get down (payment)

I finally input my December expenses into the online tracker. I was still in the hole almost $500 for the month, which actually isn't as bad as I thought, taking the extra Christmas spending into consideration.

We're still spending way too much money on groceries. By my count, it's between $300-$400 a month, and that doesn't include when I ask the Hubs to stop on his way home and pick something up. I definitely need to get back into the Fresh 20 groove (which I still owe you a post about) and start using coupons more frequently. I started drinking green smoothies again, which pretty much eliminates the need for any breakfast foods (the Hubs isn't a big breakfast eater).

I did cut down on the Wawa spending, though I didn't give it up totally like I wanted to. I think on every visit to Wawa, I would buy something, get back to my car, and then say "shit! I'm not supposed to be coming here!" But ya live and learn  - I have yet to buy anything there this month!

I've been putting in applications left and right for part time jobs. I recently received an e-mail from Revel Casino for a Restaurant Host job; However, they want to interview me next Wednesday at 1:00 PM. Uhhhh, clearly, that's not going to work out, since I work a full time job. Of course, there's no contact information for the Recruitment Office in the e-mail so I'll have to try to get a hold of someone on my lunch break today to see if it can be changed. I also received a call from my current job's Human Resources for an interview for another position in the Courthouse's Civil Division. I'm pretty excited for that - hopefully, it will come with a pay raise!

But enough about me, let's get to the point of this whole post. You're already aware of my car troubles (if not, see here) and the subsequent search for a new one. The other night The Hubs and I were talking about what we were looking for, how much we can afford per month, and what we plan to put down. Since 2012 was a pretty disastrous year for us, financially speaking, we really don't have a big pile of money to throw down on a car. The Hubs thinks this is fine, since we're not purchasing a new vehicle, but I'm leery that not paying anything except taxes & tags will screw me in the long run.

After doing a little research, I've found we're both right, but The Hubs is a little more so in our case (but don't tell him that). If we were buying a new, or even slightly used (say a Certified Pre-Owned), then I would be correct by wanting to make a larger down payment which would cover the car's depreciation during my first year of owning it. But, since we're buying an older model, it's already had it's maximum depreciation. Edmund's recommends 10% for a used car. At the $9,500 price tag I'm looking to spend (or stay under), that's about $900 plus the $600-ish for sales, so about $1,400 all together. I think that's a number we can handle, provided that the dealerships are willing to negotiate their sticker prices.

The one thing I'm not worried about? My interest rate. Even though I might be the worst credit user in awhile, my credit score hasn't suffered, and I think I'm still bound to get a nice rate. I'm hoping for 4%. In any case, I better bone up on my negotiation skills:

car shopping pretty much makes me want to jump off a building

P.S. if you follow me on Instagram (@kathyquicktick), you'll see just what I did to my Kohl's card the night after this post.

three points

I was passing the time at work reading A Cup of Jo 's archives yesterday and I happened upon a post about authenticity. Joanna's mother wrote this to her regarding the subject:

"It seems to me that being authentic is being brave enough or just candid enough to be honest about what you are experiencing or who you are, whether it is popular are not... Whenever you are honest, you are speaking for a thousand silent people who don't have the voice to say what they really feel or are really experiencing. So, if you ever talk about [the thing you went through], you will touch a million hearts. Because you are speaking for more than just yourself. You are never alone in what you are feeling."

It resonated with me the whole day.  I think I've done an okay job being authentic (so far!) with those that read this blog, but lately, I think I've been sticking my short-comings in the corner and not acknowledging them as I should. I don't want, nor can I afford, to resort back to the "ostrich syndrome" (sticking your head in the sand to avoid something). So with that, here's a list for you of what I've been able to do and what I still need to do in my financial life.

For Better:

Writing down daily expenses/purchases in a mini-notebook, including anything auto-debited from my account 

 Transferring chunks of money into my short-term savings account - I've learned that the less money I see in the "available" column, the less I spend overall.

 Spending less money on groceries, overall. I'll have a post about that soon.

 Being able to say no/put things back/be more realistic with my purchases. For example, I was in Target on Tuesday, and put back more than a few things that I just didn't need.

Still Needs Work:

 Using coupons. I'm doing pretty good with using coupons at major retailers, especially if gifts are involved. My grocery couponing is pretty much non-existant.

 Giving up some other non-essentials, like soda, specialty lattes from Wawa/Starbucks, & eating out when I don't feel like eating what I've made for lunch/dinner.

