Debt Reduction 101

I’m going to break this post into two parts, otherwise your eyes are going to cross because I’m so darn long-winded. I was cleaning up some emails the other day and found this article by Myscha Theriault at Wise Bread.

Ms. Theriault’s premise in this article was that yes, it’s important to make resolutions for a new year, but its almost as important to make sure that the resolutions you choose somehow fit in the larger picture of your life (or something like that.) And without taking stock of your life, how can you accurately make good resolutions?

Theriault posted this questionnaire from Smile Therapy as one way to take stock in life. So I’m going to post the questions for you to ponder and answer, if you wish. And I’ve just gone ahead and answered the questions – hence the two-part blog. These questions are pretty darn good and they take a little bit more thought than those quizzes in Cosmo.

The questions:

*How would you rate both your physical and mental health?
*Are your relationships functioning the way you’d like? (spouse, significant other, friends, family)
*How would you rate your work situation and / or your satisfaction with it?
*What about how your finances are sitting? (assets, debts, cash flow)
*Are you progressing with regards to your short and long term goals?
*How much “fun factor” do you have in your life? (What cool things have you done in the past 12 months? Are you living life to the fullest, or just going through the motions?
*Are you progressing spiritually? (For example, do recent actions make you feel your moral compass is accurate? What have you done recently for your fellow man? Do you feel “tuned in” to the universe or are you still waiting for that cosmic connection? )

Part One: Some of my answers

How would you rate both your physical and mental health?
-Physical: Well – aside from the cold that’s recently kicked my butt, I think that I’m a relatively healthy person. Yes, the elephant in this particular room is my physique, but I’m working on it. I should probably drink less alcohol and less soda too, switching both of those for water, but neither habit gives me too much grief.
-Mental: This depends on what whacked-out questionnaire I take that weighs my mental state. You know which ones I’m talking about, you click on the link “Are You Depressed?”, answer their series of inane questions and then are “diagnosed” via the wisdom of the Internet. But tongue-in-cheek aside, my mental health probably isn’t the greatest. But here’s what you have to temper that with: I have a demanding full-time job and also work part-time, which can be draining (of time and energy) at times. I’m getting married in four months and whereas I’m very much looking forward to this particular day in my life and as much as my (saintly) mother is planning 95% of this shindig, that 5% tends to stress me out a bit. So mentally – I guess I could be better. But then again, who isn’t on this particular ship with me?

Are your relationships functioning the way you’d like? (spouse, significant other, friends, family)
- Significant Other: I’m very happy with my relationship with my SO, known to the rest of you as my beloved Future Husband. I’m not just saying this because we’re getting married in four months and am suffering under some “honeymooner” delusion. We’ve lived together for a year, we work hard at what we’ve got and I think that we’re pretty awesome. Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m away with work so much, but we know what I’m working toward (debt-free future!), so that’s a good thing.
- Friends: I have good relationships with my friends. I do wish, however, that I had more time to see my friends who don’t live in the town I’m dwelling in. I left some great friends up in Northfield and hardly ever get to see them – let alone friends who live out-of-state, but within driving distance.
– Family: I do have a great relationship with my folks. Don’t have a great relationship with my brother, but I made peace with that awhile ago.

How would you rate your work situation and / or your satisfaction with it?
Ah, the million dollar question … the answer of which is determined what day of the week you talk to me. But on a scale of 1 to 10, one lowest and 10 the highest – I would rank work at about a level 4. It’s tolerable, except for the days when I think I’m getting the life sucked out of me or I get asked to do random crap like fix a door. I never knew that general handywork was in my job description, but I guess that goes under “other jobs as needed.”
Seriously though? If I wasn’t getting married in four months, hoping to start a family in the near future, if the economy wasn’t in the shitter and if there were jobs other than food service in the local want ads, I’d probably look for a new job. Instead, I work on my book and let my creativity make up for the lack of sustenance I have during my 9 to 5 work week.

What about how your finances are sitting? (assets, debts, cash flow)
Uff da … I guess the questionnaire doesn’t know that I write a debt blog. About $5,000 for credit cards, north of $700 for the bastard root canal … I’m trying to build up an online savings account ($40 so far … yay!). As far as I can tell, I’m not behind on anything too badly … there’s still room for improvement though.

Read the stunning conclusion in tomorrow’s post! Also – if you care to share any of your answers, that’s what the comment section is for!