2005 was a pretty good year! It's nice to reflect back on what you did during the year and see progress, however small. Here are the main accomplishments:
I managed to wipe out my credit card debt ($4500); the balance of a student loan that's been hanging around for about a decade ($2200); made a serious "dent" in reducing my car loan balance by upping my monthly payment by about 45% (from $350 to $500). I figure I'll be debt free (except mortgage) sometime in April. Other highlights: I opened a Roth IRA in December, with the goal of contributing the maximum in 2006. This should be easy, as it's automatically deducted, so I won't even see the money. I also opened an Emigrant Direct account with $1000 as a kind of emergency fund. I also began tracking expenses and planning where my money was heading each month. Yay!
Despite my focus on reducing debt, I did waste some hard earned cash. Here are two that come immediately to mind:
Debt into Wealth Software: $79.95. I didn't think this purchase through, but at the time I impulsively succumbed to the e-mail pitches with testimonials of people who wiped out their debt in record time. I was especially hooked when I read stories of people getting rid of ALL their debt, including mortgage, in about five years. I thought it would be useful motivation. Who wouldn't like to get rid of their mortagage? I wasn't drowning in debt like some people, so I really didn't need it. The e-book that came with the software didn't offer any insights that I hadn't heard before, I thought most of the information was common sense. I can do just as well with an Excel spreadsheet, and since March, I've found plenty of spreadsheet freebies from other personal finance blogs.
Internal Cleansing Program: $79.95. I cringe at this one. It's one of my more embarrassing purchases, but after a co-worker sent me the link to the site, I was morbidly fascinated, so I bought it with her with the goal of doing the "program" together. I tried it for a two or three days and was disgusted with the grainy sludge that you had to down each morning. It is VILE-TASTING. What's left of the program is hidden in the back of the linen closet.
I managed to wipe out my credit card debt ($4500); the balance of a student loan that's been hanging around for about a decade ($2200); made a serious "dent" in reducing my car loan balance by upping my monthly payment by about 45% (from $350 to $500). I figure I'll be debt free (except mortgage) sometime in April. Other highlights: I opened a Roth IRA in December, with the goal of contributing the maximum in 2006. This should be easy, as it's automatically deducted, so I won't even see the money. I also opened an Emigrant Direct account with $1000 as a kind of emergency fund. I also began tracking expenses and planning where my money was heading each month. Yay!
Despite my focus on reducing debt, I did waste some hard earned cash. Here are two that come immediately to mind:
Debt into Wealth Software: $79.95. I didn't think this purchase through, but at the time I impulsively succumbed to the e-mail pitches with testimonials of people who wiped out their debt in record time. I was especially hooked when I read stories of people getting rid of ALL their debt, including mortgage, in about five years. I thought it would be useful motivation. Who wouldn't like to get rid of their mortagage? I wasn't drowning in debt like some people, so I really didn't need it. The e-book that came with the software didn't offer any insights that I hadn't heard before, I thought most of the information was common sense. I can do just as well with an Excel spreadsheet, and since March, I've found plenty of spreadsheet freebies from other personal finance blogs.
Internal Cleansing Program: $79.95. I cringe at this one. It's one of my more embarrassing purchases, but after a co-worker sent me the link to the site, I was morbidly fascinated, so I bought it with her with the goal of doing the "program" together. I tried it for a two or three days and was disgusted with the grainy sludge that you had to down each morning. It is VILE-TASTING. What's left of the program is hidden in the back of the linen closet.
posted by Tightwad Tim at 6:12 AM
1 Comments:
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