Cleaning up your own credit

I have been looking into the services LifeLock and Zander provide and found some interesting information online to help do that yourself at little or no cost.

LifeLock offers to setup fraud alerts on your behalf and renew that request every 90 days. You can do this yourself and even freeze your credit by contacting the three credit bureaus below.

They request that your name be removed from pre-approved credit card offers and other junk mail lists and keep up the requests as they expire. Again, you can do this yourself with a service like www.OptOutPreScreen.com

While your name will be removed from the lists that Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion provide to businesses for the purpose of making you a firm offer of credit or insurance, you may continue to receive offers from sources that do not use Consumer Credit Reporting Companies to compile their lists.

They also order free credit reports for you from the major bureaus annually using www.annualcreditreport.com

If your wallet/purse goes missing, they will assist you in contacting each card and account. They assist you because they are not able to do it for you for legal reasons.

You can do this yourself by documenting the contents of your wallet/purse and keeping that information in a safe place, along with current contact information for each account.

Yes, LifeLock offer the $1 Million dollar guarantee, but if you put for the effort above and pay close attention to when and where you use or disclose your information, you can do this yourself.

Equifax
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
(800)-685-1111
Web site: www.Equifax.com
Get Equifax Score Watch Now!


Experian
PO Box 2002
Allen, TX 75013
(888) 397-3742
Web site: www.experian.com

TransUnion LLC
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022
(800) 888-4213
Web site: www.transunion.com

Paying off credit card debt vs. funding your 401(k)

I suspended my 401(k) deductions in the Spring when I started tackling my debt so I had more money available to pay down my debt, trouble was I did not stop using credit cards during this process (pre-Dave). I recently read the following article that discusses this very topic.

Paying off credit card debt vs. funding your 401(k)
Source: CreditCards.com -- Jeremy Simon

When we are presented with two options that both seem good, it can be tough to make a decision. This is true in the case of the choice between using extra money to pay off credit card debt or to invest in a 401(k) retirement program -- both of which are recommended by financial advisers.

In an ideal situation, it would be possible to both pay off credit card debt and contribute the maximum amount to an employer's 401(k) retirement fund. But for most of us, we have to make the most of a limited amount of money. So for Americans faced with the decision between paying off credit card debt and funding their 401(k) plan, how should we best put our money to work?

First, consider your credit card debt. The average interest rate on credit card accounts is about 15 percent. That is very costly, especially since credit card interest payments are not tax-deductible. So with most credit cards charging 15 percent interest on whatever balance is owed, paying off credit card debt is equal to earning a guaranteed 15 percent return on your money.

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Finally off the roller coaster

It feels good to be off the roller coaster and I have just begun the road to being debt free. I know the road ahead is rough and I will be discouraged once or twice along the way, but it already feels good to be on this path.

Just this week I felt excited to pay the credit card bill at the end of the week! Who ever thought you could feel good about something like that?
It feels great knowing I'm not buying things I really do not need while contributing to the pile of debt I have accumulated.

Just knowing the sacrifices I am already making will be well worth it down the road.

Never have another car payment

One thing I have done that was smart was I kept my truck long after I paid of the note. Not having a car payment has freed up some money for other things, but now I see there is much more to this than I realized. Watch this video from the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University and see how you can start driving cars without ever having to make another payment to another financial institution

Become debt free with Dave Ramsey

Here is a useful video of Dave Ramsey discussing his basic fundamentals on your road to becoming debt free. It is only five minutes, but maybe the best five minutes you will spend today

eBay Listings

I have posted my current ebay listings below. Maybe there is something you are looking for, maybe you see something you want to forward to a friend?

Baby Step one is complete!

My $1,000 emergency fund is established!
I sold my snowmobile trailer this weekend, $200 into the fund and $425 going towards debt on Monday.

Now on to the debt-snowball!

I'm working on $5,000 in credit card debt. $4,800 line of credit and a $16,000 Home Equity Line of Credit.

Book: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

Dave Ramsey had Meg Meeker in studio during Thursday's broadcast. Meg wrote Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know.

Coincidently Dave said tonight he has been recommending this book for almost one year now and I had not heard his recommendation. I received this book as a gift shortly after my daughter was born in 2006 but did not start reading it until two weeks ago.

Being a new father, I strongly recommend this book. It will give me a great starting point on my relationship with my daughter and should serve as a guide as she grows older.

During the broadcast Meg spoke of her latest book,
Boys Should Be Boys: 7 Secrets to Raising Healthy Sons, I plan to add this to my Amazon shopping cart later this month for sure being my son is one year old.

eBay tip: Using Paypal

Paypal is the greatest thing for online sales. It allows the average person to accept payments for a nominal fee and sell anything worldwide.

Since I started accepting payments using Paypal, I have always had a cautious eye. To help prevent any shady dealings between my Paypal account and my personal savings account, I opened a new savings account at my local bank. This new bank account is a simple savings account. This is the only account on file with Paypal, it is the account I use to transfer money to and from my Paypal account.

