Read,: September 2009

Bug (2006)

Good news.

I lost a lot of debt (stress) yesterday.

A few years ago I opened my first real credit card account with Target. Unofficially I opened it with my girlfriend at the time, so we could get ready for Burning Man. We were going to make sure we paid it back as quickly as possible. Well she lost her job and we broke up. It was only under my name. One of those mistakes you should only make in your youth, should you make it. The APR is 19.9%.

Well, yesterday I finally cleared the debt off that card. If I really make an effort (beyond the minimum) I can pay off my other only CC in about 10 months. That'll leave me with just a car payment for a few years.

It was bitter sweet because I didn't pay it off with hard work and discipline but rather because of a gift that only occurred because of my parents maturity and forethought many years ago, and ultimately because of my moms death. "I shouldn't be the only beneficiary" I think were the words used.

My goal is that discipline will be what keeps the balance at $0 if I don't cancel the account.

I also bought a new wheel for my mountain (and winter commuting) bike. Almost done building it. Just needs another wheel, tires/tubes, a freewheel and brake caliper. I'm lucky enough to get bike parts very cheap through work which probably makes it more expensive because if everything is at a discount, its more tempting to splurge. There is a diminishing return rate with hobbies and how happy a purchase will make you, but everyone should have hobbies. I only have a couple (biking and video games, I think). I'm not going to pay $60 for a water bottle holder (tempting though), but I understand the benefit of paying hundreds for a set of wheels. It might be a great water bottle holder, but wheels enhance the experience much more noticeably. Stuff like that.

Making a payment to the credit card takes about 24 hours to show up on the online control panel. So of course I checked it this morning when I got to work and just stared at the $0 balance. All the things I've bought with that card are now paid for and mine. Unfortunately because of poor choices, a lot of those things are disposed of (groceries, gifts, gas, sometimes bills, things you buy when moving across the country and don't have a job).

If you can't pay it off by the time you get home, or before your next pay period, don't buy it! There are exceptions, houses, cars, computers are probably the 3 most expensive things you'll buy in your life, other than your health. Fortunately its not that difficult to get really low interest on loans for those huge things. I think my car loan is 7%, or around that. After a couple of years I can make extra payments to the principal on the loan.

I wish the had been more financial classes in school. I might have paid attention more if I knew I really would be using it!

At work I'm just finishing up with our Holiday Sales Flier. It was going great until the VP / head of "checking it off" went on a week long trip as I was wrapping up the layout. All of a sudden I have to get revision approvals from someone that doesn't normally have the responsibility to make big red X's or big green √'s. Things kind of fell apart. "We'll just wait till he gets back on Tuesday" Well he got back on Thursday, things got delayed, I got sick and so on. It should be on the press, being printed. All the changes and fixes and mistakes should have been taken care off two weeks ago. But because of the hustle and bustle and haste, there was waste and I just now uploaded another revision to the printer.

What can I do better next time? Not let anyone on the project leave until the project is done.

You should get a Miata

As much as I really really really enjoy my car now, I really do miss my Miata. It was just a relaxing experience to drive in any condition, even in the snow here in Chicago - however that was about the least enjoyable time to drive it. The most enjoyable was through the Berkeley hills, especially with my dad! It was like a cross between riding a bike and a go-kart. When the weather was nice (and it usually is in the bay area), with the top down the exhaust note was all I needed to feel refreshed. I'll never forget taking my dad out for a drive and us talking about this and that and having him tell me that he actually kinda liked that little car too (my dads not really a car guy).

I can see just about anyone enjoying a Miata, and if you pay attention, you usually do see all kinds of people in them. Not just college girls or car-guys. Overweight guys in suits drive em, moms with little dogs on their laps drive em. They are probably the perfect first car for a guy or girl. Light enough to really tear it up if you're into that, but not overpowered so you can keep out of trouble. Rear wheel drive completes the package.

It's the best selling roadster of all time for many reasons. You can easily find a reliable example for $2000-3000. I think mine was $3000, but it might have just been $2k. I don't remember. It had a replaced engine, but it ran flawlessly - even my mechanic complimented it after he took it for a test drive. Right after I bought it I did need to replace brake pads and score the rotors, and I think that was $700 (which is about the price of some other car brake PADS alone), and I refreshed the suspension, tires and wheels for about another $2000 (including labor). After that I drove it clear across the country.

I look forward to growing up some more, being more financially secure (it doesn't help that we just got a pay cut at work) and having another (same color and year) in my future garage next to my current car and some bikes. You should get one, they really are bullet proof.

If I loved it so much, why did I sell it? You don't need a car in Chicago when you're single. Just a bike...

Seth's Blog

If positive thinking was easy, we'd do it all the time. Compounding this difficulty is our belief that the easy thing (negative thinking) is actually appropriate, it actually works for us. The data is irrelevant. We're the exception, so we say.