Interesting Week

It has been one interesting week to say the least. The stock market went up and down like a giant roller coaster, cities and countries across the globe were in turmoil, and so much more. I spent most of my week on the road, which is getting to be a little weird for me. I never thought that I would be the traveling salesmen type that lives out of hotels. The sad part is that without the travel I would be bored out of my mind sitting around at home.  Most of my weekends are spent sitting in front of the TV watching a movie or playing a video game. I might work out for a few hours but thats it.

Hopefully this upcoming week will be better since I am going to a conference. Also, I am seriously contemplating getting an iPad but I'm waiting for the iOS 5 to be released first. I hope it will be in September so I can get one before I got to France in October. Speaking of France, I figured that I could have work pay for my trips in that the extra per diem money would eventually pay it off. My goal is going to be to pay off the other cards first, and put a few extra hundred dollars towards the Hilton card each month. I think I would have it taken care of by Christmas.

When dealing with the government, double it

I have been appling for my wife to come to the US and I originally was told that the process would take three months. I checked up on our application last week and found out that it will be five months. The five months is only for the immigration side of it. The state department has another three month processing time. Its all a big pain in the ass.

So, I booked two flights to go to France. One is in October, and the other is over Christmas. I promised Natacha that we would not spend a Christmas apart. The flights cost $2,200 altogether which is not too bad. It will definitely put a hit on my debt reduction for a few months. It will be nice to see my wife and spend some quality time with her. I miss her very much.

As for my debt reduction plan, I am going to pay $1,000 from my first pay check towards a specific credit card (right now its Bank of America). On my second pay check, I will pay $350 towards my American Express and $650 to my HiltonHonors card. That will pay off the Amex, which I want to do every month. In September, I will repeat the process but apply the full $1,000 from the second pay check to my HiltonHonors card. I also have some extra money from my travel for work so that will help. Once the HiltonHonors is zero, I'll put the $1,000 back into the reduction plan, which should be around November.

Debt Busters

About a year ago, I was featured in CNN Money.com "Debt Busters" article for having a unique way of removing debt. I used a 4 bank account system and had really good success with it. Yesterday, I was contacted by the writer, Blake Ellis, for a follow up story. After thinking for a while, I realized that in the past year I have been able to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt. This is all while getting married and moving to a new position across the country. I think thats pretty darn good!

As soon as the new article gets posted, I'll link it to here.