Debt free tips from Indiana Jones

I love to read blogs. I love to see what people say. I read a lot of personal finance blogs. I read a lot of cross stitch blogs and I read a lot of SharePoint blogs. (SharePoint is a product by Microsoft) I came across this blog http://sharepointkb.wordpress.com/2009/12/23/sharepoint-tips-from-indiana-jones/ and began to think that hmmmm. I think this could also apply to personal finance. So lets see how our journey goes... 1) You have to have the courage to take on something challenging.

Fighting my way through the debt heap has taken a good bit of courage to keep going. It has also taught me to "defend" my wealth. I hate confrontation. I hate fighting. I have come to respect that sometimes you have to stand your ground in order to not be taken advantage of. Currently I have to appeal to my health insurance some extenuating circumstances that my dd had an urgent situation and needed to get care. If I do not appeal then the health care company denies my claims for around $2000.00 Its my money. She needed the health care its why we have insurance. I have learned to be brave and take the fight to the vendors because typically I get my money back. Another example is getting a lower interest rate. See my blog entry here... http://travelfarandwide.blogspot.com/2008/11/ask-dont-forget-to-ask.html
Be brave ask for what you want.

2) Know your limits and what your good at.

I am good at dreaming. I can daydream all day long. Typically, I have to stop myself from dreaming and put my nose to the grindstone to get myself to focus on my work. It is okay to run away from the big boulders when they are flying at you but it is also necessary to know when to get to work.

3) Simplicity is often the best option. (Gun vs Sword)

Isn't this one of the favorite scenes where the swashbuckler is waving his sword and Indy just shoots him. I think this is parallel to online banking. It was a lot of fuss to pay lots of bills over the phone on cards. I love online bill pay. I just hop on my bank's web site and off I go, electric paid, rent paid, cable paid. Done. And because time is such an issue in my life now that I have a 1 year old. It takes me about 30 minutes to check all my balances and pay the bills. Once per month 30 minutes is very effective. Keep it simple. Bam just knock it out.

4) You need to know your stuff and be ready to learn.

Indy Jones always pops in with some little tid bit of history that solves the puzzle. He knows a lot of stuff and it gives him that little competitive edge over the Nazis among others. I read tons of blogs. I have learned a lot about how to do things as well as been inspired by others who struggle in the same journey.
Places to learn:
No credit needed
Dave Ramsey
WiseBread
Boston gal's Open wallet

Places where I feel inspired:
I've paid for this twice
GRACEful Retirement

5) You don’t have to be a superhero.

Indiana Jones was a geeky history professor who liked fancy vacations. I am a geeky Technology buff who likes mellow vacations. I believe if we follow the map to the treasure we can achieve our goals. And I follow Dave Ramsey's baby steps road map. you should too http://www.daveramsey.com/new/baby-steps/

6) Some things never change.

Indiana Jones uses old fashioned common sense and logic to solve his conflicts. He seems to choose the best way to get out a of a fix. There is no way to stop life from becoming complicated. BUT we can keep an emergency fund in order to keep our debt from growing.

7) Know what your are afraid of, or bad at and let other people help.

Snakes why does it have to be snakes??? I love that moment. When the great hero admits to being human. But he pushes through his fears and escapes anyway. I have mounting fears that my debt is mounting. But I keep on the plan because its to only solution to escaping debt.

8) You can’t do it alone.

Jones used lots of resources on his journey. He took advantage when help was offered and so should all of us. When my mom offered to help me with some extra cash I paid it toward my debt. I am going to start cashing in my bonds (I only have 2 so its not big bucks) to pay off some if the debt. I am also going to look into selling off some stock I own to try and get the debt down further. Again we arent talking big bucks maybe a couple of hundred dollars. Any help is good.

9) You have to believe in yourself and it doesn’t hurt to be unique or have your own image.

When Indiana Jones was on an adventure he wore his unique hat. It helped to get him into the roles he had defined for himself as an adventurer. He was super confident when he came into a new situation. He believed in himself.

It turns out to be different then average is to have no debt. So my goal is to be unique. I am going to get out of debt and then build up savings. I have fantasies about how fast it will happen. But mostly I am planning to follow the steps and save for retirement. There are no get rich quick schemes.

10) You have to see things through and stay focused.

Indiana upon his return from the opening adventure in the movie said "Marcus, I had it it in my hand, Marcus. I can get it." He was completely focused on obtaining an artifact for the museum even if it took more then one adventure to get it. He was then changed to follow the arc of course, but the idea is persistence and diligence despite setbacks won him the treasure every time.

We all need to be like Indy.
This was a light and fun Holiday way to help one enjoy getting back into the grind of debt reduction. Sometimes when you look at something in a new way it gives you a different perspective. I want to be a bit more like Indiana Jones. I want to crack my whip and have my credit cards sit up and take notice. Because I am coming for you...

