942 days is a long time when you think about it. It looks a little longer when you put it into days than if you say 2.5 years, but it’s easier to count the time down when you can subtract from it more often. 22608 hours would seem like a joke. And it would be difficult to update that often. I’ve won my battle with Credit Card debt. I am officially credit card debt free right on schedule, as aggressive and insurmountable as that was in the beginning, but I did it. It feels great to finally after so many years get out from under that mess.

The next challenge is going to be a 2 person effort: Paying off a Condo in record time. 942 days, to be exact, starting today. I am hoping to be able to keep writing updates, blogging on a daily basis on how it’s working out, to pass the time, but also chronicle the adventures for anyone who could use some financial inspiration of their own. This is truly going to be a nearly impossible task to accomplish, but I think we can do it.

Some history:

We purchased a condo back in November of 2005 in a lower middle class area for $135,000. It was, in hindsight, a move born of ignorance and fear, as house prices continued to shoot up at what seemed like 10,000’s of dollars every day. We were afraid that if we didn’t act quickly, we would be shut out of the housing market forever. A lot of people, no doubt, were feeling the same way. Fortunately, I was not prepared to spend $250,000 on a house I didn’t like. Long story short, this place was excellent for the price at the time, and we bought it for asking. With an interest only 80% mortgage. On stated income. And financed the rest of the loan on a 20% HELOC. Oh yes, we were young and stupid. Go us.

It doesn’t end in tragedy, however, for though we purchased a property by, essentially lying, and succumbing to the lure and promise of a low low payment, I did make the correlation (thank you, mom!) that by paying the minimum payment requested, we would be paying nothing towards the principal of the house. Tight as it was, I insisted we pay a large chunk more. Continuing on good luck, our interest rates have dropped significantly, and while we owe 100% of the first mortgage, we have paid off, in 3 years, $7,000 of the HELOC loan. Not bad, if you look at the record around the USA, and especially in Phoenix!

The bad news is that other owners in the complex weren’t so diligent, and subsequently, prices have dropped along with the rest of the State, and Country to a devastating median selling price of $60-$75000. Ouch. Walking away and letting the bank deal with it had been considered quite often. Neither of our jobs are on this side of town, we’re not overly happy with the clientele of the neighborhood (our 3 neighbors, however, fortunately, are pretty amazing.) and well, shit, I feel like I can do better than this.  However, I have somewhere instilled in me a sense of moral obligation to not walk away from bad choices I make. After all, someone else is just going to have to clean up after me. (Thanks again, mom!) And I vowed to see this through to the proverbial end.

I spent a little over a week running through different pay off scenarios, trying to figure out how fast we could feasibly pay this place off. I went to Suze Orman’s (who’s show I watch regularly) website, downloaded the Financial Budget Spreadsheet (requires Microsoft Excel Compatible Viewer to view, Excel to edit) and plugged away for around an hour. 4 years and 11 months was pretty close to a payoff date as I could come up with if we continued to spend like we have been. I was told to find a way to make it happen in 2 years. “Impossible!”, I said, and so the challenge lines were drawn. Cutting out every extra expense (except netflix, and cable internet), cutting out eating out, strict grocery/toiletry budgeting, and foregoing trips that were planned or looking forward to, and cutting way back on driving (for me, that’s easy, ASU offers an intercampus bus (it’s a freaking TOUR BUS) which is easy for me to get to), And devoting every extra red cent to it, we came up with a 2.5 year plan, and that is what we are going to do. After, of course, we save up a bit of an Emergency Fund.

Once the condo is paid off, the plan is to rent it out for a 500-650$ a month profit.

So expect some changes to the blog page. I’ve got some interesting ideas to start implementing.  

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So I was thinking about things I’ve wanted to do for a while, but just never bothered to take the time to do it. I’m starting to feel like life is passing me by and while I have things I want to do, I keep waiting to do them, so I figured I’d make a list of things I wanted to do before I turned 30.  One of the things I find difficult is to write something on a blank slate, so I headed over to Zen Habits, which I occasionally read, and find the most recent article is very similar to what I felt the need to write about. Awesome.  Leo poses some questions armed at concentrating on how you’re living your life now vs making a list of what you want to do before you die.  Things like that give me some inspiration to write.

