Picture Post - Spend Time With Me

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 31, 2008

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“I don’t need more stuff, I need someone to spend time with me”

Photo Credit - LightChaser: Luis Cruz

» Filed Under Children and Money, Materialism, Serving Others

At a Crossroads…considering a new career

Posted by Debt Destroyer on July 30, 2008

I have no clue to what the future holds, and it bugs the heck out of me.

To catch you up in case you’re just joining us, earlier this month I started posting here on THE HAPPY ROCK detailing my journey to a debt free life. Everything was going along nicely. I was opening up about my personal finances, and you, the HAPPY ROCK community, were giving great comments/ideas to help me out.

Then last week, just when I was putting the semblance of a plan together, I lost my job.

It was a shock to say the least.

I think I’m just now coming out of the daze I’ve been in (Which is too bad, because the local tennis tournament was this past weekend and I stunk up the joint. People came up and wondered what was wrong and I just shrugged and said it wasn’t my day. Part of me wanted to say that I might be a little preoccupied about how I was going to take care of my family instead of worrying about my backhand, but I figured nobody really cared).

After yet another wasted day yesterday I finally started doing something. Today I contacted two local colleges about going back to school in two totally different fields.

School #1 is a state school and I’m interested in their teaching program.

School #2 is a private school and I’m interested in their Radiological Tech program.

I ended up having to apply to both schools because the people I spoke to on the phone kept stressing that they’d be able to assist me better after I did so (I secretly think that their job is too get people to apply and they don’t really care about me or the questions I have).

I honestly am torn down the middle about which option to choose. I think I’d be good at both, so I’m trying to figure out which one I’d enjoy more. That has been my biggest hang up so far in my employment history.

I’ve never really had a job that I REALLY liked.

I’m extremely jealous of those of you who do have a career in a field that you truly enjoy. I figure this is a good time for me to take a mulligan and start over.

Admittedly it’s not the best time, I have two toddlers running around I have to worry about and a wife who just started her own business (which she loves), but it’s as good a time as any.

Of course going back to school, if I go that route, is going to shoot a big fat hole in my debt defying plan, but I’ll do my best to limit the damage.

The best thing about being a guest columnist (or whatever my title is) here at THE HAPPY ROCK is that I get to run ideas by all of you. So my question to you this time is:

Have you or anyone you knew been at a similar crossroads, and how did it turn out?

Until next time

-DD

P.S. Thank you so much for all support I received these past few days. It’s actually helped me deal with this quite a lot.

» Filed Under Careers

What Does Financial Simplicity Feel Like?

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 28, 2008

I often talk about how destroying debt simplifies your life, but the word simplicity is vague and fluffy. It might not mean much to a lot of people. So let me take a shot at inspiring you with the current state of my financial simplicity journey.

First, as I did my bills for the month, I could feel the simplicity. Simplicity is often more of a feeling than it is a system or goal. Sometimes it is the absence of feelings that mark simplicity. The absence of worry and stress being the most notable. As I sit down each month, I KNOW we have enough to cover all our bills. I only need about 30 minutes once of month to pay and record the transactions. If a bill is due in the middle of the month, I pay it as soon as I open the letter. No thought or energy required. For non monthly bills, I transfer the appropriate amount into its corresponding ING Savings account and pay them in full when they come due.

After years of debt elimination and utilities frugality I only have 5 monthly bills :

Mortgage
Homeowner’s association fees
Water
Gas/Electric
Cable/phone/internet
Our one credit credit card(Chase Freedom)

6 bills is a huge jump towards simplicity, I think I had 20 or more a few years ago and a mountain of debt. Changes like moving to pre paid cell phone, paying off loans, combining utilities, canceling credit cards and accounts, spending less than you earn, having an emergency fund, and having a simple reminder system all feed into the development of simplicity.

As you continue to tweak and adjust your system, no longer do you have these type of thoughts : worrying about did I miss a bill, will I get late fees, do I have enough to cover everything. I can confine my personal finance thoughts to once a month and not have my brain carry that worry or stress into my time with family, my job, my shower, wherever. When the car breaks down, it isn’t a big deal because you have already budgeted for it or you have an emergency fund that easily covers it.

Visually it feels like the difference between 5 o’clock rush hour traffic and sitting on a rocking chair on the porch of peaceful pastoral mountain cabin with a babbling brook nearby.

I doubt that I can do the feeling of simplcity justice, but hopefully this whets your appetitie to start seeking after more simplcity in your financial life. The first step is attacking you debt. I can tell you from experience, finacnial simplicity has greatly improved my quality of life.

» Filed Under Financial Succes, Personal Finance Systems

Community In Action - Get In Touch With Your Why

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 27, 2008

This week’s stroll around the personal finance posts revealed a great list of articles.