Increasing retirement contributions. I've upped the contributions on my Deferred Compensation & Roth plans to 2% of my annual salary. Still no where close to the 10% I used to be at, but we're getting there.

Has Been Totally Ignored:

 Not using credit cards. This could probably go in the "Still Needs Work" column, but I'm going to put it down here. In this post, I talked about not cutting up the cards after they were paid off, which was a stupid move on my part. My friend, Jenn, warned me that paying everything off in a lump sum probably really wouldn't "teach" me the lesson I needed, and she was right. I haven't used them lately, but I did during the summer, and now I'm not only paying the minimums on those, but my loan as well. Lesson definitely learned.

 Automatic savings. Confession: I have no auto-save from my paycheck set up. I did go to the credit union and get the paperwork, but I never turned it into Human Resources and now I have no idea where it is. That's my only goal for next week.

 Budgeting - in the sense of giving myself X amount of dollars to spend on a certain thing (like gas/groceries/shoes) per month. I am reviewing my Virtual Wallet Spending Tracker a few times a month to see where I need to cut back, but I just can't seem to give myself a hard & fast number.

So that's where I'm at. I'm getting there. Like most things, this takes a lot more time and effort than I initally think it will. I try not to get too frustrated with myself, but the perfectionist in me makes it hard somedays. I still get moody and want to buy a shirt sometimes, but I'm getting better at realizing that shopping high is going to last about as long as my bad mood.

In the wise words of Alanis Morisette: "And what it all comes down to/ Is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet"

How are you doing in your financial life?

ten days

I was reading my favorite blog this morning, Young House Love, and John posted about his annual tradition, Aquatober. As the name suggests, he takes the whole month off from other beverages except water (and sometimes milk).

In any personal finance book or article you read, one of the suggestions you'll see over and over again is to cut out the small spending because it really adds up. The other day, I found myself justifying my Wawa coffee purchase because (and this really was my internal dialogue) "it's not like I buy $3 Starbucks everyday, or even that I buy coffee everyday. It's a twice, maybe three times a week purchase, so at $1.45 per purchase, it's less than $20 a month."

But you know what? It's still $20 I don't have at the end of the month. It's still 250 calories (in the 12 ounce; 300 in the 16 ounce) and 29 grams of sugar that I don't need to be taking in.

what 29 grams of sugar looks like (photo from Sugar Stacks)

I can probably give up Wawa coffee for a month. I can probably give up my weekend Starbucks (actually, I know I can because I don't have any money left on my card). I definitely can't give up hot tea though. But, since that pretty much is flavored water, I'm going to let that slide in. I also have four cans of Diet Pepsi in the fridge. One can by the time we leave for Disney on Wednesday. This is already not going well.

Then I discovered the 10 Days program. Created by college students back in 2007, participants drink only water for one week. The money saved is used to provide 10 Rwandan communities with clean safe water.

from 10 Days
 

10 Days? I can handle 10 Days. Is anyone else up for the challenge?

all or nothing

During my senior year of high school, I was cast as Aunt Eller in our production of Oklahoma!. The movie's been on TV a lot lately, causing me to have at least one song stuck in my head at any given moment. Recently, I've been humming "All Er Nuthin" sung by Ado Annie (played by Gloria Grahame) & Will Parker (Gene Nelson). Never heard it? I'm not surprised. Have a listen:

Even though the song is about giving your partner your all in marriage, the phrase has really been sticking with me lately. Yesterday, I was reading My Year with Eleanor and came across a passage about perfectionists/perfectionism. And it never really hit me until that moment just how well it described me. Of course I can't find the passage now, but I'm at work, so I'll try to come back with it later. Lets turn to our friend Wikipedia for a brief synopsis:

Perfectionists have also been described as those who strain compulsively and unceasingly toward unobtainable goals, and who measure their self-worth with their productivity and accomplishment.^[4] Pressuring oneself to achieve such unrealistic goals inevitably sets the individual up for disappointment. Perfectionists tend to be harsh critics of themselves when they do not meet the standards they set for themselves...Unhealthy perfectionists consider their mistakes a sign of personal defects. For these individuals, anxiety about potential failure is the reason perfectionism is felt as a burden.

It goes on to say that there are people who can use their perfectionism in a healthy manner to keep them striving towards goals; This reminds me most of my sister in law, Stephanie, who makes goals, re-evaluates her goals, and achieves them, all on a regular basis.

