October's "I Can't Afford It Award" and deleting an old post.

Starting with the runner up, The October's "I Can't afford it award" 2nd place goes to the owner of this jeep.

It's funny to me how a person has to go through with a purchase to learn he or she can't afford it. He or she can't sit down with a pad of paper go through some scenarios and actually figure out if they can or cannot make a large purchase and unfortunately with so many preditory lenders and even family members blinded by in debt artificial sucess so many of us don't have a person telling them the cons of financing and pros on having your stuff paid for. Which is exactly a scenario that quite possibly happened to this person.

The winner of October's "I Can't Afford It Award" is not a car owner. Nope and if you haven't guessed by now it's this individual.

Again for privacy concerns I'm not showing the whole picture.

Look I understand we all have our struggles and our trials. Some we bring upon ourselves and others just happen. The problem with this persons argument is the check engine light was on as early as 2010. The problem still persisted through 5 more years and even after taking a trip to Florida and to Baltimore and to Australia in just this year alone, he still has the nerve to ask for help?? You cancel your trips and you put your life on hold to take care of the problem. Instead my assumption is he caved to the phrase "we deserve this" whenever a vacation or purchase opportunity came around then kicked the can down the road. (Oh how many times I've wanted to do that)

I also wanted to add a small segment on deleting a post that I explained in a prior post just written. This is for all the good that's been happening in my life. For the 2 good Christmases in a row. For my mortgage payment being on time for the 2 week vacation this summer for the father's day camping trip a stronger relationship with my wife and a new baby on the way. I even have a plan and funds to pay for the hospital. Things are looking up and I hope they continue to improve so that I can one day write my final post and delete my entire blog.

This is the post I've chosen and even though while writing this a few set backs have happened I know I can justify so much progress to do this. Again this is me keeping my end of the bargain with karma luck and the universe. (Nutcase alert) I know it sounds weird which is another reason to not keep this blog around. I hope to do more of this in the future eventually erase my entire blog when it's purpose is fulfilled.

Yes, another rant

Here I am again being mr negative. Without making excuses I want to share just two rants I found from Facebook.
I have mentioned before that I have a Facebook friend who I have wondered if they have used social services to fund their first and even their second pregnancy. It's pretty obvious when both of them do not come from wealthy families and one is working part time to assume that they would take advantage of social services up at BYU IDAHO. I still argue that if they truly needed to pay for their medical bills one or both would postpone college and get a full time job but yet the responsibility shoe only fits certain people. Again I'm not positive but it's obvious that the freedom to move back home from their first job out of college may point to several social programs used during their stay up at BYU IDAHO. So when I saw this last week/month I was amused and a irritated at the same time.

I am a believer in Karma and luck but I don't believe this is karma related more in the bad luck catigorie. Although I would like to blame it on karma for abusing the welfare system will cost you in the end I doubt it. What this does prove is that yes, contrary to some believe you can pay for your own pregnancies even if it's later in life. Although the government propably won't change its program rules may I at least make a couple of suggestions . One take a deeper look at both parents incomes of the couple who is applying for medicaid. I showed you one example earlier where a couple were using social services and getting free housing were also getting to go to Alaska California and Disneyworld  on the Parents dime. Parents can't step up to the plate? 2. Vehicles should be considered as an asset. Yes their unfortunately have been couples driving up to the hostpital in brand new vehicles that are not considered assets on the application. And 3. A payback plan. A person going to college is getting a degree to uhm I don't know make money. The government can't at least charge them a deductible amount for major surgeries or medical procedures such as births. I think 6 grand is a good number. Give them an amount of time to finish school and then take it out of their taxes. It's simple and it's right.
My other rant is on this.

