Race Towards Financial Freedom

So I’ve made it back to sunny Southern California, and I have not yet gotten used to the time difference or the giant glowing thing that hovers in the sky. Oh, and the exorbitant prices of everything! One trip to the supermarket is all it takes to remind me that there’s about a 70% markup out here, compared to Rochester. I’ve already refused to buy anything but food - and even on that front, I packed some non-perishables from my cupboard into my suitcase, to cut down on the amount The Fella and I have to buy.

Not to mention the fact that we got a parking ticket within the first 24 hours of me being here.

Still, I feel pretty good about our efforts to save money, despite being in this city of excess. Yesterday we ate lunch at Subway for a total of $8.00, and went grocery shopping… with a list! And didn’t buy anything that wasn’t on it!

Since the two of us are both trying to clean up our finances, I developed a little game that I hope we both stick to. You see, both of us have credit card debt equaling 80% of our credit limit. So the game is this: a race to see who can pay off all their credit card debt and THEN open an ING Orange Savings (affiliate link, please use if you open an account with less than $250) account with $250 (to get the $25 bonus that some of the other bloggers have links for). I think it’s a pretty fair race, since we both have the same percentage of debt (compared to our line of credit), and even though he makes more than I do (and it will still be more even after I get a job), he has more expenses than I do.

Hopefully, a little friendly competition will kick us both into gear.