Ryan McFarland

Here’s a chart of my net worth over time not including the bike shop or the mortgage.

The bump in the line in November was from receiving 6 months of advance rent and shifting some debt to a 0% interest credit card but not adding the account to the program.  You also can see a plateau in April of this year where i lost some focus.

If i can hold off on many more vacations or big shopping trips i can really move this trend in an even more positive direction!

I took a little online Credit card debt quiz and it turns out the I’m a little wiser than i expected about debt, bills, and credit.  I scored a 93% overall (without cheating - many of the answers are easily available online).  Some of my answers were valid last month and others valid next month.  My current “sort of debt free” status is difficult to qualify in some of the multiple choice answers.

If i took the quiz next month I should score a little better in the credit section.  A few months from now i’ll do better in the life plan section.  I don’t know if my budget score will ever increase though!

The test is done in stages with the questions in different categories like you see above.  After you complete the quiz there are comments that help you know where you can improve your knowledge and credit savvy.

At the very end you can even compare your score to those of a similar demographic and from your location.  I’m not sure how accurate this is or if it is of much value.  But the feedback they give on your answers to the questions is quite valuable and considerably accurate in my opinion.  Check the BillsIQ Quiz here.

I know that i have been focused on eliminating my debt this year.  My single resolution was to not owe on any credit cards.  But the more research that i have done on personal finance has made me aware that debt isn’t entirely bad.  Take a look at this chart.

You see that i have no charges on my American Express, WaMu, and one of my Bank of America cards(the business card).  That’s good!  That is the goal.  I have $5,000 sitting on the Chase card.  Need to get rid of that right?  Well, not so urgently.  Since November that balance (it was twice that) has carried a 0% interest rate.  As long as i can pay it off before interest accumulates why fret about a balance?  Regardless, i have been plugging away at that card - but did focus most on those with interest accumulating.

I also have about $2,500 on my Bank of America card.  That’s actually my Alaska Airlines card that gives me a mile for every dollar charged.  I had the card paid off a few months ago.  But Cena convinced me to resume using it.  For everything.  Get the miles and then pay it off every month.  They are expenses that i would have anyway.  That i would have paid with my debit card.  So now i’m able to keep money in my checking account longer.  And my checking account has a small interest amount paid based on my balance.  It is no investment but it is a nice change to have interest increasing my account value as opposed to decreasing it.

For instance; Last week i paid Petersburg Motors for replacing and installing my windshield and back window.  Just over $1,300.  I was about to pay with my debit card.  I have the money may as well pay it.  But i changed my mind at the last moment and put it on the card that earns me miles.

I need to remember that having some debt isn’t bad — i just need to make sure that debt is not out of control.

It has been a few busy months since i last reported on my epic journey to eliminate all of my debt (except Zoom’s and the mortgage).  I’m happy to say that’s I’m close.  Real close.  In early January i had $15,650.89 in debt and right now I’m down to $1,270.27 in debt.

I still have not received my stimulus money from the federal government.  If you have not received yours yet you can check the status on this site.  I sold vacation time which has bolstered my checking account.  I have resumed using my Alaska Airlines Visa to rebuild my miles but have been paying it off each month to avoid paying interest.  The Chase card that is carrying a balance is at 0% for a few more months so i’m slowly carving it down.

I have about $3,000 that should be coming in to the business account in the next few months from web and DJ jobs.  A month from now I should have all debt erased and can resume attacking the mortgage and building personal savings aside from my retirement savings.

The first of March, 30 days ago, i owed 9,427.17 in personal debt (including Zieak enterprises but excluding the mortgage and Zoom Bikes).  As of April 1 i owe $7,411.79.  I dropped my debt $2,015.38 in the month of March.

I have $2,200 in accounts receivable for Zieak enterprises and have three DJ jobs lined up in the next few months.  Those jobs should bring in about $1,000.

At the beginning of the year the goal was to pay $2,000 each month toward the debt.  All of my personal debt (on the Chase card) is at 0% interest.  I think a wise move would be to pay off the Zieak enterprises card which is being hit with over $40 per month in finance charges.  I’ll drain the earnings in my Paypal account to put toward that.

It sounds like the Alaska Permanent Fund will be about $2,000 this October.  If it hits that mark it will set a record.

In February’s debt report i had $13,811.93 indebtedness.  Actually — that’s not the correct term.  More accurately that is a measure my net worth but ignoring the house (asset and liability), my car (asset), and retirement savings (asset), and Zoom Bikes assets and liabilities.  This short month saw a $4,384.76 reduction in my debt!  I now owe $9,427.17.  In less than 60 days i have knocked $6,223.72 from my debt.

How? A nice tax return helped a lot.  Spending was cut to the bare bones — but we did go out to eat a few times and had a few drinks.  In fact, this month i even put $500 into Zoom Bikes to help with our rent and other payments.  My net balance could have been $8927.17.  In the next few months the bike shop will be able to return that money to me and resume my monthly token income.  I also made just under $600 in income on zieak.com.  Lux Boutique pays a hefty sum toward the mortgage each month in return for the “loan” that was made against the value of the house.

I predict being entirely debt free by the beginning of June.  The goal was to accomplish that in one year.  In June our renter will need to make rent payments again (he paid for six months in advance).  At that time i should be able to make the large extra payments toward the principle of the mortgage.  Consumer Reports did a study that showed moving $100 extra dollars into stock market investments instead of paying down a mortgage each month was a guaranteed better return.  However, during this uncertain economic time the only think that i am certain of is that we’re paying over $1,100 a month in interest on our home.  When we were making the large extra payments the interest amount dropped by around $7 a month (and was increasing).  Now that we’re just paying the exact amount due the interest each month is dropping just over a dollar and increasing slowly.