I talked about some goals in this post, but, honestly, haven't done a thing about it in the six months that have passed. Do I think those goals are unrealistic? Not really, but somewhere in my mind, I can feel myself thinking "you're not going to accomplish them anyway, so why even bother?" And I think that's the mindset I've gotten myself stuck into over the past eight years or so.

I say eight years, because that's the last time I felt like my life was full of positive promise - the summer of high school graduation. The first two years of college, I struggled immensely with the decision of "what to major in". I struggled with living on my own for the first time in my life - and that existance was funded a lot on credit. Then I went through this revolving cycle of paying off credit card debt only to tack on new (and usually more) in the next year(s). Then I graduated college and was faced with bleak employment options and massive student loan debt. And now, here I am, only three years away from my thirties with absolutely nothing to show for it, except some clothes that I really don't like very much anyway.

Author Julia Cameron wrote: “Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop — an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are [doing] and to lose sight of the whole.”

That sounds all too familiar.

Obviously it's not all bad. I'm lucky to have some very awesome people in my life who support me no matter how many times I make mistakes (even if they're the same ones over and over again). And I am thankful for that everyday.

Phew - I did not expect this post to turn into an emotional analysis. Your turn. Any personality quirks (good or bad) you want to reveal?

332.0 - 332.999

I've been reading personal finance books off and on since starting the blog. I get through a few chapters, then put the book down for a week or so before coming back to it. I have David Bach's "Debt Free for Life" by my bed, Carl Richards' "The Behavior Gap" at my desk, and Ben Stein's "What Would Ben Stein Do?"

I haven't picked up Mr. Bach's book in weeks and I'll probably just return it to the library. Like Dave Ramsey and other financial advisors out there, Mr. Bach focuses on paying off all your debt in the fastest amount of time by sacrificing just about everything else. While this approach may work for some, it's just not for me. Full on deprivation just leads me to overdo it later. Plus, I'm not getting another job to help pay off the debt faster. Fact: I'm lazy. I did toy with the idea for a few weeks, but right now, the hubs and I have something going on just about every weekend until June. I'm hopeful I might be able to pick up a nights & weekends gig during the summer when the hubs is off and we don't have to worry about Molly Monster, but we'll see.

I'd rather work with I've got and learn subtle tips and tricks to save more, but still being able to feel like I'm enjoying life. I know, I know, you don't need money to enjoy life, but it sure does help!

Mr. Richards book is more my style. While it's primarily about investing, there are some snippets of wisdom that have stuck with me. Plus, there's pictures! (Diagrams, really.) One phrase I've been carrying around:

"'Personal finance... is more personal than financial.' It's true. Planning for your financial future is personal. It has to be. A good plan will be unique to your situation, and what is right for your situation may be a disaster for your neighbor. So ponder how the advice you encounter applies to you before you make important decisions about your money."

Last month, I embarked on trying to pay down my debt myself. As we saw at the end of the challenge, it didn't work out for me as well as I'd hoped. My overall debt total only went down a smidge and I was a bit dicouraged. And I had barely anything left over at the end of the month to put in our savings account, which frankly, was stressing me out. I decided to go back to another option I had previously shurgged off: getting a personal loan to pay off my credit cards and starting fresh. PNC offered loans with a starting rate of 8.25% if payments were deducted from my checking account. I applied... and was rejected.

Remember back when I reviewed all the componants of my credit report/score on Credit Karma? One of the biggest black marks on my record was my high debt to income ratio (43%). This was the main reason why I was rejected for the personal loan. Fresh off our anniversary conversation, the hubs told me to re-apply, but to to add him on the loan as well, thereby increasing our incomes while keeping the debts relatively the same. I did and this time we were accepted.

On Saturday, we took a trip to the bank to sign all the paperwork. Our rate ended up being 8.99% which is still half of what the lowest interest rate is on one of my credit cards. I took out a $9,000 loan for four years at $225 per month. There is no penalty for pre-payment, either, which means anytime I have some extra money, I can throw it towards the principal and pay it off faster. Plus, now I know I'll be able to contribute more to our savings account (I already increased the automatic transfer to $100 per paycheck, instead of the previous $50). All in all, this feels like a much better fit for my life than the previous attempt.

And for the credit cards? They're still tucked away. I opted not to cancel any of the cards, since another black mark on my credit report was the "length of time accounts have been opened." Instead, I'll just let them hang out for awhile. Maybe in a few months, when I feel like I have more control over my spending, I'll break them out for one necessary purchase per month, like gas or groceries. But until then, I'll recognize my weaknesses and keep temptation out of my grasp.

