Wars where Luke and the other members of the Rebellion are out to destroy the Death Star and the one fighter pilot keeps saying to the others in this oddly calm voice: “Stay on target, stay on target.”

That will be my mantra for the next 7 weeks.  I promise I will write before then, but in the meantime, “May the Force be with you.”

What this sometimes translates into is my having to say “no” to myself… I’m okay with this most of the time, but every so often, there’s something that comes along which I have a really hard time saying “no” to.

Right now, I want a Wii.

I’ve never been a particularly big video game player. Growing up, the only video games available were the giant man-sized consoles in the arcades sporting Pac-Man or Space Invaders. Eventually we started seeing Atari show up in my friends homes. Then Nintendo came out with their original gaming system. Everyone was playing groundbreaking games like Frogger, Q-bert, and Tetris. Once Mario Bros hit the scene, it was the birth of a whole new addiction for us GenX-ers and life would never be the same for any future generations.

I never had Atari, but we did get a Nintendo system when I was in high school. I enjoyed playing some of the games, but it never turned into an all-out love affair like I’ve seen happen with friends (particularly guys) over the years.

But this was before the Wii.

From the time the Wii was introduced, I was intrigued. The fact that there was a system where more than just your thumbs would be involved in the action looked like fun. Add to that, the Wii Fit. Can’t find time to go to the gym? Can’t afford the gym? Hate workout to tapes? Enter the Wii Fit! You can practice balance, take yoga, do aerobics, or even go skiing…all with the Wii Fit. How fabulous. I really want one. Bad.

Here’s how my inner circular dialogue on this subject is going:

“Can I get one?” I hear the inner-me asking. “Please please PLEASE?!”
“No. It’s not in the budget.”
“Well, can we PUT it in the budget? Please?”
“No…not right now.”
“But winter’s coming… We need to workout. We need to have some sort of activity…”
“I know…”
“So the Wii would be perfect – it’s way cheaper than joining a gym, and we can play with it regardless of the weather…”
“I know…”
“So why can’t we get one?”
“Because it’s not in the budget.”
“Well, can we PUT it in the budget?…”

And so it goes.

I’m actually debating trying to get one off of Craig’s List used…I’ve put out a few feelers on this.  If I could find a good enough deal, I think I’d give in to myself and pick it up.  Maybe.  The fact is I was going to try and budget a gym membership back in because I really am feeling the need to get more exercise than I currently do. The Wii would cost more upfront, but would be less over the long-run so from that standpoint, it makes sense.

Then again, it’s still about $300 I don’t really “need” to spend right now. ARG!

This past month has been a rough one for the budget. I’ve blown it pretty much all over the place and now am assessing the carnage. Things have also been tougher at work… While we’re not laying anyone off, we’ve been working hard to find ways to scale back on spending. Corporate travel is at a minimum. Hiring has been put on hold. Bonuses may be looking a bit malnourished compared to last year. And who knows if we’ll even be seeing raises.

Compounded with increased costs at home, this all translates into less money in my debt avalanche to throw at my mountain. Sigh.

Since I’m trying really hard to find other ways to save money, the idea of shelling out a few hundred extra in one shot does not appeal to me. I need to prioritize. I need to figure out what’s important and then focus on that.

From Dave Ramsey’s perspective, top priorities are easy:

1. Food
2. Shelter
3. Clothing

Well, I have plenty of food, I’m not living in a box or in a van down by the river, and I’m not naked so that’s good.

Next on the list would be things like utilities, etc. That’s one area I’m working on shaving some off of. Not electricity or water, but cable/internet and cell phone. Collectively those items are costing me $200/month which seems absolutely insane to me…and that’s with a deal on the Internet right now where I’m only paying $19.99/month. I called Comcast and they basically told me that if I dropped myself down to a basic package, I’d still be paying $92+tax for JUST cable with my current internet deal. Are they insane? I mean really – is this what people are paying these days? How on earth does anyone afford it? Tack onto that my cell phone bill which is averaging about $80/month. Granted, it’s my only phone, but I still think that’s nuts. I could switch to the much ballyhooed “Comcast Triple Play” but that would still end up being close to $150/month (with tax) for cable, internet, and phone with the additional boxes. So much for the advertised $114.95/month pricing which would seem misleading at best.

Apologies – I didn’t mean to get onto such a long cable plan tangent, but just trying to voice my frustration at trying to make the best budgetary decisions. Sometimes it’s an easy call (e.g. should I go out to dinner or not?) but other times the many facets of an issue can make it way difficult (e.g. should I get a Wii, a gym membership, or just buy fat-pants?)

Anyway, all this is to say that the budget is about balance…and trying to find it. What I’m discovering that this is a lot easier said than done.

So the question remains: Is there a future Wii for me?

I just don’t know.