- Uop past midnight. 3am feeding. 5am hurts. Back to bed? #
- Stayed up this morning and watched Terminator:Salvation. AWAKs make for bad plot advancement. #
- Last night, Inglorious Basterds was not what I was expecting. #
- @jeffrosecfp It's a fun time, huh. These few months are payment for the fun months coming, when babies become interactive. 🙂 in reply to jeffrosecfp #
- RT @BSimple: RT @bugeyedguide: When we cling to past experiences we keep giving them energy…and we do not have much energy to spare #
- RT @LivingFrugal: Jan 18, Pizza Soup (GOOOOOD Stuff) http://bit.ly/5rOTuc #budget #money #
- Free Turbotax for low income or active-duty military. http://su.pr/29y30d #
- To most ppl,you're just somebody [from casting] to play the bit part of "Other Office Worker" in the movie of their life http://su.pr/1DYMQZ #
- RT @MoneyCrashers: Money Crashers 2010 New Year Giveaway Bash – $8,300 in Cash and Amazing Prizes http://bt.io/DQHw #
- RT: @flexo: RT @wisebread: Tylenol, Motrin, Rolaids, and Benadryl RECALLED! Check your cabinets: http://bit.ly/4BVJfJ #
- New goal for Feb. 100 pushups in 1 set. Anyone care to join me? #
- RT @BSimple: Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow"— Robert Kiyosaki So take action now. #
- RT @hughdeburgh: "Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now." ~ Sophia Loren #
- Chances of finding winter boots at a thrift store in January? Why do they wear our at the worst time? #
- @LenPenzo Anyone who make something completely idiot proof underestimates the ingenuity of complete idiots. in reply to LenPenzo #
- RT @zappos: "Lots of people want to ride w/ you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus w/ you…" -Oprah Winfrey #
- RT @chrisguillebeau: "The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra" -Indian Proverb (via @boxofcrayons) #
- RT @SuburbanDollar: I keep track of all my blogging income and expenses using http://outright.com it is free&helps with taxes #savvyblogging #
- Reading: Your Most Frequently Asked Running Questions – Answered http://bit.ly/8panmw via @zen_habits #
Net Worth Update
Time to update my net worth. Here are the highlights:
We paid off the Tahoe we bought last fall, but the value of my Pacifica fell $5,000 since April. That made me sad.
In August, we had $1000 worth of car repairs and $5500 for braces. We had most of the money saved for braces, but had to juggle some savings accounts around to cover it. We didn’t have enough money in our car repair fund to cover the repairs. Between the two, we beat up our credit card a bit more than usual last month. I’m not happy about it, but I’m confident we’ll catch up this month. My current goal is to get that paid off by the end of September. If I do, I should be able to avoid paying any interest on the balance.
All in all, it’s not bad progress. Our assets dropped $171.61, but our liabilities dropped $10,931.13, so our net worth is up $10,000. You won’t catch me complaining about that.
What’s going to happen in the future? We’re going to remodel both of our bathrooms this winter. We’re hoping to buy a pony before spring.
I’m excited to see our budget evolve over the next few months.
My wife is working and my kids are all in school. With the way our schedules work, we’ve pulled the youngest two out of daycare, so that expense is gone. And there are a couple of other things in the works that I’ll be sharing when they are finalized. If things progress the way they are looking, we’re going to spend the winter living off of my income, and saving her’s. That makes me feel like putting on an ant costume and kicking grasshopper’s butt all over town.
Resolutions That Don’t Suck
I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions. Generally speaking, if you don’t have the willpower to do something any other time of the year, you probably won’t grow that willpower just because the last number on the calendar changed.
Seriously, if you’ve got something worth changing, change it right away, don’t wait for a special day.
That said, this is the time of the year that many people choose to try to improve…something. Some people try to lose weight, other people quit shooting meth into their eyeballs, yet others(the ones I’m going to talk about) decide it’s time to get out of debt.
