Posted on: May 12, 2009 by Matt
Today I am going a little off topic and touching on another issue that I find increasingly important: saving our planet. Last night my girlfriend and I watched Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. I had not seen the film before but had always had an interest in watching it due to the critical acclaim and the subject content. What I discovered was that our planet is in much worse shape than I had originally thought (and I had a pretty negative view to begin with).
If you have not seen the film yet please stop reading and head out to get a copy. Order it online, rent it, get it from Netflix, download the audio book from iTunes – just get a copy and try watching it with an open mind. You can also get more information from the web site www.climatecrisis.net in order to take action to reduce your carbon footprint.
Overall – I think it is important for everyone to learn at least a little bit more about our current environmental situation. If we do not take steps to save our planet we could be in for a nasty awakening. In addition – a lot of the steps you can take will also help save you money in the long run as well (hey a little frugal after all). That said here is a short list of my goals to help do my part:
- Replace standard light bulbs in the house with CFL’s: They use 60% less energy than a standard light bulb – enough said.
- Use less hot water: I am going to try to shorten my showers by 5 minutes each day. I am not sure what the current baseline is but I plan to time myself at a normal speed and then see what I can do to reduce that time. We already wash our clothes in cold water.
- Power off electronics when not in use and unplug: This may be a little tricky but I am going to see what we can do to turn off and unplug electronics while they are not in use. I can easily make this change at work without impacting anyone but myself so I will start in the office.
- Walk or bike to work: I live about 1.25 miles from the office I work from. I often am lazy and drive in to work. Follow that with a trip home and back for lunch and the end of day trip home and I am at about 5 miles a day. Walking or biking that would not only help the environment but also help my health!
- Recycle: Our town has a pretty weak recycling program: you actually have to pay to recycle. However my office has a big old dumpster for all-in-one recycling that we can add to. I have set out a paper bag in our kitchen to collect recyclable materials in and will continue to bring them in to be recycled.
- Use the local farmer’s market: I like to support local business and have been pretty bad about practicing lately. However – the local farmer’s market will be starting back up soon and I hope to start picking up some of our produce there. We also have a local grocery store that buys from local farmers as well that I have been shopping at more frequently.
So it is a fairly long list of steps I hope to take and I am sure that I will think of more along the way but I do believe that too often people get caught up in the “but I’m just one person, what can I possibly do?” mindset. For those of you personal finance nuts out there: Think of saving our environment like you think about passive income streams. Each of us can be a “passive income source” for the planet by making just a few changes to our every day habits. Each individual that makes a change adds to the overall total and with enough individuals the change will be massive. Plus – all of the steps suggested should save you some cash as well! I think we have a big win-win situation going here!
Posted on: May 5, 2009 by Matt
Shortly before leaving for vacation I received a check back in the mail from the student loans I have in collections. I opened the letter and discovered that back in March my payments started to be rejected. I was nervous anyway just because I had not seen the payment post in my bank account but now I had confirmation.
I called the number for the servicing company and was referred back to the original guarantor of the loan. I then called the original loan holder and left them a voicemail as well as the collection agency that had been processing my account. I was hopeful that something had changed for the better and I may now be able to work out a rehabilitation program with the original lender to get my life back on track.
While we were away on vacation (see the photo, not taken by me but in the area we were – lovely place) I received a voicemail from the original lender noting that they no longer use the processing companies I had been working with and that I should now send all future payments to a new address. I have since returned their call and left another voicemail inquiring about possible rehabilitation options and am waiting anxiously to hear back.
If we are able to work out an agreement to rehabilitate the loans I think I may just be overjoyed. These loans have followed me around for about 7 years now in a state of collection or default and I have not had any options to rehabilitate them like a federal loan. I know it is my fault for messing up and letting the loans get to the point they are at but do want to clear them up. I guess now about all I can do is wait for my phone to ring – if it does I may post an extra update here to let everyone know how my luck turns out. I think my current attitude is of cautious optimism.
Tags: Collections, Debt, Debt Reduction, Future, Goals, Personal Finance, Planning, Student Loans Filed Under: Collections, Debt, Debt Reduction, Student Loans
Posted on: April 28, 2009 by Matt
Originally uploaded by Gnerk
Shortly after my 18th birthday my mother passed away. I had plans to head off to college about a month later and intended to go just to get away from all the old memories lingering around where I grew up. I had very little in my bank account and all of it was probably going to be needed for books and other expenses related to college.
