Lost Luggage

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I was in some form of debt for nearly 20 years. The last three years of my life have been dedicated to radical debt eradication. I didn’t realize it at the time – but debt was kind of like my baby. I thought about it constantly. I would strategize about how to pay it down. I would run numbers in my head. I had a running calculation everytime I spent money. Or made money. I was obsessed. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It kept me passionate. It kept me focused. It provided momentum and motivation. For years. And then… […] Read more »

The Not-So-Pretty Story of Paying Off My Debt

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Hundreds of people emailed, commented, tweeted and direct messaged me after this post asking to hear more of my story. The number one question: How did you do it? How did you pay off $571,817.68 in less than 3 years? The answer to paying off debt is pretty simple. Stop using credit. Earn more than you spend. Use the extra earnings to pay off debt. It’s not romantic. It’s not complicated. It’s actually very straight forward. I, however, do not typically do things the easy or simple way. In hindsight, I can see that the first year of my “debt […] Read more »

$571,817.68 Down And $0 To Go – Special Anniversary Celebration

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571,817.68 is a lot of dollars.   On January 18, 2009, this is how much I owed in debt. After a decade of living beyond my means. A couple of lousy real estate transactions. And a failed marriage.   I have carried this debt for nearly three years. Watching each month as the numbers crawled toward zero. And yesterday, I made my very last payment. New balance: $0.00.   If I stacked 571,817 dollar bills into a pile and weighed it – it would be 1,167 pounds.   That’s literally HALF a ton. The debt I carried weighed as much as […] Read more »

Do You Rent or Own?

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And no, I’m not talking about houses here. I’m talking about your money. I’m talking about my money. Do you own your money? Or do you rent your money? For the past 19 years, I’ve been renting my money. For the past 19 years, I’ve been in debt in one way or another. Car loans, students loans, credit cards, mortgages, equity lines, business loans, and personal loans. For the past 19 years, I’ve been paying other people for the privilege (seriously makes me want to gag) to rent their money. Chase United Mileage Plus card offered me a deal to […] Read more »