David,
First…………your class is Great!! I am so excited about this program, and even though most would say I have boundless energy and enthusiasm everyone wants to know what’s gotten into me! I guess they can see how excited I am about this. I’ve learned so much in such a short time, and can’t wait for the next call to find more little things that will lead up to my everyday “success stories”.
After attempting the Latte Factor for 3 days in row, I realized that I don’t really spend ANY unnecessary money (at least not anymore) on the day to day expenses, actually that is not something I’ve really done in a long time….I don’t drink coffee, I’ve taken my lunch to work for probably the past 10 years (don’t see much sense in spending money on food). What I figured out a month or so back…… is the times that I am in the grocery stores, clothes shopping, picking up all these “extra’s” that are not necessary or needed. Now since reading your book (I bought it at the airport a few months back)…..I think twice before I purchase anything and say “Do I really need this?” If I pause at all then it is not necessary and I don’t purchase it. I took all my receipts from a past month and found over $600.00 worth of things I really didn’t need or would not have missed had I not bought it, and those were only the receipts I happened to find…so maybe it wasn’t the “exact homework” I was supposed to do, but the effect turned out the same. I’ve been working with that knowledge for the past 2 months…..this has allowed me to open the ING account and increase my 401K, and pay more towards my debt.
But what I have done over the past week includes…..
1…Set up my files and found “My Stuff”
2…Listened to the CD’s for the first 8 sessions.
3…Listened to the entire CD “Automatic Millionaire” and the “Smart Women Finish Rich”
4….Gave my “Smart Couples Finish Rich” CD to co-workers that want to know everything I learned or read.
5….Got my FICO Score
6….Opened an ING acct with automatic payments coming from my checking acct every other Friday for my currently non-existent Emergency Fund.
7…..Increased my 401K to 8% from 3% (first I had set it for 13% and then listened to the credit card debt CD) and changed it to only an additional 5%, and the other 5% that I will put in the 401K I am paying towards my credit card debt…….the FICO report showed me all my outstanding debt and it was a rude awakening for me!!!
8…..Cut up 2 of my highest percent credit card………….ok I know I should cut them all up…..but they took me a REALLY long time to get back… after my divorce and being a single parent for the past 17 years. (finally I have them both in college this year!!!)..so even though I am not using the cards as they are frozen in my freezer (I did that after seeing my credit report and outstanding debt) I will continue to cut one up every week as I try to negotiate the interest rate down further (haven’t gotten on the bankrate.com to compare interest rates yet, but that is on my agenda this week). I’ll continue to work on this until all of them are paid off.
Reading your book and listening to the coaching class last week just energized me even more to set my goals and see a clearer future, and I don’t feel as stressed about my finances as I did. I know I have a long way to go…………..I may be the student that takes the longest to get to my goal, but I will not give up until I’m there.
Just wanted to say Thank you…..and can’t wait for the call tomorrow.
Have a Wonderful Week!!
