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Day 37: November Numbers

Happy Thanksgiving, folks!

Here are the numbers for November:

November

Tips+Miles/Hr. is the amount of money above and beyond my hourly wage. It represents the amount I bring home in cash every night.

Overall I netted $44.54 less in November than I did in October, with gains in all other areas.

I saw a 15% ($1.19) increase in my average Tips+Miles/Hr. take-home. My highest Tips+Miles/Hr. saw a 65% ($7.18) increase on November 15th. My lowest also came up by 37% ($1.31). My research indicates that my net loss is more due to days off.

My most notable days off were Friday, 11/21 and Saturday 11/22.

On 11/21, I surprised Amazewife by singing All of Me by John Legend to her at a talent show in front of millions, if not billions…

Poor sound, but don’t worry. Not missing much.

 

On 11/22 when her and I attended the Golden Gophers game. It was fun!

If I had worked those two days and made the average amount of tips, we would have netted ~$154 more than October.

Both of those experiences and quality time away from 60 hour weeks is worth way more than $154.

The most notable event in our efforts to LLNOESWCLLNOE this month (Live like no one else so we can live like no one else) was the paying off of the credit card. That was a $6,000 balance that we paid off in a little over two months.

Here is an excerpt from the conversation my wife had with the CitiCard representative. Me is not me. It’s her.

Guy: Let me pull up the information on your Diamond Preferred card here. How can I help you today?

Me: I'd like to close my account.

Guy: OK. I see that you have had your Diamond Preferred CitiCard for three years now, and you have an excellent payment history. Can I ask what made you change your mind on the card?

Me: We are just trying not to use credit cards anymore.

Guy: I see. Is there anything we can do to improve your customer experience?

Me: No, we just paid off the card, so we'd like to close the account.

Guy: Well you do have some points you have earned with your card that you have not yet redeemed.

Me: That's okay.

Guy: I just wanted to make sure, because you have more than enough points to redeem - about 2,900 points. Once you close your account, your points will expire.

Me: Yeah, that's okay. We don't need to redeem them.

Guy: Do you have any other outstanding credit balances we can help you out with?

Me: No, we don't have any other credit cards.

Guy: We just wanted to offer a 0% balance transfer on any other cards you might have.

Me: This was our only credit card.

Guy: Have you considered keeping this card as a backup? Many people like to have one on hand in case of emergencies. 

Me: No thank you, we won't need it.

Guy: Ok, well I will get that account closed for you then.

What is a Diamond Preferred card? Can someone please define that preference? And can they explain how it benefits us instead of the credit card company? To me it says, “The card is Diamond because diamonds are shiny and you are a fish, and Preferred because you’ve taken 3 years to pay it off.”

Three years. The “finance charge” for this card was $60/month. That’s $2,160 paid on top of the balance. Of course they prefer us.

No longer. No more credit cards for us. Ever.

If you currently have one credit card, or 2.6, which is the national average in 2014, stop reading in a second. You’ll know when. Close your eyes when you do.

Imagine never having another credit card payment.

How does that thought make you feel?

Then do the same with the rest of your debt. If you are a normal, debt-loving American, your debt would break down as follows (from here):

U.S. household consumer debt profile:

  • Average credit card debt: $15,593
  • Average mortgage debt: $153,184
  • Average student loan debt: $32,511

Think about it. Close your eyes and imagine never having to pay another cent on debt.

Go crazy. Imagine not even having a mortgage.

That’s where we’re heading, people. The Gardner train left the station months ago. The plane took off. The Roe started Running. With intensity. Are you going to start running, too?

November was a great month. Winter brings more pizza sales. The Super Bowl is the biggest night in pizza. I will be sacrificing that one to the Lord of the Sabbath. Doesn’t mean it won’t be cold and people won’t want pizza on other days of the week.

DIE DEBT. DIE.

ROE INTENSE

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