Now most people are going to throw out some huge and worthless goals like:
- I need to lose some weight.
- I need to save more.
- I need to be a better person.
- I need to shoot less meth into my eyeball.
The problem with goals like that is the definitions. What is “some”, “more”, “better”, or “less”? How do you know when you’ve won.
It’s better to take on smaller goals that have real definitions.
Try these:
- I’m going to lose 20 pounds.
- I’m going to save $1200.
- I need to stop locking my children in the closet when I go to the movies.
- I am never ever going to shoot meth into my eyeball again.
But Jason, I hear you saying, where am I going to find $1000 to save? Well, Dear Reader, I’m glad you asked. Next time though, could you ask in a way that others can hear so my wife doesn’t feel the need to call the nice men in the white coats again?
Let’s break that goal down even further.
Instead of saving $1200, let’s call it $100 per month. That’s a bite-sized goal. Some people don’t even have that to spare, so what can they do?
Let’s make that resolution something like “I’m going to have frozen pizza instead of my regular weekly delivery.” If your house is anything like mine, that brings a $60 pizza bill down to $15 for some good frozen pizza for a savings of $45. If you order pizza once a week, that’s $180 saved each month, double your goal. That’s a win with very little suffering.
Now, you can take that extra $80 that you hadn’t even planned for and throw it at your credit cards. That’s a free payment every month. Before you know it, you’ll have your cards paid off and a decent savings account.
Then you can thank me because I made it all possible.
Carnivals This Week
I seem to be failing frugal parenting. My son spent the entire week telling me how happy he’d be if we could go to the game store so he could spend some of his money. Tying emotions to shopping is badbadbad.
Live Real, Now was included in four carnivals last week:
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #224 at AaronHung.com
Yakezie Carnival – Mardi Gras Edition at Young Adult Finances
Canadian Finance Carnival #76 at Canadian Finance Blog
Carnival of Financial Camaraderie – Rain Man Edition at Thirty Six Months
Thanks to all of the hosts for including my posts.
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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.
NCAA Football Rankings – Does the NCAA cause gambling addiction?
Placing a winning bet on a college football game can be an exhilarating feeling. If you are a sports fan, you probably have been tempted to use your knowledge to win some easy money or perhaps have won money in the past. However, does betting on college football games lead a person down the path to a gambling addiction?
Gambling May Be a Genetic Issue
To a certain extent, gambling may be a behavior that is hardwired into some people. This is because those that tend to gamble frequently have an addictive personality to begin with. In a scenario such as this one, it would be hard to blame the NCAA or any other group for the actions of a gambler.
Emotional Betting Can Hurt Many Gamblers
Some people have good luck when they first start betting. Winning $100 on a $1 bet on the very first try may trick a naive gambler that he or she can make that type of money on any bet. However, a professional will tell you that the math simply does not add up.
Success or failure on one or two bets is not a large enough sample size nor long enough of a track record for anyone to declare that they are good enough to win consistently. Unfortunately, it may create a situation where a gambler makes bets based on emotion and causes them to risk more money than they can afford to lose.
Once the losses start to pile up, it can be harder and harder to pull away from the table in an attempt to win that money back. While a smart gambler will walk away and try to learn from their mistakes, most will become desperate and place wagers on anything that they think will help them recoup their cash.
Gambling Should Always Be Seen as Entertainment
Anyone who has placed a wager in the past generally understands that the house always has the advantage. Therefore, it is a good idea to only gamble with money that you can afford to lose and not be upset when the bet turns into a losing proposition. While a bettor may win occasionally, this is almost always done for public relations purposes. In other words, the person making the bet got lucky and shouldn’t expect to repeat such a performance in the future.
Does the NCAA create problem gamblers? While it may be easy to put the finger at them, it is ultimately the responsibility of the person making the bet to make sure that he or she is not throwing money away. All the NCAA can do is to promote awareness regarding problem gambling and point people toward resources to get them help. However, they cannot be responsible for the actions of an adult with complete control over his or her money.