Buzz-buzz goes the shredder
Permalink | October 27, 2007 by John in Money, Ramsey
So I’m a long time listener, if not 100% follower of Dave Ramsey. I chopped up most of my credit cards but I never got around to canceling the accounts, most of which have been sitting with zero balances for many months if not years. What made me get off my butt (or on it, I should say, and on the phone) was when I pulled my tri-annual credit report I saw that a couple of my creditors were checking my credit quarterly or even monthly. These are zero-balance accounts! So, enough is enough.
I got some different reactions:
- Bank of America — Surprisingly straight-forward. They asked why I wanted to close it and I told them I was getting out of debt and no longer using credit cards.
- Discover — The hard sell. One new deal after another, then a sermon about how hard it is to live these days without a credit card. I said, “Not if you live on a budget, live within your means, and have an emergency fund.” I may as well have been speaking Martian. She definitely drank the Kool-Aid.
- Home Depot (Citibank) — She was the most playful, no hard sell or sermon. When she asked if there was anything else she can do for me, I said, “Just sit back and listen to the shredder.” That actually got a laugh.
- Sears — A barrage of sales tactics and the most indignant attitudes (I was put on hold a few times and talked to a couple different people).
Here’s a bonus closure. It’s not a credit card but it’s an account I don’t use anymore: Columbia House DVD Club. I just don’t buy that many DVDs. I don’t like having piles of them around the house. I do have a couple of boxes of what I call “keepers” stashed away (Fight Club, Office Space, Serenity, all the Kevin Smith movies, etc.). So I logged in to the site and bonus! It’s already been closed. Whichever card they had on file for me expired, and when I didn’t update the info, they closed the account. Excellent.
This leaves me with my debit card (no overdraft balance) and one Citibank card that has the remainder of my rotating debt on a 3.9% for life balance transfer; that’s mostly motorcycle stuff and it’s dropping rapidly. Oh, and of course my school loan and mortgage. ::sigh::
Addendum
All of the above is why the inside of my house isn’t finished (it doesn’t explain why I haven’t finished some other things, like the lighting on the garage and such — that’s just laziness). If/when the 914s sell, that money goes into the new furnace and water heater fund. Once those two big-ticket items are paid for, the rest of my house remodel will proceed apace.
Current Podcasts
Permalink | October 23, 2007 by John in Entertainment, Freelancing, Gadgets, KevinSmith, Leykis, Ramsey, Web Design
I’m not going to add links. All of these can be found in iTunes except for The Design Show.
Current Must-Listen Audio Podcasts:
- Battlestar Galactica episode commentary (only produced during each season)
- SModcast (weekdays)
- The Adam Carolla Show (weekdays)
- The Dave Ramsey Show (weekends)
- The Tom Leykis Show (weekdays)
Current Audio Podcasts (as time permits):
- Grammar Girl
- Legal Lad
- Money Girl
- Security Now! (new favorite)
- The Bungie Podcast
- The Tech Guy
- This Week in Tech (TWiT)
Current Video Podcasts (as time permits):
- Ask a Ninja
- Attack of the Show: In Your Pants
- WebbAlert
Testing Out:
- Money File - Nightly Business Report
- RadioAskew
- The Design Show
Obviously I choose podcasts mostly for entertainment purposes…
Favorite Podcast of 2006
Permalink | January 2, 2007 by John in Carolla, Entertainment, Jillette, Leykis, Ramsey
Since I became addicted to podcasts (listening - god forbid I should start recording) I tend to get fanatical about listening to one in particular each year. Oh sure, I have dozens I listen to with topics as varied as Photoshop Tips, Superman, Marvel comics, Battlestar Galactica (producer’s commentary), web design and more. But it seems that one captivates me more than the others, and these favs tend to run in annual cycles.
In 2005 it was the Dave Ramsey Show. In a radical departure, 2006 was the year of the Tom Leykis Show (mildly NSFW). The two could not be more different if they tried (and I’m sure if they met they would share an intense mutual disgust).
Interestingly enough, I don’t “believe in” or follow everything that either hosts say or do. But both are certainly entertaining in their own way, and that’s primarily why they do what they do (in that being entertaining is the best way to make money).
Close runner-ups are the Penn Jillette show, the show with Ze Frank and the Adam Carolla show. These pod/vid-casts are staples in my daily podcast routine.
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