We start with two great articles that talk about on of my most important adjustment to many financial plans, figuring out why you are changing your financial habits and using that to create motivation to carry you through. Frugal Dad shares identifying the why and RC @ Think Your Way To Wealth talks about developing burning desire.

A second Frugal Dad post explores his path to financial maturity by getting rid of his new truck. Especially relevant, because DD is considering selling his car to aid his debt elimination.

Not The Jet Set shares how their envelope system works. I often recommend the envelope system as an option for people trying to get a grip on their finances, but I don’t have much practical advice to offer since we never went through that step.

Presh at Mind Your Decisions shared how we are a sleep deprived nation and how much it effects us. I covered sleep your way to better finances in April and discovered some more experimental evidence for how much a good night sleeps positively effects my mood, energy, motivation, patience, and happiness.

Squakfox shared 50 reasons to use reusable bags. I shared how to make profit from reusable bags.

Finally why not to make money with blogging. I had to include this for my weekly dose of humility as I saw some of myself in that article and the pitfalls. I often fall back on more common type posts when time is limited. It is something hopefully the readers haven’t noticed, but something I will actively try and change.

» Filed Under Bloggers, Chasing Dreams

One of life’s curveballs

Posted by Debt Destroyer on July 25, 2008

I(DD) went to work yesterday morning and my boss met me as I walked in and suggested we have a brief meeting in the conference room. In my short time at this job I have learned one thing, meetings with the boss in the conference room are not good.

This one sure wasn’t.

I was being let go. They were expecting tough economic times in the near future and they weren’t sure if I was a good fit for their company. So they decided we should part ways now before things got too complicated.

I was fairly blindsided so I just sat there like a deer in the headlights, nodding silently and saying things like, “I understand.” And the ever-so clever, “uh huh.”

What I was saying “uh huh” too was my severance package which included two months salary and health insurance for the rest of the year. They may be SOB’s, but they are generous SOB’s.

But on the bright-side, as I was walking home carry my box of personal belongings, I thought “this isn’t so bad, now I’ll have time to paint the house.”

I’ll probably take a few days to do some personal reflection and try to figure what’s next. I’ve been out of work before, but that was different, we didn’t have any kids. Everything is on the table this time, from going back to school, working the night shift, to even moving to another town.

I’m fairly open. But I think I have to be.

I’ll do my best to stay debt free while going through this transition. I guess, we’ll get to see just how good I am at defying debt. We’ll be cutting back expenses in the short term. Who knows, I might even be selling our van after-all.

I know I’m not the only one out there who has ever lost a job, so any advice would be appreciated.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About The Debt Defier, Careers

Are Credit Card Rewards Funded By The Irresponsible?

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 25, 2008

I have already shared my analysis of the best cash back credit card, and for those of us that have the financial discipline and habits to not overspend and pay off the bill each month, credit card rewards can be a nice bonus with relatively little effort.

My question is whether or not the fiscally responsible are living off the debt and fees of the fiscally challenged. Before you dismiss me or get up in arms, let’s take a look at the math.

Credit card companies card charge about 2% give or take for interchange fees on each transaction. By spending about just $1,000 to $2,000 a month on a Chase Freedom card you can easily earn over 2% back in cash. For someone like me who never pays a penny in fees or interest it seems like Visa is actually losing money.

If they are losing money on me and the rest of the hard core rewards crowd, they must be making a fortune off someone else to compensate. Their profit most likely come from people who get rewards card for the cash back or points and end up carrying a balance. Profits also come from those that are paying late fees, annual fees, and those that get hit with high interest rates. Finally they also make a profit on transactions that don’t have rewards attached to them like regular credit card charges and debit transactions.

Does the math add up? Do you agree? Does it effect the way that you view credit card rewards?

» Filed Under Credit Cards, Psychology of Debt

Regrets, I have a few…should I sell the car?

Posted by Debt Destroyer on July 22, 2008

I promise that eventually I’ll quit referring to the Nitty Gritty post. But a subject was brought up in the comments that I thought should be explored further.

The idea of selling our vehicle for a cheaper one.

I can’t say that the thought has never crossed my mind. In fact, a case of “Buyers Remorse” arrived almost immediately upon purchase, but it never fully set in, instead it comes and goes. On one hand our van (2004 Honda) is by far the nicest vehicle that either me or my wife have ever owned. The leather seats are easy to keep clean, it has a smooth ride, and the DVD system is great for long trips. On the other hand, we are paying almost 10% of our take-home income on something that just transports us from point A to point B.

Guess which one of these babies is paid for?

What where we thinking?

It was early in the summer of 2006 and my wife and I were expecting our 2nd child. We knew it would be tough to fit two car seats and our dog in my old car (a 2000 Ford Contour), so we thought about doing the unthinkable…buying a mini-van!

