Debt Ceiling & Deficit Reduction

I have heard the rhetoric, watched as politicians try to blame each other and try even harder to “kick the can” of debt reduction down the road so that others will have to solve the problem. The president is not helping by threatening our seniors with the idea that they may not get their social security payments.

The partisan bickering and posturing continues to come at the expense of the American people and our economic future.

We can’t borrow our way out of debt and thus we must find some combination of reduced spending and increased revenue. A household deals with a debt crisis by cutting the expenses that go beyond the essentials of food, housing, transportation and utilities.

Our government has many programs that, while nice, go far beyond the essentials needed to get our fiscal house in order. We are 14 trillion dollars in debt, about to see our credit rating downgraded, and possibly going to default on our national obligations. We are facing bankruptcy and need to take drastic action involving a radical solution. Stop spending more than we collect and start paying down our national debt!

I’m not looking forward to the hardships that will result from the cuts that need to be made or those that will be forced upon us by continuing to “kick the can” down the road.

Mr. President and Congress do your job, quit worrying about your re-election, stop the partisan bickering, and make the tough decisions to get our fiscal house in order!

A Fork in the Road - Stay the Course

We received our answer regarding the new opportunity and the answer was no. I have such a great sense of peace about the answer. Peace because where I work now has the best working environment of any place I have ever worked, my coworkers are great and we all pull together as a team!

Peace because we are not going to lose some wonderful neighbors as well; we have grown very close to them and would miss the "living in community" that we have come to enjoy. Peace because we don't have to sell our home in a very difficult real estate market.

So now we have an answer and all of the plans that were on hold for our home can be tackled!

Tackled, that is, as soon as we return from the beach!

Peace!

A Fork in the Road Part 2

We'll if you read my previous post I inferred that a decision regarding my fork in the road was imminent. Well that has not proven to be accurate! We are still awaiting "the call". Stay tuned...

A Fork in the Road

Yogi Berra is quoted as saying, "when you come to a fork in the road take it."

Several months ago I was invited to pursue a new opportunity. Part of the opportunity would require selling our home and relocating to a residence provided by my new employer. It would also mean leaving neighbors we have come to love dearly. After carefully considering the pros and cons, and praying we decided to go for it. So today we are at the metaphorical "fork in the road."

There are projects that are in waiting regardless of the fork we take but none of the projects can be addressed until we actually choose the fork. For example, I would like for us to have a home energy audit of our home, this would show us ways to increase our energy savings. I don't want to spend the money on this if we will be selling our home soon. My lovely wife is being very patient about a bathroom remodel. There are a number of projects that are waiting for the choice we make: a drainage project, some rain barrels, some new lights for our garden, a ceiling fan for our patio & a shade to block the afternoon sun.
There are other considerations - what to do about a vehicle replacement, work clothes, and our annual mission trip to Romania. All of these are part of this decision.

The board that will approve the search committee's recommendation is meeting as I write this post. So, after seven months of allowing the process to take it's course we could have an answer as early as today.

If that answer is yes then we have another wonderful and daunting set of decisions to make and projects to undertake. There will be new friends to encounter and a grace filled exit from my workplace and our neighborhood. There will be new opportunities to put our touch on in a special place, to build up the Kingdom of God in a place where He is already at work.

I am at peace with the decision regardless of whether it's yes or no. Don't be confused, I want the job but I have the blessing of a wonderful place to work already!

Mortgage Paid Off!

Well the deed is done! We did it, we paid off the mortgage! We scrimped, saved, sacrificed and dreamed for two years about the possibility of killing the mortgage and we did it! We know there are a lot of people out of work and struggling just to pay their bills let alone try to get "ahead". We got fired up to become debt free after two "reorganizations" and staff reductions got us thinking, "What if it happened to us?"

We sat down and decided to forgo some wants and some fun stuff in the short run to get our financial house on solid ground. We found ways to cut some costs and reduced our spending on food & clothing to create some extra cash. We took any extra cash along with bonuses and some side income and threw it all at the mortgage.

We severely restricted our use of a credit card (except for set expenses) and paid cash for nearly everything; if there was no cash allocated for it we didn't do it!

We continued to give to our church, never went without because the Lord made everything go farther! We went on two family vacations to the beach, a 3 day cruise & most importantly He blessed our efforts and allowed us to take a mission trip to Romania and remain on track with our plan!

You too can accomplish this, be weird, "live like no one else so one day you can live like no one else."

My new mantra, "There is no such thing as good debt!"

Goodbye Bank of America

Bank of America is now starting to charge fees based on the date that people pay their mortgage; no fee for the first few days, $3 for the next few and then $6 for the balance of the "grace" period. A bunch of people are up in arms about the new fees. Honestly, I never paid any attention to it because I always pay my mortgage on the due date - the 1st of the month .

I get that sometimes you might need a few days to get the payment to them but in my opinion that should be the exception rather than the rule... I guess there are "smart" money managers who know how to use every deadline to their advantage but, seriously with the paltry interest rates being paid for savings accounts you can't be talking about a lot of money. I just want to pay it and be done with it and not have it hanging over my head.

I have this suggestion for those smart money managers - quit spending so much energy trying to delay the payment and instead look at ways to find additional money to throw at the principal balance of your mortgage. My wife and I have gotten serious about paying off the mortgage company and becoming debt free. We are almost there!

I have come to understand that there is no such thing as "good debt"!