I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Every Windfall has a name

Why Debt Stinks: Every Windfall Is Already Spoken For

I read Paid twice every day and she often inspires me. Today Her topic really hit a nerve. It is the main reason I chose to get out of debt. My grandmother passed away last summer. My mom started talking about giving us some of the money she will inherit. It was a very generous offer but something about it nagged at me. Mom said wont it help you get out of debt? Gulp, it left such a sour feeling in my stomach. Something just wasn't right about spending my inheritance on debt. Stuff that is already long long gone. I wanted it to help me have a down payment on a home. I do not want to pay for my stupid tax. I wallowed in different plans for a while. I said I was getting motivated but I did allow new charges on my cards I thought I could make progress that way. HA! In Jan I started hitting the plan hard. New real commitment. I gathered steam and decided no more credit card charges. To this point I have paid off 12%. I wanted to give myself inspiration and I was not able to show progress yet. It is still a little too early in the month. Since I cant tell myself how much progress I have made lately. I decided to check the budget for a mid month check. We are mostly on track to recover in April from the additional $537.81 we were in the hole. There were actually $1094 additional expenses but the tax refund covered the majority of that. This month the money flows continue... She needs a dress, she needs shoes to match the dress she is attending two proms. UGH it goes on and on.

My windfalls saved my emergency fund last month. I have to brush myself off this month I have to say hey girl you fell down last month but you can do this. I have been worried about what am I going to do when the child support ends (Next month) and Big news I am pregnant. How can I afford this baby and still pay off my debt. I am determined to pay off this debt. I will not bring another child into this world in debt. I am going to get out of debt.I want to be lean goal oriented performer. I am on the plan. I am on track but I want to make more traction. How do I do it?


The $600.00 from the gov is going $400.00 for vacation and $200 to debt

My Original plan was to put all of the tax rebates $431 & 141 & 600 towards debt. By using the windfall to recover from march madness I miss out on putting a dent in the debt. But wait... I can hear my mom's voice saying don't beat yourself up look at how far you have come. Look at what you have been able to do in 3 months. That progress wont go away. Take a breath and know that God is with you on this journey.


I feel like a trader... I am trading this debt for the Fed return I am trading this debt for the state return and I am trading the emerg fund for the $600 rebate. All windfalls I could have used to get more traction with. I guess its allowing me to stand in place and not slide backwards but still I want some traction!

Things to say when you are grumpy about money...
Unless you have the money I am not doing this, or buying this.
I am 41 I can say no.

Murphy and being prepared

Today was a day that will live in the family lore for a very long time. I am still not over how well I was able to handle it. Really living on "No Credit Needed" and "No more debt" was put to the giant test today. I am proud to say I passed. And maybe BECAUSE I passed things turned out so well for us..... Here are the details. you decide...

This morning my daughter took her drivers test. She did not pass. It was a devastating blow for her. She was torn apart. She had been flying high all weekend. She was so excited she offered to get up at 5:00 in the morning to drive me to work. LOL Like I want to be there that early! I knew when the tester swapped spots with her on the exam course that she was going to explode. On the whole I tried to be the rock for her. I tried to have peace in my heart for my baby when really all I wanted was to go and fly swat that guy. Parallel parking did her in. Poor thing. We rescheduled the test for next Monday. She declined to drive for the ride home. (She cried the entire trip.) So I got into the drivers seat. The check engine light was on. Now you don't know me but car maintenance really stresses me out. I mean over the top you do not want to chat with me on a day I am having my car worked on. In the past a large part of that is because I know I cant afford to have anything go wrong. I can not afford a single thing to happen to that car. And I love my car. I got a very very reliable car that would have minimal maintenance issues. I have been taken advantage of by many many mechanics and I do not enjoy the ride. So As I am getting older I have begun to be just a smidgen wiser... This time I would NOT take the car to the dealer behind my home. I am taking it to the dealer where my fiancee bought his car. I called ahead to see if they would have time to work on the car today. The mechanic explained it would be a $104.00 charge to diagnose the problem. The light had been on before and my fiancee had turned it off. He is an excellent guy to have around in a pinch. We had discussed that if the light did come back on again it would need to go into the shop. So there I went. It is a intermittent problem and the dealer could not reproduce the problem. My fiancee talked to the manager and explained the day we were having. He had also just had his car there for repairs. They waved the fee to diagnose the issue. They looked at the car and could not see anything obvious wrong with the car. So..... they waved the fee.

The whole drive over to get the car looked at I just kept telling myself to be calm. I even stopped at the house to gather some relevant paperwork. I thought about putting the credit card into my purse "Just in case". But I was strong. I chose not to. I thought I will use my emergency fund if I have to this is what its there for. And God smiled on us. I did not need to use either one. Murphy has been politely asked to leave. Now if I could just catch up on all the things I need to do for my work. sigh.....