Since we were given a gift subscription to Consumer Reports, we knew the highest rated Mini-Vans were made by Toyota and Honda. So on a random rainy Saturday, we drove to the lot in my Ford, and drove home in a Honda. So much for following Consumer Report’s advice!!!

Looking back I’d like to plead temporary insanity, because if I remember correctly we also bought a brand new hide-a-bed that same week. Obviously we were going to need a hide-a-bed since child #2 would be taking over the guest room. Plus it has to be a nice one because it’ll be in my wife’s office…I can count the number of times that hide-a-bed has been used on one hand.

Back to the issue at hand:

From a debt elimination standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Kelly Blue Book says the van’s retail value is $16,800. which is about $5,000 more than we still owe on it. So we could sell it, buy a another van for probably half the price and pay off the old van debt in no time.

But I’d have to add the cost of alimony and child support to my debt because when this idea is brought up with my wife, she says it’s a deal breaker. **Note, this is an exaggeration. My wife wouldn’t leave me if I sold our van. But I do think she’d find subtle ways of torturing me little by little. Plus I’m pretty sure I’d be locked out of the sugar shack for a very, very long time.**

What to do?

Our plan is to ride out the payments (only 37 more to go), keep up on the routine maintenance and drive it forever. Or as long as we can, whichever is longer. At least that was our plan before we came upon The Happy Rock. Perhaps one of you has a better idea. I hope to get some comments on this matter, the previous one I’ve gotten have been really good.

No pressure.

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Psychology of Debt, Psychology of Spending

5 Creative Ways to Reduce Your Debt

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 22, 2008

This is a guest post contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of Discover rewards programs. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

Whether we can officially call the economic downturn we’re currently experiencing a recession, we can all agree that it’s harder and harder to keep your head above water these days. If you’re like me and in debt then you are feeling the pinch even more so. Being in debt is always a terrible feeling but it’s worse when your dollar just doesn’t go as far as it used to. The high gas prices and soaring cost of food have made being in debt as bad as it’s been in decades. While there are no easy ways to get out of debt, there are ways we can stem the tide. Here are a few ideas for you as you try to crawl out your umbrella of debt:

Cut up your cards or toss them away for the time being. Consider relying on cash for the foreseeable future. This will put you in a position where you are weaning yourself off your reliance on credit cards. You may want to keep a low interest credit around for extreme emergencies.
Talk to your boss about a raise. This may sound like the boldest move you could make but it’s not so far-fetched. Presuming you have a good track record at work you could be in line for a promotion or a raise. Go to your boss and talk about your options. Express desire to take on more responsibilities. Being proactive will increase your chances at earning that much needed raise.
Be proactive. Talk to your lenders personally and let them know you’re taking ownership of your debt. This will make them more likely to be lenient if further problems arise down the road.
Get the best deal you can on your utilities. This is a great way to increase your savings. Spend some time online and find out if you’re overpaying for any of your utilities. 20 or 30 bucks a month off your bills will go a far way in helping you confront your debt issues.
Be creative. If you own your house or rent an apartment with an extra room, consider renting out it out to pick up some extra cash. Look around and see if you have any appliances or anything of considerable value that you can sell to increase your cash flow. Now is the time to make cash and if you have to think outside the box then so be it.

» Filed Under Debt Elimination, Guest Posts

Community In Action - Debt Free With Attitude

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 19, 2008

Here are the posts from around the personal finance community that struck a cord with me.

First, celebrate with debtfretter as they destroyed $27,000 in just 370 days.

JD @ GetRichSlowly shares about some of the patterns that kept him in debt.

Tony @HelpMyCashGrow talks about how personal finance is all about attitude. I think it is mostly about behavior, but our attitude and passions do effect our behavior.

DebtFreePlayBook reminds us that life goes much deeper than money. When you are eliminating debt, money usually becomes your sole focus, but the reason you are getting out of debt should be for purposes much deeper and more meaningful than money itself.

Finally Broke Grad Student talks about few of the physical reason why he hates cash. I have explored a similar topic with the benifits and drawbacks of spending cash, so I can apprecaite is perspective and humor.

» Filed Under Links

You Will Have The Same Salary In 20 Years - A Case For Career Advancement

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 18, 2008

I will keep this one simple.

Assuming that you just get end of the year raises that keep up with inflation(3-4%), you will be making the same amount in 20 years that you are making now relitave to the cost of goods. Obviously your actual salary will be higher in 20 years, but that salary will buy you the same amount of stuff. If you started your job at $35,000, in 20 years you will be making almost twice that much at $67,287, but that will be the same as having a $35,000 job 20 years prior.

If this is a scary thought, don’t let fear paralyze you, but be motivated by the thoughts of a better position or career. If you really want to advance your career, get out of debt. It is a gigantic step that frees you to pursue positions that you couldn’t otherwise entertain with the chains of debt holding you back.

Here are two nice articles from the personal finance community to help get you started improving your career :