Kick Debt's Butt

Is is better to pay off debt or put money in savings?

2010-08-13T10:19:00.004-04:00

As I posted a couple of days ago - my savings account is now rolled back to $0.

It's sort of a scary prospect. It's scary because if we needed something; I'd be forced to go back to the credit card. The upside is my 0% card from Wells Fargo is 0% on balance transfers AND purchases - so that gives me access to free credit provided of course I can pay it off before the promotional period expires. But the habit of swiping a credit card at this point makes my stomach turn, so while searching the internet for advice, I stumbled across Dave Ramsey and his seven "wealth building" baby steps.

When it comes to radio, I really only listen to NPR so I have no working knowledge of Dave Ramsey from talk radio - but I did google this question yesterday:

Is is better to pay off debt or put money in savings?

The links took me to some forums and eventually I found Dave Ramsey's seven baby steps. And there it was. His step 1 is: put away $1000.00 for your baby emergency fund. I like it. It's enough to cover a failed alternator but not too much to take away from debt butt kicking. So next month's debt reduction will be re-purposed to make sure I have a G in savings - just in case.

Ready to put August in the history books!

2010-08-11T11:38:00.002-04:00

This August has temporarily crushed my debt attack. Here are the mistakes that I made.

1. Not sticking to the cash box budget meant that for the last few months, we've once again began living beyond our means.
2. Related to number 1: we've dipped in to savings to bridge the spending gaps and now savings is zero!
3. I switched auto insurance and to get a cheaper rate, I paid the full six month premium at once
4. My car broke down, see point 1 again - no money left in savings
5. My kids back to school shopping was done without a budget - which means we spent more than we had

In summary, unexpected medical premiums over $200 bucks, sports and tournament fees, back to school stuff, etc., has slapped my debt reduction plan upside the head. Now we'll need to use September to just recover from August, so hopefully the plan will be back on track come October.

Saved $440 bucks on my auto insurance

2010-08-06T13:54:00.003-04:00

I’ve had the same insurance company since I was 16. Now that I’ve been driving far longer than I haven’t in this life, I thought it was high time to figure out if I could save some money on car insurance rates.

My wife and I have excellent driving records so I had just sort of assumed that I was getting a good rate – after all, why would my insurance company want to stick to a loyal customer like me right? Wrong! It's not so much that they were taking advantage of me, they were simply taking advantage of most people's reluctance to drudge out the paperwork, size up the policies, and shop around.

Insurance is a business and in business, competition is good. Turns out shopping around was not that hard to do. The policies are fairly standard from one carrier to another from what I could tell so doing an apples to apples comparison wasn't that difficult.

For some reason, I just assumed that switching auto insurance companies was not worth the trouble. How wrong was I?! My old six month premium on two cars was $1001 or $2002 per year. My new six month premium on two cars is $718.00 for a total car insurance annual outlay of $1436.00 – an annual savings of $440.00 per year!

For very little effort on my part, I’m now going to have some serious extra money.

Busted Alternators and Savings Accounts

2010-08-05T09:12:00.003-04:00

Well, remember that avalanche I spoke of in July? Turns out it's not quite as powerful as I'd hoped.

The good news is, in the avalanche, there's enough money to re-purpose for things like an unexpected alternator failure which is going to cost me about $600 bucks!

The bad news is, the credit card companies will get another month or two of interest out of me as I'm having to push out my paydown time line.

I now need to be very mindful of savings accounts as well. I'm wondering for other folks aggressively paying down debt, how much do you set aside in savings before you start building the avalanche? Or, do you throw caution to the wind and tackle the debt first before you build any savings?

Apparently I've been surfing the debt avalanche

2010-07-17T09:39:00.005-04:00

I found a very interesting website this morning called Consumerism Commentary. One article in particular that caught my attention was titled, "Debt Reduction Methods and Philosophies: Snowball, Avalanche and More".

Before reading this post, I'd not given too much thought in the difference between a debt snowball - where one pays off the smallest debts first vs. a debt avalanche - where one pays off the most expensive debts first.

I've been thinking I was doing a debt snowball when in fact, I've been doing a debt avalanche; which really warms my heart because I can't stand the idea of giving a bank any more interest income than the absolute minimum. It just seemed intuitive to get rid of the most expensive debts first, but after reading Consumerism's post, it makes sense that different people have different motivations.

So I did a quick non-tax deductible interest (i.e., consumer debt interest, not mortgage interest) summary on my debts this month and discovered that on balances of $21,275.93, I paid in interest $18.77 on my car loan, $33.26 on my highest rate card now with the lowest balance due, $44.38 on the lowest rate card with the highest balance, and 0% on the card in the middle that I just switched on a promotional deal, for a grand total of $96.41 in interest!

Yahoo! Finance Article on Cell Phone Money Pits

2010-07-07T08:17:00.001-04:00

Here's an interesting article from Yahoo! Finance on cell phone costs:

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110000-5853-1-the-cellular-money-pit?ywaad=ad0035

The article says that the average American household is spending $107 per month on service - I wish! With four phones in our household, we're up to around $200 per month with Sprint and I've done everything I can think of short of telling the kids they're out of luck.

If you would've told me 10 years ago that rather than paying $30-$40 bucks a month for phone service (i.e., land line, call-waiting, caller id, etc.) that I'd be paying over $200, I probably would have called you crazy. Now look who's the crazy one!

ugh...

Wells Fargo Offer Too Good to Pass Up

2010-07-05T13:20:00.004-04:00

I've taken a major gamble, something I told myself I wouldn't do again.

I bit on a "0% for 9 months on balance transfers" solicitation from Wells Fargo to transfer the balance off of my American Express.

But here's the math I used to justify this risky move:

The cost of the balance transfer: $171.93
My monthly interest charge on the Amex: about $70
The number of months I estimated to pay off the Amex balance: 8
Total interest expected to pay Amex: approximately $500.00

So if I stay current on this card, I'll have saved roughly $330 in interest. There are some big "ifs" in that statement that I have to maintain otherwise it will have been a wasted move that cost me an extra $171.93.

As it stands today, I still have three outstanding credit card balances: the one I'm paying down now has a 14.24% rate (I have four more payments on this one), the other two have a 0% and 5.4% rate. Here's to keeping our eyes on the prize - no more interest to credit card companies and banks!

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-05T13:07:00.003-04:00

Independence day is the perfect time of year to revisit our debt pay down progress. Being financially independent is what being debt free is all about right?

Well, we've had an expensive summer so I've unfortunately had to dip in to our small savings account to pay for some big ticket items; mostly for the kids.

That said, we've stayed relatively on track so as of now, we are 42 weeks - that's a mere 10 more months - from achieving consumer debt freedom!

I know I'm ready for a bigger snowball which I should be able to use in December; but again, December is a very tempting month for holiday spending, so staying on target now is even more important.

Right now it's tough when we see our friends taking great summer vacations and I know we need to reward ourselves for our progress; but it sometimes stinks to know we still have some more sacrifice ahead - but light is at the end of the tunnel!

Interesting article about folks "cutting the cord" on TV

2010-04-14T12:14:00.002-04:00

I was reading this article earlier today because I too have been waffling on this very decision:

Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says

My TV coverage through Comcast is pretty darn basic - I have maybe 18 channels and of those, only 7 or so are watchable. I also have high speed internet through Comcast as well. In addition, Comcast has actually increased my fee over 20% in the past year! So basically I'm paying more for less value.

On the one hand, I can increase my monthly cash outlay on this "service" and add a lot of TV garbage in the hopes of catching more of my beloved soccer matches on ESPN and FSC, or I can continue to the roll the dice and watch intermittent streams or go to pubs to watch with the crowd, or I can cancel the cable TV altogether and just try to grab signal the old fashioned way, with an antennae.

It's funny, I haven't thought about using an antennae in a very long time, but this article is getting me thinking - that would free up about an extra $40 / month and I believe we'd be getting the same channels we get now. Hmmmm, I'll keep you posted.

Does KDB have a green thumb? We shall soon find out!

2010-04-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

Does KDB have a green thumb? We shall soon find out!

Have you bought tomatoes or cucumbers lately? If you live in a part of the country where your fresh produce came from Florida, then you have seen the prices for these fresh goodies skyrocket! The obscenely cold winter did a number on Florida produce and now consumers are having to pay the price (supply and demand and all that).

Well, I happen to like fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini; so on a trip to Wal-Mart last night, I decided to buy some seed packs. I have no idea if this will work. My grandparents have been gardening since they were kids, so they have a good 80 years of experience. I on the other hand, do most of my gardening at Publix. I mention the grandparents because they almost never try to start a garden from seeds, opting instead to buy seedlings from the farmers market. But I figure for 4 bucks and a little dirt on my hands, why not give it a go the really old fashioned way!

I just pre-planted my tomatoes and eggplant this morning in to small containers and will be working on prepping my garden plot this afternoon. I’ll keep you posted. Happy Easter!

Costco's Kirklands brand beer is actually very tasty

2010-03-14T15:14:00.004-04:00

I'll admit it...I'm a bit of a beer snob. This fact sort of flies in the face of being a penny pincher - but I do have a tendency to believe the famous Warsteiner slogan which eloquently states that "life is too short to drink cheap beer."

That being said, I have always been impressed with Costco's Kirklands brand. But when I saw that label being applied to beer, I thought maybe Costco had overshot their ability.

This past week however, I decided to pick up a case. I could have sworn the posted price was $18.99, but at the register I was charged $10.99! So I thought for $.49 a bottle, who cares if it tastes like American beer (no offense to Sam Adams).

Oh my, I could not have been further from the mark. Each of the four types in the case; an IPA, Hefeweizen, Amber, and Lager, are excellent! I guarantee that if you placed that IPA up against Sierra Nevada in a blind taste test, even the most refined of beer palates would not be able to pick the 49 cent beer from the two dollar bottle.

Well done Costco! Cheers.

No more $35.00 cups of coffee if you use B of A debit cards

2010-03-11T07:26:00.002-05:00

That's right folks, maybe some of the big banks are starting to listen. I heard this story yesterday on NPR:

Bank of America Ends (Some) Overdraft Fees

But don't let this policy make you complacent. It's one thing when your debit card won't let you get a cup of coffee, it's quite another when you're on empty and are 40 miles from home.

So we can quietly applaud B of A for shutting down this con, but pay close attention to your balances and other fees - and also remember this, they've got to make up about $2 billion in lost revenue somewhere.

And Then There Were Three!

2010-02-06T20:06:00.003-05:00

This month I said good riddance to HSBC!

I’m marching through my credit card balances slowly but surely, with the highest rate cards first, which placed the HSBC card next in my cross hairs. For what it's worth, I asked HSBC for a rate adjustment each month and was denied each month.

So, just like the Costco Amex card I wrote about in December, the HSBC folks will have to do business without my help from now on.

So long HSBC, I can’t say it has been nice knowing you. I know have only three cards left standing...and they're looking shaky at best.

By the way, paying off a credit card is a GREAT feeling!

Coming down to the wire

2010-01-28T07:20:00.001-05:00

We’re here at the end of the month, and I’m just doing a quick assessment of how we fared with regards to the overall budget.

My wife doesn’t care much for carrying around cash, so I tried to keep up with expenditures online using the debit card. Bottom line is, after a few extra trips to one of our favorite sports bars and some other house related purchases, we spent about $500 more than what I budgeted.

The lesson is this. If our debt reduction plan is going to work over the long haul, then we need to be even more disciplined. I don’t like coming to the end of the month with virtually no cushion in our checking account!

Looking for ways to increase the paycheck

2010-01-19T07:51:00.002-05:00

January and December are tough months for us in terms of spending. As you’ve read, our homeowner’s dues are due 10 days after the new year begins, which leaves us zero time to recover from Christmas spending.

All this has left me wondering if I’m doing enough to impact the revenue side of the debt equation.

There are the obvious things, like picking up a part time job, but in my career, part time work is not very practical. My wife has her own small business, but revenues there can be very sporadic, so all of my debt and budget calculations are built around my income alone.

That being said, I decided to take a look at my IRS withholding allowances. What’s that you ask? Remember when you got your first job and your employer told you to fill out a form, among many others, which was meant to tell the IRS how much to take out of your check? You had no idea what that meant, so you probably asked your parents and they most certainly said, “claim 0, you don’t want to owe the IRS money at the end of they year!”

