First, an update to the money goal:

Goal 1: Save 3-6 months in an emergency fund.

Task 2: Get taxes prepared (hope for a refund!) and save $500 more this month.

Success on both parts of this goal.  We were able to save $500 since I set this task up, and today we got our tax return prepared.  Thanks to an increase in charitable donations and the arrival of Eve, we got a pretty fat return this year.  This brings us much closer to our overall emergency fund.  Once the direct transfer hits, we’ll have to do some math and see what the next task will be.  In the meantime:

Task 3: While waiting for the tax return to hit, budget aggressively and put a set amount in the emergency fund each month.

Onward to the Reading goal!

Goal 3: Read more books, targeting 10 non-fiction books for the year.

Tonight I finished a book by Joan Carroll Cruz called “Eucharistic Miracles“.  Like the title indicates, this is a collection of history surrounding the many miracles attributed to the holy Eucharist.  This book was pretty dense, since most of the chapters were only a few pages long and each story was unique and interesting.  I found out about this book from a guy in my That Man Is You! group, who was reading it himself.  I would strongly recommend this to any of my Catholic friends and family.  If you’re interested to find out more about the book let me know.  I got a lot out of reading it, and it compelled me to volunteer to help with the Eucharistic Ministry at my Church.

I’m only going to give myself half credit for this book since I technically started it last year.

Total Books Read in 2012: 1 / 10

Since this wasn’t one of my scheduled non-fiction reads this year, I’ll just keep with the same goal that I made last time:

Task 3: Finish reading Ervin Somogyi’s ‘The Responsive Guitar’ for half-credit.

That’s all for now!

I spoke with the guy at the dealership again today, explaining to him our situation and that he’d have to figure out some way to work prices down.  I told him that nobody pays book value, and their chart where they show the comparisons with other listings doesn’t really work out because those other places negotiate price.  They’d have to figure out something if they want our business, and told him to get to it.  I told him in the meantime we’d be looking at other dealerships, as Tasha and I had originally planned.

We went about our business without much further luck, and about an hour later I got a phone call.  Duane (our sales guy) had spoken with the appraiser and wanted to know if he could get me a little more in trade would it make a difference.  I told him it would, but since they’re not willing to negotiate the price they had on the car it’d have to be a great deal on the trade-in.  About 30 minutes later I got a phone call from him again offering $3250 on Tasha’s ZX2, which is above private party sale and just below dealer retail price for that car.  Yep.  That’s pretty good.

We crunched the numbers and it made the whole deal come in between the private-party price and the trade-in price for the CR-V.  We were a little uncomfortable about the miles on the car, so we asked him for a CarFax (they use AutoCheck, same difference) and we told him that we wanted to have an independent mechanic to inspect the car.  Luckily, there was a guy near there that is highly regarded on Yelp and has an A+ rating on the BBB since 1989.  We went to him.

After about an hour, he came in and noted that the engine coolant was dirty and needed replaced the next time we did an oil change but aside from a few cosmetic paint issues everything looked great.  No engine problems, no frame damage at all, no replaced or repaired panels.  One of the headlights had been replaced, but there was no evidence of damage anywhere around it.  I asked him how he would feel about buying it in this mechanical condition, and he said he didn’t see anything that would prevent him from buying it.  He said it was in great shape, so we were on the way back to the dealership (after running home to get my checkbook).

Some paperwork later, we’re the proud owner of a 2005 Honda CR-V.  It’s black and awesome, with plenty of room for Eve, the dog, and the necessary luggage to go back to Illinois for holidays and vacations.  Plus we paid cash, so there’s not going to be any payments following us around!  More soon, including pictures of the new car.

Today is a proud day!  I just got done pushing the button to send the last payment to ol’ Sallie Mae for my student loan, wiping out the last of my non-mortgage debt.

Tasha and I started on this goal together in January 2006, and received some quick help from our friend Dave Hickman in the form of Dave Ramsey‘s “My Total Money Makeover” book which guided our trek to debt freedom.  At the time, this process began more out of necessity than anything.  We had racked up some significant credit card debt while in college, and we hit a point where transferring balances around wasn’t cutting it and the minimum payments were taxing our budget.