Total cost for the day $0
Effort to build up emergency fund and have it just in case... Priceless!

Pricing battles save money

Battling for the correct pricing...

Why is guarding your wealth so much work? How much does it cost us if you don't? Over the weekend I did a lot of Christmas Shopping. One of the things I had promised to follow up on was to complete my daughters gift from last year and get her the matching pieces to a suitcase we bought this summer. There was some confusion when I made the purchase for her about the right sizes. I was thinking she needed two large suitcases But my fiancee felt she needed the set of graduated bags. He of course was right(as usual). She will need an occasional weekend bag for traveling and not always the super huge size. Well... So The suitcases were on sale. It was a very good price. Not really for Christmas but at the right time to buy. So I went ahead to this store's online web site and made a purchase. BUT I forgot to enter the online purchase code. So I called Customer service to let them know. I had called to soon. They could not see my order yet. Okay, I'll call back later. Today I called again. Now my order has shipped. The lady on the phone said she put the info in on my account but I don't have confidence that she was telling the truth. So I will have to follow up this afternoon and call again to verify the shipping charges were credited. $30.00 is not a lot of money but its MY money.

I also saved myself $129.99 last Monday. Sometimes I forget that there is satisfaction in what you don't spend. I was charged for privacy protection on one of my credit cards. Seeing a charge on a card which had $ 0.00 balance at first caused me to feel waves of panic. I had paid for this service before. I thought it would be worse to pay for it then to fight it. (Before I started reading pf blogs I would have paid the charges and hoped to close the account. Now I know better.) Man was it hard to break out the sword and shield. I hate confrontation. But I did it. I called the credit card company... the wait for customer service is 10 minutes. ...UGH... Wonderful daughter bring me your cell phone. I called the privacy guard phone number. (While on hold with the credit card company)
I don't want this service please.
But all the wonderful benefits. Blah blah blah
No I don't want this service please.
But we have so much to offer.. blah blah blah
I do not want your service thank you.
Okay the cancellation number is xxxxx

All the while I am STILL on hold with the credit card bank. Now you see why I paid this card off first. 10 minutes to talk to a real live person! AGH. That and a 29% interest rate. so I have defended my money. I saved myself $129.99 in fees I did not want. All it took was two phone calls. Now please know that I do believe there is a good service to be had in privacy protection. I just cant afford that service right now while I dig myself out of debt. And $129.99 Really??? I don't think so.

I also saved $30.00 at the grocery store. seems like a lot right??? I think so too. There were a few items that were on sale that typically are not on sale. Couscous & stash tea. So I did spend over my weekly food budget by $35 but I think the savings helped to make it worth it. I love cous cous. and I saved $6.50 on that item alone.


I am not a financial professional. If you are looking for financial advise you should seek it elsewhere. If you would like to join me on the journey, walk with me for a while and be my friend......

Magazines

Courage - getting rid of clutter

Saying good by to friends - My magazines I started this morning with 19 in a pile. Now I am down to 12. It feels good. I guess it is some strange representation of my life that I need to get rid of all the magazines. Somehow it represented a good quality life. If My life contained one Positive thing from those glossy images (living or real simple, Cooking light, Country living) Somehow then My life would be successful. I have come to realize that contained in those pages are snippets of a moment in time but to have a well balanced life I need to do less not more, I need a clean home not a cluttered home. Financial security is more important to me then those images. They are in a studio and dont show what is behind the scenes to have a home look like that. I have a well lived life. I can be happy with that. And all the cross stitch projects that await me? well one at a time, take em one at a time.


Creating a want or designing a life with inspiration...

Twelve months from now, what five specific things would you need to have accomplished in order to feel you have made great financial progress in your life?

1. I want my financial aid paperwork submitted to my daughters schools of choice (And right now there are 8 schools) I want her to be in school by next October.

2. I want to have a working monthly budget. That I can live within

3. I want to have completed getting my financial house in order
I have started this one and I am well on my way...
- I tracked down a pension that I had from a company I worked for 8 years ago.
- I have gathered all my banking information in one place. Soon they will all have my current address.
- I have mailed one 401k plan of my new address I need to follow up to see if it was changed.
- I would like to change the distribution of my contributions in my 403B to a more aggressive mix.

4. I would like to have paid down my credit card debt by 5000.00 With an achievable plan to do more.

5. I want to live a debt free life. I want to own a home. I think I need to be free of debt before I am able to save for a downpayment...

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What de-cluttering teaches me...

Even though you are getting better and you can see the end there is still work to be done.

Small thins can be valuable.

Space is a personal thing. It is ever changing just like the person who uses the space.

Small bites makes a big task manageable.

Perseverance does pay off

Ideas come from many places

Keep up your inspiration it will keep you on track when you dont "want" to do the work

Learn from others expertise

Enjoy the sense of peace that comes with a job well done.

Reward yourself