Ok realy? I think it's funny how there levels of trials from small to much larger. Oh my gosh she's learned a few things while she's waiting for a NEW house. She's learned how to be grateful for the little things while a friend let them stay with them. Wow instead of writing an article on how you've taken a situation where you know your getting a BRAND  NEW house you possably have a working new car outside and you know things are going to get better. How about this, try waking up on a deflated mattress leaving for work sick because no one can take your place. Try working till midnight that night putting everything you own into a storage unit try doing all over again the next day which happens to be the last day of the month the day you have to be out of your place so after work having no time you put everything else you own under the  carport hand in your keys spend the next hour leaving your wife and 2 young kids in a car then using a geo metro to transport the rest of your belongings sacrificing a t.v. stand because it doesn't fit and become homeless with a plan in mind but nowhere to go just so you can achieve the American dream. Thats exactly what happened to me. I just have to laugh at these articles sometimes I don't feel like they truly know what true sacrificing is. When you don't have a place don't have church or parental support and your friends have abandoned you then write an article on that.
And that's my weekly rant.

Class #1 introduction.

I was like most Americans. Yes I admit it I lived paycheck to paycheck paying my bills and putting just a little excess on my credit cards. "I'll pay it back"  I would say. "It's only a few dollars." Over time a few dollars dollars grew to a hundred then 200 then 500 then 1000 until one day in the fall of 2013 after successfully maxing out 7 of my 8 credit cards I was in trouble. For the first time I went 30 days past my due date on my home loan. We could not pay the minimum on our largest credit card. We were barely skimping by. At 18000 dollars credit card plus 4000 car loan and a few thousand in medical, I was ready to throw in the towel. I was ready to claim bankruptcy and I was researching on how to do that. Thankfully and unthankfully HUD rescued me. It came with a price. Although they did reduce my mortgage payment the program destroyed my credit. My credit rating went from 750 to 550 in a matter of months. Desperation set in the next year when my cars transmission went out. I fought hard to work and fix my car. We tried twice to get a loan. Once we almost succeeded. Finally the banks said no and my family and I were on our own.

Fast forward a year my cars fixed our income is up my credit cards are down and I haven't been saying the phrase we can't afford that so much anymore. We still have a few financial set backs but have been able to stay ahead by watching our spending habits and putting off bigger purchases until we can afford them.

A couple months ago as I was reviewing my family's national debt  (what I call the all the debts we owe) I noticed that since I wrote about it back in the spring we had only paid off around 400 dollars. After all the mortgage payments the credit card payments all the dr payments the 401k and the car payments we had only paid 400 dollars!? Now my wife is pregnant and is the blame of a big portion of that plus my dr bills from my surgery have been surfacing but still only 400 dollars after all that work? This is when I started wondering how I could make a bigger punch to my national debt how can I Pay off my credit cards faster. Is it possible to pay just Princable and no interest? As I thought about this I remember a time back in 2014 after my injury we left to Arizona. We had to keep careful eye on our finances and I realized that at times we had enough to pay off our entire balance so I would. By doing that I wouldn't pay interest and my 300 dollar payment would turn into 500 credit dollars. I thought at the time as long as I did that every month I wouldn't be paying interest and my credit card would slowly pay itself off. I was wrong it only lasted 2 months and I was farther in debt back to paying the minimum payment. As I thought about that I wondered what went wrong. I stayed up late drenched in thoughts of how can I Pay off my credit cards faster how can I stop paying interest and make my payments more powerful in knocking out a few credit cards. I have finally been able to at least figure a few solutions and in doing so have paid off one credit card and just over 600 dollars on credit card debt saving around 60 dollars in interest in just under 2 months. 3 of my credit cards during this time have stopped charging me interest and in about 2 months I am projecting that I will have another credit card paid off and another one with no interest. I have been able to start my debt snowball at nearly it's full strength knocking out just over 300 dollars at one credit card per month. That is what I am going to try to teach. I get nothing in return for this just the satisfaction of passing on some valuable information to those who could use it and being able to pay themselves and not the finance companies is satisfaction enough for me.

