My debt free fire really started with my auto loan.  I really disliked Chase Auto Finance.  They would apply my principle payment as monthly pre-payments!  A large tax return helped put Chase to bed 3 years before I was scheduled to pay it off.

Once the auto loan was paid off in early 2010, I rolled that payment into my student loan.  That brought it down from a 10 year payoff to roughly a 5 year payoff.  I thought to myself, 5 years to get rid of $16,000… There has to be a faster way to get rid of this.  That’s when I discovered Dave Ramsey in August of 2010 and really got fired up.  I listened to his radio show via podcast on my way to work.  I’ve also followed JD Roth from GetRichSlowly.org for about three years now and watched his progress of paying off debt and working towards his dream job.  If thousands of people can become debt free and pursue their dreams, I knew I could too.

At first, I wasn’t totally on board with Dave’s plan.  The thought of cutting up credit cards struck a little fear within me.  What if there was an emergency?  What if I needed to rent a car?  What if?  What if?…  That’s when it hit me: fear was paralyzing my decisions.  I had some money in my emergency fund, but I did not want to part with it “just in case”.

By October of 2010, I had one foot on the debt free boat.  I used $2000 from my “extra” mortgage payment to jump start my student loan payoff.  The “extra” mortgage payment is from being paid bi-weekly: 26 pay periods in 52 weeks equals one extra month’s salary.  This got me motivated like you would not believe.

By December of 2010, I cancelled three store credit cards and cut them up to display to my friends on Facebook.

Since December, I have not used any credit cards what-so-ever.  By March, I cancelled and shredded 2 out of my 3 credit cards.  I had this idea to keep one open “just in case” I run into any emergencies with my small emergency fund.  I am looking to cancel this credit card by the end of the summer.

Just this past month I made my final student loan payment to Sallie Mae of $4,283.46.  How did I achieve this?  I took $2000 from my vacation fund, $1200 from my tax return, and roughly another $1000 from scrimping and saving.  I paid off $16,000 in roughly one year from May 2010 to May 2011.  The outcome: DEBT FREE EXCEPT THE HOUSE! I still plan on going on vacation this summer, but I figured I would just work harder and save more to get there.

Right now I am on Baby Step 3 of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.  Baby Step 3 is where you save for 3-6 months of expenses in an Emergency Fund.  If I keep up with my current plan, I should have 6 months of expenses saved in about a year.

I can sum up the feeling in two words: worth it.  The feeling is so amazing; it’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  If it feels like you’re not getting anywhere, I know the feeling.  Just keep pushing forward and you’ll succeed.

It all starts with a plan and a budget!  My plan was (and still is) to be debt free and the budget got me there.  Just think of it this way, how would you get to your vacation destination without an itinerary (plan) and a map (budget)?

The simulcast was divided into five sections:

1. Entreleadership Defined
   
2. Dreams, Visions, and Goal Setting
3. Financial Peace for the Entreleader
4. Team Math — Adding and Subtracting
5. Making the Call

Entreleadership Defined
Dave had us define the character qualities of a leader and an entrepreneur.  We were able to come up with at least 10 words to describe each one.  We also discussed the basics of leadership and the types of leadership.

Dreams, Visions, and Goal Setting
Dreams, Visions, and Goal Setting discussed how dreams can turn into a reality when they become your vision.  Goals need to be set to reach your vision.  You can reach these goals by establishing priorities by dividing them into quadrants:

1. Urgent/Important
2. Urgent/Not Important
3. Not Urgent/Important
4. Not Urgent/Not Important

Dave also talked about the elements of a business plan.

Financial Peace for the Entreleader
Just like you need financial peace for your own home, a business also needs to be at peace with their finances.  Dave discussed budgeting a small business, busted some common myths about the use of debt, business lifestyle, saving, giving, and applying the financial peace principals within the business.

Team Math — Adding and Subtracting
I feel this is one of the best topics of the event.  Dave discussed working with your team members and how to bring the best people on board.  He uses a unique 12-step hiring process to make sure bad apples do not make it on his team!  He guides you on how to work with them when they fail, the steps to resolve failure, and if they are not the right fit; how to fire them.