Lets say I withdrawal funds from my Paypal account into this savings account, after the transaction completes (usually three business days), I login to my bank and simply transfer the funds from my Paypal-specific savings account to my regular savings account.

This way in the event there is a person at Paypal that tries to clean house, they will only get the minimal amount I have lingering in this 'buffer' account.

I must add, I have NEVER had any issues using Paypal, nor do I ever expect to. There is no harm in being cautious.

eBay tip: 10 tips for selling on eBay

This information was taken from an article in Top Tech News.

1. Set the starting price low (except for items you expect little interest in)

Low starting prices stimulate auction traffic and get early bidders psychologically invested in the auction, leading to more completed sales and higher final prices.

2. Use reserve prices with caution, especially for low-priced items

When using a low minimum bid, nervous sellers sometimes set secret reserve prices to make sure their item doesn't sell for less than the item's true value.

3. Use photos in your listings.

Listings with photos receive much more traffic than listings without photos.

4. Don't flood the market

If you're selling multiples of an item, space them out, rather then selling them all at once, says Ku -- that's simple supply and demand at work.

5. Spell-check

Misspellings decrease the amount of traffic an auction receives. Note for buyers, including misspellings in your search criteria can expose some auctions that are not seen by most shoppers. This can net some nice deals to the savvy buyer.

6. Hype it up

Ku and Murnighan suggest that inserting blatant puffery like "This shirt is hot!! A must-have for the summer!!" into low-starting-price auctions could stimulate interest better than more straightforward listings, and possibly even raise final sale prices.

7. Hold longer auctions

Researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Michigan found that longer auctions tend to fetch higher prices.

8. Don't end auctions during "eBay happy hour"

Though it might seem counterintuitive, a University of Pennsylvania researcher found that auctions ending during peak hours on eBay are actually 9.6% less likely to result in a sale.

9. Charge for shipping -- but not too much

Bidders don't pay much attention to shipping costs when placing bids, say professors at UC Berkeley and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

10. Avoid negative feedback

A Bentley College researcher found that sellers who have even a few positive reports are more likely than sellers who have no history to receive bids and to have their auctions result in a sale.

eBay tip: Free packaging supplies from the Post Office

The US Post Office makes selling items on eBay even easier that ever. You can order USPS Priority Mail supplies like boxes, envelopes, packaging tape and labels FREE of charge. They will even deliver them to your door!

For packaging supplies, keep those old newspapers, they make excellent material for wrapping items and keeping them safe from damage during shipping. Other options include saving the foam packaging peanuts from items you buy online or even gift wrap tissue from the dollar store.

Visit shop.usps.com and browse the catalog and place an order today.

Started the emergency fund

I already paid a bit towards my first debt before I learned about the program.
Today was payday, moved $700 towards the emergency fund.

Dave Ramsey's Debt reducing Baby Steps

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3. Three to six months of expenses in savings
4. Invest 15 percent of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give!
   Invest in mutual funds and real estate

Click HERE to download the PDF version from www.DaveRamsey.com

Secondary income: eBay

Many of you probably buy or sell items on eBay from time to time. Why not get serious about selling on eBay and use it as a secondary source of income?

I read a great book by Adam Ginsberg - How to Buy, Sell, and Profit on eBay: Kick-Start Your Home-Based Business in Just Thirty Days

There are plenty of basic eBay tips and strategies that anyone selling items can benefit from. This is a great resource and I highly recommend it.

Financial Peace

I recently read Financial Peace Revisited
by Dave Ramsey. This is a very easy read and does a great job of explaining the philosophy behind the ideas Dave talks about on his radio show every day.

He has a way of taking the obvious and spelling it out so there is no way you can mistake what you should be doing to succeed on your road to paying off all of your debt. His christian influence is very apparent in the readings as well.

The book currently sells for $16.29 on Amazon.

Creating a budget

Yes, a written budget. I have a good start on the budget, but there are a few expenses that will have to be updated as I go. Mainly expenses for the two kids, food/clothing etc.

While a budget should be considered a living document, meant to change as needed, actually doing it is quite a step in itself.

Start by writing down your net take home pay (cancel any 401K or stock purchase plan contributions while you are paying down your debt).

The next obvious step is document your fixed expenses, house payment, car payment, etc. Follow those up with things like utilities and other items you pay for monthly. Then factor in your other expenses.

Step One: Setup $1,000 emergency fund

Per Dave's Baby Steps plan, step one is set aside $1,000 in an emergency fund and DO NOT TOUCH IT. To fund this I have put my snowmobile trailer up for sale (sold the snowmobile two years ago) and plan to use the proceeds from my current eBay auctions to fund this step. I have been buying and selling on eBay since 1999, it is about time I used those skills to put that income to use.

Welcome to Living Debt Free

For the Dave Ramsey listeners out there, this page is for you. I just heard about Dave Ramsey and his view on living debt free a few weeks ago. Since then I try to catch the podcast of his radio program daily and recently read his best selling book Financial Peace.

This blog will document my journey to living debt free and will share other information I come across.

Share your stories and views on this blog with me.