So while that is true, you don’t want to “owe” or underpay, throughout the year if you can help it, you don’t want to overpay either! Money that you overpay can be going directly toward your debt attack. So have a look at your withholdings, and use this nifty, albeit slightly intimidating, online tool to help you judge the number of allowances you should actually be claiming:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

Hopefully you’ll find a few extra bucks in your paycheck! I readjusted mine about two weeks ago, so I’ll let you know what the practical effect is in a couple of weeks when I get paid again. Good luck!

By the way, this is not to be taken as tax advice especially because I’m not an accountant or tax attorney, it’s just something that I’m trying. If you do have any tax questions, please contact your tax professional.

Making some adjustments to my debt attack amount

2010-01-10T18:15:00.001-05:00

Well we’re only 10 days in to January and all of my financial signs are leading me to make some adjustments on my debt attack.

I may have to dial down the monthly attack amount that I had set up until I can build up enough of a reserve in my savings account where I feel comfortable moving money if one month gets tight for some reason.

In fact, this is just such a month.

With homeowners dues due and a big car insurance payment due, I don’t want to run the risk of over-drafting my account at the end of the month if I make that big whopping payment toward credit cards.

That said, I will try to “snowflake” this month. I’m going to only pay the minimum on the card I’m attacking, but if after I make those other major payments and at the end of the month I discover a little extra here or there, I’ll put that towards the credit card. That way at least I continue to chip away without giving them too much extra in finance charges.

Going forward I’m adjusting my attack amount until I have at least $1,000 in savings.

Beware the Pile!

2010-01-02T10:01:00.003-05:00

Control. According to Webster, control is a transitive verb defined as: to exercise restraining or directing influence over : regulate b : to have power over : rule c : to reduce the incidence or severity of especially to innocuous levels

This blog has been about getting personal finances under control, but really any venture with a targeted goal needs to have controls in place.

One must understand if events or situations are within a certain tolerance to know whether or not the result will be successfully achieved or if behaviors need to be modified along the way.

Right now, for example, our laundry is out of control! But our finances are finally getting in control.

One of the biggest problems I have with our house is the tendency to collect clutter. Our reluctance to donate toys, get rid of outdated electronics, etc. has created clutter, which most often manifests itself in my house as piles of stuff. I think we may hang on to a bit of the psychology that suggests that our “stuff” defines us. The reality of the piles is that, instead of creating a sense of purpose by reminding us of all the “stuff” we’ve collected; the piles actually create anxiety by reminding us of all the “things” we have to do!

We need to bring how we manage our daily tasks, under control.

But beginning just before Christmas, we started to really de-clutter. I had notebooks full of project management material that was over ten years old that I haven’t cracked open in nine years. Gone. I had a palm pilot that I haven’t used in twelve years (and I never really used it in the first place). Gone. My personal office was full of “to do” piles. Gone.

We made about three trips to the Goodwill last year which is a definite improvement, but I want to consider making that a monthly family field trip – not to shop, but to donate.

It’s a new year, and to spin an old saying, “out with the old, not necessarily in with anything else for a while.” Be it bills, mail, laundry, or dishes, I want no piles in my house…unless of course it’s cash ;-)

Costco American Express dirty guerilla credit card tactics

2009-12-31T10:07:00.001-05:00

I have the day off – Happy New Year’s Eve by the way – and so I was just going through one of my four remaining credit card statements.

This one happens to be my Costco American Express card; a card I have about 12 more months to pay on. I started scanning the basics: balance, date my last payment was received, etc. and then I looked at the finance charge. Oh the finance charge, that little bit of data that laughs at me every month and says, “this is money that should be going to your retirement accounts and investments.”

Anyway, I noticed that my finance charge is a actually slightly higher this month, even though the balance on my card is lower. Where’s that stinking APR?!

Of course, there it is, American Express has decided to arbitrarily raise my interest rate another 2 points! I immediately call to politely inquire as to why in the hell they raised my interest rate, I’m not late, I pay over the minimums, etc., and the nice young lady on the phone says, “American Express sent you a letter in August letting you know that we were going to do this.” I of course ask, “any particular reason why?” To which she responds, “American Express decided it was in the company’s best interest to increase rates across the board because of the difficult economic times.”

I almost sprayed my coffee across the room! THEY are having difficult economic times and to solve it, they pass through higher rates to their customers who are just having a peachy old time in this economy??

Brilliant customer service move by American Express and they need to know that in my case, it probably is a smart move that they squeeze me for every penny they can get for the next 12 months.

Because the second that balance goes to zero, the card will be canceled and destroyed, they will never get another penny from me, and I’ll gladly tell them that I’ve ended a seven year, so called relationship, because of “difficult...economic...times.”

Ach! Homeowners dues!

2009-12-29T09:25:00.002-05:00

No sooner than I started patting myself on the back for striking a good balance for Christmas, did I get the bill in the mail for our #$%&!@ homeowner's dues!

I know, I know...I choose to live in a covenant protected community and I'm sure that one day, ten or so years down the road, our property values will have rebounded to the point where it makes sense to keep close checks on homeowners with, shall we say, eclectic tastes in decorating.

That being said, this bill has some pretty rotten timing. Right on the heels of Christmas spending and before any chance for a federal tax refund. Which means that I may have to - yet again - push back my debt attack another month.

I would just drag my feet on this one but because apparently a LOT of my fellow homeowners place this bill very low on the priority list, the board has decided to tack on a 10% late fee. Did I mention I hate late fees?

Theoretically next year this won't happen because...you guessed it; the dues are a part of my monthly cash box budget so I'll be setting aside for it each pay period.

Of course that doesn't help me so much for this year...groan.

Locking the budget back down

2009-12-23T09:37:00.001-05:00

I don’t know if irony is the right word. Perhaps it’s some kind of strange financial sadism. But for whatever reason, we backslid on spending after I was laid off.

At the beginning of last year, when we finally recognized that credit card debt and other consumer spending was eating away at any chance we ever had to build wealth, the first thing I did was put us on a “cash box budget.”

I segmented the family expenditures and applied a finite monthly amount to them, ensuring that the total equaled an amount that when combined with my debt attack, would not leave us negative at the end of the month.

It worked fantastically for the three or so months that we used it. In fact, what we thought might feel stifling, turned out to be liberating. There is a large peace of mind factor that goes with knowing what you have to spend. Then the job bomb, and like I said for whatever reason, we threw the cash budget out the window.

So here we are, almost a year later, and in spite of some major set backs, we’ve done a great job of paying down our consumer debt.

With that said, I’m getting the cash box ready again. This time the balances are adjusted to be a bit more realistic and if I’ve done the math correctly, we still will be able to continue with our aggressive debt attack while hopefully building a decent buffer in our operational (i.e., checking and savings) accounts.

I’m already planning for post consumer debt life; where we start routing money in to investments and not debts!

Christmas follow up

2009-12-15T07:36:00.003-05:00

As much as it pains me to know that my thieving credit card companies will be getting another month's interest out of me, I have of course decided to re-purpose my debt attack amount to Christmas.

I had to convince my wife that we are making outstanding progress and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but this past year has been pretty tight around here and we haven't done a whole lot. After it was all said and done, a little Christmas spirit was just the thing we needed!

I will say this. We are all getting the travel bug and I think a nice trip, paid for with a "trip budget" and not with a credit card, will be a fantastic reward. Unfortunately, we will not be in a financial position by this summer to go to the World Cup in South Africa, but my goal is to be in that position by the next Cup in 2014!

Christmas conundrum?

2009-12-06T14:38:00.002-05:00

It's December and we all know what that means. Christmas shopping! Well, I'm torn. I want to enjoy the season of giving without being stressed out about backsliding on my debt butt kicking routine that is now finally back in full swing since my layoff.

So part of me wants to go VERY light on gifts, in which case I run the risk of being a scrooge this Christmas.

And the other part of me wants to use my monthly debt attack amount to buy Christmas gifts for everybody; which of course knocks me back a month on my debt pay down goals.

I guess the answer is, what will my kids remember when they are grown and raising their own family in 10 years and our debt is ancient history?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:29:00.002-05:00

I'm looking back through my posts, which really didn't get started on this blog until August of 2008 - and wow what a difference 15 months can make!

When I started this thing, our family was still using our credit cards to make purchases without any regard for consequences and our debt was skyrocketing.

Then, in January as the recession was really cranking up, I got scared and locked every credit card we have down.

And then in February, financial catastrophe - I was laid off with no real savings account and a HUGE debt burden. We were able to string it together until I finally landed another job in August. Yes August!

But guess what? Because so many of our credit card companies were unwilling to work with us; we have now become absolutely anti credit card.

Since I started my consumer debt reduction initiative in January of 2009 - I've managed to pay down $18,678 in debt. I still have a small mountain to climb, but I'm snowballing every month and have an "attack" amount of $793.30 which will only grow. If everything goes as planned, I'll have destroyed our Mt. Everest of $41,555 in debt by March of 2011! And as long as I can practically manage it - no credit card company will ever see another penny of interest from me!

So I'm thankful for my family, my job, my health, and our direction!

Employed!

2009-08-30T15:51:00.003-04:00

Employed! Finally...after a few months of absolutely nothing I was offered a position with my old company! So now I'm back to kicking debt's butt - however my situation remains tenuous as long as I carry this much debt, so I'm being as aggressive as I can be!

My own company was gaining momentum, but this really is not the right economy to be starting your own business unless you have significant private financing available (i.e., serious change in your own bank account).

That being said, I'm happy to be back on a corporate payroll - the consistency of steady payments will allow me to pick back up where I left off paying off debt.

I had a couple of late payments during my lean months so my interest rate skyrocketed on a couple of cards. Not only did that impact my credit score, but it put me further in the hole. So my first order of business is to pay those high rate cards off!

Just finished cutting the grass!

2009-08-29T16:11:00.002-04:00

How funny is it, that to the day, I wrote this article:

The new McLane reel mower is on the way!

and have just finished a great afternoon of yard work which included using this great little lawn mower. Before I made this purchase, I had forgotten how nice it is to take pride in doing your own yard work.

So now I've cut, edged, and mowed and can admire my work with a cold one!

It has been 3 months since my last postfession

2009-08-12T12:09:00.002-04:00

As I sit here and pen the first post in months on Kick Debt's Butt, I find myself somewhat relieved.

Finally the icy job waters have started to warm a bit and I am faced with securing gainful employment yet again.

We still have our house, our cars, our health, and our happiness. Thankfully! And we have paid down some debt in the meantime - not a lot - but some.

With my new income stream I should be able to pick right back up on the debt snowball I had started back in January.

Oh, and by the way, I paid off my lawnmower last month, which means now I start up the break even curve every time I cut the grass!

Finally, an update

2009-05-06T07:46:00.001-04:00

Folks, I’ve been exhaustively on the job hunt since I found out my group was being eliminated. That was on Feb. 13th.

Twelve weeks have passed. I haven’t spent any time posting to the blog. Instead I’ve been furiously networking. As a result, I’ve been on quite a few interviews and I have at least one offer that feels like it’s about 98% there.

Of course until I have a signed offer letter in hand, I’m still officially unemployed, but I do enjoy writing and if something in here helps someone else, then we’re all a little better off.

I’m going to try and take the next few weeks to chronicle the major financial events of the past couple of months. Thanks for your patience!

-KDB

February 17

2009-02-19T06:25:00.000-05:00

I love the written journal but a lot of my readers on my PF Blog have been asking that I continue to write about this experience. Maybe it will help and it only takes me about 10 minutes a day to bang out a quit post of what's going on.

No matter what, I still have debt that I need to address.

Up at 6:30AM. Today I need to update my resume. I need to find out about going in to the office downtown - a terrible commute but given the state of things, I need to be closer to the action (assuming there is any.)

I want to create a business flyer for OAG just in case nothing pans out on the job front. I hate to have one foot in the court of entrepreneurship and one foot in the court of job security, but I know how hard it it to get your own consulting business going in a good economy, nevermind this rotten economy.

Create an email database. Send out inquiries. The other big risk of self employment is health insurance expenses. My COBRA will cost over $1000 per month. The upside of running your own business is, there is no one who can lay you off.

February 16

2009-02-18T12:42:00.001-05:00

Up at 7:45AM - happy President's Day. Need to read the "package" that came in the mail on Saturday. Today is Day 1 of my 10 weeks. I need a haircut.

I also need to call one of the Partner's in the old business to find out if there are opportunities to move back over. In addition, I need to blast my network. Start with personalized emails - phone calls are a bit too much.

