Sidebar: I just was distracted by watching Chena bury some item of great value (at least to her) in the folds of a towel on the floor. But it’s cool, she’s a dog. It’s what she does. Still, kinda funny.

Anyway, despite my little online explosion the other day, I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m really doing pretty well – this especially for those of you who don’t see me all that often and might not know what to think when I don’t post for weeks and then suddenly come out with a message like I did on Monday.

But I’m good. I’m busy, I’m happy, I love my dog, I’m healthy, I have hardwood floors, I have a new patio door, I’m getting a new patio to go with it next week, and I’m employed. I’ve been thinking it over the past couple of days and decided that, despite any guy thing (or lack thereof) I’m not about to be bullied by happiness.

I should probably explain that last statement.

Dave Ramsey says in one of our FPU lessons (and he may have been quoting someone else, I don’t know) that if you’re not careful, happiness can become a “bully in a schoolyard”. Always drawing a line in the sand, but as soon as you step over that line – as soon as you obtain what you’re after – it moves. But happiness is not really the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Happiness is where you are right now, regardless of incidentals.

I think I started to learn this lesson somewhat when I was in England. I was frustrated with being in the UK – especially being so far out in the middle of nowhere. But I also knew that it was a good time in my life…something I would look back on and appreciate – although there were many times when I couldn’t wait to be “looking back” on it instead of living it! Still, I knew that this was the case, so I made a concerted effort to find things that I loved and appreciated about Leamington, Warwickshire, and the UK in general. Even now, I think back on that time and remember fondly my fabulous flat on Clarendon Square, the amazing Irish butter, Muellers Crumble Corners, riding my bike to work, walking everywhere, taking weekend trips into Europe, being so close to Stratford that I had a membership with the Royal Shakespeare Company at a “locals” rate… I could go on and on. So despite the fact that it was rough year (and I know I complained a lot), I still could appreciate it and still do. So much so that I’d go back for the right opportunity.

That whole concept of completing the phrase, “Happiness is [fill in the blank]” is really kinda difficult to do. Happiness is…uh…what? How can you define happiness if it’s a moving target? And there’s the rub.

Happiness isn’t that thing just out of reach. It’s not the marriage and kids you don’t have. It’s not the job you wished you’d gotten. It’s not the car you drive (or wish you drove). Neither is happiness a particular thing that happens once or many times over. Happiness is now. Happiness just IS.

If we don’t stop tying our happiness to the having or attaining of specific things, we’ll always be bullied by it and we’ll never find true contentment.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that sure, I’m missing some stuff from my life that I’d like to have, but ultimately, those missing items don’t necessarily detract from my ability to still see and enjoy and love and find happiness in where I am right now.

Paul said it like this in Philippians 4:11 – “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Rock on Paul. That’s what I’m talking about.

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!

However, seeing as this election was really a historical event more so than any other election has been, I do feel the need to at least comment about that aspect of it.

Come January 20th, we will have our first black president.  This is freaking huge and I don’t think the importance of this can be overstated.  Americans have finally shown themselves to be, as a majority, past the racial issues that divided us as little as half a century ago.  That is a big, massive deal and it’s encouraging to see that.  I have heard some say that this will go a long way in improving the rest of the world’s opinion of us as well.  Cool.

I was also encouraged by the number of people who came out to vote.  Every election I feel like I hear the phrase “record voter turnout” – can someone quantify that for me?  Are we really making a new record with each passing election?  If that’s true, then perhaps we are on our way to having nearly every American over 18 voting.  Right on.

I’m a major advocate of voting.  I believe in the democratic system (although the whole electoral college thing escapes me) and I believe that you have no right complaining if you’re not willing to go out and make your voice heard when you have a chance.  I’m just saying.

Before I sign-off and try to get some work done, I just want to close with a comment to the Christians out there who are unhappy with the outcome of the election.  As a Christian myself, I believe that we are called to be respectful of anyone who is in a position of authority whether we agree with them or not.  God is sovereign and I truly believe that whoever is in office is the best man (or woman) for the job in God’s big, strategic picture.

To quote Romans 13:1 (I just love Romans):

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

So no matter what your opinion is of Obama personally, he has been given this position by God and will need our prayers over his term in office.  He certainly will have my prayers as he takes on a job that carries more weight than I can imagine.

God Bless America!

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.

The fact that I did begin functioning on a budget, living on less than I make, and throwing as many hand grenades of cash at my debt as I can find has given me an alarming amount of peace during even these trouble financial/economic times.

As we all know, the government has been busy bailing out the mortgage industry and Wall Street (something which pisses me off to no end).  I, on the other  hand, would rather the mortgage industry and Wall Street clean up their own messes and leave our hard earned, taxpayer money out of it.  I have to clean up my own mess, why shoudn’t they?  Then again, we’ve managed to breed a society that in general doesn’t like to take personal responsibility for their actions.  They’d rather get a divorce, file for bankruptcy, or just run away.  When the going gets tough, the tough all turn into pansies.