Making the Call
An indecisive leader can paralyze any business.  There is one thing that causes indecision: fear.  Here he goes through the steps on how to make the decision and pull the trigger.

I really learned a lot from Dave’s EntreLeadership One-Day Event.  It also helped to reinforce many of the values I learned over the years to make sure that I am on the right track.  More than ever, I feel I can successfully start my own small business.

If you would like to attend one of Dave’s events, please check out his website at DaveRamsey.com.

Heirloom Tomato Plants in Yogurt Cups

For the longest time, I’ve been saving the single serving Stony Field yogurt cups.  Back when I lived with my parents, their township did not recycle #5 plastic containers, so I was looking to send the cups back for recycling.  The Preserve company transforms these yogurt cups into other products such as toothbrushes and plates.  Somewhere along the way two years ago, hundreds of plastic yogurt containers moved with me to my new home.  Once I moved out, I became interested in gardening and decided to start some tomato plants indoors.  Soon it was time to transplant almost 100 seedings to larger containers.

This raised a new dilemma for me.  I was looking for a way to be green and not purchase more plastic to just be tossed away after one use.  Then it just hit me, I should repurpose the yogurt cups for transplanting!  They are the perfect size and I do not need to spend more money on flower pots.  The cups will be getting a second life, and possibly a third (or more) if I get my containers back from family and friends.

Here is how I prepare the yogurt cups for transplanting:

1. Wash out the cups with hot soap and water to remove any excess fruit and yogurt.
2. Dry the cups well and place them into storage until use.
3. Just before transplanting, use a mild bleach solution (approximately 10 parts water to one part bleach) to sanitize the cups.
4. Rinse and dry the cups thoroughly.
5. Drill four holes in the bottom of the cup using a 1/8″ drill bit (or other means).  You can stack about 5-6 cups together to get the job done faster.
6. Start transplanting!

This will be my third season using yogurt cups for all my transplants.

Funny Story
Just yesterday I decided to cancel two more credit cards: my Visa and Mastercard.  These by far were the most fun to cancel because of the representatives’ responses.

The first representative at Bank of America told me, “What?  You can’t cancel your card now!  It’s springtime!” That was pretty comical trying to keep me on as a customer.  Being that it’s springtime has nothing to do with closing my credit card, but okay.  The account was closed and we had a nice chat about the weather between Maine (where she was located) and New Jersey.

The next representative at Wells Fargo was very boring. He brought up the fact that my “score with them would be lowered”.  One can only imagine that would be my credit score; I told him that was fine.  Once the account was closed, he told me to “feed the card to my dog” and that it was as good as “feeding him chocolate.” With his monotone voice I could not tell if he was joking or not.  However, you can clearly tell he doesn’t enjoy his job.

Right now I am left with one credit card that I have open for “just in case”.  I do not plan on using it, but there could always be a time between now and when my emergency fund exceeds that credit limit.  I’ll feel more comfortable about getting rid of it once I have my student loan paid off and my emergency fund built up.  Overall, I have not used any credit since December; everything’s been on a cash basis.  It really has kept my spending under control.  When I would charge things with the credit card, I would find that I would purchase more goods.  Which, in return, didn’t give me the leverage needed to pay down my student loan debt as quickly as possible.

More Reasons to Close the Cards
Canceling the cards was not only for personal relief, but to relieve some future financial burdens.  Once I heard about what these big banks are planning, I decided it was for the better to closet down the cards.

According to this WalletBlog.com article, “…Bank of America recently announced plans to apply $59 annual membership fees to about 5% of its credit card customer base.”  The worst of the news came from my grandma.  Bank of America is currently charging her $4 for each check image printed on a statement!  She incurred $12 in fees last month for doing something your normally do with a checking account: writing checks!  This weekend I will be taking her to a local community bank and patronize their business.  At least they still have a soul!

