Hmm, as I sit here noticing my paycheck has finally arrived I think back to all those years in college when I lived off of $375 a month(thanks Dad) for all bills(electric, gas, cable, car insurance, and food). I look back and am totally amazed. Lubbock was pretty cheap though, although my car insurance cost twice as much as it does now. I think, wow, how did I survive? Obviously help from my family and student loans worked for my housing and school(thanks Family and Government!) But still, to think that amount is a livable amount. I think if I made $4500 a year now I would be living in utter poverty and probably have just enough money coming in to support whatever habit I had developed from living on the streets. I suppose that is why the corporations decide to throw "spring break parties" and give you a free "spring break 96" t-shirt if you fill out their pesky little form for a credit card. The credit card companies actually had booths set up on campus and would have tons of free "giveaways" every week just as long as you fill in their applications. It didn't even matter if I had a job. As long as I could put down a family member who worked on the application they would give me a credit card. Wow, I look back now and can see how deceptive they were, but at least I got a cool t-shirt. Then when you get the card, with a $2000 limit, it is like you just earned half of your yearly income. I was like - oh goody, let's see, I need these magic cards, this cd, I need to go out to eat 4 times a week and can now really go grocery shopping. Gotta go to One Guy From Italy, Spanky's, Homeplate Diner and Gardskys Loft and hang out with all the other college kids. Ah, those were good times. But as usual you get your first job out of college and think you have it made when it dawns on you that you have to pay everything back. I can see now that I paid too much for my first apartment. At the beginning it was rough. I cut up all of my credit cards but my gas one, so low and behold I started getting my food from Chevron. I lived next to a Chevron so all I had to do was walk into the gas station pick out a hamburger and pay for it with my Chevron card. Peeteys mom would send me care packages when they heard about that(thanks Peetey's mom). That was kind of funny, in an odd sort of way. That was when I decided that it was ok to be in debt as long as there was enough money to live on. That was when I moved to a cheaper apartment and finally developed a system. And so here I am 7 jobs later, 7 years later making more than 25 times what I made in college and am still looking forward to the paycheck. I have learned how to manage it all, but it is like a little hole you dig in college can become a bigger hole as the more dirt you put into it, the more dirt you have to take out of other holes. Eventually you have 3 or four holes you take the dirt out of and transfer it to other holes. If I was smart I would "pretend" to live poor and cancel everything: cell phone, maid, internet, satellite, yard, gym, dating service, eating out, home phone service, tithing and charities, this web site, my retirement account, my disability account, and even satellite radio. That would save me probably a grand a month and it would take me only a year to get back to even. Of course the following things would happen - no one could contact me at all, my yard and home would look like crap(hey its my lifestyle my friends demanded I get a maid), I wouldn't be able to do or listen to anything newly entertaining(probably die of boredom) and God might get mad at me. So I figure I won't do that and keep doing the system. The key to getting out of all debt with the system is to have no emergency expenses for years - like medical, dental, computer and guitar emergencies(of which I have had 4 out of 4 this year - a bad year). That is when the income builds up and you can pay off a hole all at once. In the mean time disposable income increases. It is an interesting balance. Oh sure, there isn't a bit of advice I haven't heard, especially from people who aren't in debt. They say, "Pay off the lower ones first and it snowballs", or "pay off the higher interest rate ones first then it snowballs." I've heard "pay yourself first then pay God then pay the companies." All are good advice, but most people don't seem to realize that disposable income is more important than any debt ever. The key should be to build up money first then worry about debt second. That's my theory anyways. The biggest key to the whole system is to work, get a paycheck, live within it and put a little aside each month. That is the American dream. Wow, I am babbling. Can you tell I am bored at work and I like pretending I know what I am talking about by saying "The key to blah blah is blah blah"?

Thought of the Day
"It's not good for friends to talk about money, it can affect the friendship."
"I tell you how much I make."
"And I'm always impressed."
- Jerry and Kramer, in "The Cadillac"