Preface on what's going on

I'm putting a little preface of what is about to come. I have been writing alot lately and have a few blogs ready to go. First of all I have an announcement. As none of you know (since I realy don't have any followers) my main purpose of this blog is to write my feelings ideas frustrations down until a time where A. 7 events happen one being a honeymoon and 2 being debt free or B. as of right now an unknown reason I will erase my blog. At that time it will have served it's purpose and I can move on to another chapter in my life. To show myself karma and the universe my dedication to my end of the bargain I am going to review my blog and erase 1 blog post. Yeah it's not much but to me it shows progress is bring made and if it continues my end of the deal will continue.
Two other things. I have a winner for the "I can't afford it award" I've started my classes on credit card no interest payment plan and I still have a few rants to get out of the way so without saying anything further the next few blogs are going to go in such order
1st. Class # 1 on credit card no interest payment plan.
2. My rant on two facebook posts
3. My winner of the I can't afford it award
4. Class #2 on credit card no interest payment plan.
Coming very soon. Have a great Monday and the rest of the week.

Financial integrity within yourself.

More proof of the wealthier than you and me person going above and beyond his needs is asking for a hand out. I've warned about this over and over that a family needs to look at their budget look at their expenses and gosh danget look at what your future looks like. Build a financial foundation with wealth food storage and knowledge so that when storms of financial distress comes your way you will not only withstand it you will live comfortably with it.

I always had this fantasy of being stuck in bad weather with a girl of my dreams. Usually it involved a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. We would wait out the storm by a fireplace with nowhere to go. Finances are like that fantasy . Are you going to be the person who looked ahead built a comfortable sturdy cabin complete with furniture and a fireplace? Or are you measly going to get by with a tent. Yeah it's better than the last option of building a shelter but it's not as good as the first option. Just an FYI my fantasy sort of came true in 2006. My girlfriend who is now my wife and I got stuck in a town in arizona during a freak snowstorm.  They shut down all the roads and we were forced to find a hotel.

So I was again browsing the charity classifieds going through horses cats and dogs not having enough food or needing surgery when I came across this.

Who wasn't a victim of preditory lending? Both my father in law and sister in law lost their house and credit in the housing crises. My brother was forced to move out and rent his house. He was able to save it but then again I have to brag about my family how brilliant they are to weather storms and save their credit and house. So if he is so desperate for a hand out obviously he has been sacrificing for a while trying to clean up his financial problems right?
Uhm wrong
Just a month ago he was fishing in Florida

(I need a better editing app)


3 months ago he was at a ball game in Baltimore Maryland

(Could of been work related?)

And how many of you have wanted to go to Australia? Well you can ask this guy because 4 months ago in June he was there.

This is exactly the example that inspired me to write this blog. I have been taught to donate and feed the poor only to find out these people our over drafting fast offering accounts using food banks and church services to stay in their luxurious 350 thousand dollar homes.

I'm the one who was poor the entire time. The food I needed and donated went to people like him. There is no reason he could of said no to anyone of those trips yet here he is. My prime example of the person who buys the nice house cars toys and goes on nice vacations is asking for your money to save his house.
I just looked up this persons Facebook account and during the time I have written this which is about half a week he has since gotten a gofundme account set up and has posted it to his facebook page. Look, I don't have a problem with legit gofundme asking for help but this again is a problem that could of been fixed years ago. The warning signs were yesterday but procrastinated until today.

(Facebook post)

(Facebook comment)

I understand that he probably us the nicest and honest person but in this situation he hasn't been honest with himself or his family. This is a problem he has admitted he has known about for years. To be truly honest with himself would be to know when to say "we can't afford this". We all have those moments where we say we deserve something such as a vacatiion. I know i have. I deserve a honeymoon I've never had one but to just go on an a expensive trip knowing that problems are looming would be dishonest. Ignoring and kicking the can down the road until it's too late is being dishonest with yourself. What kind of father would you be if you chose to go on a trip knowing a problem was looming that could possibly end with you losing your house? The kind who eventually plays the charity card and asks for help.

Look at your debts look at your interest and start saving today wherever you can. Save as much as you can and live within and below your means. Build your financial foundation stronger. Say no to bigger purchases that get in the way of paying off debt.