I’ve spent a lot of time wanting to do things and not a lot of time doing them for various reasons.  Let’s take a look at some of them:

1.       I want to get SCUBA certified. I’ve wanted to do this for several years, but a few things have kept me from doing so. One of those was knowledge. I had no idea where to go to do it, what could be required or how I would use it. I was also always told it would be a buddy system thing and I don’t really have anyone to go with.  These have always been minor hurtles. The one major thing that has always held me back has been my weight.

2.       I want to be fit. Ok, I’m one of those people who’ve been saying that for 10 or so years, and I have only over the past 2 years been committed to it, and even that commitment hasn’t been a strong as it could be. I have lost and kept off a lot of weight but I’m not sure why I can’t leap that final hurtle. It’s a mental roadblock that I just can’t seem to topple. I think it’s being afraid of losing something. Whatever it is good food represents, I need to do some soul searching to fix whatever is broken in this regard. I’ve taken up cooking recently, and I think that may help, as I can make food that tastes good.

3.       I want to learn Photography. This is relatively new for me, but I think this interest has been latent for a long time. I’m starting to get moving on this one too, as we now own a new digital camera with some lenses, and I’ve taken some pretty cool pictures. I got a serious boost recently at my cousins wedding wherein I had a good conversation with the Pro photographer there, she was very into helping me along.

4.       I want to Travel. So many places to see, so much culture to take in, so little money.  But then, excuses, right? I would love to see Ireland. People in my family have told me it’s fantastic. I’ve seen pictures on Flickr (I love that site. Very inspiring), and have had some kind of draw to it for some time. Lower on the list of places I want to see is Australia and Prague specifically. Tying into #1, I want to SCUBA the Reef, and I’ve heard Prague is the most beautiful city in the world.

5.       I want to finish school. I have a 2 year degree, and I’d like to complete the 4 year. At least, getting enrolled will get the ball rolling.

So, here’s a list of 5 things. The good news, is I’m only 6 months into 28.                I have made myself commitments on a number of these things on this list to do in 2009. I will enroll in school, I will get fit, and with luck, by summer, I will feel good enough in my skin to get SCUBA certified, and I’m determined to finally go to Ireland. 

Is this how to live life? To find out what you most want to do and then find a way to do it? Maybe a little. I don’t think I can be confined to a routine anymore. I’m bored with working.  There’s a reason I jumped around the job market once a year on average since 2000. I need constant stimulation and change. When you take a step back from your life and examine it, do you feel like a hamster in a wheel? Sometimes, I do, and while I’m sure a lot of people are comfortable in this specific scenario, I certainly am not.

A friend of mine decided she also didn’t fit the “Grow up, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, retire and die” mold. She ended up selling her house and most of her belongings, quit her lucrative job and spent the next half a year traveling down Central and South America, and continued west.  I thought I envied her for a while, and while I may have been jealous that she had done it, I think the real reason I was envious was because I could do it too, I just didn’t, and won’t. We all have different ideas about what life should be and what we can do to feel fulfilled, and when other people do things we precieve to be something we’d like to do, but are too busy dreaming of other things, we get jealous.

All in all, I’m living my life the way I know best, and I’m going to take steps to improve it every day I can. I’ve spent enough time trying to figure that out, and now that I have, I think I can do more of what I’d like to do.                   