Here's my list for today:

Call the Partner
Read the package
Make a list of Networking events I want to attend this week
Call the technical writer recruiter who contacted me, ironically enough, Friday

I decided to reach deepr in to my old previous firm network. I have some very promising leads with my old team. Very. I think it would be folly in this economy to ignore this.

I called a couple of graphic design people about the layout of the print edition of Peach State Soccer. I'm going to stick with the magazine as an online ezine for now. Big investment to turn it in to print.

I have my big idea running as well - but need to prioritize for near term survival and long term growth.

February 15

2009-02-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

Rise at 7:45AM - start research and create list:

Venture Capital
Tech incubators
Software developers
Lawyers
Angel investors
Prototyping software
Find old friend: CEO
Find old friend: Co founder of successful software start up
Update list of contacts
Technology Association of Georgia
accounting company
Find old friend: salesman
Find angel investor
Talk to friend in private equity
Talk to friend in corporate accounting

I'm sure this list will grow, but it's a start. Time to research, it's Sunday. Tomorrow will be busy.

Research went OK, learned I probably need to look at angel investors first. Also learned I need to have a working prototype of my idea before I can get real venture capital. My idea is to develop it as a tool within OAG. I only know Cold Fusion, so I'll try to cobble something usable together, most likely just the evaluation piece.

Plan B: Worked late on getting my personal resume and writing portfolio site on wordpress up and running, now it's time to advertise!

By the way, soccer was painful today, gorgeous weather but the girls were overwhelmed.

February 14

2009-02-17T13:41:00.000-05:00

Long day of soccer. Soccer tournament kept my quite busy. My wife is ok but scared. After soccer I was exhausted (Daughter did well and hung out with a friend after the matches) so I got in bed - clothes on - I think this was my post lay-off depression. It lasted 3 hours!

I got up, took the daughter's spend the night clothes to her, ordered Korean food. While driving, the old idea for my Software Tool popped back in to my head. The lay off has re energized the area in my brain for entrepreneurship. But this idea is something bigger. I truly believe this is a multi billion dollar idea. Tried to explain it to my wife when I was in the shower. She didn't understand it really - it is a unique business application so I've got to refine my elevator pitch.

My list of things to do is growing rapidly. My goal is to get this application built and sold in three years. Bouncing around names for the environment - probably will stick with my original name. Tomorrow is research day. Today is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day.

February 13

2009-02-17T09:26:00.003-05:00

1:30PM. Conference call with the senior partner on my team. I know what this Friday afternoon call is about. My position at my current company as been eliminated. I've been laid off.

10:30PM. I ordered business cards for Outsourcing Advisory Group - my back up consulting company just in case I can't find another employer quickly. Earlier this afternoon I got back on Facebook, finalized an article on the Professionalization of IT Outsourcing I've been wanting to publish, created an application for Peach State Soccer that will help writers post High School Soccer match summaries.

I was kind of in a daze most of the afternoon, I knew it was coming but the reality was still a bit of a shock. It is the first time that this has happened to me, I almost wish I had had that happen earlier in my career, so that I may have been better prepared and less risk averse.

KDB is on the Ropes

2009-02-15T16:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry the long delay on posts folks – but KDB is officially on the ropes.

My snowflake melted this month as I found out my position has fallen victim to the overall demise of the economy. The family has transitioned in to survival mode so no debt pay down for the time being.

As a result, I have obviously needed to refocus all of my energy on recapturing a significant revenue stream. Whether that stream is in the form of another job, my own consulting company, or another venture remains to be seen.

I’m going to be spending all of my free time attacking opportunities on all fronts so regrettably I’m going to put Kick Debt’s Butt on the back burner. I’ll come back with periodic updates as they happen.

February KDP Poll is up: What will jump start the US economy?

2009-02-04T13:06:00.001-05:00

This is a topic that is front and center on everyone's mind. From the President of the United States to the young high school kid who bags groceries down at Publix, from the richest of the rich to the folks barely hanging on, this is a biggie.

So I was wondering, what do you think - if anything - will jump start the US economy? The poll is live for the rest of this month. Thanks for participating,

Where do you get most of your financial information?

2009-02-04T05:57:00.000-05:00

The polls have closed on Kick Debt's Butt's second ever KDB Poll, making it an official fixture now on KDB! The question, "Where do you get most of your financial information?"

Here's what you said:

Websites and Blogs combined to make the internet the definite winner. But there were still some old school TV, newspaper, and radio fans as well. Thanks for participating!

10 Ten Referrers of January 2009

2009-02-03T21:32:00.002-05:00

I saw this on Beach Girl's blog back at the beginning of the month when I first started to take Kick Debt's Butt a little more seriously and thought it was pretty cool.

Basically, I use Google analytics to see where most of you are coming from and so here you go - my top 10 referrers from January 2009. Thanks for providing the roadmaps!

1. Blogging Away Debt
2. PF Blogs
3. NCN Blog
4. Frugal
5. MyCrazyDebt
6. NCN Network
7. Beach Girl’s Budget Blog
8. I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
9. Stacking Pennies
10. Hedonic Adjustment

My Hair Raising Battle!

2009-01-29T20:04:00.005-05:00

Mrs. KDB and I had reached a bit of an impasse. There are two words in her vocabulary which are not in mine. Cut and Color.

When I created our family budget this month, I set aside some money for hair cuts...ladies, please don’t shoot me...but I allowed what I thought at the time was a generous $50.00 per month!

Boy did I set off a maelstrom two days ago when the Mrs. decided she was overdue for a "cut and color." My son’s hair grows like kudzu, so we had him touched up in early January for a reasonable $18.00, leaving $32.00.

Easy. Simple. "Here honey, take the $32.00 and go get your cut and color." Needless to say my eyebrows are still singed with the heat from her retort! She practically choked on her chewing gum when I told her that was all that was left.

Her argument makes some sense; she doesn’t get a hair cut once a month, but her cut's and coloring for her long hair is waaaay more than $32.00. I was originally hoping to roll the January balance in to February’s new budget and then maybe on in to March for a "major" hairdo – but the whole point for her quick desire to get her hair done was the need to get “ready” for a bid presentation we were invited to give at another local soccer club.

The story behind the story is that Mrs. KDB just started her own promotional marketing, custom embroidery, and screen printing business late last year and the thing has actually grown pretty large in a few shirt months. This club invited us to propose taking over their spirit wear and promotional marketing business and my wife was going to be doing a lot of the public speaking. She felt a new look was in order and I pushed back a bit. Well, I actually agreed to tweak the budget accounts to come with an "appropriate" amount of cash and she made it to the salon.

Not a bad conflict to have I know and I fully expect the extra money her business brings in (or at least the moving of our former personal expenses such as her car and petrol which is now used 80% for the company, on to the business) to be a huge weapon in our debt battle.

So she did get her hair done. She looks great. She had that salon confidence. Oh, and we won the bid!

Scary Sign of the Times

2009-01-28T08:52:00.003-05:00

I was listening to NPR yesterday morning and wanted to write a few words on their story about the process of replacing U.S. Attorneys.

What caught my attention was not the process itself, but the fact that even former U.S. Attorneys are having trouble finding a job!

Traditionally, once you sit as a U.S. Attorney, you pretty much get your pick of the litter for plush, marble-walled, mahogany-bookcased, high paying partnerships in the biggest firms in whatever town you were based out of...but according to the last paragraph of this article, those jobs just aren't there!

A down economy doesn't mean fewer people break the law and in fact, I'm guessing the demand for bankruptcy attorneys has increased, but the reality is a lot of the big law firms rely on representing corporate clients.

So when corporations aren't expanding, merging, acquiring, stepping on toes, going public, going private, or going anywhere, then they don't need attorneys to guide them.

End of the January Budget Lessons Learned

2009-01-27T09:33:00.004-05:00

I have quite a few "budget codes" or "accounts" in my budget. I guess this can be credited to my days working as a Fed - when adherence to a budget was a matter of public law!

This is my first real month using this process so I'm still trying to tighten up the accounts. For example, several unexpected birthday invitations busted the gift budget and my son is in American Literature, so the book budget got stretched too (he needed to take notes in them so the Library wouldn't cut it)...but for the most part, we've done quite well and I've been able to borrow from other accounts to cover the overages, rather than go to the bank for more dough.

One of codes I forgot to create was what we call HBA (Health and Beauty Aids). This is to buy things like soap, cosmetics, vitamins, etc. - so I'll have to figure that one out going in to February.

I'm also not 100% on where to put cleaning supplies, paper towels, mop heads, dusters and that kind of stuff - I'm thinking it belongs in "house upkeep" but I was originally earmarking that money toward projects...I think I just answered my own question - time to set aside a fund for specific home improvement projects!

The other two new categories are allowances for both kids. My son is older and has more responsibility; therefore his allowance is greater than my daughters.

I'm hoping to have my budget pretty well set by April. I think about three months of tracking should help cover some of the unexpected items and give us a solid foundation.

Debt Reduction Assets and Liabilities Revisited

2009-01-26T06:17:00.000-05:00

When I wrote the piece on being cheap a couple of days ago, I was reminded of my post back in late August called, “Tackling Debt 101 - Be honest about your assets and liabilities.”

As I re-read that column, I saw pretty quickly that I needed to revisit my "debt reduction balance sheet" so to speak – as I believe some of our items have shuffled around in a very positive way!

The original list is block quoted while my new thoughts are in regular text underneath:

Assets:
1. Me – I’m naturally cheap. In fact, the great irony of this mountain of debt I face is that, for years, I was exactly like my mother! I never paid interest, never missed a bill, always had a savings account, and basically lived debt free.

What happened? For me, I know exactly when it happened. I bought a house. Ever since my first house, I’ve surged in to debt and out again as I added window treatments, furniture, basketball goals, and the list goes on and on.

Frugality is still a part of my nature and having a budget has helped re open those old skills!

2. Intelligence – I know enough to know that we are in trouble.

I know a lot of brilliant people in debt...I don't feel too bad - and I now I know I know enough to get us out of trouble.

3. Business acumen – my job requires me to be on top of client problems like white on rice. I can improve processes, create status reports, understand gap analysis, make recommendations, etc. all day long. It’s high time I turn some of that back on my own business. That is the business of personal finance.

I'm treating my debt reduction cause like I treat a client challenge - burning the midnight oil, thinking creatively, and being diligent.

4. Support – my mom and grandparents are fantastic role models for debt free living. I know I can turn to them for advice.

I need to call them more often ;-)

5. Technology – I am computer literate, have laptops, desktops, internet access, etc. and the ability to figure out how to use these tools in my favor. You’re reading a perfect example of how I plan to make access to technology an asset in my debt battle.

Using it every day!

Liabilities:
1. Sports – first let me qualify. I love love love the fact my kids are involved in sport. By itself it’s not necessarily a liability, but the reality is, having a family is expensive. I have soccer and cross country dues, uniforms, balls, tournament fees, etc. Basically a whole set of variable costs that make budgeting that much more complicated.

As I said originally, sports are not a liability - in fact - I believe maintaining health is a critically important way to control your families' costs! Sports fees however still belong in the liabilities column - the big difference is that today, I have a "Sports and Extra Curricular" set aside in my "Cash Budget Box."

2. My sweet wife – right now my wife doesn’t work. Right now, my wife likes to occasionally engage in what she calls, “retail therapy.” This means that sometimes, when she may have a bit of the blues, she’ll hit Target or Costco and load up on CDs, DVDs, or other superfluous purchases which zap our reserves’ or push our credit card debt that much further out. This is what lands her in the liabilities column.

The flip side is that if my wife got a part time job, she would have less time to fret, feel more engaged and productive, and could become a part of the Kick Debt’s Butt solution rather than adding to the problem.

I know that until she is 100% on board, this effort will fail. And as soon as that happens, she gets moved to the assets column.

Oh what a difference four months can make! We had our prayer meeting right before the new year when I showed her the full picture of our consumer debt - and now I have a converted budget-a-holic on my hands!

She loves the idea of having a fund to use for certain things and, ironically, she feels much more secure now. For her, being frugal and spending smartly is psychologically more rewarding than spending at will!

Plus she started her own business, which she is growing organically so that she doesn't bite off more than she can chew. Her revenues are already helping to pay for her expensive car, petrol, and auto insurance. If she can sustain this level of revenue, then we will be able to ratchet up our debt snowball even higher.

I am incredibly proud of her efforts and now that the kids see she and I as a united front, they are starting to tow the line as well.