I already feel like a burden has been lifted. Even though I know the debt is still there, being able to see zero balances on the cards AND being able to save for any unexpected expenses, instead of having to whip out a card to pay for them, makes a world of difference. And if I ever get tempted to buy something unnecessary on credit, all I have to do is read my own blog.

Anyone else have any similar experiences lately - either with money or something else?

close out

Is it just me or did this month fly by? I can't believe tomorrow is the start of May.

I have to admit, I fell back into some old habits this weekend when it came to spending. But, I recognized it (albeit after I had spent the money) and now I'm ready to get back to saving.

Let's close out April by reviewing the last few steps of Financial Literacy Month (review the other 26 days here and here).

Step 27: Understand the cost of credit. Compare the following before you borrow: Interest rate, length of loan, the total cost of the loan (including interest), credit limit, minimum monthly payment, grace period, and overdrawn & late payment fees. I would also add any pre-payment penalty (I honestly can't believe banks charge you for being responsible). Their blog also reminds you to take into consideration the psychological costs of debt, which, in my opinion, can sometimes outweigh the actual costs (it did for me!)

Step 28: Assemble a financial team. This includes a tax advisor/accountant, a credit counselor, a financial planner, and a lawyer. You may not need all of these componants, but I've heard visiting a financial planner is an expense that's well worth the cost. It can definitely help to have an objective opinion about your finances. The Weakonomist compares your financial team to a football team (helpful!)

Step 29: Appreciate the benefits. "Change may be hard, but the payoff can be priceless." MMI provides a little checklist - "If I stick to my plan, I will..." - I have every box checked off:

feel a sense of accomplishment

have less anxiety

build a secure financial future

improve my creditworthiness

appreciate the things I have purchased

avoid legal problems

be prepared for financial emergencies

feel more in control of my finances

I would also add "have a greater sense of self"

Step 30: Moving forward & Reflections. Is it weird I'm kind of disappointed Financial Literacy Month is over? Even though many of the topics covered during the month were things I already knew, it was nice to review some concepts and apply them to my current finances.

The last reflection of FLM is "What will you do next?" One of the themes I saw over & over during the month was tracking your spending, which I do... kinda, sorta, not really. So May's goal will be to jot down every expense. Whether it's fifty cents in the vending machine at work or paying my half of the mortgage, it's going down in my dollar store journal. I'm hopeful that actually writing it, instead of just reviewing it on the computer screen, will help keep my spending in check.

Did Financial Literacy Month help you at all? I wonder if May has any kind of money theme... "Mad Money May", perhaps? Let's make it happen.

the why factor

Anyone out there a Storage Wars fan? I bet you know my answer:

thanks, dave

Anyway, Darrell "The Gambler" Sheets is always talking about "The Wow Factor", but I'm going to talk about "The Why Factor". This past week, I've been listening to a few podcasts about money and my favorite by far is Adam Baker's Man vs. Debt podcast. Seriously, I have about four pages of notes/quotes on the subject. Here's a little nugget:

We've been sold a myth...that the pursuit of a living environment filled with things is going to grant us security- even grant us happiness. In the pursuit of these things we start to identify with these things... [without stuff] it's easier to bounce back of anything negative that came into life... what happens when you need to adapt? Either physically, emotionally, financially to any situation? At best, you're restricted, you're clogged, you're congested...How much more fufilling would life be if you started collecting experiences instead of things

That's just a brief synopsis - he talks more about how we're in a cycle of working longer & harder in jobs we don't like and rewarding ourselves with more stuff which is putting us deeper in debt so we have to keep working. I make no bones about the fact that I don't like my job all that much, but I stay because of the salary. How great would it be if I could take a pay cut and not worry about whether I could pay my bills? (the answer: super great).

Today is the hubs' and my first wedding anniversary. On Saturday, we invited some of our friends over to have a little get together. Afterwards, we were in the kitchen talking and I asked him what our goals should be for Year 2 (the goal for Year 1 was just not to kill each other). He looked at me kind of strange at first, but I kept talking about what we should be working towards as a couple and how by researching topics for this blog I had learned a lot about goals. And I essentially admitted to him I had more credit card debt than I was comfortable with (I didn't give him the exact number), but I was ashamed to tell him about it. Of course he told me I shouldn't have been worried and he expressed he felt like he wasn't contributing as much to the household as I was and that's probably why I felt like I was coming up short each month.