I think that taking ownership of your mistakes and missteps is one of the things that grows you.  Turns you into a stronger person.  Humbles you.  And, in my Christian world view perspective, teaches you to lean more on God.

I kicked off 2008 annoyed, which really was the best place to be.  I find I can only really affect change in my life when I get to a point where I’m just ready to go ape on something.  I had been examining my financial state only to find that, after paying off debt with my bonus from the previous year, I had just managed to wrack it up again over the course of the previous 12 months…and this wasn’t the first time.  I’d had enough.

Today, I am happy to report that, although my 401(k) is struggling and I may be looking at a decrease in bonus for the coming year, I (with the help of Dave Ramsey) have broken the vicious financial cycle I’ve been more or less stuck churning in.  I may begin 2009 with a lower net worth due to my retirement accounts, but I am anticipating that my overall debt will be down at least 40% from where it was at the start of the year.  Yay!

So my personal bailout plan?

• Be on a written budget (”on paper, on purpose before the month begins”)
• Live on SIGNIFICANTLY less than I make
• Maintain my $1,000 starter emergency fund
• Continue my Debt Snowball until it becomes an avalanche
• Be debt free by the end of 2010 (WAHOO!)
• Build up my fully-funded emergency fund of 6-months of expenses
• Breathe easier!

Naturally it goes further than that (see Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps), but for now, this is what I’m focusing on.  More than anything, I want to dig myself out of this mountain of debt I’ve managed to all-but-bury myself in…but I don’t need (or want) the government to bail me out.  I can work.  I can budget.  I’ve got Dave Ramsey as a coach.

I got myself into this mess, and now I’ve got God helping me get out.  I’m pretty sure we can handle it.

Some of my control freak tendencies as a younger me stemmed from trying to figure out how to survive in the “real world”.  Prior to leaving my parents house, there wasn’t much I had to worry about, so I think I had more time and energy to spend being controlling about stupid things in life like the organization of my CDs.

Once I got out on my own, suddenly there were more real concerns…and these were concerns I had to face not as part of a newly married couple (as so many of my friends were), but as a single 22-year-old with no clue.  I was plagued with questions like: How do I get my utilities turned on for my new apartment?  Where’s the nearest laundromat?  What do you cook with when you have no money to buy pots & pans?  Can the human body truly subsist on mac & cheese alone?

Initially, I was also still concerned with the mundane issues like having my CDs in alphabetical order by artist, but the more busy I got with attending to the bigger picture, the more those cares and tendencies towards trying to control the little things slip away.  Today, my CDs are still more-or-less arranged by artist, but are not alphabetical and are spread across at least 5 different locations in my home so if you’re looking for a particular CD, good luck because unless it’s U2, I probably can’t tell you where it is.

I think if I were a true Type-A individual (which, as we all know is just a nice way of saying “control freak”), something like coming over and messing with my kitchen drawers or cabinets, would totally rock my world.  However, I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that you could go ahead and do this and I wouldn’t really care.  This is not to say that I don’t try to keep my kitchen organized – I do, but not because I feel the need to be in control of my kitchen.  Rather, I just think it’s easier when all the pots, plates, glasses, and bowls are with more of their own kind.  Call me crazy, but I like not having to hunt for lids to my Tupperware. I’m also somewhat limited in cabinet space, so things have to remain somewhat organized or else it wouldn’t all fit.  Actually, the more I write about this, the more I realize that my kitchen may not really be the best illustration.

Let’s try the pantry instead.

My pantry is a crazy, assorted array of dry food and spices.  There is pasta, cans of soup, cereal, boxes of 100 Calorie packs, pudding, taco seasoning packets, and God-knows-what-else. The only things remotely organized about it are that the spices are all together on a rack and I think that the cereal is more or less on the same shelf.  That’s it.  My pantry is definitely NOT the pantry of a control freak.  Monica Geller would probably need to be hospitalized if she saw it.  My pantry is more representative of my approach to life than any other part of my house:  As long as I can find things and nothing is in danger of falling off the shelf, I’m good.

The problem with this approach to life is that it may work for my pantry, but doesn’t really fly when you’re trying to do things like a budget.  Until I started the Dave Ramsey plan in February, I’d go literally years without balancing my checkbook.  My sister would say she couldn’t understand how I could NOT balance my checkbook and I would try to explain to her how it was just one of those things I found tiresome and tedious and really not all that important.  I realize now that, while still tiresome and tedious, the balancing of the checkbook is actually very important.  Essential even.  Being on a budget and along the path to becoming debt free has forced me into a behavior pattern that does not come naturally to me – surprisingly I’m pretty good at it, but that doesn’t make it easy.  Needless to say, this has been a difficult albeit necessary shift for me.