My wife's approach to personal finances now officially moves from a Liability to a major Asset and becomes a key to our success!

How to make extra money blogging - Step 8 - Remember the Mighty Amazon

2009-01-25T06:12:00.001-05:00

Step 8 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Remember the mighty Amazon, Amazon.com that is:

We are almost done with the "Money Making" part of our journey to date. There are future money making avenues I hope to explore, such as writing reviews for money, selling content to publishers, syndication of writing, etc.

But most of my research thus far suggests that my blog will need to be up and running for at least six months - and most likely a full year - before product managers or publishers will even give me a glance. I will let you know as soon as I get some more intelligence on that revenue stream...and in fact, if anyone out there has had success, I'd love to hear your story!

So speaking of streams, I wanted to talk to you about one of the mightiest of streams in the internet jungle, Amazon.com! In Step 7, I talked about placing ads as an affiliate marketer with vendors; now I want you add one more item to your growing "to do" list, and that is sign up as an Amazon.com affiliate.

I separated this step from the previous because of one reason - the Amazon store. As an Amazon.com affiliate, you'll not only have access to link buttons, but you'll also be able to create your own storefront to sell products related to your content! Pretty cool huh?

For example, on my post about my beloved Rice Cooker and my beloved Slow Cooker, I was able to find both at Amazon.com. So, IF someone loved my right ups so much that they felt compelled to buy their own, THEN they could simply click the links I provided, purchase the items from Amazon, and then Amazon would send me a commission check! Sounds so easy doesn't it...well, so far I've not sent a single customer to Amazon, so while on paper the idea is great, the reality remains elusive, at least for me.

In addition to linking, you can build your own Amazon.com store. With your Amazon store, you can add only the products you want to sell, or you can add products by category. For example, I love soccer, so I created the Amazon.com Soccer Store where I sell soccer books, videos, gear, and subscriptions to soccer magazines.

Either way, you should certainly consider giving your readers the option to browse your own Amazon store. Again, it's a commission model which means you don't have to do anything but send people that way, cross your fingers, and hope for the best.

Do you play Credit Card roulette?

2009-01-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

I do. I admit it.

In my zeal to lower my APR using balance transfer promotional interest rates, I open every credit card offer I get in the mail these days and go straight to those tongue twisty terms and conditions.

Sometimes this works and sometimes I get burned. Here are my key lessons learned:

WARNING NUMBER 1: Check the balance transfer fee.
Every time you open a new card and transfer a balance from an old card, you get charged a balance transfer fee from your new card company. You better make sure that the fee you pay for the transfer is justified by bouncing it against the finance charges you're paying with your current card. In most cases, it is justified...particularly if your new card has a 0% APR for more than say 6 months.

WARNING NUMBER 2: Get Organized!
If you're going to be wheeling and dealing and slicing and dicing your credit card debt among a bunch of different low rate cards, you better have a plan for keeping up with them. I went from one massive credit card, to 6 - yes 6- smaller ones. And guess what, if any one of those 6 falls through the cracks - BAM - you get hammered again with the higher rates plus late fees.

WARNING NUMBER 3: Do not bother activating.
I'm happy to hear alternative advice on this, particularly if this is a credit hit or security risk, but when my new plastic comes in, I don't even activate my card. Instead I staple it to the terms sheet and file it away with the rest of my "debt files."

If anyone else plays this dangerous game, I'd love to hear your war stories.

How to make extra money blogging - Step 7 - Try Affiliate Marketing

2009-01-23T06:00:00.001-05:00

Step 7 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Affiliate Marketing:

You may have noticed on some blogs and websites, folks have more than just adsense ads up and running.

So do you want to know how to got hooked up with global brands like Adidas, TicketMaster, Busted Tees, and so on? Be ready to use some elbow grease folks, because this gets to be a bit like work.

First of all, the decision for these guys to let you list their ads is not automatic, so you really do have to have good content. But to get these ads set up, you may need to put down your pen for a while and roll up your sleeves.

It took me about three weeks to get all of the ad partners up and running on one of my sponsor's sites, Gruffgoat's Soccer Blog. With the benefit of this post, hopefully it won't take you quite that long.

We decided to try running ads as an affiliate marketer. Basically that means that the blog owner earn a commission off of anything a shopper buys, IF they click through to the shopping website from an ad on my site and IF that shopper ends up buying something! Those are two very big IFs!

There are some firms, such as Ticketmaster, who run their own affiliate program, but most farm it out to an affiliate clearinghouse to manage the sign-ups, the tracking, the links, and so on.

The two affiliate partners we picked for Gruffgoat's Soccer Blog are:

Affiliate Future

Commission Junction

You will have to spend some time in this process, but this is a big step to getting your site looking the way you want it, placing their ads in such a way as to not overwhelm your readers - I call that pimping it out - and then getting back to the fun part - writing.

Twenty two day pulse check

2009-01-22T05:38:00.003-05:00

I did my seven day pulse check back on January 7th, and decided now that we’re over the half way point in this month, it’s time to do another quick check on how we are progressing.

I’m going to run down the list of major initiatives and give you a brief update one by one.

1. Cash Box Budget: so far this has worked tremendously well. We’ve had to make some adjustments here and there – for example, we had quite a few birthday invitations this month and I didn’t have the heart to decline them, so we borrowed from other budget items to pay for birthday gifts. This may mean I need to beef up our gift budget and trim other budgets even more.

2. Debt Reduction: I’m happy to report that the first payment of !148.00 minimum plus $395 in Attack money was made and I’m looking forward to making the next attack payment in February.

3. New Ideas: As a result of this blog and the Personal Finance network I’ve grown I’ve been introduced to the idea of Snowflaking (thanks Beachgirl and I’ve Paid For This Twice Already!)

I’ve also learned there is more than one way to get your debt repayment snowball rolling…the psychology of an early payoff doesn’t bother me that much, so I’m charging ahead on APR only

And finally I’ve learned that your rice cooker can make a mean mess of Oatmeal (thanks K-Money)!

Kickin’ Debt’s Butt everyday now so let’s hope February brings some more opportunities to give our debt the beat down it deserves.

How to make extra money blogging - Step 6 - Pick the Right Layout

2009-01-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Step 6 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Using Google Adsense:

So here we are, six steps in, and we're finally starting to talk turkey - and by turkey, of course I mean money.

If I were to break down the "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" series in to "How to Advertise my Blog", then this would be Step 1. I'm not sure if that's a consolation prize for you or not, but nonetheless, you have to march from Step 1 to Step 5 before you can offer any one anything even remotely compelling.

The first ad program that I tried is definitely the road most traveled...it is also the road most accessible. And when you're just starting out, seeing the road in front is a big big plus.

If you are using blogger per my suggestion in Step 2, then you will see that it is already tightly integrated through the Layout tool with Google Adsense.

But not so fast, make sure that you have signed up for a Google Adsense account at:
https://www.google.com/adsense before you being.

WARNING - whenever you download those handy cool templates - if you picked something new per my suggestion in Step 3 - then make sure you comb through the HTML and replace any embedded adsense code with your own adsense ID. Otherwise you're just generating clicks for whomever created the template, rather than for the your content.

When you sign up with Google, you will get a unique id that will be associated with your Google account and this id will provide the tracking that Google needs to ensure they are counting the clicks right and paying you accordingly.

And here's an important rule you should know about - you sneaky little rascal - you can't click on your own ads to generate revenue (not that you would of course)

Get those adsense ads set up and working!

By the way, so far I've made exactly $16.75 off of adsense. Which is kind of funny, becuase you have to reach a minimum balance of $100.00 before you ever get paid...oh well, we'll see.

Remember, I didn't name this series "How to get rich blogging" ;-)

Introducing the Cheap List!

2009-01-20T15:51:00.015-05:00

One of my favorite posts talked about my natural inclination toward, well, I won’t sugar coat it, being cheap.

That being said, if I’m cheap, then I’m a mere servant in the realm of Cheapdom and my dear Grandfather is the King of all Cheapdom!

I began to think and write down all of the things he and my Grandmother do that most people would consider “cheap.”

Thus began “The Cheap List.”

And now I want to invite all of you to send me either the things you do that make your friends, your spouse, your kids, your boss, etc., call you “frugal” if they’re being nice, and downright “cheap” (that’s usually the one I get) if they’re being not so nice.

On the flip side, if you're that spouse, friend, kid, boss, then tell me what your cheap (insert relationship here) does that you think is downright stingy!

Don't be shy about attributing your real first name or initials to your cheap list contribution. I would like to be able to package the list up and share with all our readers once we get a healthy number of frugal items.

Some of them may sound silly, but I’m guessing that somewhere in this list, you will find something you hadn’t thought of before!

Oh, and send this request out to your frugal friends as well! Thanks for your help!

KDB

Either leave your Cheap List item in the comments on this post or use the Cheap List Input Form below if you want to remain anonymous;-)

Second KDP Poll is up: Where do you get most of your financial information?

2009-01-20T06:12:00.000-05:00

After exchanging a couple of comments with Budget Save Buy about her latest copy of Money magazine being wafer thin, I began thinking about how people are getting their financial nuggets of wisdom these days.

A lot of folks listen to Dave Ramsey's radio program...I'll be honest, other than a big billboard on the interstate, I had no idea who Dave Ramsey was until I started this blog.

Some folks swear by certain books, or subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, and still others just cruise the internet superhighway picking up salient pieces of information as they go.

I'm a big fan of CNBC and the Journal myself, but that's mostly for straight news, so I think most of the recent bits of good personal finance information I've received have to be credited to my friends in the blogosphere. So count that as one vote toward Blogs (I realize of course there may be a bias toward the same medium in which people are communicating...but we'll see).

The polls are always open to your right ->

What financial tool do you use the most?

2009-01-19T08:18:00.003-05:00

The polls have closed on Kick Debt's Butt's first ever KDB Poll and the results have flooded in (ahem)...anyway, to start out the poll, I wanted to get an idea about what most of you are using to manage your finances day to day.

Here's what you said:

No surprise that in this day and age, the majority of use the powerful and ubiquitous spreadsheet! It is in fact my tool of choice as well. It has a lot of the power of a financial calculator plus the option to do easy "what if" analyses.

How to make extra money blogging - Step 5 - How to List Your Blog on Search Engines

2009-01-19T05:48:00.000-05:00

Step 5 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Submit Your Site to Search Engines:

Congratulations! With several posts on your blog, you're starting to get in to a rhythm. You are building some read-worthy content!

Now if someone goes to Google and types in the search bar, "personal finance blogs," do you have any idea how it returns all...hang on, I'm about to try it...17,700,000 results after you hit the search button? I didn't have any idea, so I set out discovering the secret of search engines.

It's actually not that much of a secret anymore. Search engines are inescapable creatures - if the internet is your body, then search engines are your neurons, processing requests for information from your top of your head to the tips of your toes, and at lightening speed.

They are ubiquitous and they are at the core of two of the internet's biggest players, the rising Google and once mighty, yet waning, Yahoo, all the while other tech giants, such as Microsoft, have done their best to grab a piece of this vital pie.

When you want information on the internet, if you are like most people in the world, your first stop now is Google. And most likely, you're reading this post to learn how to get your new blog to show up in any search for the knowledge you're sharing!

Sound technical? Well, it's not...at least as far as we're concerned...not by a long shot. Submitting your sites maybe the easiest step we'll encounter in the journey to getting your blog found.

Simply have your URL ready and some key words and follow these links:

Google URL Submit

Yahoo Search Submit

Sure there are more out there, but I'm just telling you what's worked for me.

I learned you have to be patient, the technologies are not immediate...and you must understand that listing is a long way from showing up at the top of the heap.

You saw the number of results when I typed in "personal finance blogs" - but if I type in "Kick Debts Butt", guess what? Number one! Of course, the name of my blog doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone except me...

So if I type, "Key kitchen conveniences", I discover - much to my surprise actually - that my post on getting a quality rice cooker is number 1 out of 201,000!

Well, everyone loves rice...he he.

“Dad, why are you so cheap?" - visualize rolling teen aged eyeballs

2009-01-18T06:01:00.003-05:00

Oh how many times have I heard that. But hearing this makes me wonder,

"What do you do that makes your friends or family call you cheap?"

When I first started this blog back in August – before I really started taking our families financial health seriously – I made a list of my assets and liabilities.

One of the top items on my list of assets is my natural inclination toward parsimony…in other words, I’m CHEAP!

