After about a month of researching how to attack my debt, I have finally written down a plan. I can't believe how easy it was to look at when it was wirtten down!

I have a bunch of small balances on credit cards, under $100 on each card. These will be taken care of by the end of this month. I will then start to pay off my debts one at a time starting with the smallest debt first. It so happens that when I sort my debts by amount and then by APR, they come out in the same order - lucky me!

It feels good to finally have a concrete plan of attack. The stress of figuring out how to do it was crazy. I was racking my brain and scouring the internet for useful information. Anyhow...the debt update for September 23, 2006 = $55043.26. A 3% month!

I have decided to take my mortgage off of the Debt Calander total. It makes me feel better to see a lower number. This was a motivational factor and nothing else.

I have also decided to pay off my car before the credit cards. The reason for this is I have just consolidated all of my credit card debt to a 0% card for the next 18 months. I think it is a smarter move for me to tackle the car loan first since it is at 4.75%. I am hoping to have the car paid off by the time the April 2008 comes along.

So I went ahead and bought 2 tickets for the Mets first playoff game this year. It was an impulse purchase. A lot of people tell me that they have a better time watching the game from the comfort of their own home. Not me. I love the excitement as well as the smile it brings to the face of my 8 year-old. He starts "Let's Go Mets!" chants and is really animated. He may be the truest Met fan that I know. For his birthday, we brought him to a game and had his name displayed in lights on the scoreboard. It was really cool.

Life happens. It cannot be 100% planned. Don't get me wrong, I would love to be able to write a plan and stick to it. But...life just always seems to get in the way. I don't consider buying these tickets a bad thing because I don't do this all of the time. The Mets haven't been to the playoffs since 2000 and I haven't been to a playoff game since Game 6 of the 1986 World Series. For all of you who don't know, that was the game where the ball trickled through Bill Buckner's legs and allowed the Mets to win the game. I was 13 at the time and I still get goose bumps when I think about it.

I do not consider this an excuse to be a big spender whenever I wish. It is just one of those "Budget Busters" that we all have.

LET'S GO METS!

I just scored a huge savings when I was approved for a 0% into rate until APRIL 1, 2008! I have just transferred all of my outstatnding credit card debt to this account with no fees! I should be able to just about clear up all of my credit card debt by the end of the into rate. I will save over $1600 in interest charges over the course of 18 months. I can't believe that I am getting so excited about 0% interest. I think I will sing:

I'm so excited.
And I just can't hide it.
I'm about to lose control and think I like it!

If anybody is wondering, the card is the World MasterCard through Chase bank. I heard about them through a mailing that they sent me. The telephone number on application is 1-888-848-0540. Give them a call and find out if the offer is still good.

When we purchased our new home this past April, I found an old Planters peanut jar while unpacking. Why it was there, I don't know. Instead of throwing it out, I decided to keep it in my bedroom closet so that I could empty all of the change from my pockets each night. Before I did this, my wife would yell at me because I would just dump the change on the kitchen counter or on my dresser in the bedroom. I was interested in just how much money I was throwing around.

Day after day, I would return home from work, head up to the bedroom and empty the change from my pockets. A penny here, a nickel there, and the occasional quarter and dime ended up in that old peanut jar. This went on until August 26, 2006 when I took that now heavy peanut jar to the bank and threw the change into one of those coin counters...........$60.80! Wow! Not bad for 5 months worth of change. Comes out to about $12 per month or $144 per year. I was throwing away $144 per year! Never again. Needless to say, the jar is starting to fill up again.

Oh yeah...this was put towards my mountain of debt.

It is offical...I have left blogger.com and decided to make this the site of my blog. If you look to the right hand side of this blog, you will see my DEBT CALENDAR listed underneath the Author Info section. I plan on updating the calendar once per month. Hopefully you will see it continuously going down to zero!