Dave Ramsey calls people like me a “Free Spirit” (read: non-control freak) which is essentially the antithesis of what he calls a “Nerd” (read: control freak).  Marriages, he says, are generally made up with one of each.  As a Free Spirit single, having to take on Nerd activities is a real challenge for sure, but where I’m finding myself struggle the most these days is in keeping up my motivation. 9-months into my debt-free path, my interest is waning.  It was easy enough when I first started out and kicked some major debt-ass with my year-end bonus and tax refund, but the day-to-day grind is what’s bringing me down.  My monthly committee meetings with my budget accountability partner (Shanna) is a great help.  She gives me some much needed “Atta-girls” and reminds me to look at how far I’ve come since the starting point, not get caught up in how far away the finish line feels (”Are we there yet, Papa Smurf?”)

So Shanna helps.  Reading through old posts from when I first started my budget also helps.  But what I’m really getting excited about is what the next few months hold.  There are some things coming up which I feel will give me a much-needed ‘Matt Foley‘ motivational speech…and not a moment too soon.

First is a one-day seminar on Personal Finance we’re holding at The Well in November followed by a full run of Financial Peace University which we’re starting in February 2009.  In general I find there is nothing like feeding off the inspiration that comes from being surrounded by others on the same journey…

Additionally I know that as I get more involved in this area, I will be able to help encourage and support others which I think is the best form of motivation there is…  Well, that and not waiting to end up living in a van down by the river.

Saturday was the day.  We were originally shooting for September 13th, but the weather had called for rain and so rather than risk it, we postponed a week.  Weather-wise, it was worth the wait.  We had a beautiful day – the kind where you want nothing more than to be outside, so what could be better than being outside while making a few bucks off your junk?

I was up at 5am, out the door by 5:30.  After a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for a veritable jug of coffee and a dozen donuts, I made it to Shanna’s in time to start unloading the car and setting out the boxes and boxes of things I had managed to pull out of my attic and identify as unused, unwanted, and undeniably ugly…well, some of it anyway.
What I also found funny was how Es’s article really hit on what is so bizarre-yet-true about yard sales (and eBay, for that matter):  The things people will (and won’t) buy.  It makes no sense.  At all.  There were things I pulled out of my attic and stuck little pre-priced stickers on I thought would be snatched up within the first half-hour while other items I considered to be grotesque would surely sit as unwanted on the yard as they had in my attic.

Not so.

Instead, cute little candlesticks I picked up ages ago and have never used were barely glanced at while people were purchasing things I couldn’t imagine a possible use for outside of a gag-gift or cruel joke.  Among the hideous items were these repulsive ceramic cat figurines I used to adore as a child (okay, so I didn’t exactly have great taste at 7 – does anyone?)  Nor am I clear on why exactly I liked them at all.

To start with, I’m allergic to cats.  Strike one.  And these in particular looked like they had been crafted by people in China who may have never actually seen a cat.  Strike two.  Then adding insult in injury, they were painted with the most putrid shade of brown.  Strike three.

It definitely makes me wonder why anyone would have given them to me in the first place, not to mention why I’ve kept them so long after I came to my senses and stopped displaying them.  The best excuse I can come up with is that they had just been forgotten in their bubblewrapped existence packed away in the rafters with more of the same.

Still, thanks to someone else’s odd taste in collectibles, it was nice that all these years later these ugly cats actually managed to put a dollar in my pocket.  Collectively, my odd and unwanted items didn’t exactly bring me wealth, but a little over $80 which is more than they were giving me sitting in my attic.

I also did sell some good stuff that I hoped I would.  My giant, wire mesh drawer unit was hauled away for $5.  I also had someone offer me $15 for all of the CDs I had out.  The binoculars with a built-in digital camera which I had gotten from work walked away for $15.  And then of course there were things I had no intention of selling whatsoever that people still asked me about (”Hey, how much for the puppy?”)

Like Esther, sold or not, I refused to take anything home.  I wanted it ALL gone…even the cute little candlesticks.  So what remained ended up getting shuttled over to Good Will where I hope someone finds my candlesticks cute too and gives them a nice home.

As for the cats, considering how quickly they sold just off the yard, it does make one wonder if I could have made more off them on eBay, but I don’t really care.  After all, a bird in the hand, right?

So, how do you sell an ugly cat?  It’s not hard – if you set it out on your lawn, apparently it will draw buyers in all on its own with little-to-no effort.  Just be careful what else you set out there or you might end up accidentally selling your dog or kid…unless, of course, you want to.

Dave Ramsey talks about K.I.S.S. the most when discussing budgets, but I’ve personally taken it a step further across all aspects of my personal money management, especially while I’m in the throes of Baby Step 2 – Debt Snowball, or as I like to think of it, my Debt Avalanche.

Having started my BS2 in February, I am nearing the end of my 7th month. So far, so good. I’ve paid off roughly 30% of my total debt and, despite Murphy’s best efforts, I am still on track to be debt free by sometime in 2010.

K.I.S.S.-ing works for me, so when something happens to make things more complicated, I naturally resist. I like keeping it simple. I like not having to look at all of my financial spreadsheets every day. I like not having to worry about multiple files and accounts. I like not having too many envelopes. I like doing things with actual, physical cash. I can do the details, but I don’t enjoy them. I hate balancing my checkbook – in fact I went for years without doing it until my sister found out and scolded me for it. And so one might easily see how keeping it simple would be a very appealing idea to me.

