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!

Over Budget Weekend

I spent WAY too much money on Saturday night.  I now have to restructure my October budget because of this.  On the one hand, I'm really angry at myself about this.  On the other hand, I learned a few things from this.

• Spending more money does not imply more enjoyment.
• Don't take your debit card out with you.  At all.  Period!
• Discipline over the long term is required for this to work out.  It's hard to keep discipline through a marathon and slip ups happen.  The key is not to let them happen again.

Cool Happenings

Last night I went to an upscale work event where I got to meet some very impressive people and world class employees.  It was a great event, but moreover, it was a nice social event that was free to me.  I've found that I've been very lucky to work for my company, that has so many interesting, enjoyable, and free social events to partake in.

Along those lines, I learned from a friend that the gym at my work (which is free) has boxing lessons which are free as well.  One on one boxing lessons from a seasoned veteran boxer at no cost is something I must take advantage of while I'm here.  It's great for my health, and moreover, such lessons would be extremely expensive from any other source.

I'm looking forward to finding more amazingly enjoyable opportunities like this!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Finding free activities at work.
• Sending out monthly debt repayment check.

Cell Phone: Toward Debt Defeating

I cut my cell phone bill by $40/month!

I called T-Mobile (my cell phone provider) to ask how I could cut down my cell phone costs.  The first thing I knew to do was:

• Cut out my $5/month international texting.  I use this to text my brother but our text  #s average quite lower than the $5 would cost.  Moreover, it was essentially for when he was in an emergency, and that doesn't happen monthly.
• Delete insurance, $7.99/month.  The main reason for this is, there's still a $130 deductible on the insurance, and the phone itself costs under $300, so the phone would almost pay for itself even *if* something were to happen.
• Delete unlimited calls.  I'm not a phone chat person so there's no need to have unlimited minutes whatsoever.

All in all, a great debt defeater!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Slashing the phone bill!

Last Week of September

September is ending and I've been mostly on budget which makes me happy.  I get my monthly pay this Friday but won't use any of it until the beginning of October.  I'm looking forward to a prosperous October!

This month went very well overall, with some things I would have liked to have tied up.  In particular, this past weekend was a bit costly and frivolous but I enjoyed myself and stayed mostly within my budget.  

One of the tricky things coming up is wanting to join a sports team.  In some respect, this could be very easy in fact.  It just requires me to time public transportation correctly, which is not a big deal whatsoever.  I can't wait!!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Buying whole foods to reduce grocery cost.

Rough Debates

The past few days I've been really wanting to get a very cheap car now before paying off my debts.  Getting around has been quite fine, but I wanted to start picking up some sports and hanging out with friends from farther areas, and in order to do so I'd essentially have to drive (especially for more evening faire).  I'm at a crossroads really.  Wanting two things that seem disparate.  I'm not so sure what the smartest choice is.

On another note, I spent $20 frivolously today, which is something I really shouldn't have done, but since there's only just under a week left in September, and I've been under budget with my food expenditures, I figure I'd give myself the leeway to enjoy.

The Business

After completing my full-time work today I spent time building the website for my new consulting business.  I'm extremely excited that I went from never building a website to having one up and running in less than a couple of hours.  It's barebones right now but in a few days it'll be quite nice.  I'm looking forward to promoting my services worldwide, and using profits for debt defeating and money savings, along with giving some away as college scholarships.

I'm extremely ecstatic for the prospects of this business and have full faith that it will work out very well!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Online business website development.
• Spending $3.80 on dinner out (go Subway!)

30 and Loving It!

I turned 30 this weekend!   This means, for instance, that I spent my budgeted $80 on my birthday fund.  I actually got a surprise extra $100 that I used toward shopping as well.  You only turn 30 once.

I've had a tough last few days in terms of discipline with the budget, mostly prompted from it being my birthday.  Moreover, I got an extra $400 for a job I did a while back, and I've been very tempted to use it on personal items:

• A small laptop that I could use for myself.
• A desk/chair for my room.
• A bike for commuting to and from work.

But on the other hand, I know the huge advantage I will get by putting this money toward my debt.  I've got to stick in there, got to do what I can, and can't stop anytime soon.  I'm even on my way to being out of debt January 1st instead of my expected February 1st completion.

I'M ON MY WAY!!!!!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Avoided going out for beers w/ friends.
• Saving my $400 instead of spending it.

Check

Today I got a surprise check in the mail for $400 for services I did a while back.  When I opened my mail and saw the check, my immediate reaction was excitement.  I thought about the many things I could do with this, maybe buy a new desk for my room, or something along those lines.

I decided against all of this, and made the decision to just leave it in savings for now, and most likely put it toward debt.  That extra $400 could put me ahead of schedule in terms of debt defeating, and that my friends would be FANTASTIC!!  This is the first time in my life that I saved newly found money :)


Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Saved found money instead of spending it!

Proactive: Road to Debt Defeating

After I finished up work today I spent some time trying to promote myself as a freelance independent contractor.  To do this, I called up a buddy who lives a time zone away and who is in the same business to ask him how he went about starting.  His suggestion was to directly call certain people who are in the area in order to establish contacts.

Let me tell you...I was *terrified*.  The thought of calling people out of the blue and asking for contacts freaked me out.  What if they said no? What if they hung up?

It turned out that most people were either mildly receptive or extremely receptive.  I was quite surprised and I'm elated at the success I've seen thus far.  I actually have some meetings for coffee in the upcoming weeks and I'm very excited about that.

On another note, I'm trying to promote my business by holding a free presentation at the local library.  This I'm excited about as well, and very nervous about.  My main worry is that nobody will show up, but at the same time, that'll leave me in the exact same place I am now.

Debt defeating has built my confidence up much more than I ever thought it would.  Really going out there and being motivated to get what you want brings a new level of confidence that is just unmatchable.

IIIIII LOOOOVVVEEEE IIIIITTTT!!!!!

Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Making contacts for my new part-time business!

Debt Motivation

I've had many people ask me how I stay motivated toward this debt defeating goal.  I'm shocked it has almost been a month, and I've maintained my goal to the fullest, nickel and diming my experiences, and earning extra cash to facilitate my debt defeating goal.

One certain motivator is this blog.  Every day I have to write about what debt defeating accomplishment I made, and that motivates me to make sure I have something to write about each day! Yet another motivator is Joe Mihalic's blog.  His accomplishment of eliminating over $90,000 of debt in 7 months is beyond impressive, and I truly look to him for wisdom throughout this process.  A final motivator is my parents.  I speak to them weekly and update them on how the goal is going.  By now they're frustrated about hearing about it, but they really do egg me on each time I mention it, and are truly happy I'm working toward debt freedom.


Today's Debt Defeating Accomplishments:

• Deposited $20 into my checking account that I made off a book.
• Had a tasty Mexican dinner out:  under $5 total!