Keeping things Simple

The older I get, the more I find myself yearning for a more simplistic life. I honestly don't like dealing with complicated issues....it makes my head hurt, frankly. The other day, I decided to tackle cleaning out my garage and was just overwhelmed with all the junk I had accumulated over the years. Unfortunately, I've never used my garage for what it was originally intended. It's been a junk room of sorts. It literally took me about 5 days to clean it out and I had to hire some help because I just didn't possess the energy to tackle it all myself without getting frustrated. I started to take a torch to it...just kidding. When I finally emptied out my garage, I found that I had enough furniture to basically decorate an entire living space. Secondly, I had boxes of shoes, clothes, tools that I have never really used and all kinds of yard equipment. I went to Lowes and bought some shelving to organize all my belongings and the rest I either took to Goodwill or gave away. It felt good to give away the furniture to someone in need but it also made me think about all the money I spent friviously on stuff that ultimately ended up in the garage. I honestly think that if I would have sold those items I could have possibly made about $1,000, which means that the retail price was well over $2,500.
Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand. I am leaning more towards a simple life, meaning that I am learning to be content with what I have. As long as it is clean and livable. I don't have that urge anymore to constantly buy things. Actually, I don't like clutter at all and my house is so cluttered from junk. A clutter free house means that it you have space and a clear mind. I am all for a clear mind these days and if that means clearing out all the junk in my house to acheive a clear and peaceful mind, then so be it. As a result of this new way of thinking, I am beginning to put other things in perspective....like my spending. I don't spend money on things like I used to. I am learning how to save money and really be frugal. I like the thought of being frugal because it allows me to be creative with my money and at the same time acheive my savings goal. What about you? What are you yearning for in life? Is your life clutter free? Are you leaning toward more simplicity and clarity in your life?

"Stick-to-it-ness".....gotta have it to be successful!

Please forgive me for not blogging lately. I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but I just recently started a new job and it has been somewhat difficult to get use to my new working schedule. It is very far away from home, therefore, I have to catch public transportation, which is a pain. At first I was driving to work, but the traffic was horrendous, and would cause me to have driving rage, so I had to find an alternative. Well enough about that...I could start complaining about the reasons, I somewhat dislike my new job, but the way things are going in this economy today, I would be a fool to complain. The economy seems to be going to hell in a hand basket....but anyway, that's another story for another day.

One thing that hasn't changed is my focus on getting out of debt. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to start cutting out small expenses or finding ways to reduce spending. For example, I still have a home phone, but I no longer pay those ridiculous fees to ATT. I am now with Packet8 and I paid $199.00 for the entire year and I have unlimited phone usage and free long distance for about $16.58 a month (if you break it down). I still have my stand alone DSL through ATT for $19.95/mo. I used to pay over $60 a month for both my phone and DSL with ATT and now I only pay $36.53 a month...that's about a $25 dollar monthly savings. In April, I am going to cut my cable off...that will save me another $61.32 a month. I also recently cut my cell phone off and took on a pre-paid cell phone, which will save me another $42 dollars a month. With just those 3 items, I will be saving about $130 a month. That money can be applied towards a bill or applied towards my ROTH IRA, which I just opened up with Scottrade. I am not going to miss the cable by no means...when I watch tv, I am normally looking at the shows that come on the local channels...now I might miss CNN, but I can always watch them on the internet.

Now, I mentioned in previous blogs that I wanted to pay off my car within the next 12 months or so. I have currently devised a written plan to pay it off by April of 2010 at the latest, but I am hoping that when I get my income tax that I can pay if off by September of 2009. Please see my plan below:

Current Balance as of Jan 2009: $14,989.10
Monthly Payment: $487
Additional Money applied in excess of monthly payment: $513
Total Monthly payment: $1,000
How payment is applied per the financing institution:
$795.09 = principle :)
$204.91 = interest :(

• Feb 2009 - $795.09
• Mar 2009 - $795.09
• April 2009 - $795.09
• May 2009 - $795.09 + extra paycheck $1,500 = $2,295.09
• Jun 2009 - $795.09
• Jul 2009 - $795.09 + extra paycheck $1,500 = $2,295.09
• Aug 2009 - $795.09
• Sep 2009 - $795.09
• Oct 2009 - $795.09
• Nov 2009 - $795.09
• Dec 2009 - $795.09
• Jan 2010 - $795.09
• Feb 2010 - $795.09
• Mar 2010 - $795.09
• Apr 2010 - $857.85

Total: $0.00 ( the car will be paid off if everything goes as planned)

Now, if I receive my income tax, which is supposed to be about $4,500, then I will apply the entire check towards my car. This will allow me to have my car paid off in 2009. This is going to take some discipline, but I know that I can do it because this is very important to me. I will update you on a monthly basis to let you know how I am doing or if anything changes, but for now, this is my written down plan of how I will pay my car off within the next 12-15 months or less. The original payoff date, according to the financing company, is May 2012...can you believe that?!!! I bought the car in May 2007...I feel like a total fool and I am not even going to tell you what the interest rate is for the sake of not embarassing myself even further. I am glad that I now know that debt is a bad thing...we all have to learn from our mistakes and I am truly paying for mine. One thing I can say is that I will never let myself be in this predicament ..I don't ever plan to finance a car again...I honestly don't plan to finance anything, if I can help it. I might have to finance a house, but if I do, it will be for the shortest period possible. I hope that you are writing down your goals and devising a plan for getting out of debt as quick as possible. What I wrote above might sound elementary to you but it works. You don't have to be a genius to do a budget or write your goals down or devise a plan for getting out of debt. It is simple to do, you just have to have the discipline to stick to it...that's where things start to get hard. Let me know your thoughts and comments and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me.