The folks at Mint want to help relieve holiday overspending by throwing $5,000 toward two lucky winners with a story to tell.  Just shoot a video or write a story “confessing your holiday excesses to the world.”  Sadly i’m ineligible because i have been a “professional” writer.  But my loss could be your gain on your loss.

[via Consumerist]

In January’s debt report i showed $15,650.89 worth of indebtedness. A nearly perfect month of no extra spending later, and I’m happy to show a significant reduction in that figure. At this precise moment i owe $13,811.93 (not including the mortgage or the bike shop liabilities or assets). That is a $1,838.96 reduction in one month. At that rate i’llbe debt free in the middle of August. My checking account shows a significantly lower number than in January because i am paid on the 5th and last month’s post was on the 6th. I’ll make these posts on the first of the month from now on. The 101.48 on American Express is my annual Costco membership which is billed to the card automatically. I would cancel the membership but every year we have made significant purchases worth the membership - plus i get money back on the purchases. The Paypal account is blossoming because of some eBay sales and making maximum use of any other potential income (links). It will definitely grow by at least another $200 in the next month. Zieak enterprises still has more than $2,200 in outstanding invoices that will reduce the debt and time to financial freedom.

In our quest toward financial freedom we’re doing a number of practical exercises to reducing expenses. But in brainstorming ways to save money we’ve also thought of some methods we’ll be skipping. Here’s my list of ridiculously frugal ways to save money.

1. Dumpster dive. For food. There are quite a few people that do this because we know that perfectly good food is thrown away. And i’m not above pulling perfectly good things out of the trash. But there’s something that makes me a little squeamish about eating meat, vegetables or baked goods from the trash. Potential savings - hundreds to over a thousand.
2. Cancel all your unnecessary bills. All of them. No internet or Netflix (use the library). No cable or satellite TV. No cell phone or land line. Just get down to electricity and water bills. If you have things in storage sell them all - you are not using them if they are in storage. Cancel the gym membership (if you can without penalty) or sell it to someone else. If mass transit is available or you can walk or ride your bike, cancel your insurance and park your car. Do all this and your potential annual savings will easily be thousands of dollars.
3. Get all of your toiletries from free sources. Prowl the freebies websites for sample products. Gather all the soap, shampoo, and other stuff from hotels during work trips (or friend’s work trips). Many hotels offer complimentary toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, and the like for travelers that “forgot” theirs. Perhaps watch the front desk for a shift change and ask again. You could save up to a hundred dollars by being this cheap.
4. Eat rice and a multivitamin when #1 fails you. Don’t complain. There are starving people in Sudan that wish they could have that multi-vitamin. If you can pull this off you’ll save thousands a year.
5. Go to the bathroom at work or in public restrooms. Then you don’t have to pay for the water, sewer (sewer fees tend to be tied to water consumption because there is no such thing as a sewer meter) or toilet paper. If you must, pee in the tub and just give a quick shot of water from the shower to rinse it down. A toilet flush uses 1-5 gallons depending on how old your toilet is. A 2.5 GPM shower head run for 10 seconds uses less than a half gallon. If your body can manage this then you might save over a hundred dollars depending on your taste in toilet paper.
6. Shower as infrequently as possible. Even just dropping to every other day will halve your bathing water consumption. Your hot water heater will not need to make as much hot water (hopefully you have an on-demand unit for the maximum savings). When you do shower, adjust the water flow so that it isn’t using the full flow of water.  These might save a hundred dollars or more annually.
7. Just drink water. You don’t need anything else. Coffee and colas are not good for you anyway. If you go to one of those trendy coffee shops for a drink twice a day you’re spending more than $2,000 fueling your addiction. People that smoke a pack a day are spending about that much. You could save as little as a few hundred dollars annually to tens of thousands of dollars on future dental bills for cleanings and cavities.
8. Unplug appliances that are not used. Definitely unplug any wall warts (the black boxes that make it difficult to plug anything next to them on a power strip). Also unplug anything with a LED on it, or a clock (microwave, VCR, etc.), and any computer equipment or televisions. These draw electricity even when turned “off.” For convenience you can plug a set of equipment into a power strip and then just unplug it. Wait, if you cancel your internet service and shut off your TV provider then you shouldn’t need this stuff often anyway. Just unplug it all until you come home from the library with a foreign film that isn’t available as a book. If you’re doing the rice, vitamins, and water meal then you can unplug your refrigerator too. Easily hundreds of dollars in savings available here.

My credit score has taken a hit over the last half of this year. I imagine it is from the many recent credit pings from the mortgage and buying the bike shop. I had probably a half dozen credit checks for Zoom Bikes. I also had a month or two where i made a few credit card payments a day late - i thought i had payments scheduled! Things are not bad enough that i need to get bad credit loans, but i am taking much more care about applying for additional cards. I was in a habit of applying for the next offer with a 0% balance transfer so i could move money around from account to account without too many financial incentives to pay it off.

I’ve seen a 100 point plummet in my score in the last 5 months! Once again, i’m not too concerned. I have an aggressive repayment schedule for my two personal accounts and the business balances are being trimmed down. I do feel like a multi ethnic group of mixed gender business people are looking at me though. Oh - maybe that’s because of the mixed crowd that reads this.