Later that semester I received notification that I was due to inherit my share from my mother’s estate which amounted to about $11,000. To date this was easily the largest sum of money I have received in one lump sum. I had no idea what to do with the money and was still grief stricken and in shock from the loss of my mother (I really had trouble coping with her death). I did what most college boys probably would have done: deposited the money in my checking account and spent frivolously. Of course the nice lady at the bank attempted to give me some advise but I wanted nothing to do with saving money or planning long term. I more or less told her to just give me the money and shut up.
For the most part I do not remember what I spent the money on. From what I can recollect now I can recall buying:
- Lots and lots of booze on a regular basis: I developed an even bigger drinking problem in college that I carried with me until a little over a year ago. At this point in my life I have come to realize and accept that I am an alcoholic and can not drink. I have been sober now for about 16 months.
- A PlayStation2 that I had to have: I was a guy and in college – of course I needed the newest video game console.
- A beat up car from my girlfriend’s (at the time) brother: This was my first car. I did not get my license until I was 19. It was a little beat up but ran well and I managed to get quite a bit of mileage out of it.
Needless to say – I spent every last dime within a year or so. I do not regret spending it but do think that I made some poor choices. I suppose that if I had to start all over again today I would probably look to start out by:
- Learning how to manage money: Not just large sums but also general personal finance. I was fairly clueless, nobody had taught me anything about money management and I had not taken the initiative to learn on my own.
- Parking the money in a CD where it is locked for 3 to 6 months: Actually – I probably would have opened a few of them that would mature at different lengths of time. Maybe break it into quarters and put 25% in each 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. I was in no emotional state to make any financial decisions and knew little to nothing about handling money.
- If I needed money, get a job: I had limited to no income the first three years of college. I cited having to focus on my studies as the reason for not working but the real reason was I was too busy drinking and generally slacking off. I could have easily worked a part time job.
I do not regret spending the money or wish to change the past but do try to learn from my mistakes. In this case I learned that having a large sum of money float into your life requires that you press a pause button and do some planning and possibly some healing. When the inheritance arrived in my hand I was still grieving (at a point where I maybe should have put college off a semester or two) and was not clear headed. Parking the money and forgetting it existed would have given me some time to work on healing myself. Once I was in a better place emotionally I could have moved forward with learning how to manage money and planning. My lesson did not have to be learned the hard way – I could have listened to the nice folks at the bank but I chose not to. So I guess there is also a general life lesson here as well: Listen to the advise of people who specialize in a field you know little or nothing about.
Tags: Banking, Budget, Budgeting, Cash, Family, Financial Team, Frugal Friday, Future, Health, Personal Economy, Personal Finance, Planning, Relationships, Savings, Spending Filed Under: Banking, Budget, Health, Lessons Learned The Hard Way, Planning, Savings
Posted on: March 24, 2009 by Matt
The life of working in a home office has proven to be a bit too much for me to handle. There are too many expectations for me to meet from the home front in addition to having my work obligations and it was causing some discord in the house. So I have spoken with my boss and received permission to get some office space in a local business. I got lucky in my search and my girl friend’s mother offered me an office in the back of the print shop they own for $150 per month.
While it works out to be a pretty good deal for all of us involved I am still a little hesitant. I have already moved into the new space and really like having a little bit of freedom to focus. However I am not sure that I want to continue with my current job. I am good at my job and able to prove my worth (not in the billable numbers department so much but in other areas) on a regular basis. The problem is that I do not find the work rewarding. In the past I have looked at my job as a means to make lots of money and afford to have the lifestyle I wanted. At this point the job is to cover the bills and help me pay off my debt.
Anyway – I have been reading Dan Miller’s 48 Days To The Work You Love at night and have been thinking a lot about finding what I really should be doing to find a sense of fulfillment. I am only in chapter 3 now but hopefully I can wrap it up in the next couple weeks and make some progress with finding work that I want to do, not just work that I have to do to make ends meet.
Posted on: August 31, 2008 by Matt
In addition to discussing my student loans in collection we also looked at other aspects of my finances. The advise that I was given can be summed up as follows:
- Keep A Budget: I try to keep a budget running in an Excel spreadsheet. I keep track of all income and categorize expenses / savings. At the end of the month I have $0 left unallocated.
- Increase Income And Reduce Expenses: I have already been trying to cut back on expenses but had not been actively trying to increase my income. I had considered trying to gather a couple of extra consulting jobs in the area but had not moved forward yet. We will see how this goes.
Tags: Debt, Debt Reduction, Future, Planning, Savings, Student Loans Filed Under: Budget, Debt, Debt Reduction, Expenses, Savings, Student Loans
