Sprint #1-Paying off Student Loan Debt

So here is my first sprint, my 40 time is about 4 months, I had it projected that it will take me about 4 months and an estimated total payment of around $800, I'm not including interest because it's pretty small and only adds a few dollars to the overall plan.  I am happy to report, that I was able to pay $1000 off in the first month, so i'm ahead of schedule, hooray for beer and hooray for me.

Just a reminder to everyone and myself the goal is to pay off all of my student debt, but I will be sprinting the entire way, with small walks to catch my breath.  Here's a breakdown of my plan, enjoy. 

Listening to Pandora and this guy came up, thought it looked cool

My Blog is like My Life, Inconsistent and Sprint or Marathon?

Strong statement right?  I have went through life in short term sprints, in college I decided I wanted to bench press 300 lbs, for those that grew up with me know I convinced my football coach to give me the 250 lb bench press shirt because I was so close, thanks Coach Miller.  But I went to the gym with my good friend Strudle for like a whole semester or year and I completed my goal, I think I even got to 315lbs, but then I stopped shortly after going to the gym. 

So I feel like I go in sprints of getting things done and wanting to do things, whether it is paying off debt, losing weight, making more money.  Then I stop sprinting and move on to another sprint or since I reached my short term goal or miss it because the sprint was for 2 or 3 years, I stop!  So as in times past, but this time is different, what makes it different?  I'm creating a habit and I'm changing my thought process, the many books and general knowledge says that you have to do this for about 30 days for it to take place.  I decided to make everything a short sprint, but instead of sprint for 30 seconds and then take off 3 months, It will be sprint with a short term goal, relax, sprint with new short term goal.  I really think that's how I'm programmed and many of us are today that are in that 25-34 range.

Yes, totally normal to sprint in a suit

Immediate satisfaction  I want to pay off my student loan tomorrow, not in 3 years or 10, well then I have to create a 3 month goal to pay off X student loan, relax a little, then set up that new sprint of paying off Y in 4 months.  That's how I'm wired, I'm trying to see 5 years, but why not sprint for 3 months, look up take a breath, then sprint for 3 more months? 

You see a lot of people say or write life is not a sprint it's a marathon, OK but what if you sprint to the top and walk the rest of the way down hill, what's wrong with that????



I'd like to think I'm more of the strong black guy with muscles than the frail guy from Finland!!!



What Makes You Consistent?

So I would say my most difficult problem is getting in a ritual or a routine and being consistent.  I think it affects me on a daily basis.  How do I challenge myself to stay consisten or more importantly how do you?

My understanding is people who are skinny or in shape for the most part have a ritual or a routine on when they workout or what they eat, I lack that.  It is difficult for me to do anything without getting results in a short period of time.  I think for this reason, I am not in top shape, workout regularly, or stay focused one item.

I feel like I am all over the place with things, almost easily distracted.  A great example would be this blog, I would love to write 1x a week or more, but I have trouble being consistent.  I started setting a reminder on my phone to write a blog, so this is my attempt to be consistent with this.

I think alot of this comes down to a little old saying that Nike has "Just Do It".  I think then you create a ritual or routine out of habit.  This blog article is all over the place, but what do you differently that makes you consistent?  Whether it's going to the gym, not eating cookies for dinner, or whatever makes you consistent, share with me please!!!!

Night Out on the Town

So my wife and I decided that we eat out far to much, it may have helped that for 2 months we didn't have a kitchen, literally!  So for the first 2 weeks of September we were in our old habits of grabbing a pizza for delivery on Friday night and if we didn't feel like cooking to go grab something.  We did budget a small amount to go out to eat, but usually we would just ignore whatever money we put in and go way past the budget whether on my wife's tab or our joint checking account, for some reason if it goes on the wife's card it doesn't cost anything in our minds, we in fact are crazy!  So here's our plan of attack to stop from spending so much on going out to eat.

The envelope plan well sorda.  So we decided to not use our debit/credit card for any meals where we eat out(with the exception of lunch for my wife).   So every 2 weeks we will take out $60 and put it aside for going out to eat(side note don't search eating out in google images, not what I expected, I'm a little scarred).  The goal is to stop us from eating out so much and as an incentive any money that we don't use will go towards our Hawaii trip in November.  So far we are 1.5 weeks in and that $60 is still sitting in my headphone bag(our version of the envelope), so far so good, I will let you know.  Is there anything you do that helps you to save money instead of eating out?  Share baby, share!

Follow the Leader, If Someone Walked Off a Bridge, Would You?

I feel like many of us out there copy what there parents have done with there money good or bad.  I believe it goes the same for friends, TV shows, people you live by.  I'm not claiming this as fact but if your parents have bad financial habits, your best friend has 20 credit cards, you love Housewives of Miami, and your neighbor has a BMW that you look at with envy, chances are you are currently, well screwed!