Tonight, it’s Friday. I’ve worked my 40 hours, put in my time, and served the people I support with respect and dedication they deserve. In turn, I feel it’s time for a little R&R, right? Going out to dinner sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, at one particular establishment, which will remain nameless, but will be linked, didn’t feel like putting in the work. So I suffer. Below the cut is the email I sent regarding the particular incident:

Good Evening. I frequent your restaurant not quite as frequently as I would like to, but on the several occasions I have been there I have always been treated with respect and swiftness, thus attesting to your company’s dedication to customer service. However, I would like to inform you that while making one of my stops into your establishment tonight (10047 N. Metro Pkwy. E, Phoenix Arizona, approximately 7:00pm), I, for the first time, ended up walking out of your restaurant. This would be the first time I have done so of any place. When we arrived, we were promptly seated, handed a menu, and told our waiter would be right with us. We had time to decide on entrée’s and talk amongst ourselves for a long while before anyone even acknowledged our existence, and about 20 minutes in, we were served a basket of chips and salsa, and then ignored, for another 10 minutes. No one came by our table to offer us even water, yet several people, including 2 waitresses and the hostess, walked by multiple times. Upon leaving, we decided to tell the hostess we were doing so, and to explain no one was watching this particular section, apparently. I was shot possibly the most insulting roll-the-eyes look followed by the hostess resting her head on her arm facing away from me, as if to say “whatever. I couldn’t care less.”

I left your establishment slack-jawed in disbelief that any employee could be so non-chalant about a courteous and understandable complaint. There was no malice what-so-ever in my voice, and I was indeed, even apologetic to the fact that I was being treated poorly.  Being that I have had major time working in the customer service sector, and seeing as the economy is the way it is, I wonder how your employees can feel they’re able to neglect customers this way and continue to hold a job, if no one returns?

Seriously? Can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on nowadays with people being arrogant pricks? And why do we continue to put up with it? I’ve been done with it for a while. If a business doesn’t want my money, that’s fine, I will go somewhere else. I work too hard to piss it away to people who don’t work as hard for it from me as I do to earn it. It goes beyond “Fine, I just won’t give you my business unless you change your ways!” I don’t care if a particular business fails or not. I’m not that petty. My whole philosophy is that well, if you’re not willing to work for my money, someone else will, and I will simply go find that someone and do business with them, I hope you find some poor schlep who doesn’t care as much as me.”

Week 5 has not gotten off to a good start. SO. My plan is to rest tomorrow, and try again on Saturday morning. I should be able to knock out 40. I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t even do a full cardio workout without being completely worn out. I think a solid day off should do me good. Also, work stress which has been immense this week could be a factor. Tomorrow should clear my head.

Well, turns out, I was able to do it. Just. Willpower and determination. I can’t believe I’ve improved this much in just a month! This is crazy. I really think that at the end of the program, be it in another 2 weeks or another 4, I will be able to truely do 100 pushups. Yes, there are physical changes that come along with this as well, but just knowing how much stronger I am makes it all worth it. So anyone who is thinking about doing this, get on it.

I remember being fat for all of my adult life, and most of my childhood. I’m not sure when exactly it started, but I do remember being 6 or 7 and being stick-thin. Then, in middle school, I blew up like a balloon. I don’t think I ‘grew’ into my body until after college, when I was playing hockey more, and eventually I did thin out a little, but nowhere near what I should have been at. Still, I didn’t do much to change as I was content enough to just bitch about it. Fast forward to my move to phoenix and my ballooning to 215 pounds. On a 5’8 frame, that kind of weight is not pretty. It was a trigger for me and those around me that it was time for a change. I set my goal to 160 pounds. A good weight for someone my height and fully 55 pounds lighter than what my fat ass was carrying around now. That was early 2006. I’m now 182 pounds, 3 years later, and have been steady at this weight for approximately 7 months. While once frustrated at this fact, I now understand it to be incredibly important. Why is coming up. So without further ado, some things I’ve learned while on this road:

1.    Quite possibly the most important thing to realize when you set out to drop weight is that this is not a diet and there are no quick solutions. I know saying that this is a life change you have to make is a total cliché, so let me put it in just a slightly different perspective: This is a life changing process, and not something you turn on and off. You are either committed to it or not.

2.    Once you’re committed, it’s absolutely no longer about losing weight. I know it may come as a shock to think your weight loss journey is over as soon as you commit to it, but it’s the truth. You are dedicating yourself to a lifetime of health. Weight loss? That’s just one of the benefits.