While we didn't set exact goals, we agreed to work together towards paying off my debt. It was really nice to have an in-depth conversation about what we wanted - which we dont do nearly as much as we should - and I hope it's something we can continue to do in the future.

Back to the podcast (this all relates, I promise) - the central theme Baker talks about is "Your Big Why":

[the] real, honest, transparent, selfish reason that you are getting out of debt or you are stepping up to take back control of your finances. The real reson.

He says there are three levels: In the first level, we take the "why" at face value-

"Debt is bad. Being rich is good. So I'm going to pursue this thing that's good and not this thing that's bad." Baker says "We simplify that much because we aren't willing to really dig deep and analyze the big why, the deep why, the real reson that we're doing this - why do you want to get out of debt? why is debt bad?"

Obviously, my first level is along those lines as well. But why? In the second level, you answer that why. It may be because you want to have extra money to buy expensive things with cash instead of credit. Baker emphasizes it's okay to be selfish here. He literally says what my second level is in the podcast "I just want to get away from the stress. The stress of having to pay bills. The stress of this debt. The weight of this debt. I just want to get it off of me." But why?

Your Big Why exists three levels down... Why do you want to get rid of the stress of your debt? What's the real reson deep down?"

I feel like I'm falling short of what I really want out of life. The hubs and I have talked in the past about moving out of state and I would love to be able to do that and not worry about if I'll be able to find a job that pays what I make now. I want to be a person who works because they love what they do, not because they have to. I want to be able to explore other career paths without fear that we won't be able to afford our monthly bill payments. I used to be this really fun, spontaneous person who was always up for anything and now I feel like I plan everything and I don't do or experience as much as I used to because I'm always concerned about money. I'm sick of settling.

Today's step of Financial Literacy Month is about making the commitment. They recommend creating a visual map of your goals and surrounding yourself with them. That's definitely something I'll be doing in the coming days so I can be reminded daily about why I'm on this journey.

What's your Big Why?

Monday Spent: $3.84 Wawa breakfast
--------------------
Monday Saved: $0.00

goal tending

In continuing the theme from Wednesday's post, we're going to sail on into Financial Literacy Month with more tips. This weeks FLM topics seem to be centered around goal setting and goal tending. Ironically, I was listening to the Man versus Debt podcast yesterday and Baker interviewed a blogger who believed in a "no goals" theory.

I'm not sure yet whether goals are for me, but perhaps that's because I have a hard time setting realistic goals. Or even if the goals themselves are realistic, I can't deal with slow results. I'm a "needed it yesterday" kind of person. I want immediate results, whether it's in my finances, weight loss, the house, etc. So as you can imagine, I'm often disappointed when things don't happen as fast as I think they should and I abandon whatever the goal/resolution was. I'm honestly surprised I stuck with the Lenten goal (for the most part) even when I wasn't able to make big dent in the debt overall.

But back to Step 12: Set short, mid, and long-term goals. Their default goals are: Pay down debt (short), establish emergency savings (mid), and Retirement (long).

My goals would be:

Short (one to two years): Build our emergency savings back up & save for a new car

Mid: (two to five years): Pay off credit card debt (we established back in February this would take me at least four years)

Long: Continue contributing to my retirement accounts and increase the contributions back to 10% once the debt is paid off. Establish a solid long-term savings. Sell our house and buy one I actually like in Atlantic County.

Step 13 of FLM covers a topic we're super familiar with around these parts: methods to pay down debt. They provide the examples of Debt Snowball (lowest balances first) and Debt Avalanche (highest interest rates first). I'm not one to beat a dead horse, so here's a handy debt pay-down calculator if you're interested.

Moving right along... we're going to bang out Steps 14 & 15 today as well, since I'm a bit lax on the weekend blogging.

Step 14 talks about the importance of an emergency savings account. This is an area I've been worrying a lot about lately, since our savings was wiped out after the bat removal. If we hadn't just received our tax return, I don't know how we would have managed. I know most financial websites recommend saving three to six months of living expenses which would put us somewhere between $7,377 & $14,755. Yow-za. I think we have $1,300 in the account right now (all thanks to the hubs).

Step 15 makes me feel better since it's about preparing for retirement and I'm all over that. Prior to this debt paydown journey, I was contributing 12% of my salary to a Roth IRA and a Deferred Compensation plan. This was in addition to our mandatory pension contributions (which, to be honest, I wish I could just opt out of since I doubt NJ will have the money to pay it back to me when I retire). For now, I'm contributing 2% while I focus on knocking out my debt, but I'm look forward to getting back to fully funding my retirement accounts once my credit cards are wiped out. The Hubs also contributes a lot (I don't know the percentage off the top of my head) towards his 403(b) plan so we're on track to spend our retirement golfing (him) and at the beach (me).