Whether it can be traced somewhere in my genetic code (I come from at least four generations of hyper thrifty individuals) or whether it’s just my general unwillingness to depart from my money, I don’t know the root – what I do know is that somewhere along the path of my life, my “cheapness” has been overwhelmed.

Heck, even in high school, our senior class gave out mock awards and they all voted to award me “Mr. Spendthrift”…oh the sweet and terrible irony.

So fast forward to today, and now that my family is on board with our “Cash Box Budget,” and we are waging a consolidated war on debt, I can feel those old thrifty memories starting to stir.

With this new age of energy efficiency and environmental awareness, suddenly hanging out the laundry or carpooling or growing your own vegetables, doesn’t make you cheap, it makes you chic!

So I was wondering, what are the things you do that earn you the proud moniker of “cheap” – I prefer "frugal" of course?

Me, I put a lock down on our thermostat and have told everyone to layer up if they’re cold. At first I encountered a LOT of whining, but I showed everyone last month’s natural gas bill, the whining dropped off and the sweatshirts pulled on.

Surprise savings opportunity on my Cable Bill

2009-01-17T10:44:00.002-05:00

I work from home while I’m not traveling so I use a high speed internet connection.

I’d had my Comcast Bill set up for an automatic bill pay at $51.99 per month. We frankly watch very little TV around here so basic cable is more than enough for us, but I do need the high speed data, so my bill broke down as:

$14.95 for basic cable
$33.00 for high speed data
$a few bucks for taxes

Well, I had forgotten that my $33.00 for high speed data was a 12 month promotional deal that expired a couple of months ago and that the actual price for high speed internet is $42.95 – plus they bumped up basic cable by $4.00 so that basic is now $18.95. The net being a new bill of $63.29!

I have been growing a balance due for a couple of months and didn’t even realize it.

When I called Comcast yesterday to ask what had changed, their customer service department was very courteous and explained it.

So here’s the cool part – I really didn’t feel like paying $62.95 a month on internet and cable TV so I asked if there were any other high speed options.

Much to my utter delight Comcast offers an Economy Class internet service! For $24.95 per month, I can get data at 4 Megabyte speed as opposed to my current 6 Megabyte speed which costs me $42.95.

Let’s do the math – I really love math these days – one phone call means that for each month, I’m now saving $18.00 bucks. That’s an extra $216.00 per year.

The lesson: take a look at your subscription services and make sure your service matches your need.

For example, Comcast made the switch immediately and this morning is the test. Will I still be able to watch English Premier League soccer on my laptop? So far, the match is pretty bad, but the signal is awesome!

How to make extra money blogging - Step 4 - Write!

2009-01-17T07:49:00.001-05:00

Step 4 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Write:

Stop what you’re doing and write. That’s right. Write.

Well don't stop right away...first finish reading this post, make a comment or two, and then write. (You just said the word "write" 8 times...at least phonetically...he he)

I promise this is not a cop out step to frustrate you. Nor is a step just so that at the end of these, they'll total ten.

This step is meant to remind you why you’re here in the first place.

I’ve been there and I know you’re getting excited. Especially if you're writing a debt reduction / personal finance blog like me. And doubly especially if you're just starting out as a part of the new year...also like me!

You want to get your whiz bang blog up and running, you want to share your knowledge, your stories, your tips and tricks, your frustrations, and it would be nice if you could generate a couple of bucks here and there without totally pimping out your material.

No doubt you’ve followed Step 3 and picked a new template and boy I bet it looks good. But guess what – you can’t have white space in your blog posts.

But blogging effectively is much more than just filling white space; you need to make sure your material is good. And by good I mean timely, well written, and interesting! Let's face it, you and I both have tons of stiff competition competing for reading eyes.

So don’t worry about anything else now except writing. Shoot for five to seven solid posts before you even bother with Step 5.

Now put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and spread some knowledge!

My favorite Slow Cooking cook book

2009-01-16T09:08:00.006-05:00

Oops, I'm going to have to fire my editor! umm, ok, so that's me.

As I was reading over the post on my beloved Slow Cooker, I saw that I had forgotten to post a link to the book I proceed to go on and on about (I've since gone back and added it).

That being said, this little gem is worthy of its own post.

Here's a link to it on Amazon.com. I've included the link as a part of my Amazon Affiliates program - I'll never recommend anything I don't use myself by the way - but as a fellow Debt Butt Kicker, I expect you to shop around for the best deal:

Happy Reading and Happy Cooking!

Key kitchen conveniences – a quality Slow Cooker

2009-01-16T07:55:00.004-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I happen to really enjoy cooking, but sometimes struggle with fitting the "process" of cooking in with a hectic daily (and evening) schedule.

Here is another suggestion for an essential kitchen item you should add to your arsenal to make cooking at home even easier and far more convenient:

A good slow cooker –
These magic little appliances originated 37 years ago, almost by accident. Their original intent was pretty specific - cooking beans. But folks quickly begin to experiment with the electric bean cooker, and today we have a great kitchen tool.

I use the original Crock-Pot® brand slow-cooker from Rival (pictured below), but the technology is pretty simple so don't get too hung up on brand names. The picture actually links to my amazon.com affiliate program, if you were inclined to purchase this exact model, but I encourage you to shop around. I actually bought mine at Costco a couple of years ago.

To help you get started, there are literally thousands of books on slow cooking so I’m not going to recreate a list for you here. I bought this book shortly after I got my slow cooker and have had some great successes from it:

As you can see, Amazon has it listed for around $12.00 bucks...not too bad and I go to this little book for more than just the slow cooking recipes.

William Sonomoa put it together and I love how it's laid out. Basically it's divided in to 3 main sections. The recipes are designated by "preparation" time and each page has a big color close up picture of what your finished result is "supposed" to look like (supposed is in quotes because you know as well as I they never quite look like that;-)

The first section of the book has 10 recipes that you can prep in 15 minutes.

The second section has 16 recipes that you can prep in 30 minutes.

The last section of 14 recipes is a list that will give you food plus extra for storage.

I love the appendix almost as much as I love the recipes. It has great tips on getting started, stocking the kitchen, saving time, and so on.

So in summary a slow cooker is a great time saver once you get the hang of it and when done right, it makes most any meat dish, stew, sauce, ratatouille, bolognese, gumbo, etc. turn out awesome.

Happy Cooking!

Key kitchen conveniences – a quality Rice Cooker

2009-01-15T07:51:00.001-05:00

I happen to be a one of these guys who enjoys cooking quite a bit…and I’m not talking about manning the grill (which I also love by the way), I’m talking about chopping veggies, seasoning meats, putting together stews and sauces, etc.

I travel quite a bit for my day job, so I don’t get to spend as much time in the kitchen as I like. That being the case, convenience is also very important to getting yourself in to the kitchen.

Here is a suggestion for an essential kitchen item you should add to your arsenal to make cooking at home even easier:

A quality rice cooker -

My wife is Korean and Filipino and she grew up with rice at the ready for almost every meal; she brought that tradition with her to our family so we have basically always had a rice cooker. These appliances used to be sort of hard to find, but now you can buy a good one just about anywhere.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law bought an “old school” Zojirushi for us 15 years ago just like the one pictured below, we’ve probably used it over 3000 times and it still works beautifully!

Basically, you can put a couple of cups of rice in there (I mix brown and white to build up the whole grains a bit) and it makes perfect steamed rice as a healthy side dish.

Wash the basin with hot water and mild dish soap, don’t immerse the electrical bits, and enjoy it year after year.

Happy Cooking!

My gym membership is expiring this month and guess who's NOT going to rejoin!

2009-01-14T12:34:00.001-05:00

My gym membership is expiring this month and I'm not going to rejoin...and I actually used the heck out of it!

Here's why?

1. Money - I can think of 50 better things to do with my money than spend it on a gym membership

2. Need - this is the biggest reason - I don't need the gym (and chances are neither do you) - I have no excuse to not work out at home. I have a complete set of free weights, a good sturdy bench, a complete set of dumbbells, a heavy bag, speed bag, AND an elliptical...so why on earth did I ever join to begin with? Mrs. KDB wanted a personal trainer and when the PT she was using left the gym, the gym owner converted her prepaid payments in to a membership for us.

And I'll totally grant you the equipment there is much much nicer than mine at home, and there are a few pieces of equipment at the gym that I love having access to that I don't have at home.

Now here's the reality. Body weight workouts are absolutely awesome and you don't need anything. If you do want to amp it up, just go to the local sporting goods store and get a couple of sets of dumbbells. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and yoga poses will help most anyone reach their muscle development goals.

The other biggee for me is, I've grown to absolutely hate doing cardio inside.

As a soccer player, I have always loved running, and now I've gotten so used to running outside over the years, the thought of parking on a treadmill or stationary bike makes me cringe.

I've got gear for year round running in all but a torrential downpour - so weather is never an obstacle.

Do this before you join the gym: try getting out on the pavement - no reading books, no magazines, no chit chat, no iPods - just you and the road, the wind, the sounds around you...it's pretty awesome and I bet you'll get hooked too.

Good luck to all!

Yahoo front page article on putting more cash in your pocket

2009-01-14T07:48:00.000-05:00

By now you may have read the Yahoo! article by Stacy Rapacon courtesy of Kiplinger.com.

If you haven't, it's not a bad read and there are a couple of really good tips for fellow debt bootie kickers out there. Some of the tips are more suited for folks well in to their financial journey; folks who have turned the corner on debt and who are starting to build wealth.

Since I'm not there yet (hi wealth...I can see you waaay off in the distance), here are my comments on what I think for near term and long term savings.

1. Get your spending under control: Definitely get your spending under control. We've instituted a very tight, cash based budget around here and so far, everyone loves it.

2. Set up a flexible spending account: You now, I'm no fan of taxes, but I've never really gotten in to these - the idea of over committing funds and then losing them at the end of the year scared me away.

3. File a new W-4: this one is HUGE! Do not let the feds hold too much of your money! Definitely get with your tax professional to determine how many deductions you can take. I did this late last year and basically created my Debt Attack Amount. This is what I call the money I can dedicate to debt beyond the minimums.

4. Raise your insurance deductibles: meh...I've always done this so nothing big here for me.

5. Cut the cost of credit: I'm still playing the credit card balance transfer game, but now that we've stopped using cards all together, I feel much more confident I can keep up with it...I'll keep you posted.

6. Open an online savings account: maybe later - I have my small savings account as a part of my checking but I'm not ready to stash any more cash away until the consumer debt is gone.

7. Bump up your 401(k) contributions: same as above - you better believe this is the first thing I do when consumer debt's butt is well and truly kicked!

How to make water for dinner look chic and cool

2009-01-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

When it comes to beverages, water is nature's perfect gift. What is cheaper than water? What is more refreshing than water? What is more accessible than water? What hardly ever makes it to the dinner table in American households? Water!

I love water, so for me, moving toward water for dinner was easy. But for the rest of my family, not so much. Since we're on a super tight budget, I'm re-introducing something we picked up in Australia.

While we were living down under, one of the first things we noticed when dining out was that rather than bringing your table full glasses of water prior to ordering like most American sit down restaurants (pre-drought if you're reading this in the South), they would bring the table four empty glasses and a very nice glass bottle of chilled water.

Australia is of course an English commonwealth nation, populated largely by people of English decent, so I'm only guessing that ice was never high on their list of things to put out for dinner.

That being said, we absolutely fell in love with the practice. Most restaurants would simply wash out recyclable wine bottles and use them for serving water. We actually brought four of these home with us (pictured at left in my kitchen).

My kids love it, my wife loves it, and it adds a little sophistication to drinking "plain old" water!

How to make extra money blogging - Step 3 - Pick the Right Layout

2009-01-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

Step 3 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Pick the Right Layout For Your Blog's Purpose:

So you've noticed I don't actually use a standard Blogger template huh? The blog template I originally picked from blogger looked like all the rest! Now that's fine if you've been blogging for three years and have 1000 posts floating around the internet. But my marketing brain said that I ought to figure out some way to differentiate myself.

Remember, I haven't spent a single cent of my money so far on Kick Debt's Butt and I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. So I went to my old friend the Google search bar and typed in a very simple search query:

Free Blogger Templates

Try it now using the search bar below:

BAM! I was flooded with sites offering free - DIFFERENT - templates. Like I said, I didn't want to pay for my own unique template, so I spent a couple of days cruising through the various sites until I found one that I thought looked clean and professional, had some ad space should I desire to offer ad space, and had features that I could adjust in my blogger dashboard.