Have you been used by the mega banks?  If so, do you still do business with them?

Getting back to my desk, just because it’s messy doesn’t mean that I am not organized.  I like to look at it as an “organized mess”.  I have my upcoming payment pile and my paid bills filed.  The rest of the mess is junk mail to be shredded, receipts, notes, and the box to my new cell phone.  One of the hardest things about personal finance is staying organized and keeping up with it.  There are many ways to get organized, stay organized, and even become proactive.

Making Time
I feel one of the biggest obstacles to getting organized is not making time to get organized.  We come home from work, very tired, and just start making little piles of junk that we plan on looking at a later date.  Well, we do, but then it feels like it takes hours to go through it all!  Well, that’s because it does.  I have months of buildup and it can take me quite a few hours to get through the mess.  I keep making excuses to not do things, “Well, the shredder will make too much noise and wake someone up.”

Try to take 10 – 15 minutes a day to tend your personal finance life.  Remember the old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”  It takes many, many, small steps to reach a goal.  Staring with the end in mind can help you build that solid foundation to take you where you want to go.

Organizing Yourself
After working some time in your schedule, decide how you’d like to organize yourself.  This will probably be the most difficult part.  Here are a few that I have tried:

• Stackable Paper Bins
• Three-Ring Binders
• Digitizing Paperwork
• Electronic Billing
• Electronic Payment
• Electronic Debit
• Filing Cabinets/Bins
• Google Calendar with Reminders

The single most useful tool that keeps me on my toes is Google Calendar.  I have it configured to alert me 10 days before a payment is due plus it syncs with my Android phone automatically!  This has been a lifesaver on many occasions, especially when the work days seem to blur together.

When bills come in, they get filed in the unpaid pile.  Once I pay them, they then get transferred to a three-ring binder.  This binder takes up little space on my bookshelf and works better than filing it in a cabinet.  I have about 2-3 years worth of statements stored here.  I phase out older statements by scanning them to my computer and saving them as PDF files.  This allows me to search the document for certain keywords in the event that I need to refer back to it.  This allowed me to move from three file bins to just one.  Just make sure you store backups of your paperwork in a save place.

Going Electronic
I’ve been paying my bills online.  From the mortgage to my local alarm company, ING Direct allows you to pay others from their website; even if the company doesn’t accept an electronic payment.  ING Direct will send out a real check to the company on your behalf and they do not charge you for postage (except if it’s mailed overnight).  You can even send your friends money directly to their bank account using the Person-2-Person payment feature.

Let’s not forget e-statements!  They are usually in PDF files that you can save to your computer.  This can save you time and energy by not having to scan in statements or file them away.

How do you stay organized with your busy lifestyle?

I started listening to his podcasts and I was hooked.  There were real people, with real debt problems, calling into his show to ask for his advice.  So I sat, listened, and learned.  I found out that I was on the right track with my Emergency Fund and paying off my debt.  However, I did not have the mindset to pay it off sooner.  I was on target to get my student loans of $17,000 paid off around 2015 and just accepted it.  Once I started listening to his show, I looked at that date and thought there has to be a better way!

Through his show, I found out that Dave has 7 Baby Steps to getting out of debt and building wealth:

1. Save $1000 for a starter Emergency Fund.
2. Use all available money above and beyond the $1000 Emergency Fund (minus retirement) to pay off debt; starting from the smallest balance and work your way up to the largest.  He calls it the Debt Snowball
3. Once you are debt free (except the house) start on your emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses; not income.
4. Save 15% of income towards retirement.
5. Save for your children’s college.
6. Pay off your home mortgage.
7. Build wealth like crazy so you can live and give like no one else.

And that is the proven plan for financial fitness.  Doesn’t it seem simple?  That’s the beauty of it; It’s so simple and has common sense!  However, most people have trouble finding the right footing.  If you are committed and follow the plan exactly, you will become successful with money.  Which, oddly enough, makes you become successful in other areas of life (career, fitness, etc.).

