Impatient

The clock is winding down on my debt and I'm getting so impatient it's not even funny!  Everyday I wake up dreaming of a 0 balance on that student loan.  It will all be said and done at some point during the weekend after next weekend.

I have to remain focused and keep calm.  I already feel myself getting a bit too antsy and behaving like I have a lot of money.  In fact I have none.  Once my debt is finished, I will have no money whatsoever, and my next long term objective is to save save save so that I have an emergency fund at the least.

Debt is not fun.  Avoid it.  After all this work and throwing all my money away to the bank, my prize at the end is a whopping $0.  That's kinda depressing!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishment(s):

• Having the patience to sustain waiting until the end!

T MINUS TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two weeks left

Two weeks left

Two weeks

Two weeks

Two weeks left!!!!!


In two weeks I'm done.  That'll be it.  All my debt will be GOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEE FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER.  I can't wait.  I'm so ridiculously excited it's not funny.

Only $2,300.00 left.  That's it!  That's all!!!!!!

Found Money

I found $60.65 in an old dormant account I completely forgot about.  This is great news!  My idea: Empty the account out and put it toward my debt.  Any extra money I earn/find I essentially refuse to spend on anything but killing debt.  The tricky situation here is that it takes quite a lot of work and time to get this done.  I had to fill out quite a lot of paper work (this account hasn't been touched since 2005) and a lot of time went into wakening the accounting from dormant status.

Anyway, point being, I found the $$, and it's going away.  At this point it won't speed up my debt defeating at all, I'll still be done by late December/early January, but at least I'll save some extra $$ from my income during the last payment month.

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishment(s):

• Finding money and throwing it at the debt!

November's End

In about 3 days I get my monthly income from work, of which I have already allotted a good chunk toward debt.  This amount will put me down to the low $2000s range left, and leaves me with just about one more month before I've completely paid off all my debts.

Now that I see the debt crushing coming to an end, I wonder what it is I will do with the new found $$ that I'll have. There are so many interesting things I'd like to do and so many interesting things I'll feel free to do. 


Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Searching for toiletries in bulk online.

Avoiding the Circumstance

I managed to avoid my money giving situation to the person close to me by sending a parcel to indicate that I care.  I think this gesture was a good one, allowed me to save money, and allowed the individual to learn that I won't be there for financial support.

In other news, I can taste the end of the debt attack coming soon.  My original plan was to be complete by February but I project to be done by early January.  I'm looking forward to sharing the end and the success when it comes.

THE END IS NEAR.

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Saying "No, I can't afford it."
• Giving up my log

Helping Out

Last night I made a potential mistake. I promised someone close to me that I would help them out financially.  Why is this a potential mistake?  Well, not only could it set me back on my road to being debt free, but I've helped this person out before.  Maybe I'm an idiot for helping out again, but this time I made it clear to the individual that they need to get their financial affairs in order and start taking responsibility for their own life.

To be honest, with respect to clearing my debt, this situation is not a big set-back whatsoever.  I'll still be debt free by early January.  However, it's the principle of the situation that I worry about the most.  I truly hope that this individual re-gains strength in his life, for from this day on, I will never assist the individual in any financial matter whatsoever.

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Promising a future without financial assistance to the aforementioned individual.

Disciplined Weekend

My budget allows me $160 for entertainment for the month. This includes going out with friends to bars, going to social events, and eating out.  Typically I spend about $20-$40 on Sunday afternoons as a way to relax with some buds at various areas around town.

Instead, yesterday I tailgated a football game with a bunch of friends.  This was my first time tailgating.  What fun!  And expenditures?  Let's take a look:

Mango juice - $4
Champagne - $8
Tortilla Shells - $6
Cups - $4
Parking - $10
Two beers at nearby bar - $12

I spent about $42 on Saturday by 3:30pm.  For some of you that may seem like pennies in your weekend spending, but for this guy who is trying to clear his debt AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, this is quite a general waste, and over 1/4 of the month's entertainment budget.  However, this is quite okay overall.  I have a budget set for Thanksgiving and I generally don't use my entertainment funds at all on weekdays, so I shouldn't be dipping into the fund at all until the last weekend of November.

