So, we called and dropped them. Cable will be installed today for a whole $8/month cheaper without a contract. (And one less bill I have to deal with every month, as cable and internet will be combined.)

However, without a DirectTV box, we will be absent a DVR. Enter our new budle of joy, Tivo.
Tivo is so much more than it used to be… it now has 2 TV tuners (which means you can record 2 shows at once) and a very advanced “Home Media Option”. For me, a Mac user, this is basically the Apple TV on steriods.

Not only can I record live TV, I can now bring it with me to the boat on the weekends in my iPod. (I can sync it with iTunes). I can also schedule programs remotely (ohh, Sarah Paulin is going to be on The View in 30 minutes? Quick… go record it!)

I can also sync my PC content with it too… this means all of my iTunes songs, my Picasa online photo album and everything in iPhoto. And the best…. movies! Every movie I have on my Mac is now going to be instantly available on the big screen TV at the click of a button. If I’ve been hesitant to finish ripping all my DVDs to file, this is now my inspiration.

Anyway, I will stop annoying you with the Geeky details, this is after all, a PF blog. The good news is that I just bought an 80 hour dual tuner Tivo off Craigslist today for the rock bottom price of $250. Did I mention it includes a Lifetime Subscription? This means I will never ever have to pay Tivo a single dollar more for service.

Buying outright with no monthly payments…. that’s the Dave Ramsey way.

Yes, they removed that $200 paid collection account from my report. Which means Equifax is soon to follow. 22 whole ponts for $200! Sweet!

Their main complaint that keeps me from the 800 range is the age of my accounts (I’m not old enough to have a credit card that’s been open since the 1970’s.) The only other item listed is balance to available credit on my bankcards. Since my USAA is well under 30% of my available credit, I can only assume they’re talking about my Citi (which now sits @ 39% usage.)

Still, I’m not going to change my debt reduction strategy just because my “I love debt” score would be higher if I focused on the Citi. I’m still going to attack my highest APR/lowest balance cards first, the Dave Ramsey way.

Still, it’s a nice ego boost, and lets me know that THIS TIME, I will be getting the best mortgage rates on our new home.

I am already starting to smell the fruits of financial freedom and it smells wonderful!

The ones that hit me most were:

1. Deductibles. If you’re set to anything less than $1,000 (mine was $500), that was considered a waste of money. Since I now have an Emergency Fund of $1000 - I already knew I could swing it if an accident happened.
2. Medical Payments - the article said this was Primary to your Heath Insurance. Why would I want to buy double coverage? Well, in some states there’s a minimum. Not mine, but I moved it from $10,000 to $5000 just incase. (It takes care of medical payments for those in my car too.)\
3. Rental Coverage - dropped that from max $30/day to max $15/day. (Since I’m such the deal finder w/ online coupons for car rentals anyway!) I could have just eliminated it, but in the event of a real accident, my Emergency Fund will be wiped out by the $1000 deductible.
4. I also got rid of some extra misc benefits too. $45/week for somebody to clean my house if I can’t do it myself? huh? That’s what friends are for!

Anyway, the 6 month policy premium is about $101 cheaper. That’s  $17/month I can use for something else. Are you past Baby Step #1? If so, look and see if there’s anything you can cut out of your auto policy to save yourself some Ca$h for Baby Step #2!

My $244 PAID collection account got removed.

I had no idea it would have that much impact, but I’m delighted to see it worked. Now, if it would only be removed from TransUnion and Equifax, things would be in GREAT shape. (And I might even make my 790 credit score goal by the end of the year.)

I sent the collection agency a certified letter a month or so ago, and I got no response. I was just about to send them another one (or write all three bureaus directly) when I logged on and saw that today. Hopefully they are officially removing it from all 3 agencies. Will wait a week and see.

For those of you with pending stuff on your credit reports though, let this be a success story to you. It may not be easy, and it may take a while, but it is SO worth it!

• Citibank Platinum: $9,464.00
• Costco American Express: $15.00
• USAA Amex: $7742.00

TOTAL Credit Card: $17, 220  ($1895 PAID)

Auto Loan: $12,069 ($740 PAID)