What are your financial goals? Do goals motivate you or do you get discouraged like me? Any tips for better management?

April is Financial Literacy Month

Did you know that? I didn't until I was doing research on a different topic for the blog.

Money Management International is sponsering a Financial Literacy Month Challenge as well as guest bloggers on their Blogging for Change website which highlights each days "step". You can enter the Challenge for a chance to win $500 - you know I did!

I'm a bit behind on the steps, so lets kick this baby into overdrive to catch up, shall we?

Step 1: Commit to Change. Done!

Step 2: Assess Your Finanical Situation. I scored 12 points on their quiz, which "reflects a good effort to manage your money effectively. The 30 step plan can help determine changes that can be made to improve your financial well-being."
Step 3: Clearing Out Financial Clutter. I will give myself a pat on the back for being pretty organized; I usually alway toss receipts (except for major household purchases), I print & save our utility bills for one year to compare costs. I'm hit-or-miss on saving credit card statements. Lately, I've just been reviewing them online.We have a big bag of bills I need to get around to shredding then burning in our fire pit. I need to add our paystubs to the pile now that we've received our tax return. The blog post for day 3 lists an interesting tip about carrying three different registers - one for cash, one for your bank/debit card, and one for credit cards. The author also mentions people who struggle with their finances may need to document their spending for longer than a month (ugh!)

Step 4: Set Yourself Up for Success. I would consider myself the Family CFO, meaning I track and pay the majority of our household bills. Again, I'm pretty organized with our paperwork. We're half & half on automated payments- I should probably work towards full automatic payments. I couldn't view the webcast at work though, unfortunately.

Step 5: Get Copies of Your Credit Report. Done - over 40 pages!

Step 6: Clean Up Your Credit Report. Easy-peasy since there were no errors from the three reporting agencies.

Step 7: Make Your Money Count. Using their Income Worksheet Form, I calculated a monthly take home of $2,553.24 (a bit more than my previous estimates due to knocking down my retirement contributions in the short term).
Step 8: Identify Your Starting Point. I calculated my net worth at $1,130.87. Woo-hoo! In the positive! I didn't have the information on the balances in my pension & IRAs so I just estimated some rough numbers based on my last year & a half of contributions. I did not factor in our joint savings because I haven't recently contributed anything to it (whomp whomp)

Step 9: Passing the Debt Test. I answered "yes" to four questions:

Is an increasing percentage of my income going towards debt payments: yes, but that's because I'm riding the debt meteor

Is my savings cushion inadequate or nonexistent: bats- 1, savings account- 0

Are you at or near your credit limits: depends on your interpretation of "near", but I answered yes anyway

If you lost your job would you be under immediate financial strain: hell yes. this scenario gives me nightmares.

The guest blog posts lists "5 Great Reasons to Have Less Debt". They all sounds fabulous.

Step 10: Set Your Priorities. When filling out the worksheet they provided, I could almost place each priority in the "need" catagory, but I decided to be reasonable. The blog tells you to "market to yourself" what your priorities are instead of letting the mass media market to you which I think is a really interesting concept.

Rank 1 (most important): Paying off unsecured debt; Making on-time payments on secure debt; Maintaining a savings account (all ranked as needs)

Rank 2 (semi-important): Buring a car (still more a want than a need), taking a vacation (want), having money for entertainment (want)

Rank 3 (not as important): Saving money for a down-payment on a house. Obviously, we already own a house, so we don't need a D.P. but we should work on increasing our home equity.

Step 11: Set financial goals. They use the acronym SMART:

S - "A smart goal is specific. It pinpoints something you want to change to achieve." (I want to pay off my credit cards before I turn 30.)

M - "A smart goal is measurable. You can measure or count a SMART goal."

A - "A smart goal is achievable. Setting goals too high can lead to frustration." (going to be hard, but achievable)

R - "A smart goal is rewarding. Reaching the goal should be a reward for your hard work."

T - "A smart goal is trackable. Set milestones and schedules for your goals." (first goal: Pay off Card 3 by July at latest)

That brings us up to date on our steps. Are you motivated to take the Challenge now? I'm actually kind of excited about it. I'm definitely a person motivated by challenges/experiences so this is right up my alley.