Easy Change

I just read this entry ( http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/an-annoying-email-i-got ) over at I Will Teach You To Be Rich and I think that it is brilliant. So many people I know never save up before they get luxury items. This is a fundamental difference from those who are "into" personal finance versus those who are not. The quote and concept and explanations that Ramit points to here are the core of people who are serious about personal finance and those who aren't. Over the past two years I've become quite addicted to personal finance. I really like knowing where all my money is going, and what it is up to. Did it stay out past it's curfew, is it getting into trouble with the neighbor's money etc, etc. The bottom line is that for many of us, our wealth just isn't high on the priority list. Instead "paying the bills" is important. Or perhaps even "getting a better paying job" is important. Small things don't really matter....

Well, the payoff's finally complete. With the advent of electronic banking, I've been paying many of my bills using my bank's online bill pay. I like the convenience of knowing exactly when the amount is going to hit my account. This is easy to plan since most of my bills that are paid this way are actually paid as an electronic debit instead of a check. However, for some institutions this might not be possible and therefore a check will be cut. So, for your situation, mileage may vary on online bill pay. But when it comes to my student loan/credit card payoff which happened this week, it is a great feature. I scheduled the payment and I knew exactly when the money would hit my account. Now the bill is completely paid off and has given me even more wiggle room in terms of my measurement of free cash flow on a monthly basis. The key here is what to do with the free cash flow. Currently, it appears that I will be doing some sort of a three-way split with the funds. I plan on ...

So, today I should be depositing a check that will allow me to make the final payment for loan #2 for college. I will be using this combined with some other miscellaneous income that I've transferred over from my paypal account. And then there was one. That one that is left is a biggie, but simply getting these things paid off gives a huge sense of accomplishment. In retrospect, I think that the transfer to a zero percent credit card was a great idea. It gave me the opportunity to actually accumulate some forward momentum since I wasn't fighting the tide of interest. As for me, I went out to a celebratory dinner last night in honor of the achievement. Next up is my car loan. And with just over 3000 dollars left, something tells me that I'll be paying that off early as well.

Ok, I will admit it up front. This post is a short rant, but a rant with some practical tips and ideas. Frequently in my life I get bombarded by situations where my time is wasted. And I cannot let it roll off my back all of the time. In fact, it is probably one of my biggest pet peeves that people waste my time without a good reason. If I am going to be meeting you somewhere and you don't show up at the time you said you would and don't let me know ahead of time, you're wasting my time. If I am going to be doing some work for you and you had told someone else to do the same work and we both do it, you're wasting my time. If I am waiting to make a turn and the person on the other side of the road coming toward me has no turn signal running and then makes the same turn as me, he's wasting my time. I could have went already, except I had to wait because he/she didn't tell me what he/she was planning to do. Wasting other people's time for no reason is rude. Key...