Maunderlust

Is there anything that Oprah Winfrey can’t do? She’s the most incendiary thing to happen to literature since the library at Alexandria, she generously unleashed upon the world the wit and wisdom of Dr. Phillip McGraw, and she’s wrestled dangerous madmen only to emerge unscathed. She is more than every woman, she is every super woman. That includes Wonder Woman, She-Ra, and possibly Jem.

And wouldn’t you know it, her talents extend to financial advice too! That’s right, by way of LifeHacker, I’ve discovered…

THE OPRAH DEBT DIET (yum!)

STEP ONE: HOW MUCH DEBT DO YOU REALLY HAVE?

Part 1 - Figure out how much debt you’ve got

Way ahead of you Oprah. I’m using a slightly different tracking method than the big O reccomends, because I’d like to track my debt over time. I’ve set up a google spreadsheet to handle it.

Part 2 - Get your credit rating

Got it. Last check my FICO was 720. Not the best. But, not the worst either. There’s a lingering blight on there that will be with me for awhile.

Part 3 - Prioritize your debt

This one’s pretty easy for me. I don’t have a mortgage. My car is off the road since I don’t really need it. And, I ate all the children. So that means after rent and phone, I can prioritize credit cards and student loans by interest rate. So far so good.

Next OBH post, I’ll move on to Oprah’s latte factor. Sounds delicious!
[tags]Oprah, Debt Reduction, Google Spreadsheet[/tags]

I’m naming this project for Blue Hippo. The blue hippo is a friendly beast whose outstretched blue palms offer a bounty beyond your wildest dreams for no money down, and with no credit check required.

Personally, I’d like to believe that portly African mammals rise from their watery homes to give away consumer electronics purely out of the goodness of their big blue hearts. But, as it turns out, this is not the case. The blue hippo’s financing methods may suck you down into an abyss of financial ruin.

No, I have not fallen victim to the blue fellow’s tricks. But, I have slid down the slippery slope of deficit spending. I know I’m not alone in this. But, all the same, I’d like to take care of it before it consumes me utterly.

Here’s the debt:
Student Loans - $6007.82 (ugh)
Major Credit Card - $1969.94 (guh)
Other Credit Card - $1272.24 (bleh)

Total Debt - $9,250.00 (holy crap!)

That’s kind of alot. I’m not certain that I can pay it all off in a year, but it’s worth a shot.

Fortunately, to get the ball rolling I’ve got an expense report from work that I need to submit which should cover a big chunk of one of the credit cards.

OPERATION BLUE HIPPO - STEP ONE: SUBMIT EXPENSE REPORT

OPERATION BLUE HIPPO - STEP TWO: PAY OFF BIG CHUNK OF MAJOR CREDIT CARD

So why is this project called Operation Blue Hippo, since the blue beast wasn’t to blame for my financial woes? Well, I’m calling it that because part of this mess is a result of me buying some computers last year on credit. Then to my discredit, I let the balance sit there while I invested in other endeavors and diversions. This is similar to many tales of woe sung by victims of the hippo, but different in that I have only myself to blame, and not a hungry hungry trickster.

So, steps one and two look pretty straight forward. I’m going to add them to my handy maunderlust Google Calendar.

By the end of the weekend I’d like to have the next steps for the financial plan laid out as well.

Fun!

[tags]Blue Hippo, Debt Reduction, Google Calendar[/tags]