Again if you haven't read this blog this is my spot to write my frustrations down. It's nothing personal just my ideas frustrations and helpful tips for sucess.

Not "Their" yet

I remember once learning that for a man to survive he would need 3 things. Food, water, and shelter. To make surviving more comfortable you would add clothing fire and a bed. Beyond that you wouldn't be considered as just surviving but rather moved up into the living category. I thought about that this conference weekend after moping for a couple of days because some things didn't go as planned. One week ago if I would have written a progress report I would have continued on on how financial we are doing well. Physically I'm getting better and overall just a brighter future picture all together. Unfortunately  two instances have set me back emotionally. No thank goodness it's not a sick or injured family member and although it does relate to money we are actually considerably doing well. My credit card, no interest, use them to pay off the credit cards plan is actually doing quite well. I have managed to pay off almost 300 dollars in less than 2 months. Only 1 credit card acrue interest and that was the first month rolling it so I thought it would. Obviously I have alot more to say on that subject and explain how to do that but that's a subject for another day. Our fridge is somewhat full and our bank accounts too. So why am I still not satisfied why am I not "Their" yet and what is "Their". Well taking the above example of what a man needs to survive what is it that I want,need to live a life. I think I've at least figured a few things.

#1 is food security. When I first got married I told my wife that no matter what I did not want to ever have to chose between a credit payment and food. Food came first. I had heard too many stories from a high school girlfriend how her dad and mom did not know how to manage money and that one time before a paycheck their was a bag of cerial left. Her and her sister ate it while her parents starved for a day and a half until they got paid. I did not want that to happen. I stressed that again before we bought our first new car and although we have never starved we have come extremely close. Luckily with the help of the plasma center none of my girls have never come close but we can and should do better at this.
#2  Reliable transportation. You could go into debt to have reliable transportation but then how reliable is it when you lose your job and your car is repoed when you need it to go to the hospital to have a baby. My idea for reliable transportation is to have 3 or 4 vehicles for our family. If I could pay cash I would definitely buy better newer cars but since I don't multiple vehicles are the answer. If one breaks down you park it and use the other one until that one is fixed.
#3 A getaway place. For me this would be my very own cabin. I envy those who can just getaway whenever they want to. A short hour drive they're a million miles away from their problems. For some it's their camping trailer others it's a hotel or a relatives house. Just something to call my own.
#4 Toys! I can't believe I'm 30 and have only owned a motorcycle for about 9 months. I sold it to pay for a dr bill. (huh imagine that) I may be cheap but I still want to have fun. Watercraft Snowmobiles and Atvs. Unfortunately my toy money has went to pay dr bills for the last 9 years. At 6000 a year well you do the math.
#5 A modern or modernized house. Again I consider myself a simple guy who still would like a few luxuries. Such as a jetted large tub a walk in closet and a nice size Master bedroom. The house doesn't have to be a mansion but a nice size house with a nice size yard in seclusion if I could ask for that would be living.
#6 Vacations. I'm not talking once twice or maybe 3 times a year vacations I'm talking more in Tha ballpark of 10 to 15 mini and long vacations per year. Now I know I am dreaming but I can dream right? I already know of at least 4-5 couples and families who take advantage of life circumstances and take that many plus. I know of one couple who practically does this every other week. At least 30 vacations a year.

#7 Financial Security I'm going to end on 7. This trumps all of my other items and the list could go on and on but financial security has always come first for me. There have been times I've skipped meals so that a bill could be paid. It has always been my worry and will be until....? I always question my financial security before anything else and yes that is one of the reasons I don't have toys a nice house or vacations. I hope to one day have my expenses paid my loans paid off and generated income that happens non stop even when I'm sleeping driving or flying away on one of my many vacations. A vacation where there is no budgeting no care and no concern if my bank account is going to be overdrawn or my fridge empty when I come home. And that is it my friends my main 7 gifts qualities or circumstances I would like to have to finally say I'm "their" I'm living.