The big key was the constant, intentional budgeting.  Controlling where the money was going and focusing on one debt at a time until it vanished was actually fun for me in the beginning, the hardest part was keeping up the pace.  Denying ourselves some of the small luxuries in order to get this under control was hard, but we’ve gotten very used to it over time.  We lost a bit of focus as we got here to Colorado with so many fun activities to do, but we made it!

I’ve rarely spoken about numbers during this process, but now that it’s behind me I will.  We paid off nearly $130,000 in 52 months.

That includes credit cards (paid off and canceled), both cars, computers, a debt consolidation loan that Tasha took out during college, an emergency furnace replacement in our old house, and all of our student loans.  It was hard work, but totally worth it.

What’s next?  Saving up an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses, then onward to investing and paying off our house!

I came home from our errands today and noticed that a bit of warm weather combined with the remaining ice sheet had created a slush event on my sidewalk.  Since its going to get cold again, I figured it was time to have another go at the sidewalk and start breaking the ice to allow the rest of the water by.  This was a much harder task than I figured, and I was able to get about a 2 inch trench in the ice dug where the gutter starts to allow the water to flow around the ice sheet and down the rest of the block.  My downstream neighbors should love me in a few days.

In other news, we found out we get a big fat tax refund this year!  It will go toward the final stages of eradicating my student loan debt.  With any luck, we’ll be done with this whole debt push sooner than expected!  Woot!

Today marks the official end of my winter break, it’s back to work in the morning!  This should kick off a flurry of work that is likely to last for quite awhile, but I’m rested and prepared to make some magic happen.  The good news: as of January 1st, I’ve got my three weeks of vacation time since I’ve been with the company for 5+ years now… that means as soon as our targets are met this year I will be ripe with vacation time.  I’ve long considered paid vacation time the best possible incentive.  I get paid to NOT BE AT WORK and that is awesome.

All that aside, today is also going to mark the start of one of my 2010 sub-goals.  Tasha and I are going to do the first lesson in Financial Peace University, aiming to reacquaint ourselves with the program and get fired up for our final kick to debt freedom.  We’re looking forward to the refresher!

It’s getting late and I have to get up in the morning, so I suppose I should sign off here and try to get some sleep.  More tomorrow!

After some reflection, I have elected to strip my goals down to just a few this year.  I had too many irons in the fire last year and it led to a lot of partial successes and failures, so this year I’m going to keep the goals lean and mean.

Debt Freedom

At long last, this long-term goal is in sight.  At the time of this writing, we have only one remaining debt aside from our house: my student loan.  The way the debt snowball functions, the last debt that you have is the largest and this is our largest.  In fact, we’ve fought it down to almost halfway paid off in 2009 and this year we finish the job.

1. Refresh financial goals by going through the 13-week Financial Peace Home Study again.  Target for completion: April 2010.
2. Secure debt freedom by paying off my final student loan.  Target for completion: September 2010.
3. Begin on full emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses, saving at least two months of expenses by year end.  Target for completion: December 2010.
4. Continue keeping grocery budget records.  Target for completion: December 2010.

Personal Development and Recreation

I’m creating one category to house a couple different goals around hobbies, recreation, and self-improvement.

1. Increase karate workouts, averaging twice a week at a minimum. Target for completion: December 2010.
2. Complete TotallyGuitars.com‘s Acoustic Genius series. Target for completion: December 2010.
3. Create a “man cave” for myself in the basement. Target for completion: June 2010.
4. Daily blogging this year, metrics remaining the same as last year. Target for completion: December 2010.

2010 – Opening Remarks and a Call to Action

This is going to be a tough year, as work will remain extremely demanding for the first half of the year.  This will also be a rewarding year, with debt freedom looming on the horizon.  Once this milestone is met the fun begins.

I’ve had several people ask me why I do this every year.  I feel very strongly about goal setting, and it becomes far too easy to get used to the routine that you’re in and not strive for something better.  I’ve said it many times in the past, and will continue to say it: I don’t do average well.  These goals help to keep me motivated so that I won’t look back on 2010 and have nothing to count for it.

The best advice I can give is simply this: take an honest look at your life and TAKE ACTION.  It doesn’t have to be anything grandiose or crazy, but set an actionable goal that you can work on a little at a time so that in the end you’ve got something to count for yourself.  Set yourself a fitness goal.  Set yourself a blogging goal.  If you’re feeling particularly crazy, set a big goal you’ve always wanted to do and DO IT.  Hell, my friend Debra wrote a freaking novel last year in a month.  That’s crazy and awesome.