You can start off with Baby Step 1 immediately, but there are a few things that will help you jump start your debt snowball:

• Live on less than you make
• Do a monthly written budget
• Cut back on lifestyle

I already live on less than I make, but I was pulled in so many different directions that I felt as if I could not get any traction.  I putting money into my Roth IRA, Emergency Fund, House Fund, and Vacation Fund.  Once I got myself on a written budget, I was able to see where all my money was going and gained a whole lot of control.  I found that I had about $1000 of free money to throw towards my student loan debt.

Through Dave’s advice, I was able to reduce my student loan target date from 2015 to 2011!  As of today, more than half of my loan is paid off and I have between 7 – 9 months left until it’s finished.  If I did not discovered Dave, I’m not sure that I would have been as intense in getting rid of my student loans.  To also keep me accountable, I post my student loan balance on the right side of my blog, the average monthly payment amount to reach my goal, and my target date.

You can find Dave’s one hour free podcast through iTunes and his book, The Total Money Makeover, on my list of recommended readings on the right.

This year I wanted something more durable.  So I ordered four of Park’s Bio Dome seed starting kits.  I tried other seed starting trays in the past from Home Depot, but they only seem to hold up for a season or two.  This is mainly due to their high level of cheap recycled content.  The 9 pack cells can fall crack very easily if you are not careful taking the plants out.  I’m lucky to be making a 3rd season with them.  However, I did lose a lot of the seed cells.  Yes, the Park’s Bio Domes are significantly more expensive than the seed starting kits you can find at Home Depot, but you’ll end up buying more in the long run.  I’ll write a review about the Park’s Bio Dome as soon as my seedlings are transplanted to larger containers.  So far, I feel they are worth the money.

So far, I started the seeds for the following plants:

Totally Tomato’s Djena Lees Golden Girl Tomato

An heirloom dating back to the 1920’s that’s rumored to have won 1st Place at the Chicago Fair 10 years in a row. Fruits are golden yellow to deep orange, globe shaped, meaty and weigh 8 to 12 oz. each. The perfect balance of acid and sugars gives it a sweet, yet tangy flavor.

Totally Tomato’s Italian Giant Beefsteak Tomato

This blockbuster of a beefsteak was brought over from Italy over 80 years ago, and still rules the garden for sheer size, with some fruits growing larger than two fists! A deep red beefsteak-type, with flattened fruits averaging 16 oz. and 4″ in diameter – meaty and delicious, yield after impressive yield.

Totally Tomato’s Yellow Brandymaster Hybrid Tomato

(VF)-This modern strain of classic Brandywine delivers world famous flavor packed into fruits that weigh up to one pound. They are firm, juicy and have an incredible, rich tomato taste. Potato-leaved plants do well under a wide range of conditions. Fruits mature later in northern areas.

Totally Tomato’s Trophy Tomato

Originally introduced in 1870 by Colonel George Waring, Jr. of Newport, RI who sold packets of seed for $5 each. A reward of $100 for the largest tomato sent many clamoring to purchase the seed. Sweet, mild flavored, 5 to 7 oz. fruits are excellent for slicing and sandwiches.

Totally Tomato’s Red Star Tomato

Technically a cherry-type, but like nothing you’ve ever seen before! Ruffled, 6-lobed fruits resemble a Turk’s Turban, producing a unique star shape when sliced. This sturdy grower is also a long keeper, yielding bright red, thin-skinned, 1″ fruits that are just as tasty fresh or dried.

Totally Tomato’s Red Brandymaster Hybrid Tomato

(VF)-This modern strain of classic Brandywine delivers world famous flavor packed into medium to large fruits, unrivaled among similar varieties. Red fruits weigh up to one pound with firm, juicy flesh and an incredible, rich tomato taste. Potato-leaved plants do well under a wide range of conditions. Fruits mature later in northern areas.

