Today I paid off my Mastercard by the tune of $10,000. My new balance is now $6,513.71, which is a load off to be sure. Now there’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel with my debt. This gives me a much needed kick in the pants. The psychological benefits of seeing your debt drop by 10 grand is huge.

How?

Well, good or bad, I tend to vocalize both my problems and successes. Perhaps this is why I’m still doing this 3 weeks later: This blog is all about me. . It’s ‘Jim’s world’ a lot of the time. Guilty as charged. Anyway, I’ve been sharing with my family my fiscal troubles and woes. Just to vent more than anything, and besides that’s what friends and family are for, right? To share both your successes and failures, and they don’t judge you either way.

So, a month or so ago my Dad was selling his primary residence and mentioned he’d like to help. I replied that well…we’ll see. Firstly his place hadn’t sold yet, and secondly I’m a big boy. I’m 43 years old. I made my bed, I’ll lie in it. I’m proud too. And, I pretty much forgot about this conversation. I at very least didn’t bank on it one way or another.

Then the other day my phone rings: Come pick up your cheque for 10 grand. Really? Gee, I dunno, the pride part of me doesn’t like this idea much at all. 43, big boy, all that. But he talked me into it, so I caved and accepted. I’m in a tight squeeze here. I don’t want to accept help, but pride doesn’t make the minimum payment, unfortunately. I’m hoping I can pay it forward some way in the future. I don’t plan on being in debt forever. I’ve seen both sides of the coin. I’ve been worth six figures, and six cents and everywhere in between. I have no plan in being in this state forever, that’s for sure. Life is a long road, and I’m hoping I’m only half way around the block.

So today I made a payment towards the evil Mastercard for $10,000.00. I now have a little over six grand to go. This is great, because save for $150 for storage, I can knock this card off in months now, not years. I’ve made a goal of July 1, 2010. I might not make it but I’m close.
I still have LOADS of stuff to sell. DVD’s, CD’s, stereo bits, some furniture, you name it.

And that’s the story about my $10,000 blog post. If i ever make another post with a number that high I’ll be surprised. Thanks Dad.

Sacrifice of the Day

Today’s sacrifice is a G-Snake audio cable by AudioQuest. It’s to connect your iPod/MP3 Player to your stereo. It has a 1/8th plug on one end and rca connectors on the other to hook up to your stereo. If you’d have won my iPod auction you could have plugged this into the line out of the ipod dock and then into your stereo. A thousand songs in your living room or bedroom.

I had to have this. It’s got the funky blue wrap over the cable. I bought this for looks just as much I did performance. And, I got a deal.
and, I paid cash. So it could of been worse. But, off to eBay it goes.

$6000 and change to go on the MasterCard. I’m pumped.

Related posts:

1. Ways to Make More Money With Your Blog. Day 29
2. Is the iPod obsolete? Day 10
3. Six Steps Forward, Seven Back. Day 56

Today’s Sacrifice
Today I’ve got a 30gb iPod up for auction with a whole bunch of accessories too. I’ve got the iPhone, and my needs for an iPod are rare and random so I’m going to sell this and put the money towards the debt load. If I do need just an ipod again I can pick up a little nano or even a shuffle. I wonder, with the iPhone being pretty much everywhere these days do you need to have both an iPod and and iPhone? I guess it depends on your needs. I like the ‘all in one’ of the iPhone.

Here’s what’s up for grabs today:

It’s an Apple iPod 30 Gb with base, charger, firewire to ipod cables x 2 (one apple, on no name)  another cheapo third party ipod cable with both USB  and Firewire connectors, plastic stand, and a firewire to mini-firewire adapter.  It all starts at a $1, so bid often.

Stupid Purchase of the Day

I a way, this was stupid as I’m still paying interest on it, but in another way, I’d pay probably twice whatever it’s cost me as I use it everyday: Back in August 2003,  I bought Transit by Panic Software and it’s been an invaluable tool for both ramseeker.com  and  other  projects, including this one, and many more failed projects so even though I may have been paying for it this might even be considered ‘good debt’ as I’ve used this pretty much every day for six years straight. My Visa Balance back then was $2900, so it could have been the start of my debt slide downhill.. so if that’s the case, then my purchase for $35.90 is now up to $70.86. Still chump change and I use it every day but I can think of much better things to spend $30 and up of interest on . Over time, you’ll see my financial history with credit card spending is just little things like this. And before you know it, you’re up to a $22,000 balance.

and lastly..

If I had your money

I’d buy a little netbook so I could do this from starbucks. Wait, maybe that wouldn’t be a good idea. I’m close to lattes and they’re five bucks a pop, and those little buggers add up. But this little Samsung Netbook seems to be the top seller currently at Amazon. its on sale as I write this at 21% off.

Related posts:

1. The $10,000 Blog Post. Day 22
2. i Don’t Need It