Figure out a way to be crazy and awesome for yourself.  Then document it somewhere where you have to be accountable for the results.  I use this blog because the threat of friends and family asking me how things are going is enough to keep me plugging away at my goals.  I want to hear about your goals.  I’ll be that friend that asks you randomly throughout the year how its going to keep you motivated.

Here’s to a safe and happy 2010!

Last night an important milestone was reached.  Tasha and I paid off our next-to-last student loan!  That leaves only one (large) hurdle between us and DEBT FREEDOM!  I have to say, its pretty surreal writing a check as large as that one… I had to use the entire line to write out the amount!  Yeesh!

That big check satisfies my minimum debt repayment goal for the year… so we’re going to see how far we can get to cut that last student loan down.  I want to be done in time for our birthdays next year.

So yeah… its good to be us right now.  We’re even getting half a house of new windows tomorrow!

Not much else to report tonight!

Yesterday we ventured across the frozen highways to Colorado Springs to see Dave Ramsey‘s My Total Money Makeover Live event!  We slightly misjudged the weather conditions and got there about 10 minutes before Dave hit the stage.  The place had general admission seating and it was PACKED, we ended up in the upper bowl.  I was surprised to see so many people there, Dave later explained that they had people come from as far as Wyoming and Montana to come to this event.

The event itself lasted 5 hours.  There were three breaks and I was pretty impressed with Dave’s level of energy the whole time.  The whole seminar took much of the same form as his Financial Peace University lectures, only it was shortened up to fit the shorter block of time.  There was a big display of Dave’s merchandise (books, DVDs, budgeting software, etc) and he was offering some pretty significant discounts at the show, but there wasn’t anything we explicitly needed so we gave that part a pass.

The whole experience acted just as I had hoped: motivation for the last big debt repayment kick.  If we finish this year, we’ll be right in the time range of the “average” people that get out of debt using his program, so that makes me feel pretty good given how much we had to pay off.  I have done a budget revision already, Tasha and I are going to talk it over and really push to get this stuff finished up ASAP.

I highly recommend Dave’s live show if you are serious about getting debt under control.  He also provided some good motivation for people looking to shift careers or find some additional income to help the debt repayment process or for those who were out of debt and wanted to build wealth, so there was really something for everyone.  I think Tasha’s got some pictures coming soon!

We got our taxes done today, and thanks to our relocation we owed $310 to the federal government, but we got around $305 back from each of the state governments we are dealing with. So we only ended up being out by $296 by the time we factor in H&R Block’s service fees.

The good news: this has allowed us to pay of one of the remaining three student loans that we have left. This was the smallest loan remaining, but happened to be the biggest monthly payment weighing in at a stocky $280/month.

We have also budgeted out for our GenCon trip and a few of the remaining miscellaneous relocation costs that we had yet to spend (a guest bed for the spare bedroom and some car repair costs), so now we get to officially return to the business of paying off our remaining loans!!

Hooray for progress!!

I was perusing my normal Sunday night CNN.com, and I saw the headline “Seven days without spending” and was enticed.  You see, I tend toward generally living frugally (except when relocating, which has been very costly)… but this was quite the extreme approach.

Honestly, the author sounds a bit like that eternally irritating guy that arbitrarily chooses something new and does it whole hog with no real planning.  To wit: I would never, EVER fathom entering into a gambit of no spending that would span my wife’s birthday.  I happen to have a very frugal wife, and even I know when to draw the freaking line!

But the gentlemen’s message is clear: we spend a lot more than we think on “every day living.”  The author even copped out a few times and elected to defer payments to his hair stylist, which in my book doesn’t count as not spending… deferring for the sake of proving a point and writing an nice CNN worthy piece smells a bit of niggling over the details, but I do have to applaud the guy for his dedication.

It sounds like he was very frugal to begin with, but this is not a step I am willing to take.  I have briefly considered trying to eat very cheaply for a month and see how that went, but I don’t think any span of time with a hard and fast “no spending” policy is a good one.  It just seems a bit masochistic to me!