How do we break bad financial habits?  Read about personal finance, listen to a good podcast, stop watching Keeping up with the Kardashians!(Please everyone stop, only bad things come from that show)  Unless you plan to have a sex tape make millions, marry an Olympian, NBA player, come out with a clothing line, then let's get back to reality a little here and actually care about our own lives.  On a "I hate saying this note"  they are great entrepreneurs, man I feel worse for saying that.

So what do I love, hate, obsess over?  Great question I just asked myself.  Here's a couple books I really enjoyed and would even read again, Super Nerd, i know.

1. The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason.  This book is by far my favorite book it eases you into personal finance by telling short stories or parables and how it relates to money. 

2. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  By far the most known personal finance book out there, he keeps it simple and has had millions follow his how to steps of getting rid of debt and creating wealth.



3. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.  This book has great research that shows who the millionaires are and how they made and keep there money.  They are not driving BMW's or living in mansions, do not keep up with Jones', because they are stupid.  Great insight, great book.

These are great books and there are many more out there and I have read many, many more that are very good, just didn't make the Top 3.  Should you buy these books?  I wouldn't why spend and extra $10-$30 on books that the library lets  you use for free.  Now if you love one of these books or plan to follow the guidelines in one of the books and want it for reference, please go ahead and purchase this book used from Amazon or eBay.

So you haven't walked off a bridge, you are not educating yourself if that person is indeed crazy or if the bridge is going to collapse.  I encourage you to read up and tell me about a great personal finance book you really like(Suze Orman excluded, she hurts my ears even on paper).   

Money is Always on Mind, Every Morning at Least-Thanks Dave Ramsey

I like many of you out there are a creature of habit.  Some must have that morning coffee, bowl of cereal, leave at exactly in between 7:00 and 7:05, or in my case I change my routine to create some sense of spontaneity, but it's still a habit.

Right now I have been going with the morning coffee, made at home(trying to save that $10 a week and I prefer to be all jacked up by the time I get to work) and Dave Ramsey podcast every morning on the train.  I like Dave Ramsey and my other options are listening to Pandora cut in and out like a bad DJ or staring outside(p.s. the buildings or walls don't change much).  So about Dave Ramsey..................

I like to listen to someone telling me to pay items with cash, stay away from credit cards, and that he has made mistakes but here is why you should not do what I did.  It creates a mindset that if you spend money with bad decisions, you are going to pay for those bad decisions.  He is a strong believer in debt makes you a slave to the lender, I couldn't agree more.  I struggle everyday to get in this mindset, this is another reason why I listen to Dave Ramsey every morning.

Here's what I want to do with my money.  Put tons of money in my 401K, pay off every cent of debt I have today, fix up my house, pay off the house, and invest in stocks, other houses, take tons of trips.  This morning dose of Dave Ramsey reminds me to keep things in check, Rome was not built in a day, cliche yes, but very true.

I have a budget, I have a plan.  I don't want a 30 year mortgage, I want my mortgage to be paid off in 7 years, is it possible, absolutely I ran the numbers to know.  I read something by Zac Bissonnette said and I'm summarizing here, but poor people think about how financial decisions affect them this month or this week and wealthy people think in 5, 10 and 20 year blocks.  That makes sense to me, when buying a car the poor guy is thinking can I afford the payment of $200 month, the wealthy guy is paying cash and thinking how much money per month he is saving over a 5 year period.

So in summary every day is a battle with money, but the key thing is I may lose a battle today and go buy my lunch or spend money on something I don't need, but I will win the war, with God's help and with great influences around me.  Right now my biggest influences on money are my wife(smart lady and cute to), her family(they have great advice that gets funneled through my wife),  and personal finance blogs, podcasts, and books.  Make sure to surround yourself with great influences, if your brother likes to drive his leased BMW on his Wal-Mart cashier hourly wage, you might want to find a better influence. 

Just Thinking About Money-Spending Money is Getting Old

Our house is getting very close to finished with what we have included in our mortgage(FHA 203K).  That is a great thing! I'm ready to live in a house without dust, strange men coming in and out(sounds bad intentionally), and things that are half done.  This is not to say the house is done.  Like any house you want to do so many things.  For example we had the contractor create a couple closets, but in reality it's just a door with an entrance, more work to be done, more money to be spent.  But like many people we can deal with what we have.  A fan where a light should be, closets with just a pole to hang clothes, slowly we can take care of this and the key is do little by little and keep it in just our unit.

So we have decided for the most part(no big projects expected) we are done with spending money, honestly I'm sick of it.  So until we get some rental income in our pockets we will be making good with what we have, which is a lot, we have been blessed.  The only money we will spend is to create income.  We will take whatever rental income we receive and use the money to fix up our "Garden Apartment" aka the basement.  I knew coming in this was going to be a process, it's been 2 months and I feel like we are on the right track.

So let's not spend money this Labor Day weekend, let's clean up and fix up what we have and be thankful for what we have.