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Deposited monthly part-time job earnings to go toward debt!
• Cooking for Mon-Wed.

Nearing the End

So I did some calculations, and it looks like I'm going to be done with my debt sometime in January.  I can't believe it.  It has been so fast, yet soooooooooooooooo long. 

Living on 30% of my gross income has been quite an interesting experience.  My quality of life has not changed much at all, and it let me know what is truly important to me.  It has been quite an amazing ride, and I'm very very excited about the end coming.

I made a dream budget for my first debt free month and noticed that there even if I add in the frivolous things I want to buy, I still have a lot of extra for savings.  I've built a habit of not spending, and with budgeting every month, I can continue that great habit.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonus!!

My boss gave me an opportunity to do some freelance work on the weekend that will give me an extra $600!!!  Guess where that's going?

STRAIGHT TO DEBT.

I'm really excited about this extra boost.  Combined with my income from my part-time work (which starts coming in at the end of November) and my regular income, I'm going to be putting a very sizable dent on my debt this coming month.

 WOOHOO!!!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Cooking at home despite being lazy.
• Avoiding alcohol purchases though temptation arose.

Update

It has been a while!  I was in the process of losing my computer and gained a temporary one to use in the meantime.

Things have been going well overall.  I stayed within my budget (for the most part) in October, and I'm on to bigger and brighter things for November.  In fact, that's not exactly true, since I've made a more strict budget for November . However, some things are certainly still true.  I'm making headway toward my debt!  Just sent off another $2,000 check, and waiting for it to be cleared so I can determine how much debt is left, but it should be around $5,300 or so.

I can't wait.......the engines are burning and I'm really pushing through.  Only a couple of months left at the most, which is fantastic!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Avoid Starbucks drinks!
• Planning my November budget.

October

Only 5 more days until Halloween which means only 5 more days until I get my next pay and hence my next debt installment!  I'm starting to really enjoy this process.  I'm just over 3 months away from being debt free, which is extremely exciting!  Just 3 months.  Oh how I can't wait until these 3 months are up!!!

I haven't been posting much in October because of some internet connection issues.  I had a laptop that was funded by work that I had to return so I'm on an old laptop right now that doesn't have as much flexibility.  I'm starting to become accustomed to it though so things are working quite well on that end.  I'm very happy I didn't decide to buy a new laptop and hault my debt destruction plan.

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishment(s):

• Eating out cheaply when others didn't want to.
• Buying fruit as a dessert at work

Losing my Laptop

I'm in quite a bind and I'm not sure how to deal with the situation.  I have a laptop that I've been using that was subsidized and now needs to be returned.  It's a rather expensive laptop, and I'm quite hesitant to pay for a new one cash, so it looks like I'll be without a similar model for a while.

This will be a real test for me.  Much of my day, both work and entertainment, is spent on my laptop.  I think I'll likely go through a withdrawal period and I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with the newly found time, but I presume given where I live that I'll become much more active and relish in the outdoors.  However, this might tempt me to spend more, as I'll be out in society more.

So what to do?  Well, I actually think the solution is to kick up my reading addiction!  I love reading, and find it to be a very soothing form of entertainment.  It's a great way to feel like you're talking to an expert in a particular field instead of getting opinions or information from an uninformed dear friend.

I'm looking forward to the transition despite my inner hesitations!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Resisting buying a new laptop
• Going to the library to pick up books: Free Entertainment!

Shift Adjustment

This month I decided to allot more money toward groceries than I have in the past, and less toward entertainment/restaurants.  I've found that I still have quite a bit of grocery money and not much entertainment/restaurant money by mid-month.  This leads me to believe that it's time to go shopping for a bunch of food.

I think such a shopping trip would deter me from wanting to eat out in the first place, and would probably get me to eat at home even more than I already do, or at least, entertain at home a lot more.  Maybe it'd be a good idea to hold a small potluck/get together!


Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Eating out cheaply.

Low Expenditure October

I've barely spent money in October.  Even with a pretty strict budget I've generally not spent much money at all.  Besides groceries, so far I've ate out once, and spent about $10 on transportation, plus an extra $10 today for a board game event and lunch at the event.