Favorite Books on (Wealth Buidling and Getting out of Debt)

Guys, I just wanted to give you a listing of some great books that are a must for your home library. These books will keep you motivated.

• The Total Money Makeover - Dave Ramsey
• Debt Free Living - Larry Burkett
• Good to Great - Jim Collins
• Thou Shall Prosper - Rabbi Daniel Lapin
• Rhinoceros Success - Scott Alexander
• The Richest Man in Babylon - George S. Clason

Saving is a must

Recently, I was listening to talk radio and there was a segment related to predictions for 2009. Unfortunately the predictions were very grim...actually worse than 2008 I'm afraid. It has been predicted that in the year 2009, the U.S economy will collaspe. When I heard this prediction, I became very worried because I couldn't imagine things getting worse than they already are. I never thought I would be seeing the possible collaspe of the "big 3" auto-makers possibly coming to fruition. Who would have ever thought that big banks would collaspe as well, not to mention all the stores closing their doors this month. With all of these things happening, I couldn't help but take a step back and evaluate some things. I thought about how Americans, for the longest, have been big spenders, always spending money...never saving money. We live in a microwave society so people want things now...instantly. Well now all this greed has gotten us in way over our heads. We have always had everything we've wanted. We always had to have the best car, the biggest house the best clothes....i.e., we have taken a lot of things for granted in the past and maybe a economical collaspe is just what we need to give us a wake up call. "America, it's time to wake up and start putting some money aside for a rainy day!!!!"

Now I know that there are some people out there probably saying to themselves, "I live paycheck to paycheck, I never have money left at the end of the month....how in the world can I save money?" the first thing you need to do is set up a BUDGET....yes, I said the "B" word. A budget tells your money where to go instead of you wondering where it went. Creating a budget gives you a detail view of your cashflow....what is coming in and what is going out. This is very important for you to master. It will take some time at first but eventually you will get into the habit of doing a budget and it will make your life a lot easier. If you need help with starting a budget, you can go to www.daveramsey.com and you should be able to find several types of budget templates that will suit your needs. Keep in mind a true budget has a net balance of zero, meaning that you gave every dollar a name or a place to go. You should never have any money left....if so, you have not found a home for the dollars to go and those dollars will eventually end up somewhere because money has a mind of its own...believe me, it does.

The second thing you need to do, once the budget is set up, is to start keeping a log of your expenses. I know that this is very tedious and I am not saying that you need to do this forever but at least do it for the next 3 months. This will allow you to see where your money is going and expose those areas where you could cut back such as eating out, entertainment...etc. The money you could save from eating out and entertainment alone is a great start to saving money. I highly recommend that you do this and see where you can cut back on some items that you spend money on friviously. You don't have to have that gourmet coffee from Starbucks every morning...try the coffee at the office or purchase the Starbucks coffee from the grocery store and brew it at home instead of spending $3.99+ a day for a cup of coffee that will wear off in an hour. If you save $3.99 a day for an entire year (365 days), you would have $1,456.35 at the end of the year, which in turn could pay for Christmas gifts instead of you having to charge them.

If you just follow the two steps above, you will be well on your way to saving money. It is a step by step process. There is no magic pill to buidling wealth. You build wealth slow and steady. You have got to start by being disciplined. Stay tuned for more helping tips on saving. If you like my blog, send me a comment.

"It's mine in 2009"

Happy New Year!!!! I am so excited about what the new year will bring for me and my family. 2008 was pretty rough for everyone so I am hopeful that this year will be better. I have set quite a few goals and can't wait to accomplish them. The two main goals are getting out of debt (paying off my car) and improving my health. If I can accomplish these two challenges, I will be very happy. I was thinking yesterday, as the new year was approaching, that becoming debt free is really liberating. Being debt free is a form of freedom that I desire. At the moment, I am somewhat stuck in a job I don't like and can't see myself slaving there the next 20 years, but unfortunately I can't leave the job because I am in debt. If I were debt free, I would have options. So now more than ever, I desire to have the freedom to make my own choices and not have my choices dictated by someone else. Have you ever felt this way? What do you really desire to do in life? What is your purpose? What makes you happy? I will tell you that sitting in a cubicle behind a computer crunching numbers all day while your supervisor constantly sends you emails and micro-manages you is not what makes me happy, in fact, it makes me feel trapped. As a result of all of this, I now know, more than ever, that I have got to get out of debt in order to regain my freedom. After I pay off my car, then I will have to pay off $38K+ in student loan debt and then my mortage. All of this debt makes me feel like I am suffocating but I have to take one debt at a time. A couple of days ago, I mentioned that if you want to really accomplish something you have to make a decision and then put that decision into action. Well I have made that decision today and have started putting it into action. What about you? Have you made your decision yet?

Make a decision

It's two days before the end of the year and many individuals have started thinking about what goals they would like to accomplish in the new year. My goal for 2009 is to pay off my car. I currently owe $15,784.19, so I have devised a plan to be able to pay it off within 12 months. I will keep you abreast of my progress. When you want to acheive a goal, you must first make a decision and then put that decision into action by devising a plan and sticking to it. When I made the decision to get out of debt, no bells or anything went off. I just did it. I took a leap and paid $1,400 towards my debt yesterday. I kinda felt a little num afterwards, but I had to do it. I have just gotten so fed up with owing money on a depreciating asset. I feel like I have been throwing money out of the window. I vow to never get a loan again for a car or anything else except maybe a mortgage, but to be honest, I prefer to just save up and pay cash for my house...that is if I ever move again...right now, I am content living where I am. What new goals have you set for youself concerning getting out of debt for 2009?