When I got my bonus check in February, I was able to knock off a lot of my credit card debt. This was a major help in getting things simple because it made for fewer accounts I had keep track of. Some I closed completely, others I’ve left open just to let them build some zero balance history before I shut them down. Regardless, I only have 2 credit cards left that I’ve been working on.

One of the cards is no big deal and has 0% interest through April 2009. The other one is a nasty little bugger (Bank of America) with a 10.99% interest rate and a $8,500 balance. I get annoyed every month when the bill comes and I see the $75+ in stupid tax…er, I mean interest charges…that gets tacked onto the balance so that a $150 payment to the card only actually brings the balance down by about $75 making progress on this one seem snail-like.

Yesterday I got an offer from one of my other credit cards which had been paid off since March – 0% APR for 12 months on balance transfers. Hm. I read the fine print which outlined that there would be a maximum charge of $75 for each transfer, but that was it fee-wise. I wouldn’t be able to transfer the full balance because the card with the offer has a limit of $5,000 but transferring $5K off of an $8K card would certainly drop the interest charges down significantly.

I thought it over. I only had 2 cards left to pay off, but now I would have 3. I calculated it out. The thought of putting a balance back on one of my other cards made me cringe and be completely against my whole keeping-it-simple strategy…but the savings! I figured out that I would actually save myself almost $700 in interest payments and shave an entire month off of my debt-free target date. That’s no small thing.

Of course it came down to a WWDS (What Would Dave Say) moment. While I don’t know him personally, one good thing about the guy is that he’s pretty predictable. If you listen to him enough, you can pretty much intuit what his answer would be. So I ran the scenario through my Ramsey Filter. Dave is a numbers guy, but he doesn’t usually counsel people to act based on the math of a situation because he’s more concerned with behavior modification. On this matter, I think he would see that my behavior has already been altered. My way of viewing my personal finances has undergone a complete paradigm shift, so I don’t think he would have a problem with my doing the balance transfer. If there were any concern that this could lead to a slow-down of my Debt Avalanche, he would probably say don’t do it. But it wouldn’t. I know it wouldn’t because I’m so freaking mad about the whole debt thing, I can’t rid myself of it fast enough. Transferring this partial balance would be just one more way to speed this along.

And so while keeping it simple is still a priority for me and something I know I need, I do feel that this one little “complication” of adding another card payment to the mix will actually do more for me in the long run. Besides, the other card which will now have a lower balance should be paid off by March and then I’ll be back to 2 credit cards again. Then a year from now, I’ll pay off my last credit card and only have loans and things to throw my money at.

In summary, I am a big advocate of K.I.S.S.-ing. I K.I.S.S. everything I can – my money, my budget, my debt snowball… It would be great if this wasn’t the only action I’m getting since I wouldn’t mind having a guy to kiss too, but maybe one will slide in here at some point…and I hope the simpler everything else is in my life, maybe the more likely I’ll be to notice him!

Somebody told me it was frightening how much topsoil we are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire and nobody got scared. – Jack Handey

For those who were not fortunate enough to be with the New Life Presbyterian Church Youth Group camping trip to Cornerstone ’90, the title of this post will mean very little. However, for those who have at least been camping or have slept in a tent at some point in life, you will probably understand what a “bungee” is and why it might be necessary to grab it during a torrential downpour with gale-force winds beating your tent into the ground and then attempting to turn it into a kite.

This weekend I went camping with about 20 people from The Well. Thankfully it was not Monsoon season in French Creek State Park, so I do not have any tales like that of the Perfect Storm that hit our camp at Cornerstone, but there were still some wild times and laughs had I thought I’d share.

Friday I decided to take a half-day. Worked from home in the morning and then knocked off around 1:00 to pack and run errands which included taking Chena to the groomers for her first trim. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of her at the moment, but I really should take some now. She lost about 2 inches of fuzz all over making her look a lot thinner (which is a good thing because everyone seemed to think she was fat before). The catalyst for this visit being that I was afraid taking her camping with her previous coat would be too hot for her. I mean seriously, how would you like to go camping in the hot, humid August of the East Coast while wearing your woolliest winter ski coat? And then what if your woolliest winter ski coat was actually GROWING on you? Not sounding very fun, is it? And so I had Chena’s coat trimmed down a bit.

After getting Chena and making a stop at the store, I picked up Gary (we were carpooling) and we took off for the hills.

French Creek State Park is located about 60 miles away from where I live (heading out towards Reading), so it’s an easy drive and a really nice state park compared to Tyler. I’m not busting on Tyler, but it is pretty small as far as state parks go, and doesn’t have nearly the activities available that French Creek does…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After most everyone else showed up on Friday, we set up and got everything situated for the weekend. More stragglers joined us periodically up until about 11 o’clock when Mark and Beth finally found us (as you might imagine, it gets increasing difficult to find one’s way in the woods after dark – even, or especially, when driving). Friday night consisted of dinner, campfire, s’mores, laughter, and finally sleep.

