An Open Letter to my DEBT...

I need this relationship to be over.

I've said it a million times in my head, and I've said it to others about you, but never directly to you . Forgive me if I sound rude or ruthless, but I need this to feel as painful for you as having you in my life was for me.

I'm leaving you behind because you bring nothing but pain and remorse. You are what stands between me and my dreams. You've been the cause of so much strife and confusion in my life. I've thought about YOU more than probabbly anything else in my life, and that's just not right.
You were always good for showing me a good time... And then leaving me stuck with the bill. I cant count the times you told me to freely use you, to rely on you. Only to find out later YOU were using ME!

And when I had exhausted my resources you never lent a hand. Instead you sent merciless goons after me. But time after time I came back to for more because I thought you were the only way. The way to everything I thought I wanted.

I've finally got up the nerve to head out on my own without you. I know you wont miss me cause I never was your 'only'. I'm finally at a point in my life where I can SEE living life without you!
Oh yeah, I'm so through with you! But I want you to know I'm not angry with you. In fact I'm grateful because of what you've allowed me to learn about myself. I'm different from the dude you met in college. Thank you sooo much for putting me up on the game. Now that I know you inside out, you'll never be able to get me back.

So I urge you to enjoy what time you have left with me. I've made a vow to get rid of as much of you as I can each and every day till there's nothing left of you in my life.

Yes it's a slow painful process like climbing a mountain using only your fingers... Or scraping peanut butter out of a jar using a toothpick... But once you're gone I wont ever have to do it again.

I pray my children never meet you. In fact I forbid you from ever coming around them. Going forward you are to keep your hands off of my family... PERIOD!

Again, I'm not mad at you. You were only doing what you were designed to do. Just know that you cant do it to US anymore. I just thought it would only be fair of me to be straight up with you and tell you why I'm leaving you.

I cant wait to be free of you...

@W




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Beer and Money... A Match Made In...(Nevermind)

Photo courtesy of GraphicsDB.com

During this rollercoaster of a year for the economy, Americans have tightened budgets and pinched pennies in various ways. Many have cut back on driving to ease the cost of gas. Many have skipped the box office ($10 per ticket) in exchange for Redbox ($1 per movie rental). (P.S. - I love you redbox, you've been a wonderful friend to my wife and I while we get out of debt! lol)

But one staple of American life has strangely resisted the downward pull of our slumping economy. Actually this industry is experiencing a record surge in sales instead of the decline seen elsewhere.

So what is this magical product? I bet you would say Oil, or Gas, but you'd be wrong... well kinda wrong because they're not the product I'm talking about in this instance.

Homer Simpson would call it DUFF... er - I mean BEER.

For 2008 beer prices are up 7% over the past year as brewers passed on higher manufacturing costs to consumers.... BUT...2008 sales are also up 6.8% as well! It would be one thing if they jacked up the prices and usage remained roughly the same... but you actually mean to tell me that people are paying more for it, and STILL buying more of it at the same time? Is it really that deep America?!

Well in a word... Yes.

See, beer and alcohol are about as close to the perfect 'product' as we'll ever see. When people celebrate, they get drunk. When people wallow in their sorrows, they get drunk. Got that huge promotion? Let's go get drunk. Just got fired after 20 years with the company? Hmmm... I know, let's go get drunk! (and now go look at the picture for this post again lol.... deep aint it?)

And as most of you know firsthand, or have *ahem* 'heard' from others, drinking aint cheap! lol

Still, you have to tip your hat to anyone who has the moral ambivalence to brew and market beer and alcohol. It fits virtually any occassion. unless you dont drink that is...

Making money off of people's joy and pain comes off a bit parasitic or opportunistic to me. In a way it reminds me of predatory lenders, which I've seen my fair share of in the past year. But hey, what do I know?

@W

*Just to clarify, I do not condone the consumption of alchol, nor do I partake of it myself. I just wanted to share this observation with you while it was fresh in my mind.

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Goodbye Baby Step #1...

Photo courtesy of chrishawn

Yes it took us MUCH MUCH longer than it should have, but today we fully funded our Emergency Fund to $1000.00!!!

This is a very huge milestone in our Total Money Makeover, and some much needed proof of progress.

I won't get into the details of why it took us so long to get $1000 in the bank. I'll simply say that we had some unique circumstances that prohibited us from following the textbook Baby Steps as Dave Ramsey laid them out in his book. So instead we took the slow boat to funding our EF, but continued a mini debt snowball at the same time, so we're still on pace overall with our makeover.

The good... no GREAT news is that now we can focus on our debt 100%. (at least until an emergency crops up) And even better still, we have only 2 more months before our debt snowball gets a VERY nice infusion of an extra $500 each month after our next major loan is paid in full!

These are exciting times for us... I'll admit the past month has been rough on us financially. Not because there was any type of lack or needs unmet in our budget, but more because we've felt a little lax in attacking our debt in the month of August. We took some shortcuts that were needed at times, but it was easy for us to see how it become a habit to rely on your debit card instead of cash. I still love being able to tell the 'difference' between how we used to operate with money and how we do now.

Let's do a quick review of the where we are in the Baby Steps so far. We just finished Baby Step 1 which is:

$1000 in the BANK! And dont TOUCH it unless it's a real EMERGENCY! (PS3 games, concert tickets, and cruises DONT COUNT! lol)

So now we officially enter Baby Step 2:

Pay off all debt using the debt snowball (except for the mortgage).

Hmm, while I'm at it i'll just go ahead and list the other remaining baby steps as well. I feel it will serve as inspiration for me (and maybe even you) today.

Baby Step 3: Build up 3-6 months of living expenses in your savings account. (this is the FULL-GROWN Emergency Fund)

Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRA's and Pre-tax retirement (401k, ect.)

Baby Step 5: Start funding your children's college funds. (If you start now, compound interest will REALLY make it easy for you!)

Baby Step 6: Pay off the mortgage EARLY! At this point you become 100% debt free!!

Baby Step 7: Build wealth and GIVE!

Seven easy steps toward a life that very few ever get to live... and I can't wait!

@W

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