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A bit less of a slacker
I finally got off my ass and finished moving over my teaching retirement money. I asked them to cut me a check back in February so that I could do a rollover into an IRA. Well, turns out you can only rollover into a traditional IRA, so I got two accounts set up (traditional and Roth) and stalled, and stalled, then moved into the house, then stalled some more… Ah, life. It happens. And the check is chump change in the grand scheme of things, really… Blah, blah, inertia. I’m appreciating a new, larger salary now, though, and have located my inner “gazelle” (although it’s more like a puppy, really)…
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First and last credit card
My first credit card — a Chase Rewards card that I got back in 2005 to help with Thorn expenses — is now my last and final. It had a $300 credit limit when I got it, and had a $2700 limit earlier this evening. I paid the remaining bit of balance on it this morning and closed it just 20 minutes ago once I saw the balance was $0. It took 2 minutes and 52 seconds to sever my last line of revolving credit. I feel strangely… cut loose. Like I’m no longer wrapped up in so much of America’s debt problem, even though I still have loans. But…
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One credit card down!
With the payday last Friday, I sent in the final $500 to one of my high-interest credit cards. One more credit card left, then I’m down to student loans and money I owe my parents. Such a nice feeling… I haven’t decided whether I’ll cancel the credit card yet. There are good reasons both ways. I’m not overly worried about my credit rating in the short term, so I’d feel fine canceling it. I’m not tempted to use it, either, though, so it’s not like I need to cancel it to avoid the temptation. I’m more worried about service charges or annual fees. I should be able to knock out…
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Tastee (del.icio.us) links! (April 25th)
Links for April 25th from 15:30 to 20:48: The Psychology of the $1000 Emergency Fund | I've Paid For This Twice Already… – A commenter's word choice really got me: "For people who have never had a comma in their savings account before, getting to that magic number can be a real encouragement to keep saving money." I've never had a comma in my savings account. Excellent read. Twenty Sided » Blog Archive » Serious Sam:The Mayhem Shooter – This description/review of Serious Sam is rather accurate. WO and I played SS 2 for an afternoon and loved getting to blow shit up. I enjoy mayhem games that require very…
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Step 0, done
Thanks to my NC and federal tax returns, I am now current on all credit cards and ready to “snowflake” my way to a starter emergency fund (with the help of my IN tax return and the economic stimulus check, yes). In the process, I paid off what remained of my tax debt from last year with no additional money out of pocket. Lingering headache aside, today is starting off very well. Windfalls are nice. Paying well over $900 toward my high-interest debts in a month is nice, too. Now I just need to get those interest rates lowered with some phone calls during lunch.