Saturday morning, Chena woke up growling because it seemed she had trouble telling the difference between other members of our group looking for breakfast and rabid animals looking for fresh meat. Being an early riser anyway, I didn’t mind so we got up and made a b-line for the coffee.

After breakfast, everyone sort of grouped together and went off to tackle different activities. I ended up with a handful of people who wanted to go down to one of the lakes and see about renting a boat. Located next to the biggest pool any of us had ever seen in their lives, the boat rental dock is right on the shore of Hopewell Lake which was beautiful (this included Mark & Beth who had brought their dog, Ollie – a perfect friend for Chena). Unfortunately we weren’t there more than 10 minutes when the threatening thunder we had been hearing in the distance all morning decided to blow our way and put on a rather impressive show. The storm didn’t last long, but after it had finished, we decided instead to head back up to the campsite after detouring to pick up more ice for the coolers.

Chena and I both ended up lazing for the rest of the afternoon with a few others who stayed at camp, finally rounding out the day with dinner, more s’mores (is it just me, or does that sound redundant?), and of course laughter. A little later Saturday night, Ryan and Michelle broke out a nifty camping tool which looks somewhat like the precursor to the Panini press. Two iron squares which fit together neatly hold buttered bread and filling of choice (cheese, meat, pie filling…but not all at once) held into the fire for a few minutes cooks up a tasty treat. There was a name for them, but I’m blanking on what it was…and no, it’s not “sandwich”.

I’m sorry to report that I don’t remember much of Sunday. The morning was fine and I remember that well. Chena growled, we got up, I decided to take a shower which ended up sparking a high-speed chase through the campground (Chena running up to the showers to find me, Mark running after her, Ollie running after him, Chena running back to the campsite, Ollie taking off in a different direction, Mark running after Ollie, leaving everyone back at camp wondering where Mark & Ollie were once Chena showed back up).

It was only after breakfast that I started noticing a headache coming on. Within a couple of hours, it had progressed into a full-blown migraine – the likes of which I haven’t had in a pretty great while. Somehow I managed to pack up my stuff, but was struggling with how I was going to manage the drive home when another couple from our group (Davis & Denise) offered to help. Denise drove my car with me and her husband followed. I don’t really remember the drive, just the pain. Once home, I collapsed on the sofa with a large ice pack covering my head and there I stayed until about 8pm when it finally began to subside. Ug. The best part is, I think I did it to myself. Sadly, one of my migraine triggers is chocolate and I’d had a lot of that this weekend. Not all in one sitting, but over the course of 24 hours, I’d had a lot more than I’m used to and I feel fairly confident that this is what did it. Way to go, Deb. I’m just thankful it didn’t hit we were getting ready to head out anyway, otherwise what a bummer that would have been.

All-in-all, it was a great few days with a lot of valuable takeaways:

• Chena is a fantastic camping dog
• Gary is an excellent human Poison Ivy detector
• French Creek = good PA camping
• Campfires are great no matter what time of year it is
• Those little iron things make great camping treats (despite the fact I can’t remember what they’re called)
• There are still new friends to be had in the Philly suburbs.

On that last point, I really was thrilled to have the opportunity to make some more friends (as well as get to know some of my newer friends better) – something I would have not thought I would have been doing a year ago. In fact, it was a year ago that Kim was coming down from NYC to help me avoid The Zoid. Wow. What a difference a year makes.

God is full of surprises.

It started maybe 2 weeks ago when I caught Chena playing with a yellowjacket in the kitchen. I killed it and thought nothing else about it figuring it must have just flown in the door when someone was on their way in or out. The second one I found in the living room and still didn’t cry “NEST!” The third one is when I started to get suspicious. My parents were visiting last week and as we were getting ready to leave the house, I heard a lot of commotion upstairs. I called up and asked if they were ready to go and my mom yelled down, “Hang on! We’re killing a bee!” The fourth I found when I got home late last Saturday night. I came into the house and was walking upstairs when I noticed something rather large on the wall. Yellowjacket…again. Hm.

I talked to my uncle about it last night who said that yes, it did sound like I might have a nest somewhere. In the attic, perhaps? Or maybe by the dryer duct? I had decided to wait until this weekend and have a look around to see if I could spot any massive bee comings and goings around the outside of my house, but then I found the fifth bee who was also the last straw.

This morning I got up, let Chena out, showered, dressed, and headed into the kitchen as per usual to make some coffee and breakfast when I nearly stepped on a yellowjacket on the floor of the kitchen…in bare feet, I might add. Can anyone think of a nicer way to start the day?

That did it for me.

I called Terminix when I got to the office and they came out this afternoon to do a sweep of the house and, low-and-behold, found two yellowjacket nests. One is strategically placed just to the right of my front door, and the other is conveniently in the attic. And for the bottom basement price of just $440, they will rid my home of the nests, the bees, and any other creepy-crawleys (read: spiders, ants, fleas, silverfish) for a whole year. Hm.

