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.

I am now a published photographer. And because wordpress sucks, I can’t link, apparently.

http://www.manfightsback.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ls_2411_1.pdf

America, FUCK YA!

Have you ever written something, and nearly gagged on it’s self-rightousness? Well, I have. But you know what? Fuck it. It’s something I believe in, and it’s right. Show everyone. Pass it around.

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.

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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:

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The Hundred Pushup Challenge is utterly destroying me mentally right now. I couldn’t get back into it on Tuesday (schedualed day 1 of week 5) because I got sick. Yesterday I ate shitty and had a terrible day, so by the time I got to the gym to do my pushups, I had a pounding headache, which just pulsated until I wanted to vomit while trying to do my pushups, and my body just wasn’t having it, so I did what I could and figured I’d rev it up today. Since my ‘max’ was 45 after week 4, I was trying to follow colloum 3 of the program for week 5. I got in there today and my arms gave out after pushup 32 of 40 on the first set and I couldn’t recover enough to do the rest after that. So, I finished my sets, with breaks in the middle of them.. and didn’t do the max rep set.

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.

No, I haven’t given up on the 100 Pushups Challenge. In fact, I’ve stuck to it religiously so far, and in fact, we just completed week four (right before my pushup buddy leaves for Europe for a month, sonofabitch). 4 weeks, one month! Week 2 was pretty simple, but Week 3 day 1 I just didn’t have the energy to complete. I don’t remember why, but we had to do that day twice. Week 3 was a fucking badass. I was sure we’d have to repeat it. I don’t remember quite what we polled for our second exaustion test, but I think I was at 26 and she was around 22. We had split colums and were now doing different numbers. No biggie. So anyway we moved on to week 4 after consideration and completed it Wednesday. It was pretty rough to say the least, but it always feels good. After a 2 day rest, we did our exaustion test. Before we started, I had it in my mind that I was going to do 45 pushups. If you read a bit back, you’d see I could barely do 12 before I started this, now I was gunning for 45!

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.

There’s been an ongoing struggle with me and my fat for several years now. I continue to tell it it’s not welcome on me anymore, I’ve hung up eviction signs, and I’ve even been pretty forceful, but it seems as though fat is a worthy opponent of virtually anyone, and not something to be taken lightly. Though I am not finished with my body sculpting, I am now a lot more knowledgeable of what needs to happen in order to continue on my journey. What I have learned about this process, I will now share with you, so maybe others know exactly what they’re getting into when they decide to change their bodies for the better for the long term.  Some background is necessary.

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So. Day 3 of Week One: The One Hundred Pushup Challenge comes to an end. When I started this, the inital goal was to do as many good form pushups as possible, and then start the program based on that. I was able to eek out 12 that day, and man did that hurt. Continuing on, my partner in pushups at my side, we blew through day one, had a bit of a rough time with day two, and today, I was sure I wasn’t going to be able to do our 3rd, 4th, or max set because my arms were throbbing, and my right bicep gave out on the 7th pushup of our 3rd set. With that, we did our cardio training (Biggest Loser Season 4 Workout DVD WOO!) and went back in to finish our 4th set, then do our max.

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.