And then I changed it anyway! So don't be afraid to be flexible when you're starting out.

So to summarize Step 3, before you start cranking away trying to format and tweak your blogger blog template and your graphics, decide if it's the one you want to keep. If not, spend some time searching for a FREE template you can use.

Great Family Treat While On a Budget

2009-01-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

Last night, my family was begging me to take them on a “dessert” run. Trust me when I say this, I love dessert. I have a huge weakness for dark chocolate and French twirls with vanilla crème, and Girl Scout cookies, and…well, you get the picture.

So last night, after an excellent family dinner (something we seem to be having more and more of since instituting the budget), and it being Sunday and all, everyone was feeling a bit sweetish.

We looked around the pantry and whala! An idea! Rice Krispies Treats®!

I’m not talking about the pre-packaged individually wrapped things...no I mean the real, melt the butter, stir in the marshmallows until it’s rich and creamy, and then finally stir in the Rice Krispies and gobble it down in a big warm spoonful of goodness kind of Rice Krispies Treats.

So we did a quick ingredient check. Rice Krispies? Check. Margarine? Check. Marshmallows? Check.

We all pitched in to make this delicious treat I greatly enjoyed as a child. Interestingly enough, Rice Krispies are still rather expensive in my grocery store so you may want to try some alternative off brands if you can bring yourself to do it. But we went with what we already had…originals…and ate them warm right off the spoon.

Oh and by the way, we now have a full Pyrex container that will deliver good treats for the next three or four days!

Change is coming to Kick Debt's Butt

2009-01-11T21:12:00.001-05:00

I'm sorry to disappoint my thousands...ok dozens..ok my reader ;-) but I'm going to have to spend an hour or so tonight redoing my blog layout. My current template seems to be jacked up beyond repair and is not letting me do anything with widgets.

So with that being the case, I'm thinking of opting for just a good old fashioned plain blog template without too many bells and whistles.

As I look up and down the side columns I see a couple of cool features I definitely want to keep: my NCN chart, my list of PF Blogs I dig. I think everything else I can add back fairly easily. Wish me luck!

Killer January Gas Bill

2009-01-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

Folks I just opened my gas bill for what I thought was a rather warm December and it just about blew me away.

$266.49!

That’s a full 128% increase over our therm usage from the same period last year.

Now after a little research in to this; I’m thinking that it was actually quite cold in late November and early December, and the actual billing period runs from Nov 22 – Dec. 23.

I’ve issued a strict edict that the thermostat should not, under any circumstances exceed 68 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ll give you guys an update next month on how well we did.

How to make extra money blogging - Step 2 - Now Where Do I Begin

2009-01-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

Step 2 in my 10 part series, "How to Make Extra Money Blogging" - Now Where Do I Begin:

As you began to ponder the possibility of writing about something you love, you begin to ask yourself the basic questions, "how do I start...where do I begin?"

This has technical implications, convenience implications, and potentially financial implications as you begin to explore the options for how and where to host a blog.

No doubt you have reviewed my post on content, and your idea is ready to find a home.

The first step is to chose your medium. I knew about Google's "blogger" program and knew that to get started, it would cost me exactly ZERO dollars! That's right, to get a blog started on Google blogger, you pay nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. As I'm saving pennies everywhere I can, this was a big deal for me.

A blog on Google will get you a url - that address with the "http://www.com" stuff - that reads something like, http://kickdebtsbutt.blogspot.com. Not too bad, and there are millions of good blogs out there with Google's blogspot address embedded in them.

If for branding purposes you want to move your content to a new domain, such as www.kickdebtsbutt.com, you certainly can. If you sign up at Google, and if you have an extra $10.00 to spend, you simply go to the Settings Tap - Publishing Option - and follow the instructions for switching your blogspot address to a custom domain. This is super easy as Google's custom domain partner changes all of the Domain Name Server settings for you automatically...if you don't even know what a Domain Name Server is, then this is definilty a good option for you. ;-)

Within the first week of starting one of my other blogs, a now highly visited blog on soccer, I was finding myself at the top of Google searches for World Soccer stories and was averaging 100 impressions a day.

I'm fairly technologically savvy, but an XML programmer I am not. Google's blogger is a great way to start getting your content pages out of your head, and in to cyberspace.

Links You Need:
http://www.blogger.com/home

How to make extra money blogging - Step 1 - Content is King

2009-01-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

Step 1 - Content is King:

A lot of folks are blogging these days. Millions in fact. Hardly any of us are making a living at it. But remember, this series is not about getting rich, it's about making a few extra bucks on the side.

So if these posts are to be considered a road map for success, then the first, most vital step, is to figure out what it is that you can write authoritatively about. Then figure out if you can write about it a lot. I mean...a whole lot.

Is there enough there to sustain an audience with a billion choices at their collective fingertips?

This will be your blog CONTENT. Content is bold for a reason. On the internet, a blog, website, newsroom, discussion forum, whatever, is nothing without useful content.

Content keeps people coming back for more and more, convinces people to try the products you're selling, encourages them to talk about your site with their like minded friends, and so on.

For example, I love soccer. But I need to ask myself, "is soccer something I can write about day after day, week after week, and even year after year?"

That being said, I also love making money, saving money, and the idea of being debt free. So why not share my debt journey with those who are also interested in living debt free? Ergo, the blog you have before you!

Some thoughts on making extra money

2009-01-09T11:13:00.000-05:00

Today is Friday and the much awaited jobs report has had an interesting effect on the markets, they’re actually a bit higher because the number was not as bad as anticipated.

I do find it both sad and funny that a jobs loss number for December of 524,000 makes stocks rise a bit, but basically we have a case of Wall Street reacting to news that was not as bad as they expected. Economists’ had originally forecasted a loss of 550,000, so congrats to the 26,000 who hung on!

For the rest, and basically for anyone looking to beat down their debt, there are of course two sides to the cash flow equation.

Budgeting and restricting what you spend in order to free up more cash to attack your debt only addresses the cash out flow. What about the cash in flow?

With that question, I’m starting a series of posts on things people are doing to make a little extra money on the side. My employer frowns upon second jobs so I have to keep any extra curricular stuff a bit discreet – in other words, I can’t head down to the mall and pick up a part time job at Borders.

So the first part of the series is on “Money makers you can start without needing another W2.”

Please send your suggestions for Money Makers at the contact page.

Site polls are here!

2009-01-08T23:32:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my Budget flexibility post, I do quite enjoy my fair share of statistics.

With that, I'm going to run a bi-monthly poll on Kick Debt's Butt...but here's the catch, some weeks they'll be about debt reduction, savings plans, personal finance tips, investing, and so on...but other's may be about, well, anything!

Of course for the inaugural poll, I'm sticking with personal finance.

I promise I'll write a post summarizing the poll results for all to enjoy.

Does your budget have flexibility?

2009-01-08T21:52:00.001-05:00

I've just spent the last 20 minutes shaving $10.00 here and $20.00 there to try and make something I didn't expect on January the 1st, fit my budget.

We need to hire a tutor.

I'm fairly decent at math and frankly I'm pretty darn good at statistics, but my dear child just has never really "gotten" it so to speak. This was not something I anticipated when I first built the budget but it turns out that we are going to try out Mathnasium.

I'm really impressed with the owners and my child is absolutely ecstatic about going, so that alone means a whole heck of lot. Anyone who can get a kid excited about studying math is doing something right!

The problem is it's not exactly cheap; and it probably won't be for a full year, but either way, I've got to find a way to pay for it and I'm not coming off my credit debt attack plan!

I've moved some numbers around, tightened the belt here and there, but still it's a bit too early to know exactly how realistic it is. Here's hoping...oh, and GO MATH!

Seven day pulse check

2009-01-07T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well we are seven days in to the new year and this new way of looking at our finances and I’ve got say, I’ve already seen some major changes.

One of the first and most interesting things both my wife and I are doing is, we are actually talking about our errands in detail before we leave the house.

You may be asking, “how in the heck do you leave the house and not know where you’re going?” Legitimate question. But no kidding, many times we’d pile in the car and say “we need to go Costco” and head out with guns a blazin’.

Little did I realize that this nonchalant approach to errands, along with our unfettered access to our bank check card or Costco American Express, resulted in a perfect storm of overspending.

Now that we are operating with a tight budget, we have a whole different mindset before we ever even leave the house. We ask, “what do we need?” “where will we get it (for the best deal...bulk sometimes is not always best...but that's a topic worthy of several future posts)?” and then the real kicker, “how much money do we think we’ll need?!”

Because I’m using a cash budget, I really have to think about how much my predetermined shopping list is going to cost me. What a refreshing revelation...or should I say, realization.

A little gift from me, courtesy of my mortgage company

2009-01-06T21:57:00.000-05:00

Most days when I go to the mailbox and see a letter from my mortgage company, I expect to see a statement; however, I start paying much closer attention to those letters around the end of December/beginning of January time frame.

There are a couple of reasons for this heightened sense of mortgage awareness, foremost being tax statements, but secondarily, some years I get a bill for an escrow underpayment and very rarely, I get a check for an escrow overpayment.

This year I'm happy to report that I have over paid my escrow account by about $300 bucks!

It feels a little like free money; however of course I understand that this is actually my own money that they've been holding for the last 12 months in an interest free savings account...but I'm not one to be a Debbie Downer. So I look at this as an extra $300 that goes straight toward kicking my debt's butt...even if it starts with little baby kicks like this. So thanks me, for sending myself an unexpected check!

Sorry Starbucks, I'm Brewing My Own

2009-01-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

Coffee is a multi billion dollar a year business and for the past 15 or so years, America's love affair with gourmet coffees has been growing substantially year after year.

This tremendous growth was evidenced by the now ubiquitous Starbucks chain of coffee shops. Now the economy is shrinking and a lot of people are arriving at the same conclusion I arrived at a couple of years ago...I really don't like spending more than $1.00 for a cup of coffee; but at gourmet coffee shops, I was expected to spend around $4.00! This realization has dawned on an America with increasingly fewer discretionary funds and as such, the Starbucks chain is also shrinking.

Of course I hate to see a business contract, but your coffee target should be an easy win for your budget goals. Let's do some quick math:

If you drink 4 gourmet coffees per week at $4.00 a cup that's $16 per week, $64 per month, and a whopping $832 per year!

No, if you're like me and enjoy brewed coffee, then let's look at brewing your own. If you drink between 6-8 cups of regular coffee per week then you'll need a coffee maker. You can buy a Mr. Coffee 12 Cup Coffeemaker for $16.88 at Walmart. Then hit Costco for 48oz of Folgers Classic Roast for $9.99 - one of these will brew you 380 cups! Most likely you'll buy two of these a year so that will put you at $20.00 total. So we'll round up for water, electricity, and the joy of drinking out of your favourite coffee mugs, and your brew at home total for year one is about $40.00!

By changing your coffee consumption habits you could put an additional $792.00 per year in your own pocket!

Restaurants are a huge money pit!

2009-01-03T19:36:00.000-05:00

I realize that in this day of global economic distress, we are supposed to be spending our money to help "jump start" the economy again. I hate to say it folks, buy my frivolous spending economy jump starting days are over.

With the amount of money I'm paying in credit card interest each month alone, I could have several nice fillet mignon dinners! So why are my cards so high? Well, a big culprit is our families' propensity to dine out rather than dine in.

Turns out my wife doesn't really like cooking all that much - although when she does cook it tends to be delightful stuff. I on the other hand love to cook, but my traveling job keeps me out of the kitchen quite often.

Sounds like we are at an impasse right? Not to worry dear reader, I've factored this in to our budget. I've alloted the family a "restaurant" budget as well as a "grocery" budget. The big difference is, I've dramatically shrunk the restaurant and beefed up (no pun intended) the grocery. Meaning we ought to be able to eat better, healthier food if we're willing to spend a bit more time in our kitchen and not someone else's. On our family pledge, we agreed we would sacrifice some, but in my mind, eating home cooking is no sacrifice, it's a privilege...we just need to reprogram ourselves to appreciate it that way.

Happy New Year! - Now Get Organized

2009-01-02T14:50:00.000-05:00

I've spent the better part of two days getting my financial you know what together and I'm absolutely stunned! STUNNED!

I've finally totaled up all of my revolving debt accounts, credit card accounts, etc., and have found out that our family is facing a debt mountain! An absolute Mt. Everest of debt in fact. We have over $40,000 in debt!