It’s not that $440 is necessarily a bad price – in fact I think getting rid of the bees alone, not to mention the ants, is a huge help and certainly worth it, I just don’t understand why this had to happen NOW. I mean, I’ve been in this house almost 3 years and it’s not until the year I start my new financial plan that I get nasty yellowjacket squatters. What’s up with that?

Thankfully, I have my emergency fund and, well, I know that’s what it’s there for, but I do feel like every time I get finished replenishing it, something else happens forcing me to dip into it again. I guess it’s true what Dave says about the emergency fund being “Murphy repellent” insomuch that it takes the crisis out of the financial aspect of minor emergencies, but what it doesn’t do is keep him away completely. Sigh.

Why can’t Terminix exterminate against Murphy? Now THAT would be worth $440.

Second, I think that going through this whole deal as a single person has some definite perks (e.g. I don’t have to worry about getting and keeping someone else “on board”) but it also has its pitfalls. For one, if I start to falter in my motivation to keep running this race, there’s no one around to keep me from just sitting down on the bench and calling it a day.

Paying off that additional credit card (the first I’ve paid off since February, I might add) helped renew my energy for sure, but now I’m looking at probably 7 or 8 more months before I’m able to check another off. Upon this realization, I felt the vigor induced by my recent win start to fade. So in an effort to keep it alive, I decided to go back and try to figure out how I got to the place where I now have so much to pay off of this one last major card (I think the balance currently stands around $8,600 and was pushing $10,000 when I started). I mean seriously, what on earth did I buy for that much money? I mean, it’s not like I went hog-wild and upgraded my entire living situation. I didn’t revamp my wardrobe. I don’t have any shoes worth more than $80. I didn’t install some super-fab surround-sound home theater system. Nor did I put in the hardwood floors and tile I want so badly. And my backyard still sits patio-less. So honestly, where did all this credit card money I spent last year go?

Just to get some perspective around this, you have to understand that I started out 2008 with a total of almost $27,000 in credit card debt. Yikes. Makes me sick to even type that. This year to-date, I have paid off roughly $17,000 of that, most of which was done when my bonus/tax refund hit in February.

So for kicks, I went back and grabbed all of my credit cards’ year-end statement summaries where they kindly provide all of my transactions for the year and even categorize them for me. Of course I didn’t agree with some of the categorizations, so I consolidated them all into one Excel spreadsheet and then re-categorized them myself so they would fall more inline with the way I categorize my spending today. The sums of which resulted in a major “holy freaking cow” moment.

And so where did all my money for last year go? Apparently I ate a good chunk of it – like $500/month worth. Another decent portion went to travel (no surprise there). And then there were a lot of bits and pieces along the way which by their lonesome weren’t much, but added up over time. Would you believe over $100/month of the charges on the cards collectively were in fees?? Finance charges, balance transfers, cash advances, etc. Total, utter insanity and further evidence of my growing conviction that credit cards are, indeed, pure evil.

My “budget” (and I use that term VERY loosely) for 2007 was a total joke…and a bad joke at that. Granted, I had a lot of fun – one might argue maybe a little too much fun – but in looking back and weighing the cost, I have to admit that it really wasn’t worth it.

This year, I am THRILLED to say, is looking just a tad different. To give you some apples-to-apples, my average food spending so far this year is in the $200/month range (really closer to $150 except for the last two months were I kinda blew it) – that’s 40% of what it was last year. Travel is also averaging at about 0.03% of 2007’s total spending.

2008 is half over which means I’m now a quarter of my way to becoming debt free. Yes, I know when I first started blogging about this I thought I’d be there by next June, but after doing some more careful evaluating of my current debt, I discovered that I have more than I thought I did and so it will really be taking me through 2010 to kill it all

2011 and forward will be fun for sure (I still have an Antarctica trip to reschedule, after all) so it’s that debt-free side of the fence I’m trying to keep my focus on. But – and here’s the rub – in order to get there, I need to remain motivated to live like no one else (beans-and-rice, rice-and-beans) so that later I can live like no one else (wine-and-cheese, cheese-and-wine).

So pass the beans, please.

The culprit:  Food

And when I say “Food” this encompasses anything I buy at the grocery store so trash bags, etc. also fall into this category.  I know to some that will seem crazy, but trust me – I am NOT a detail person.  I can handle the details, but I hate them, so I try to stay in line with what I’ve heard Dave Ramsey say time and time again and I “KISS” everything I can (Keep It Simple Stupid).  My feeling is that I have enough balls in the air, so the more of them I can consolidate, the better.

Anyway, the question has been WHY.  Why has my food budget gone so terribly wrong these last 2 months when I was able to keep to it so well February through April?  True, it could be in part to the increase in cost of some food items due to rising gas prices, but I suspect it’s actually more simple than that.  I think this is because May was when I stopped paying for my groceries in cash and instead started using my debit card again.  In fact, May is when I moved all of my “cash” items back to the bank and was aiming to only use my debit card.