Totally Tomato’s Grandmas Pick Hybrid Tomato

(VFN) A modern day hybrid combining the look and taste of an heirloom beefsteak with earlier, more productive and disease resistant yields. Fruits are deeply globed, weigh 8 to 10 oz. each, have a excellent flavor and are high in lycopene. An excellent choice for home gardens, specialty markets and roadside stands.

Totally Tomato’s Harlequin Hybrid Tomato

(VF) Harlequin gets its name from its unique, upturned calyx resembling a jesters hat, but its most memorable features are yield and taste-long trusses of sweet, juicy, plum-shaped red fruits, slightly larger than you’d expect at just 1/2 to 3/4 oz. each. A good choice for canning and fresh eating. Sturdy plants will grow 4 to 6 ft. high in sunny, sheltered garden sites and greenhouses.

Totally Tomato’s Ananas Noire Tomato

Also known as “Black Pineapple,” with a distinctive, streaked interior that resembles a tie-dye pattern of pink, red, green and yellow. Needs space-regular leaf plants are large and sprawling, but earn their keep with an abundance of large, dark purple fruits averaging up to 1-1/2 lbs. Green-shouldered fruits deliver a complex, hearty tomato taste that’s both sweet and rich, with smoky and acidic undertones. Makes a great tomato sauce.

Totally Tomato’s Black Sea Man Tomato

A hardy Russian heirloom that looks odd but tastes delicious. Rich, tangy tomato flavor in medium-sized, 4 to 8 oz. fruits with brown-black skins and pink shoulders. Fruits are slightly plum-shaped, revealing skeleton-like veins when blanched and peeled. Short, potato leaf plants. Plant early for best results.

Totally Tomato’s Bulgarian Triumph Tomato

Many say this Bulgarian heirloom is the best flavored of all for eating fresh! Sweet, juicy 2″ fruits are red, thick-walled, and oxheart shaped with 3 lobes, averaging 4 oz.

Totally Tomato’s Chocolate Cherry Tomato

Extremely flavorful, uniform, round fruits in trusses of 8, measure 1″ in diameter. Fruits hold stems very well, don’t crack and can be picked several days before completely mature and allowed to ripen off the vine without sacrificing quality. Great variety for the home gardener or for packing into pints for market.

Totally Tomato’s Original Golden Beefsteak Tomato

A new American classic hybrid. Gardeners everywhere will love the heirloom look and feel of this variety’s large 12 to 14 oz. beefsteak fruits that benefit from breeding to hold their texture and flavor longer after picking. Packed with exactly the right amount of flavor for fresh eating in salads and sandwiches.

Totally Tomato’s Peperoncino Pepper

You’ve seen these little beauties pickled in gourmet shops. Our strain is imported directly from Athens, Greece, and is unsurpassed for purity and productivity. Abundant yields of thin, yellowish-green fruits, 2 to 4″ long, stay sweet until late maturity. Harvest when fruits are at the green stage. Vigorous plants grow to 30″ tall.

Park’s Razzleberry Hybrid Tomato

76 days from setting out transplants. Determinate. Give ‘em the old razzle dazzle with the most exciting Tomato to come along in a month of Sundays! Park’s Razzleberry Hybrid is a dark pink variety with a super sweet, mild flavor the whole family will love. But the best part is its texture. Instead of being meaty, mealy, chewy, or otherwise less than perfect, it is silky smooth. The fruit literally seems to melt in your mouth, leaving only juicy-sweet goodness! (I was able to harvest these seeds from last year’s crop.)

Black from Tula Tomato (Trenton Farmer’s Market)

Russian heirloom imported by SSE and offered to members in 1996. Made available commercially by SSE as part of the Russian Collection in 1998. Described by one SSE member as “the ugliest, most delicious tomato I’ve ever grown.” Good yields of brownish-red slightly flattened globes weighing up to 14 ounces. Rich full flavor, great for slicing and canning. (source: http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=251)

Park’s Heirloom Rainbow Blend Tomato

Contains Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Dixie Golden Giant, Black from Tula, Brandywine Red, Big Rainbow, and Cherokee Purple.
This is simply the best mix of heirloom varieties I’ve ever seen! You get 6 truly unusual and interesting varieties, all distinctively different, for one low price! If you love the fascinating forms and rich, full flavor of heirloom Tomatoes, this is the mix you MUST grow!

