Financial Freak Show

I started this blog because a couple years ago I decided to take better care of my money and my financial situation as a whole. After I was successful at doing just that people around me began asking how I did it. So I started telling them and helping them to do the same thing for themselves.
Here’s the story that triggered my change (public embarrasment can do that to you)

I was driving my Cadillac from Seattle to CA for my grandmother’s funeral. This was an unexpected trip so I didn’t have time to plan for the expense (not that I would have really planned for it anyway). So on I-5 somewhere in Oregon at 3am in the morning I stopped to fill up on gas and caffeine. Since the state of Oregon won’t let you pump your gas like the big boys in other states I gave my debit card to the attendant and went inside. When I returned from getting coffee and spending down the last $20 bill I had in my pocket the pump attendant handed me my card back and said “Got another? It won’t take it.” That’s when I realized I had handed him my checking account debit card which had no money available until mid-night the next day. Thats also when I realized there was an attractive the girl at the next pump was who was overhearing the conversation (talk about the ultimate “game breaker!”) “No problem,” I said as I apologized and pulled out my Platinum Visa card which easily had a whopping $200 left on it, I know this for a fact because I checked before leaving this was all the money I had until my pay check hit my account the next day. Soon I was heading off in my shiney red Cadillac, with my face the same shade of red as the car, and barely enough money to put gas in it. That uncomfortable realization paired with a ten-hour solo drive through the night set my financial wheels in motion. That sounds so tame because basically I feakin’ lost it! I was so damn pissed at myself I knew I had to change it.

So when I got home I had a talk with my wife (yes, I’m married I wasn’t trying to date the gas pump girl – she just caught my eye and greatly magnified my humliation!) Anyway back to the story…we decided this money situation had to change. I didn’t know how we were going to change it since we barely made enough money to cover the monthly payments so how the H-E-double-hockey-sticks was I going to fix it? So I started reading (because it was cheap!) and began looking for an answer. I read a lot of books; listened to radio shows, watched money programs on TV, talked to a lot of people who were much smarter than I was about money and life and stopped listening to people around me who were broke.   
It worked, we we’re able to turn our balance sheet upside down. In just over two years we paid off over $100,000.00 in debts and saved up a nice emergency fund. We now have more coming in than we have going out each month, everything now has a name on it and a place to go. The funny thing is it becomes more fun everyday.

So when people ask me how we did it or what I think about a money situation this blog is my answer to them. I think most money problems and money successes are a result more of your behaviors around money than an actual numbers game. I think if people learn to exercise good discipline and judgement with their money the numbers part can work out in their favor no matter what the numbers actually are. Many people think it’s a numbers game and a hopeless endless battle….and most people are broke 

So where did the FinancialFreakShow come from? Well after talking to many people about poor financial decisions I have realized most people look at me like I’m crazy when they find out I no longer use credit cards, or make car payments, or use charge accounts and I have a personal goal of a future credit score of ZERO (yes you read that correctly – ZERO!). They don’t quite understand how that can work or how you can survive but so far it has treated me quite well. So since I was treated as a freak by those around me I went with it! I happen to like not being like the broke people around me so I’m going to roll with it! So welcome to my FinancialFreakShow.
Feel free to hang around and pass this stuff onto friends or one that can’t quite get their acts together if you want to. Let’s see where we can go from here. Send me some emails, post some comments, let me know what you think about this crazy out of control yet completely controllable money world. Maybe together we can inspire some common sense.

If you want to read the follow up/dejavu moment to the above funeral roadtrip story please read this post: Emergency Fund Don’t Fail Me Now! to get a better idea of how our life has come full circle and changed for the better. Different Funeral…Different story

FYI, I’m a blogger not an author so I am a horrible speller and rarely use proper grammar so if Spell Check doesn’t catch it I likely won’t catch it either. Enjoy!