Fortunately, in addition to adding up how much we've managed to rack up; we've also all agreed to a tight family budget and our own "Snowball" debt reduction plan.

As a part of the snowball plan, I've charted every account we have with a balance, on a white board. Thanks to Debt Girl by the way for the idea of lifting it from a spreadsheet to a visible constant reminder. I hope that in moments of weakness, we all will glance at the white board and be reminded of our ultimate goal.

If we stick to it, I estimate we can be out from this debt by September of 2011...approximately 33 months from today. Our first card should go to zero by September of this year...only 9 months away! Here we go!

The Family Financial Freedom Pledge

2008-12-31T10:10:00.000-05:00

Here's the pledge we took:

The Family Financial Freedom Pledge

We, the _______ Family, hereby recognize that we may be slipping in to some deep “you know what” and we, being responsible people, realize that we need to make some changes to the way we live to keep that from happening.

From this day forward, we agree that we want to live within our means and get out of debt.

In order to achieve this long term goal, we agree to the following changes:

We will use a tight budget and stick to it
We will not beg, whine, argue, etc., to try and cheat the budget
We will set aside money in the budget to reward ourselves
We will not use Credit Cards or Revolving Credit accounts – we will buy only what we can afford
Any windfalls will be applied to our Credit Card and Revolving Debt accounts
We understand that going out to eat is a privilege, not a right
We will take care of ourselves physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually
We will respect each other and ourselves
We will all be willing to sacrifice
We will all look for ways to add revenue (money in to the family) and for ways to cut expenses (money that we spend)
Mom and Dad will review our finances once per week (that’s only 52 times a year)
Dad will pay the bills once per week

This pledge we take on __________, 20__.

Moving Toward a Family Commitment

2008-12-31T10:02:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I sat down at my computer and thought pretty hard about why we can never seem to get on top of our finances. One of the things I determined is that, it's "we", not "me". And I never seem to include the "we" in my attempts.

I decided that using the bank check card is actually killing us as we have no idea how much we are spending on what. We don't make enough money to go out to eat for every meal, or to buy whatever we want at Wal-mart or Target; but with the check card, our frivolous purchases keep undermining everything.

So with that, I created a pledge. A real document with family financial goals and lifestyle changes that we will need to make in order to reach those goals. My wife, my two kids, and I sat around the table, read them over, agreed to them, and singed!

Afterward, I collected all of the bank check cards and remaining credit cards.

Falling Off the Wagon...and Getting Back On

2008-12-31T09:57:00.000-05:00

Well folks, it's been quite a few months since I've posted here and needless to say, I've managed to fall off the wagon. We started our own business but we are still using our credit cards and adding to the mountain rather than chipping away.

Here we are on December 31st, looking at a highly uncertain economic year in 2009, and we have finally decided to take up this cause again.

Time to reform the troops and take down our debt once and for all!

Follow up on BOA Keep the Change program

2008-09-02T14:00:00.000-04:00

I forgot to mention in my first post on the new Bank of America Keep the Change program, that you need three things in order to get started:

1. A checking account with BOA
2. A savings account with BOA
3. A check card (not an ATM or straight credit card)

If you have all three of these, I could see no reason to delay. If you don't already bank with BOA, then this could be enough of a reason to switch over.

If you run 40 transactions a month and average $ .50 in change each transaction, then at the end of the year, you will have added $309.00 to your savings account for doing absolutely nothing differently.

Looking for a place to save money - check your insurance policies

2008-09-02T13:51:00.000-04:00

You've seen the commercial that goes something like..."I don't know about that, but I did save a ton of money on my car insurance." I've taken that to heart and started shopping around for new auto and home owner's insurance.

My dear Mom, who has more cars than handbags - well not really, but you get the point - took the initiative to pull away from the insurance agency we've used for decades and said she is now saving around $1000 bucks a year with her new company!

Naturally I thought - why am I with these guys? My rates never go down, we don't drive hardly anywhere, and my allegiance should be to the policy and my rate, not to the insurance company.

As of today, I'm shopping for new insurance and I'll get back to you on how much we save each year. Every penny saved is more money that I can use to tackle my debt and add to the revenue side of my cash flow equation.

New way to save with Bank of America

2008-09-02T13:45:00.001-04:00

Bank of America has a new savings promotional deal called "Keep the Change®".

The deal goes something like this, whenever we use our BOA Checkcard to make a purchase - which by the way we use way too often - BOA will round up the the cents difference to the nearest dollar and deposit that amount in to your BOA savings account.

According to the BOA terms of service agreement, the bank will match 100% of your Keep the Change transfers for the first three months after you enroll. After that, they will match 5% with a maximum total match of $250 per year.

I looked all over for a catch but couldn't find anything...all signs point to this as being free money...I like to think of it as a customer appreciation gift. Needless to say, I've just signed up and am curious to see how quickly our change adds up.

Tough Time to Start a Debt Reduction Plan

2008-09-01T10:05:00.000-04:00

I'm recovering from the weekend's activities and thinking that this is a tough time to start a debt reduction plan.

It's labor day and after a long weekend of entertaining - I'm afraid I've made quite a sizable dent in my spending budget for September. To be fair, I think entertaining is actually a good investment for the future. Mixing guests and inviting friends with different backgrounds is a great way to open up your social network and gets other like minded people connected.

In my view, a social network is just one move away from a professional network and many times those two overlap.

The only problem is while the dollars spent are easy to quantify, the return on investment may be much more difficult to calculate. Nonetheless it's done, we had a blast, and now I'll simply figure out what I can cut in September to make it up. I'm thinking "restaurants" are an easy target.

The bottom line is, there is always a holiday, a birthday, an anniversary, or some big event which can easily overshadow your debt reduction goals. Discipline is key and getting in to the habit of looking for inexpensive alternatives can still keep you plugged in to important networks without becoming a social pariah. More on those inexpensive alternatives in a later post.

Happy Labor Day! (I'm off to clean out the garage to make room for the new mower;-)

The new McLane reel mower is on the way!

2008-08-29T19:14:00.000-04:00

I've canceled lawn service and as of today, have officially started building up my lawn care inventory!

I went to Sears and purchased a McLane motorized reel mower (shown in image to the left). I looked around on Craigslist for quite a while, and actually found a few reel mowers, but felt like I could probably use for a couple of hundred dollars extra, the peace of mind of a 2-year warranty and just the fact that it's a new mower means I should be able to get a decade or more out of this.

In addition, I have a Bermuda grass lawn and frankly, a rotary mower can really chew up the grass...for those of you who don't know, the reel mower is what they use to keep a golf course neat trim.

This purchase has several impactions:
1. I added to my Other Consumer debt column - not a good start I know - but I was able to buy the mower at 12 months same as cash, which means I should realize little to no disruption in my current cash flow cycle, meanwhile I'm owning the mower outright. Here's the new chart:

2. It means I have to also need an edger.

3. Finally, I think my son may actually be able to use this mower to generate some extra cash for himself...particularly once people see the quality of cut it leaves behind.

The Importance of Getting Organized

2008-08-28T12:43:00.000-04:00

I spent the greater part of five hours getting organized.

Just as with any business project that I'm engaged, I had to gather data in order to create the As Is picture of my finances.

How do you make gathering data easy? First and foremost, getting organized is key.

By that I mean, going through old paperwork and throwing stuff away, creating files and folders for all of your open accounts, creating archived files for all of your old accounts - especially if you want to ever look at trends - and generally creating a personal finance environment where paperwork, accounts, etc., is readily available.

Credit Card Balance Transfers - the gamble

2008-08-27T20:43:00.001-04:00

Over the last month I already had the sinking feeling that we were swimming in debt. I would get the credit card statement each month and the only purchase listed was the periodic finance charge - which by the way was hitting $xx0.00 bucks a month.

Plus my monthly minimum was upwards of $x00, so I knew it was time for a change. I had to get out from under the finance charge so I decided to play Credit Card Roulette and transfer the balance to a couple of 0% APR balance transfer options.

We already have a high credit limit so I couldn't move it to just one card; instead, it's now spread across three but with zero interest through September 2009.

My goal is to pay all of it off before then! Auspicious? yes, doable? also yes.

I will have to wait until I get my first statements before I truly understand the payment requirements, but because I now have moved all my consumer debt to 0% interest payment options, I am going to squeeze everything I can from month to month and pay down one card, while paying just the minimums on the remaining cards.

My long term goal is to leverage this approach, I'll call it the "Snowball Approach", across all of my personal debt categories. I still don't have a complete picture so I'm not sure how long this will take, but I hope to be able to share my entire plan within the next few weeks.

I think the key to playing balance transfer roulette is staying organized and NOT NOT NOT using the cards. Otherwise, you find yourself in a doubly deep hole.

I'm going to spend this next year operating under Memaw's number one rule of personal finance, the rule credit card companies hope you never learn, which is don't buy it if you can't afford it.

Cost / Benefit Analysis of Mowing My Own Lawn

2008-08-27T16:22:00.000-04:00

I'm getting ready to cancel lawn service. I expect that will free up close to $450 per year.

Taken month to month that doesn't sound like a lot AND I will have to buy my own lawn equipment and invest the time to do it myself, but I've done a quick benefit / cost analysis and decided that lawn service is an easy target.

A couple of other factors that weighed in to my decision:
* I'm healthy and not too mention I have an able bodied teenage son! Isn't mowing the lawn a right of passage for teenagers anyway?
* My lawn isn't huge - it should take me no more than an hour and half once a week during peak growing season.
* I kind of like cutting the grass.

I've provided my quick analysis below for your review:

Tackling Debt 101 - Be honest about your assets and liabilities

2008-08-27T11:22:00.000-04:00

I’m getting ready to storm the castle, and like Wesley getting ready to take on Prince Humperdink, we need to list our assets and liabilities.

I’m not talking about financial assets and financial liabilities, I’m talking a gut check type of list that says, this is what I’ve got going for me and this is what stands in my way.

Assets:
1. Me – I’m naturally cheap. In fact, the great irony of this mountain of debt I face is that, for years, I was exactly like my mother! I never paid interest, never missed a bill, always had a savings account, and basically lived debt free.

What happened? For me, I know exactly when it happened. I bought a house. Ever since my first house, I’ve surged in to debt and out again as I added window treatments, furniture, basketball goals, and the list goes on and on.

2. Intelligence – I know enough to know that we are in trouble.

3. Business acumen – my job requires me to be on top of client problems like white on rice. I can improve processes, create status reports, understand gap analysis, make recommendations, etc. all day long. It’s high time I turn some of that back on my own business. That is the business of personal finance.

4. Support – my mom and grandparents are fantastic role models for debt free living. I know I can turn to them for advice.

5. Technology – I am computer literate, have laptops, desktops, internet access, etc. and the ability to figure out how to use these tools in my favor. You’re reading a perfect example of how I plan to make access to technology an asset in my debt battle.

Liabilities:
1. Sports – first let me qualify. I love love love the fact my kids are involved in sport. By itself it’s not necessarily a liability, but the reality is, having a family is expensive. I have soccer and cross country dues, uniforms, balls, tournament fees, etc. Basically a whole set of variable costs that make budgeting that much more complicated.

2. My sweet wife – right now my wife doesn’t work. Right now, my wife likes to occasionally engage in what she calls, “retail therapy.” This means that sometimes, when she may have a bit of the blues, she’ll hit Target or Costco and load up on CDs, DVDs, or other superfluous purchases which zap our reserves’ or push our credit card debt that much further out. This is what lands her in the liabilities column.

The flip side is that if my wife got a part time job, she would have less time to fret, feel more engaged and productive, and could become a part of the Kick Debt’s Butt solution rather than adding to the problem.

I know that until she is 100% on board, this effort will fail. And as soon as that happens, she gets moved to the assets column.

Memaw's Financial Words of Wisdom

2008-08-27T07:32:00.001-04:00

I've collected some of the words of wisdom from my frugal family to share with you here. My dear grandmother, affectionately known as Memaw, never went to high school and worked hard her whole life. And with my grandfather, who also never finished high school, they worked hourly, low-wage jobs, retired early, and have a net worth in the millions!

"after you've paid everything, you should have money left over. This is called living below your means."

"don't buy it if you can't pay for it"

Understand Cash Flow - What to Cut!