3.    Dropping your first 10 pounds is one of the easiest things in the world to do. Keeping it off is a nightmare, and you’ll find out if you’re really ready to do this or not. Don’t be surprised if you drop weight like bricks in the first few weeks as your body re-adjusts. It’ll happen. It’s bound to. But once everything levels out, you’re going to hit a wall, or “plateau”.  Congratulations, you’ve reached your first major hurtle. The weight won’t come off as fast after this point, and it’s easy to get frustrated and give up if you don’t lose anything at all for 2 weeks, 3 weeks…. A month… if you give up now, you can put it all back on in a few days.

4.    You are always fighting an uphill battle against the scale. I hate my scale because it never points to where I think it should. It’s always higher. I’ve come to realize however, that after 7 months, while the scale hasn’t gone down, it hasn’t gone up either, and I’ve managed to keep the weight I did lose permanently off. This is a victory.

5.    Victories are important. My ultimate goal was to lose 55 pounds. It was noble to set, awesome to work towards, but ultimately incredibly stupid. As I keep mentioning: this is a process of baby steps, and nothing will help more than setting a lot of little goals to help keep you motivated in the right direction. This is an incredibly long and daunting task, one I would ultimately get frustrated with should I not have my victories.

6.    You absolutely cannot under any circumstances ever reward your weight loss victories with food! I cannot stress the importance of this enough.  I fell into this trap with, I’m sure, a lot of others, and it won’t be the last time. This is exactly the condition you need to break! You can’t think “oh, I’ve lost 30 pounds, I’m down to 178, I’m totally going to Outback and ordering a huge steak!” This ends up being negative re-enforcement, and belittles your efforts.

7.    If you want a Sundae, god dammit, go out and have a sundae. This looks like it completely contradicts lesson number 6, right? GOOD. It’s supposed to.  There’s a difference between indulgence and reward, and while rewarding yourself that way is a massive no-no, indulgence, as far as I’m concerned, is completely necessary. You need to keep in mind that you’re not dieting. You can still eat these things and be OK with it. You will no doubt need to eat them a lot less frequently (and in smaller portions) than you used to, but guess what? You can still eat them! The freedom to know you can still have something makes it easier to say no to. Sound strange? It is, but it works.

8.    You must. Must. Must. Count calories, measure food, and write down how much you’re eating. This was the WORST for me. I still hate doing this and don’t a lot. And it costs me, I know it does, because I know food goes into my mouth and I don’t think about it when I try to keep a running tab in my head. I’m a horrible mindless eater. Writing things down will not only keep you accountable, you may in fact, be surprised just how much you’re eating.  I know I have been.

9.    Variety is essential when it comes not only to eating, but to exercise as well. When your body gets used to a routine, you do it so efficiently it becomes less and less effective. You have to keep changing what you do, between weights, and cardio. Don’t get comfortable!

10.    Aside from workout variety, you will also have to continue to increase intensity.  This means adding 5 pounds to your weight lifting routine whenever possible, or increasing running time – if you can run 10 straight minutes, try going for 11! It’s extremely difficult to do, but you will feel so accomplished when you do it!

Here’s 10 things I’ve learned. I’d like to hear about anything others have done too, so feel free to let me know! Once you’ve started on your way, and you keep at it for a long time, and become successful, people say you’ll have more energy and feel better about yourself and be happier. I can tell you from personal experience that I do have a lot more energy now, and people have not only commented on how much better I look and how much weight I’ve lost, but also how much happier I am! This will come to you to, you just have to put forth the effort.

I surprised myself. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do 10, let alone our minimum of 15. However, I pushed hard and managed to do 21 good pushups. I just couldn’t get back up for #22. But, thats a stronger showing by far than 12. I’m gaining confidence that this program is actually GOING to work! Now, we have 2 days off (and I definitely need it) and we’ll begin week 2. This is an awesome way to get stronger on a schedual. I’m so glad I found this.