It's amazing how I'm not overly affected by this either.  I've been cooking up a storm at home and consequently eating most of my meals during the week for "free".  Work provides fresh clean water and tea/coffee (which I rarely use).  Otherwise, I've been relaxing and enjoying my time doing fun activities that don't require much spending but are still fulfilling.  This includes things like going to the park, going for a walk, hiking, playing sports, etc.  Active, fun lifestyle while saving lots of $$$.  I love it!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Avoiding eating out, and hence saving!

Pride: A Debt Defeater

Today, I'm very proud of myself.  I looked at my debt, and it totals $7126.26.  When I started out, my debt total was over $30,000.  WOW.  I've accomplished so much, and I'm very proud of it.  I only have a couple of months to go to beat this thing out and then it's DONE.

Sometimes I think it takes a lot of effort to do this, but honestly I live quite well within the income that I have.  I've never been a huge consumer so I have no problem not spending much on things.  I love cooking at home, and stopped drinking so that has been a huge help toward saving.

I can't wait until it's over....over for good!  GO ME!!

Take A Year Off?

Thus far, living under the budget that I've made has not made a dent to my personal well being all that much.  So, I was thinking, what if I saved this aggressively even after I paid off my debts?  If that were the case, let's do some calculations.

I could save about an $1500/month and still have plenty of room with the remaining budget.  My first non-debt month would be February at the latest, and my current contract job ends September 2014.  Thus, I'd save $1500/month for 19 months, leaving me with $28,500.

That's a good chunk of change!  This would not include any extra money I made from my business or other related savings.  I could use this to start toward a down payment on a condo wherever I move (if I don't stay in California, of course), or use it to do some other very interesting things.

I'm very pumped about this idea!  I think I could easily live on $28,500 for a year as well.  So if push comes to shove, here's to a potential year off!

The Power of No Alcohol

I did a little experiment to see how much money I would have spent this week if I was drinking alcohol.  Here are a few events that arose and the amount I would have spent:

1. Tuesday:  Friend invited me to his birthday bash, last minute, at a bar.  Drinks would have been about $10-$15 for me, and of course a special drink for the birthday boy would have added another $10.
2. Thursday:  Friend invited me to his going away party (he's only going away for 2 weeks!)  Beers at a relatively expensive place could have easily run up $20.

So just in this week I saved on the order of $30-$35 by not drinking.  Not too shabby!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Not drinking; a great way to defeat financial and health debt!

I Ate Out!

I haven't eaten at a restaurant since my birthday, so this was exciting!  I went to a local place that had Mediterranean food.  I had always wanted to try it out, but I've been cooking at home very consistently so I always had lots of food.  Now that I'm done with drinking, I figure it would be okay to spend a bit of money on a tasty meal.

And boy it was!  Servings were quite large: a very meaty gyros sandwich with all the fixings, and a HUGE plate of herb and spiced fries, only for $7.50 (taxes included).  This was not a sit-in restaurant so no tipping on top of that.  Since I don't eat out too often, I made sure to enjoy the experience fully.  I took a book from the public library and sat down for a leisurely read while eating the meal.

All in all, great place.  I'll be back in the (not too near) future!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Eating out, on not too much $

No Drinking: A Debt Defeater

I've made the decision to stop drinking until my debt is paid off (at least).

I noticed that the bulk of my entertainment expenditures came from drinking at bars, and after my ridiculous expenditures last Saturday night, I told myself I've had enough.  There's only so much one should be spending on these things, and they don't bring any value health wise, so I've pretty much had enough.

I'm down to a total of about $500 of expenditures for October, minus rent and phone.  That's excellent! I can't wait until my checks clear to see how much debt I have left.

ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK THOSE DEBTS!!!

First response!

Today I got my first response for my business!  This is exciting.  A new client may lie ahead in the near future.  I'm extremely excited about picking this up.

The tricky part now is evaluating what rate to charge at.  I value myself highly in my expertise so I plan to charge quite a lot compared to the competitors out there.  I hope this works out!