2008-08-26T16:32:00.002-04:00

This is the proposal I'm bringing to the family as a way to free up immediate cash:

Natural Gas $171.04
Electricity $213.00
Water $82.52
Telephone $28.53 - flag this for later, may be able to save
Cable TV / Internet $55.10 - I need this for my job so I can't cut here
My Cell Phone $141.00 - flag this for later, may be able to save
Wife's Cell Phone $family plan
Son's Cell Phone $family plan
Car 1 Car Ins. $53.00 - flag this for later, may be able to save
Car 1 Car Gas $190.14 - flag this for later, may be able to save
Car 2 Car Ins. $36.58 - flag this for later, may be able to save
Car 2 Car Gas $24.08
Car Tags $85.01
Homeowner Dues $100.00
~~House Cleaners $295.56~~
~~Landscaping $50.33~~
House Stuff $93.33 - get specific about what we need
Grocery's $186.94
Restaurant's $598.52 - flag this for later, will definietly find savings here
Retail Clothes $195.00 - flag this for later, will definietly find savings here
Entertainment $155.56 - flag this for later, will definietly find savings here
Medical $40.74
VetBills $22.00
DryCleaning $27.22
~~Nail Salon $64.40~~
Hair $73.67 - flag this for later, will definietly find savings here
~~Baby Sitting $527.22~~
ORIGINAL TOTAL $3,705.49
NEW TOTAL $2,767.98

SAVINGS OF $937.51

Understanding Cash Flow

2008-08-26T12:12:00.001-04:00

What is cash flow? It's actually very simple. You understand how much money comes in and how much money goes out.

You've heard the old saying, "living paycheck to paycheck?" This saying actually describes the situation that arises from having a zero net cash flow. In other words, you spend everything you make, leaving you with nothing left over.

Ideally, you want a positive cash flow. Meaning that after you've paid everything, you have money left over. This is what Memaw calls, "living below your means."

Well, after taking a hard look at my expenses list, I see that we are actually doing a thing far worse than living paycheck to paycheck. We are coming up short from paycheck to paycheck! We have a negative cash flow. This means we are borrowing to maintain our current standard of living. Bad Bad and Bad.

By putting a lot of expenses, such as restaurants and gas on credit cards, we are actually financing our expenses plus interest no less!

As I'm still gathering the As-Is picture by collecting credit card statements, I'm not quite ready to figure out the family budget, but I am going to look at the expenses I can eliminate today before I go any further...I'm looking for any positive movement at this point.

The As Is Situation - Where does the money go? A look at recurring expenses with real dollars

2008-08-25T20:56:00.001-04:00

This is the start of my monthly budget. These are real dollars lined up against real expense items. What I've done is collect some past data and averaged out my expenses per category.

Some costs are fixed while others are variable depending largely upon the season. The other big BIG variable expense this summer has been gasoline. Fortunately, we haven't driven that much, so we haven't taken a huge hit like most regular commuters.

These are averages over six months, so they are pretty close to representing what I'll need each month to cover the cost:

Natural Gas $171.04
Electricity $213.00
Water $82.52
Telephone $28.53
Cable TV $55.10
My Cell Phone $141.00
Wife's Cell Phone $family plan
Son's Cell Phone $family plan
Car 1 Car Ins. $53.00
Car 1 Car Gas $190.14
Car 2 Car Ins. $36.58
Car 2 Car Gas $24.08
Car Tags $85.01
Homeowner Dues $100.00
House Cleaners $295.56
Landscaping $50.33
House Stuff $93.33
Grocery's $186.94
Restaurant's $598.52
Retail Clothes $195.00
Entertainment $155.56
Medical $40.74
VetBills $22.00
DryCleaning $27.22
Nail Salon $64.40
Hair $73.67
Baby Sitting $527.22
TOTAL $3,705.49

The As Is Situation - Where does the money go? A look at recurring expenses

2008-08-25T20:04:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest problems I'm having is figuring out where our money goes from month to month. Here is a list of my monthly expenses. It's huge!

My next step is to put all of these expenses in to a spreadsheet and start tracking!

My mom - the most responsible financially minded person I know - doesn't believe in budgets. But she has the luxury of not being in the bottom of a financial well. I have to know what we are spending on what. I need to know what I can get rid of altogether. I'm putting the cart a bit before the horse by suggesting a look at what to cut, but at the rate we're bleeding money, a first pass can't hurt. At any rate, this is the start of my budgeting process.

Monthly Expenses List
Natural Gas
Electricity
Water
Telephone
Cable TV
Wife's Cell Phone
My Cell Phone
Son's Cell Phone
Wife's Car Ins.
Wife's Car Gas
My's Car Ins.
My's Car Gas
Wife's Car Tag
My Car Tag
Wife's Car Gas
My Car Gas
Homeowners Dues
House Cleaners
Landscaping
Misc. House Stuff
Groceries
Restaurants
Retail Clothes
Entertainment
Medical
Vet Bills
Dry Cleaning
Nail Salon
Family Hair
Baby Sitting

The As Is Situation - Consumer Debt

2008-08-25T15:22:00.002-04:00

So far I've talked about the house and the car. These are arguably the two most excusable debt items we should carry. In fact, as far as non income producing debt is concerned, these are the only two debt items we would be excused to carry.

Now I'm moving on to a very painful subject for me. Credit card debt. I have about $xx,000 in high interest credit card debt. This is the debt that is sucking the life out of our family finances.

My grandparents grew up in the Great Depression. They've never owned a credit card in their lives. They never earned a lot of money. They paid case for their house, their cars, and still write checks or pay cash for everything they buy.

My mom grew up as a young adult in the seventies. She has always owned a credit card, but has never paid a penny in interest to a bank. She too has never earned a lot of money. Her house is paid for. Her and her husband's cars are paid for (eight in all - they collect them). She will be able to retire at age a very young 60 on three acres with money to spare. She too writes a check or pays cash for everything she buys.

I grew up as a young adult in the nineties. I too have always owned at least one credit card, and I have paid tens of thousands of dollars in interest. I make more money than either my Mom or Grandparents have ever considered. I am the only one in my family with a college degree. My job takes me all over the world. I use sophisticated tools like online banking, buy things on interest free credit deals, and usually stumble in to more credit card debt and as such I have a negative net worth with no end in sight.

A large reason for this situation is my inability to handle our consumer debt.

At least once every four years or so I get inspired. I'll spend about a week, creating a spreadsheet to track everything, get a spending plan in place, and start to attack the debt.

And at least once every four years, I look back over the previous four years and wonder, "how in the heck did we get this far underwater?!"

My take on it at this point is that we lack discipline. We bankroll our lifestyle through credit rather than through means.

I've talked with my grandmother and my mom about this fact and I will share with you a bit of what I'll call Memaw's wisdom. As is often the case with family finances the answers are quite simple.

Memaw says, "don't buy it, if you can't pay for it"

Time to get the spreadsheet out and figure out what I owe to whom and when it's all due.

The As Is Situation - the car

2008-08-25T13:45:00.001-04:00

Our car situation is a bit silly.

My wife has a nice car...a very nice car...with a very not so nice car note. $xx5.90

I have a car...a not so very nice car...with a very nice car note. $0

My car is old, has relatively high miles, but is paid for. Her car is new, has relatively low miles, and we still owe about $xx,000 on it.

To make matters worse, her car is an SUV. To make matters even worse than that, it requires premium gasoline and costs a fortune to maintain.

As these first few posts are simply an accounting of where we are at, I'll leave it at that.

The As Is Situation - the house and our second mistake

2008-08-25T13:21:00.001-04:00

I am the sole earner for the family and I make, but most standards I believe, good money. Low six figures.

But a couple of years ago, I didn't make quite that much and my wife found a great job with a real estate company. We decided to refinance our second mortgage and replace that interest only loan with a traditional mortgage.

*Admission* - I don't even know our interest rate on that loan!

We were carrying a lot of credit card debt at the time and thought - hey, we are smart and disciplined enough to cash in equity (which we had at that time...in fact we had about $xx,000 in equity), that we can pay off our credit card debt AND do some nice things to the house.

Now fast forward to today. We paid off our that old debt and kept some extra money in the bank. But now our monthly house note is $xx00 dollars. And this is the death trap - we've accumulated another xx,000 plus dollars in credit card debt! So instead of using any extra money to pay down the new mortgage, we got right back in to our old free spending routine and landed ourselves in a much more dire situation. In fact, the interest alone on our credit card debt could be hammering away at the second mortgage.

We are in what I call the "Equity to Credit Card Death Spiral."

Our second mistake:
We increased our housing debt burden and rather than take measures to pay that down, we increased our credit card debt again!

The As Is Situation - the house and our first mistake

2008-08-25T13:10:00.001-04:00

We own our house. Rather, we co-own our house with a couple of different lenders.

Well here we are, a few years down the road, and the bottom has fallen out of the real estate market. Many of our friends in the neighborhood have already bailed out and we are one big event, a job change or major medical problem, away from following suit.

So our first mistake:
We ignored those old tried and true front-end and back-end housing debt-to-income and total debt-to-income ratios that responsible mortgage lenders have used for decades.

The As Is Situation - Summary

2008-08-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

I am a management consultant for one of the most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. I have helped some of the largest companies and organizations on the planet solve some their most complex problems.

I am a classic case of "physician, heal thyself." With that admission, I'm going to begin managing this project; the "Kick Debt's Butt" project, like one of the projects I get paid good money to manage.

The start of any good process improvement exercise is an assessment of the current situation. In consulting parlance, we call it determining the "As Is" situation.

To get out of debt, you must first create a clear picture of where you are at, before you can possibly determine how far you have to get there and what steps you need to take.

I will be spending the next few days or weeks; however long it takes, determining where we are at in terms of debt and income.

The First Post

2008-08-25T12:50:00.000-04:00

So this is it. The battle begins here. And frankly, I'm looking at this like a battle. This blog is me forcing me to deal with me! I'm a master at delusion and finally have decided that enough is enough.

I realized today, when I heard the postal truck's diesel engine grind toward our mailbox and felt an emptiness in my stomach at the thought of more bills that I can not pay, that I have to act now before it's too late. In fact, I'm not exactly sure, but it may already be too late.

This post is the starting point and I think in the spirit of waging the war on Kicking Debt's Butt and getting down to business, I will not spend any more time soliloquizing.

Thanks for Contacting Me!

2008-08-24T19:42:00.000-04:00

I will do my best to answer your inquiry within the week! Meanwhile, please feel free to share our quest with other like minded or like walleted ;-) families.

We can do this!

Contact Me

2008-08-24T19:30:00.001-04:00

The Starting Situation

2008-08-24T18:47:00.000-04:00

It's important to document where we are at as we begin this fight.

Here's what we know:
We have a house. We have two mortgages. We have two cars. We have one car note. We have two kids. We have huge expenses. We have huge credit card debt. We have one income...mine. We are smart people. We are in trouble.

Here's what we don't know:
How much we owe on either mortgage. How much we owe on the car. How much we spend each day, week, month, or year on anything.

Here's where we want to be:
First, we want to be free of all consumer debt. Next, we want to be free of all non income producing debt. Finally, we want to be financially independent, with the freedom to invest wisely and enjoy life free from financial anxiety.

About Me

2008-08-24T18:33:00.002-04:00

ABOUT ME

Hi! As I write this introduction, it's August 2008.

I'm a husband and father in charge of running the family's finances.

I am finally able to admit that I have been failing at that task.

From the outside, things look great. We live in an awesome neighborhood - a country club no less- we drive nice cars (or at least my wife does;-), and we do a lot of fun stuff. But our books are in shambles and our financial health, like so many others, is balancing on a razor's edge.

One slip and we would lose it all. So I decided, enough is enough!

We have mortgaged ourselves to the gills, carry enormous monthly expenses by my standards, and have got to get out from under this dark cloud of financial anxiety and uncertainty.

ABOUT KICK DEBT'S BUTT

Sure it's aggressive, but I think about debt as a threat, and I don't just pay it down, I attack it with whatever money I can. This blog will help me to track what is working, to vent, to share ideas, and hopefully to find support from others in similar situations. Stay diligent and disciplined and Kick Debt's Butt once and for all!

By the way, I'm not a financial professional so this is grandmotherly advice, not professional advice, and should be treated as such.

Thanks for Contributing to The Cheap List!

2008-01-20T16:07:00.000-05:00

Thanks for contributing to The Cheap List! Your contribution may sound silly to you, but I'm betting that it will be an eye opener for someone else. Remember, we're all trying to Kick Debt's Butt here so thanks for helping out!

We can do this!