The studies done by Dunn & Bradstreet as well as Citigroup indicate that consumers spend 18-20% more when using plastic than when using cash.  That paying for things with actual cold, hard cash registers as pain in your brain receptors, but using a plastic card registers nothing.  Apparently using a debit card does register a little pain, but apparently not enough to cut down on the amount you spend.  Hm.

So, just for kicks I’m moving back to the cash envelope system for this month with items like Food and will just see what happens.  I’m still not finished June so I need to try and get creative for the rest of the month.  I wonder what cardboard tastes like…

My official plasectomy* took place on February 15, but I had stopped using them on January 27. My full-out budget started around the same time I made confetti out of my credit cards, and as I’ve indicated previously, right now my budget is a pretty fluid concept, but is becoming more solid with each passing paycheck. The first 2-3 weeks, I think I was tweaking it almost daily. It has now dropped to a weekly tweak. I’m hoping that in another month I’ll be down to only checking it out when I deposit funds!

I’m also trying to find as many ways to bring in extra cash as possible. This is proving to be more difficult than I would like… Dave’s answer would be to start delivering pizzas or bar-tending. I’m not against those things, but my job is such that I cannot always guarantee being available for that kind of work. Additionally, I can’t be on my feet too much right now thanks to my still-broken foot. I have started selling a bunch of stuff on Half.com which so far has yielded about $100. I’ve also applied to become a Secret Shopper, but haven’t heard back on that yet. Anyone else have extra-money suggestions??

I want to just take a moment to indicate just a few ways in which I feel my life has changed in just these few short weeks…

1. I’m relaxed. Not that I was particularly uptight before, but I can just feel myself relaxing on a deeper level than I feel I previously have. I’m not checking my bank account each day and breaking out in a sweat out for fear that something might be coming through throwing my entire account into a state of confusion and chaos.
2. I feel in control. This may sound like an odd thing to say because one might think that, since I’m single, I’ve therefore always had control…and I think that before now, I would have agreed with you. However now I can see how much I was NOT in control. It’s like the quote that I heard Dave give during one of the FPU sessions – “Either you will learn to manage money, or the lack of it will always manage you.” Prior to January 27th, I would definitely say it was latter.
3. I have hope. Again, it’s not like I felt hopeless before or that there wasn’t a light at the end of my proverbial tunnel, but I definitely didn’t see such a bright light! Nor do I think I realized what might be sitting at the end of the tunnel quite like I think I do now.

I’ve actually gotten to a point right now where I feel I’m no longer questioning some of Dave’s positions as I initially did. I’ve been listening to him so much and heard him explain his position so many times over these past few weeks, the “why’s” of what he teaches are becoming clearer to me. In some ways I feel like George in that episode of Seinfeld where he decides that nothing in his life has worked out for him so going forward he decides that he’s going to just “do the opposite” of whatever his natural instinct tells him to do. If he normally would say no, then he says yes. If he normally wouldn’t ask a woman out, he does it anyway. If he normally gets tuna, he’ll order chicken. I’ve not been so stupid that I haven’t done ANYTHING right in the past, but I did get to the point where I felt that clearly my way of managing my finances has not led me to the place I want to be and so departing from my standard behavior might be just the thing to course correct.

So there you have it… My first month up. Not missing my credit cards one bit and am actually enjoying telling myself “no” to things I want to do but don’t have the cash for.

This is getting fun…

*Plasectomy – a permanent removal of credit cards (or plastic) from the wallet and life of an individual.

Now before any of you start to lecture me, I am well aware that getting a large tax refund is not a good goal. That I’m essentially providing the IRS with an interest-free loan. Yada, yada, yada. This year kind of caught me off-guard and I thought I had selected enough Federal exemptions to avoid a large refund, but apparently not. I have since corrected my exemptions and this should not be an issue next year.

Moving on.

Once these payments I’ve made clear, I’ll have wiped out 64% of my credit card debt in just 4 weeks! Of course the last 36% will take me another year, but so be it. Maybe it’ll take less if my budget continues to work and I can avoid getting smacked with some major expense this year…

Speaking of, let me just share for a moment how tough a “true” budget is! I must admit that, although I’ve sometimes thought I was on a budget before, I never have been. Not really. This budget that I’m on now is a REAL budget and it is taking some getting used to.

Thankfully, I listened to the “Cash Flow Planning” session of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. In it, Dave warns that your first time on a budget, the budget won’t work. “Stick with it,” he says. He goes on to say that you really need to give it 3 months before you’ll start to see it work. I can believe that. The last 3 weeks on this thing have been really crazy in terms of figuring out exactly how much I really do need to budget for items like food. But more than that, I’m learning that the key to this budget-thing is planning ahead. I had to sit down last week and think through all the weird, random stuff I have to pay for during the course of the year and plan out how much I need to budget monthly so that I’m not blindsided by this stuff (which is what has typically had me scrambling for my plastic in the past).

