Fred Ecks (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} fredx) wrote,@ 2007-03-12 10:11:00 |
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Inspiration
Wow, check this out: http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/
This was mentioned in a recent New York Times article, pointed out to me by the fine folks in the New Roadmap Foundation's Speakers Bureau ("FI Associates"). At a mere glance, I'm impressed by how inspirational it is to see folks actively working at hammering down their debt and building savings. I love her entry of March 11th about her motivation to pay off debt. It's beautiful.
On the "California Report" this morning (a statewide public radio program put together by local KQED Radio), there was a clip about the massive increase in foreclosures in California. People are literally being thrown out of their homes because they went too far into debt. I'll post a pointer to the clip later on, once it's available online.
Many of the persistent problems in our world, from overwork and loss of community to environmental troubles, develop from the same root economic cause: debt. I came to this conclusion after working in the field of environmental activism for a number of years. The big environmental organizations would attack a few "Big Bad Guys", with no significant impact on our system of environmental destruction. Why do we burn so much fossil fuel? Because we have to get to work in a hurry. We can't spare the time to ride a bike or use transit, because we have to work more to try and catch up with the payments on the car loan and the mortgage and the credit cards, and so on. If we can just get out of debt, hey, we're free! We can work just enough to cover basic necessities, or work more and bank the extra cash to take time off later. We can cook! We can garden. We can play with our pets. We can be lazy, and goof off. Who cares?
It's funny; Ann and I come from different backgrounds on this. She was raised to be frugal. It's natural for her -- she doesn't lust for more shiny new toys. For me, well, it didn't come so easily. I had to go do it, and get burned. I bought new cars twice (I don't learn quickly!). I went $12k into credit card debt. What finally did it for me was hating full-time work, but having to do it to make the payments. It was soooo hard on days like today, when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's warm, and I was in a cubicle. I decided to pay off those credit cards, and started sending a thousand dollars a month there. It took a solid year of thousand-dollar payments to get rid of that debt (yeah, duh, I'm good at math, too!). It made a hell of an impression on me. But hey, after that, I saved a little bit, and quit my job for a few months, debt-free. That ruled! What can I say, I like goofing off...
Wow, check this out: http://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/
This was mentioned in a recent New York Times article, pointed out to me by the fine folks in the New Roadmap Foundation's Speakers Bureau ("FI Associates"). At a mere glance, I'm impressed by how inspirational it is to see folks actively working at hammering down their debt and building savings. I love her entry of March 11th about her motivation to pay off debt. It's beautiful.
On the "California Report" this morning (a statewide public radio program put together by local KQED Radio), there was a clip about the massive increase in foreclosures in California. People are literally being thrown out of their homes because they went too far into debt. I'll post a pointer to the clip later on, once it's available online.
Many of the persistent problems in our world, from overwork and loss of community to environmental troubles, develop from the same root economic cause: debt. I came to this conclusion after working in the field of environmental activism for a number of years. The big environmental organizations would attack a few "Big Bad Guys", with no significant impact on our system of environmental destruction. Why do we burn so much fossil fuel? Because we have to get to work in a hurry. We can't spare the time to ride a bike or use transit, because we have to work more to try and catch up with the payments on the car loan and the mortgage and the credit cards, and so on. If we can just get out of debt, hey, we're free! We can work just enough to cover basic necessities, or work more and bank the extra cash to take time off later. We can cook! We can garden. We can play with our pets. We can be lazy, and goof off. Who cares?
It's funny; Ann and I come from different backgrounds on this. She was raised to be frugal. It's natural for her -- she doesn't lust for more shiny new toys. For me, well, it didn't come so easily. I had to go do it, and get burned. I bought new cars twice (I don't learn quickly!). I went $12k into credit card debt. What finally did it for me was hating full-time work, but having to do it to make the payments. It was soooo hard on days like today, when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's warm, and I was in a cubicle. I decided to pay off those credit cards, and started sending a thousand dollars a month there. It took a solid year of thousand-dollar payments to get rid of that debt (yeah, duh, I'm good at math, too!). It made a hell of an impression on me. But hey, after that, I saved a little bit, and quit my job for a few months, debt-free. That ruled! What can I say, I like goofing off...