Jersey Devil-Heirloom Tomato (Passed down through family)
This American heirloom variety was made popular many years ago by a seed company that is no longer in business. Tomato seeds produce abundant crops of 5-6″ long, tapered, bright red, paste tomatoes with pointed end, few seeds and very good taste. This variety is well respected as a meaty sauce tomato that is a good choice for making salsa.  (source: http://store.tomatofest.com/Jersey_Devil_Tomato_Seeds_p/tf-0271d.htm)

Now that the fruits and veggies are done, let’s not forget the annuals:

Cheap Seed’s Pansy Swiss Giants

Pansy Swiss Giants have large, brightly-colored flowers in red, yellow, blue, purple and white as well as bicolor flowers. The compact size of the plants, up to about 10 inches tall, means they are extremely versatile in their placement. Their bright, 3-inch blooms bring a dash of daring color to a garden, and the small size of the plants has made this pansy variety a favorite in containers and flower boxes. They also make spectacular cut flowers for a little indoor color.

Burpee’s Viola Johnny-Jump Up

HEIRLOOM. Very winter hardy and eager to self-sow in the shade of summer plants, violas are cheerful surprises in the cool months. Delicately fragrant flowers are edible and make delightful garnishes. Blackjack. Deep velvety purple. Johnny-jump-up. Dark purple with yellow blotch. (image source: http://paulsplantsii.com/Perennials.htm)

There will be a lot more to come within the next couple of weeks.  I plan on planting more annuals and more vegetables for the summer crop.  Stay tuned!

Over the past two months, I’ve been working on personal and career development.  This meant turning off the television and reading a book or two!  I have not watched the news during this time – at all.  I cannot change what’s going on down in Washington.  I cannot change what’s happening around the world.  What I can change is myself.  It feels so much better having control over something and watching that change happen!

Part of this change is knocking down my student loans down by almost $2,000.  Now I am down to $7,900!  I was able to bring it down by selling U.S. Savings Bonds, items on Amazon, and sacrificing.  If all goes well with my tax return, this loan might be paid off by the summer!

With Spring right around the corner, I started to grow my pepper, tomato, and annual seeds on the sun porch.  This year brings many variates of tomato plants and a new greenhouse!  I look forward to writing more about my seedlings and the progress of this year’s garden.

This is exactly what I am doing right now.  Recently at work, there have been talks of layoffs if the finances do not improve.  I’ve heard this through the grapevine over the past three months, but nothing in writing to confirm the rumor.  This, however, changed in the past week; upper management put it in writing.  Because of this, I am officially stopping my debt snowball until the storm passes.  I should find out if they will proceed with the layoffs by next month.  Just to be safe, I’m looking to put it all on hold for the first quarter of 2011.  If things still look cloudy, I’ll continue to stock pile money.  Once things get better, I will toss all that I saved onto my debt and resume the snowball.

I’m going on a strict, written budget for the next couple of months.  I’ll keep you posted.

Well, I’ve been killing my student loan debt.  Just this past week I paid off one of my loans and have two more to go.  If you look in the right-hand column of my blog, you will see my countdown.  The $700 is what I calculated the average monthly payment to be.  However, in the last two months alone, I’ve been putting my payments into overdrive.

I’ve been sacrificing by cutting back my lifestyle, selling things, and budgeting to become debt free sooner.  Guess what?  It’s working! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  In the past three months alone I was able to allocate almost $4,000 towards my loans!  The feeling is incredible.  Before I got fired up, I was on course to pay them all off in 4.5 years.  I never thought I would pay my student loans off in a year or less.  Now I’m on target for Summer/Fall of 2011!

The key is staying motivated, having a plan, and staying focused on one goal; not a few.  I think that was my main problem.  Now with the one goal in the crosshairs, I can take it on!