Just ask

I sent a $115.00 check to Discover this month. If I recall correctly that was the minimum payment. $61.07 of the $115.00 I mailed them was applied to INTEREST. Or in other words, having sent Discover $115.00 only $53.93 was applied to my balance. MORE OF MY PAYMENT WENT TOWARDS INTEREST THAN TO HAMMERING DOWN ON MY ACTUAL BALANCE!!!!!

I take responsibility for my actions. I got myself into this mess, paying interest is what people who make poor money decisions (like me) do. I'm actually OK with paying interest. What gets me crazy-mad is that less than half of my payment to this lender is actually going towards my balance.

I figured I'd call Discover and see if they could lower my interest rate any. Currently I have cards as low as 9.99% and 7.99%. The least they could do would be to offer my something competitive right? Wrong! There was "no one there" (wink wink, nudge nudge) that could lower my rate.

Well, it wasn't a big deal for me anyway. An hour earlier I had initiated a balance transfer of 95% of my Discover balance to a new AMEX card which boasts a 3.99% interest for the life of all balance transfers made to the account before 2007.

I hadn't won yet because Discover still had $13 in Cashback Bonuses that they owed me. The bummer deal is that you need to withdrawl Cashback Bonuses in increments of $20. I wanted my $13 back! Just for the sake of asking I asked what my Cashback Bonus balance was (which I already knew) in the hopes that by some miracle that she could magically apply my $13 Cashback Bonus balance to my debt balance. This woman must have taken pitty on me or something because as soon as I said "Cashback Bonus" she said, "What I can do is apply an additional $30 to your Cashback Bonus balance after you make *one* purchase of *any amount* on your card."

My jaw droped - This lady had just offered my $40!

I immediatly took her up on her offer. My current $13 Cashback Bonus balance PLUS the $30 promised me will put me over $40 in Cashback Bonuses.

So even though I didn't get the lower rate (which didn't matter any way) I did get $40 out of the deal. I couldn't help but feel just a littler better about this situation after this small victory in my fight against debt. The moral of the story is that you can't expect to get what you aren't willing to ask for. So ask for lower rates, ask for promotions, ask them specifically if they can do anything for you to save you a few bucks. The only thing you have to loose if a few minuites of your day.

Who am I?

Your best friend or greatest enemy, I am your greatest companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onwards or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do, you might as well turn over to me and I'll do them quickly and correctly. I'm easily managed, but you must be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and, after a few lessons, I'll do it automatically. I'm the servant of all great men and, alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I work with the precision of a scientist and the passion of a patriot. You many run me for profit or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet. But be easy with me and I'll destroy you.

Who am I? I am Habit!

---Author Unknown

Let me begin by saying that I have ADD - It is very difficult for me to stay focused on one thing for a long amount of time. I subscribe to Success Begins Today, a personal development blog. Now being ADD I can't claim to *read* blogs - I only skim them.

Well, over at SBT I skimmed a post by John updating his readers about his goal to train himself to master a new habit every month. I only got as far as the first paragraph, but I thought, what a wonderful idea! If I could master a new financial habit every month how much faster would that accelerate my goal to get out of debt? I haven't really even put pen to paper yet, but I think it will take about 2 years for me to pay off my credit card debt. By that time I'll be out of college and can then make progress on my ~10k in school loans.

Ok, so my point is, I bet if I could master a few financial habits that I could shave a few months off of my 2 year goal and get debt free even faster.

So, my goal for the month of February is . . . . . .drum roll please . . . . . . to take my lunch to work every day.

Ok, now when I say every day what I really mean is 90% of the time. No, I'm not slacking before I even begin. I've learned that with goal setting you must write the goal down, make it attainable, make it measurable, AND find some way to reward yourself for accomplishing the goal. So what I plan to do is to take my lunch to work with me for 9 days, then on the last Friday of the 2 week period I can treat myself to lunch.

Lunch really hasn't been a problem for me like it is for some. Some people can drop +$10 a day on lunch at work - I've worked with these people and for a while I was one of these people. But what some don't realize is that even if you spend $5 on lunch every other day you are throwing away at least $50/month. I don't know about you, but for me that's a credit card payment. I'd rather bring a brown bag with a fresh sandwich than choke down a burger and fries that will leave me poorer and closer to bypass surgery!

So for me the benefits are three fold, I save money, and hopefully I can start eating better, and lastly, I can begin to learn how to gain mastery over my friend greatest companion, my habits.

Hello World!

Here's the skinny:

• My name is Will.
  
• I'm 28 years old.
• I'm in debt.
  
• 4 years ago I had 20k cash in the bank.
  
• Today I have about 15k in credit card debt.
  

I'm ready to get my finances in order. I'm ready to take control of my life (again). I'm ready to quit working for my credit card lenders and mortage company. I'm ready to get myself out of debt, for good.

This site is dedicated to my pursuit of financial freedom. I hope you enjoy reading this, but I'm sorry - this site is not for you - it's for me. This site is going to be my concience - the nagging reminder of what I decided to do today, Feb 7, 2006 -- CUT THE PLASTIC and get get out of debt.

/me feels better already!