Search Results for “three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/debt-burnout/budget-lesson-part-3/how-to-complain-the-squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease/travel-expenses-why-i-splurge/budget-lesson-part-1/ignore-your-budget/money-problems-day-1-setting-goals/subscribe-by-email” — Page 101

My Credit Cards

This announcement is a bit premature, but not everything that’s premature has to end in an evening of disappointment.

At the beginning of the year, I transferred the balance of my last credit card onto two different cards, each with a 0% interest rate. One card got a $4,000 transfer and the other got $13,850. The approximately $415 in fees I paid for the transfer saved me nearly $1500 in interest this year.

The card that got the big balance is the card we use for a lot of our daily spending. On my statement dated 2/18/2012, the balance on the this card was $14,865.23. At the same time, the smaller card had a balance of $3,925.09, for a total of $18,790.32. When I started my debt-murder journey in April 2009, it had peaked at just under $30,000.

When my payments clear later today, that balance will be gone.

That is nearly $19,000 paid down in 8 months.

Now, the inheritance we picked up did accelerate our repayment a bit, but only by a few months.

Starting from $90,394.70 in April 2009, we have paid down $63,746.70, leaving $26,648.00 on our mortgage.

I’m more than a little excited, which–as usual–is the cause for the prematurity.

New goal: pay off the mortgage in 2013.

My Net Worth

Misc

While I find it fascinating to read about other people’s net worth, I’ve never bothered to figure out my own. With the start of the new year, I thought it would be fun to do. This is me, upping my personal transparency bar.

Assets

House: $255,400. Estimated market value according to the county tax assessor.
Cars: $23,445. Kelly Blue Book suggested retail value for both of our vehicles and my motorcycle.
Checking accounts: $2,974. I have accounts spread across three banks.
Savings accounts: $4,779. I have savings accounts spread across a few banks. This does not include my kids’ accounts, even though they are in my name. This includes every savings goal I have at the moment.
CDs: $1,095. I consider this a part of my emergency fund.
IRAs: $11,172 (Do you know your IRA contribution limits? Do you have a Roth IRA?)
Total: $298,865

Liabilities

Mortgage: $33,978
Car loan: $1,226. This will be paid off this month.
Credit card: $23,524. This is the next target of my debt snowball.
Total: $58,728

Overall: $240,137

Update: I wrote and scheduled this before I paid off my car loan.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-06-19

Misc

RT @bargainr: Life in North Korea is absolutely dreadful http://nyti.ms/dAcL26 #
RT @bitfs: Weekly Favorites and Gratitude!: My Favorite Posts this Week Jeff at Deliver Away Debt threw together the .. http://bit.ly/9J0gGo #
@LiveRealNow is giving away a copy of Delivering Happiness(@dhbook). Follow and RT to enter. http://bit.ly/czd31X # #
Baseless claims, biased assumptions, poor understanding of history. Don't bother. #AnimalSpirits #KeynesianCult #
RT @zappos: Super exciting! "Delivering Happiness" hit #1 on NY Times Bestseller list! Thanks everyone! Details: http://bit.ly/96vEfF #
@ericabiz Funny, we found a kitten in a box last week. Unfortunately, it was abandoned there, not playing. Now, we have a 5th cat. in reply to ericabiz #

Integrity

Life, Parenting, Relationships

The true measure of a man’s integrity is not what he will do, but rather what he won’t do.
-Flannery O’Connor

Have you watched a TV lately? Have you noticed that most sitcoms are based entirely on dishonesty? If the characters would stop lying to each other, the premise of most shows would fall apart. How much humor can be found in getting caught in a lie, week after week? If I lived in one of those homes, there would be a divorce happening immediately. There’s no integrity in any of the relationships.

Integrity means no lying, cheating, or stealing. It means you deal with everyone honestly and honorably. You don’t cheat on your wife, or make BS excuses to your kids. You have to make sure you have nothing to feel guilty about and expect the same from the people you deal with. It’s not always easy. If a waitress accidentally forgets to ring up a meal, or a store clerk only rings up one DVD, or the scanner borks itself and give an extra 50% off, you speak up, even if it costs $100. That’s honesty.

Ultimately, what you do during the day, you have to sleep with at night. This includes avoiding responsibilities. Always do what you say, barring forgetfulness, and in that case, make up for it immediately. Don’t break promises, don’t skip out on debts, and don’t get into commitments you have no intention of honoring.

I’ve discovered that the best way to keep your stories straight is to only tell the truth. I don’t have to coordinate an alibi or remember which lie I told to which person if I am honest in all of my dealings. It’s not the easy path. It would be easier to sneak large purchases into the house, or tell my wife I was working late instead of going out for a beer. There are a lot of shortcuts I refuse to take with my life. People act like I’m stupid because I won’t cheat anyone. I enjoy being treated like that, because it means I know who to avoid in the future. If you break promises, lie, cheat, steal, or skip out on your responsibilities, I don’t want to associate with you. Honesty is an important part of my life and relationships. I won’t apologize for that.

What are your core values?

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-04-03

Misc

Screw April Fool's Day. I'm about ready to clear my entire feed queue. #
I definitely need a reason to get up at 5 or I go back to sleep. #
Bank tried to upsell me on my accounts today…through the drivethru. #
Motorcycle battery died this morning. Surprise 4 mile hike. #
RT @ramseyshow 'The rich get richer &the poor get poorer' is true! Rich keep doing what rich people do & poor keep doing what poor people do #
RT @ramit: "How do you know if someone is a programmer?" I cannot stop laughing imagining half my programmer friends – http://bit.ly/9MOipi #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-10

Misc

Happy Independence Day! Be thankful for what you've been given by those who have gone before! #
Waiting for fireworks with the brats. Excitement is high. #
@PhilVillarreal Amazing. I'm really Cringer. That makes me feel creepy. in reply to PhilVillarreal #
Built a public life-maintenance calendar in GCal. https://liverealnow.net/y7ph #
@ericabiz makes webinars fun! Even if her house didn't collapse in the middle of it. #
BOFH + idiot = bad combination #

Search Results for: three-alternatives-to-a-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/debt-burnout/budget-lesson-part-3/how-to-complain-the-squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease/travel-expenses-why-i-splurge/budget-lesson-part-1/ignore-your-budget/money-problems-day-1-setting-goals/subscribe-by-email

Assets

Liabilities