At least, I assume it had something to do with my becoming 30 years old. Maybe I saw a consumer-credit statistic on CNBC and it scared me to death. Or perhaps I had just listened to too many of the gripes and whines of coworkers bemoaning their families' various financial burdens. Maybe, as I listened to each of them, I could surmise that none of them would ever be able to achieve the things they'd want in life. And maybe I saw myself heading down that same track

Anyway, it was quite evident:   My coworkers were all controlled by their money — or more appropriately, by their inability to manage it. They had become slaves to their families' spending habits. Thus, they were slaves to their jobs. They desperately needed to make some changes in their lifestyles. But they had yet to find sufficient motivation to do so.

All of this brought me to a bit of an epiphany:   Somewhere down the road, I did not want to find myself at that same point.

So one Saturday afternoon, the adding machine came out. Numbers got punched in. In one quick moment, I was astounded at how much money we'd been throwing away. At how much we'd been throwing away for years. My heart sank as I realized that I should have figured all this out long, long ago.

Holy heck, I thought. Never mind the interest we're paying. How much could we be saving — how much could our money be earning — if all this stuff were paid off?

So I made a decision. After thirty years of life, it was about damn time to step up and take control of our money. I wanted to be in that tiny percentage of people who have no debt other than their mortgage. I wanted us to have a strong financial life, and to be entirely in control of it. I wanted to work for me.   I wanted our money to work for us.

In early 2002, I quit the half-hearted, let-Quicken-track-my-account-balances-and-that's-it stuff. I initiated a personal war on debt. I began a routine of reading financial books and doing online research. I did some planning, built some financial spreadsheets, and put them to good use. I recalibrated the way I looked at money. I set goals, I sacrificed, and I got to work. Check this April 2002 post in my blog, as it marks a big starting point in my quest for debt freedom.

The results speak for themselves, I think. I eliminated the last of my revolving credit-card balance in December, 2004. Ten thousand dollars is nothing compared to what others have accomplished. Still, that was my Everest, and I climbed it.

In May, 2005, I paid off the last of my student loans. This was a 10+ year process, accelerated heavily at the end. These loans, at one point, had totalled over $20,000.

At that point, except for my mortgage, we were debt-free. It felt wonderful. It felt liberating. It felt like a new beginning.

Then, thanks to an auto accident in December 2005, we lost our beloved, dependable, paid-for 1995 Honda Accord. After a lot of hand-wringing, we elected to replace it with a 2006 Accord. With that purchase, our debt-freedom vanished ... for now. We're back to having a mortgage payment and a car payment. However, I can promise you that the car payments won't take nearly as long as the bank would like.

Hopefully, this site can help someone else — perhaps get them started down a better path in their financial life — also.

And rest assured:   If you don't take control of your money, then someone (or something) else will.

Aside from all that, really, I'm just a guy. I have a wonderful wife, a perfect 4-year-old daughter, two paid-for automobiles and one that's on my personal Accelerated Payment plan, and two cats. I have a nice home and a manageable mortgage. I'm unbelievably fortunate to work for an employer that values my efforts and lets me know it. I'm paid well enough — and control expenses well enough — to allow The Best Mom in the World to be The Best Stay-At-Home Mom in the World.

I love to read.   I love to learn.   I love to create.   I love to write.

I love computers.   I love the internet.

I love to simplify life wherever I can.

I love to plan.   I love to solve problems.   I love knowing exactly where things are.

I love to eliminate bills.   I love to eliminate worries.

I love hearing about positive outcomes.

I love thinking that I helped.

Regards,