For the record, being financially responsible is BORING!I'm going more than a bit stir crazy. Summer is ending, and I have a profound urge to be out doing stuff, attending festivals and fairs and celebrating the wonderful weather that is left. Instead I sit around plugging numbers into budget spreadsheets that tell me I don

I'm beginning to notice a pattern. My mood falters and my confidence seems do wane at the end of the month. I start doubting my ability to stick to the plan I've laid out for getting out of debt.Maybe it's because the money between paychecks has to stretch the longest at this time of the month.I was actually ready to abando

I guess I should have been listening to Dr. Laura. It might have been fun to hear her say the N-word 11 times on nationally syndicated radio and then try to apologize for it.Maybe Dave Ramsey will be back on middays again on 1190 KEX AM, now that Dr. Laura says she won't renew her contract. (Read her blog post here and read

Portland, Ore., radio station KEX, 1190 AM, has been promoting a smart phone application for iheartradio lately, and they finally convinced me to use it more. I had downloaded the app for my phone, but had not really used it, until today.It was not the commercials for the app itself that led me to use it. It was the fact th

I had hoped to start my 48-month debt payoff plan this month. I'm going to wait, though, until I rebuild my savings account.It looks like it will be at least next month, or perhaps the month after, before I get the savings account back where I want it and can start tackling the first account on my debt snowball.I'm not thri

Me efforts to get out of debt have involved some lifestyle changes. The biggest one is that I rarely eat out anymore. For most people, that may not be much of an adjustment, but it was for me. I used to live on fast food and other restaurants.At one point I was actually convinced that eating out was cheaper than eating at h

Pay day is too far away and I'm out of everything in the house. I need to figure out how to do a budget.There just not enough money left after paying the credit cards and the regular monthly bills to pay for things like food, household supplies and car expenses. I get the stuff paid that I get sent bills for, and then there

It's day 100 since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill began and BP has become a constant fixture on the nightly newscasts and in the morning papers and vilified on website, blogs and social networking sites. I don't know about you, but I have certainly changed my fuel buying habits since this crisis began.I've started buying my f

I added a few links to the blog, including a debt reduction calculator. That find is pretty exciting, because it showed me in concrete terms when I can expect to get out of this hole I dug myself into.I've crunched the numbers a couple of times. If I can stick to the payment plan the calculator spells out, I could be comple

Writing this post is actually a delaying tactic. I'm stalling for time. I'm trying to work up the courage to do what I know I should do.While I've got pretty good in recent months about not using credit cards for miscellaneous purchases, I have only actually cut up one card, and that's the Chase card that is charging me obs

I'm not sure I'm equipped to be in the dating pool in 2010.In reality, I'm not anywhere near the pool. I'm sort of outside the fence, looking in at the water and daydreaming about floating on the waves, while still being scared shitless to get dunked under and drown.I know I'm way past the bar scene, where I'd be more likel

One of the key reasons I decided to start blogging again, particularly about dealing with my finances, is that I regularly find myself having a crisis of confidence. Am I'm making the right choices on my quest to get out of debt?I've been listening, when I can, to the Dave Ramsey radio show. That helps keep me focused. It a

Congress passed a financial reform package today, and President Obama is expected to sign it, perhaps as early as next week.I'm nervous about what this will mean. That's not because I'm some big-wig investor or mega-bankers. I'm just a schmuck swimming in credit card debt. And the reason I'm scared is because the last time