A good example for me is car servicing. It’s easy enough to budget gas – I have a pretty good handle on how much I spend on fuel, but when it comes to thinking of how many oil changes I need and what other possible service-related items may come up, I never previously thought about those. Now my car service “envelope” is getting $50/month for this item. That may seem like a lot, but, oil changes aside, I’m figuring on probably needing new tires this year. My car will also be needing its 50,000 mile service check-up sometime this summer. So, if I don’t put aside that $50/month now, I’ll be freaking out when I suddenly have to shell out a couple hundred bucks for tires or something else car-related that I didn’t offically plan for.

Point being that I’m quickly learning how important every single cent becomes when creating a full zero-balance budget…especially when you’re single and have cut up all of your cards! Probably the best thing about having done that is it’s forcing me to get creative in my spending. Nothing like going cold turkey!

Some may think me crazy, but I don’t care. I have resolved to not borrow money again if I can help it – ESPECIALLY not on credit cards. This may be tough to do between now and when I have a fully-funded emergency fund put together (Baby Step 3), but I think I can manage if I stick to my budget…and stick HARD.

I can’t tell how how liberating it felt to slice up those bad boys!

WaMu?
WAHOO!
Capital One?
NOW IN TWO!
Chase?
NOT CHASING ME!
Old Navy?
YOU ARE DISMISSED!
Best Buy?
BYE BYE!
American Express?
HIT THE EXPRESS-WAY!

I am now left with two debit cards and a modest starter emergency fund. Debt-free (and calling Dave Ramsey to do the scream) by June 2009.

As an aside, I stumbled across a fellow blogger who is focused on her debt (and weight) as well… She’s got a great blog – so check it out at http://bankergirl.com

The announcement of our bonus’ (scheduled to be paid out this coming week) and the fact that I’m getting a lot back in my tax refund prompted me to begin a frontal assault. If I was going to get all this money, I wanted to make sure I used it wisely.

I’ve done a couple of things so far to get myself on the right path. First, I contacted Crown Financial Ministries and chatted with one of their “Money Map” Coaches. He helped me figure out a budget plan which included how I was going to apply the funds I’d have coming in over the next few weeks.

Next, I opened up an account (which begins with a 30-day free trial) with Mvelopes. Mvelopes is a money-management software (similar to MS Money or Quicken), but its primary function is to assist with budgeting and cash flow management. It operates off of the old-school envelope budgeting system but with the use of virtual “envelopes” which you fund with the money that is deposited in your account(s). Mvelopes downloads all your account transactions and deposits automatically, and then you fund your envelopes with the deposits, and as transactions are also assigned to each envelope, you can see how much you have left to spend in that area. So far, so good. The learning curve is pretty steep for the tool, but I’m starting to really get the hang of it now, so I think it’ll be something I stick with as opposed to MS Money which is what I’ve always used in the past. The problem with Money is that it doesn’t really work well as a budgeting tool… It has a budget feature, but tends to only tell me once I’ve gone OVER a given budgeted amount unless I think to go in and check the budget every day. Mvelopes can also be accessed from anywhere – including via a cell phone, so that’s an additional plus.

The other thing I’m doing is starting Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University course. I’m doing it online (although eventually I’d like to have the full course materials, etc. – it just wasn’t in my new budget right now ). I’ve completed Week 1 of the 13 week course. They actually have classes that you can attend which I would have preferred, but unfortunately the closest ones to me are over 35 miles away so I don’t think I can really swing that. Maybe I can talk my church into doing it…?

I really appreciate Dave’s approach to budgeting and finance. I’m not sure if I agree with everything that he says (everyone is different), but as I said, I’m only in Week 1 so my opinion might change as the course progresses. I think it will also be interesting to hear him discuss investing and finance (since this is my industry). I’ve also been listening to Dave’s radio program which you can stream live over the Internet on weekdays from 2-5pm ET. Apparently he also has a show on Fox Business Network which I haven’t seen yet, but intend to check it out.

Just to give you an idea, you can watch this little video Dave did on how to drive “free” for life:

http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free

Very interesting concept, to say the least…although also made me kinda think, “Well, yeah…of course. That makes sense – why hadn’t I ever thought of this?”

Anyhow, with the plan I have in place – assuming (with God’s grace) I have the discipline to follow it, I should be debt-free (except for my house and my car) by the end of this year. By the end of next year, I will have also paid off my car (2-years early, I might add!) My aunt has agreed to help me out and I will be handing over all of my credit cards to her next time I see her. She has been instructed to not give them back to me until I can show her that I am, indeed, debt-free.

Kim came to visit me yesterday from NYC and we were discussing this a bit. She is also on a shoestring budget right now and said that it’s almost fun. “It’s like a game…a challenge,” she said. I couldn’t agree more. I’m kind of excited by the prospect of having to figure out how to live frugally again for awhile…especially considering the payoff!

GAME ON!