One day I’m writing about credit cards and now I’m writing about stories? No wonder I don’t get any real search traffic. Heck, most days I’m confused..

Anyway.

So, after a few days and many hours writing mind numbing boring posts about credit cards, I’m back…and I think for this site, this is what I do best – write rambly posts about nothing much of everything, and tell my story along the way, because in reality, this site is about me, and my debt problem and and how do I get out of debt in 1000 days?

So, I’m back here telling my story, because at the end of the 1000 days, that’s what I value most. Not speakers, no my music collection, I value the stories. Sure, sometimes you need stuff to tell a story with. And there’s some stuff I wont’ part with – such as my motorbike – because every year that bike gets me one thing: Stories to tell, and to me that’s golden.

A few stories off the top of my head about my bike:

1. I remember the day I bought it. I was a young 25 year old grad (hey, I started late) and I mentioned to dear old dad that I’d like a bike.. and – as seems to be the theme, he said go for it – here’s a cheque. It was only about 1000 or so, and I had the other 1000 so I bought a three year old 1988 Suzuki Katana for $2500. Not the bike I dreamed about being young. I wanted the super sport bike and this bike was a de-tuned sport bike. Funny how times change – now it’s almost too sporty. I’d like a softer seat and a more relaxed riding position.

2. Over time, the bike and I have grown to like each other better. 20 years almost I’ve had it.

3. I’ve ridden back and forth to Moncton on that bike 1800km – more than once. The last time was on the way back to Moncton and it was still a wee chilly out still in the early spring. So I had a very fashionable wool work sock as a scarf. (it was clean and all I had – hey don’t judge me)

4. Last year, I thought I had lost the bike. I had it stored in Ontario and when I called them in the spring – the number was disconnected. It seems the bike shop I stored it at went bankrupt. I was 1800km away and had no idea what next. I thought it was gone – so I called the bike shop down the road and asked them if they had any ideas for me. Imagine my relief when I found that they had it somehow. I had to pay this new bike for storage fees again, but at least I got my bike.

5. I have painted that bike at least twice. it would get scratched, and I’d paint it. I had a barter arrangement worked out with the local body shop. I made them signs and they painted my bike. Moral of the story: what services could you trade? Could you create a website for a body shop and get that dent fixed? It doesn’t have to be about money.

So my point is, I value a good story to tell probably more than anything. It doesn’t have to be a big story, it could just be the five minutes on that summer morning in August when you stop for a drink in some small town in Nova Scotia and meet the old retired farmer from Nebraska sitting in the shade while he waits for his wife to finish shopping before they both climb back on the tour bus.

This site is my story. Not the bank of montreal’s – they can get their own – but this did get me to thinking…what other stories can I tell? Besides, the I’m in debt story

I read somewhere about the idea of making a list of all your stuff. everything. q-tips, laundry detergent, and so on…if you have to touch it, or move it, or think about it -write it down. This is harder than it seems. When I moved back here I hired what in retrospect was a quasi-shady moving company, so as I packed it, I wrote down just the big ticket items such as stereos and tv’s in case I never saw my stuff again. Thankfully, they did show up on the other end with my stuff and I have it all… but writing it all down is a big task.

But this got me to thinking… everything I own has a story. Every DVD, every CD, has some sort of value otherwise you wouldn’t have spent good money for it. And most everything has a story. Maybe it’s a sweater you bought that just doesn’t fit right – that’s a story. Or how about the mouse you bought just last month, because you were sure you had other mice, but you can’t find one when you need it, or the pen you swiped from your last visit to the bank just out of spite for all the bank fees they charge you. That pen is another item that comes into your life.

Over the years though that pen, or mouse, or duran duran CD (again, don’t judge me) might not have the value it once had – maybe your story has changed some – you got married, divorced, got a dog or lost fifty pounds it doesn’t really matter. Life’s stories are always revolving and the stuff that comes and goes in our life just flows it seems to me sometimes.

But the best part is you still have the stories. Maybe you lost that pen, the mouse was another peice of junk, or the neon surf style jacket that’s in the back of your closet doesn’t have the same cachet it once had. But I bet that jacket has a story..maybe you bought it on spring break in Florida when you should have been home studying.. but there would be a story to tell.

In an effort to tell the ultimate story: my get out of debt story I think I’ve decided to bail on the credit cards and bank locations, even if it does bring some search traffic as it’s not the story I want to tell. At least not for this site.

But I’m always up to a worthy challenge: And I would think that making a list of everything I own would be a great wake up call to realize how lucky I am to have this stuff in the first place, but also realize I don’t really need most of it. Life goes on without duran duran CD’s.

I wonder: how little stuff does one really need? I’m far from a hoarder and I don’t have piles of unread newspapers and other crap, but I’m sure my CD collection could use some weeding, and I know my closet could use a touch up too…

So today I start with the list, and it’s the bike. I’m keeping it.. a summer’s worth of stories with it is just around the corner.

No related posts.

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To summarize, I count 148 different BMO mastercard cards that you can choose from. Choices include Air Miles Mastercard, Cash Back Mastercard, Preferred Rate Mastercard and mastercards to support your favorite hockey team, or your favorite association or your favorite school. Holy Smokes, that’s a lot of Credit Card Choices from BMO Bank of Montreal.

Related posts:

1. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards
2. WestJet MasterCard Credit Cards from RBC Royal Bank
3. RBC Royal Bank of Canada Credit Cards

Royal Bank of Canada Credit Cards

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British Airways Visa Platinum
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Complimentary Enrolment in the Marco Polo Club
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US Dollar Visa Gold
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Esso Visa Classic
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WestJet RBC MasterCard
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WestJet RBC World Mastercard
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Visa Classic Low Rate
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Earn 1 RBC rewards point for every $1 spent

Visa Platinum
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Credit limit of up to $50,000

The Royal bank of Canada offers sixteen different credit cards, and except for the two WestJet offerings, they’re all Visa Cards of some fashion. Some are rewards cards, some are travel cards and some are student credit cards but all offer different features depending on your needs: for example, the Esso Visa card wouldn’t do me much good as I currently don’t have a car. But, if I decided to travel lots in the future, it might be beneficial for me to investigate the travel rewards cards over time as I might as well make travel points. Right now, I carry the low interest card with me and although my balance is high, at least the interest rate is low.

Related posts:

1. WestJet MasterCard Credit Cards from RBC Royal Bank
2. Credit Cards Available in Canada
3. BMO Bank of Montreal Credit Cards for Canadians

I have never paid much attention to credit cards and options such as no fee credit cards, or credit cards for students or zero interest credit cards. I have no idea how I managed with the 2 cards I have now.. I’ve been a RBC customer for years ( I have a story about this one day..) and probably just ended up with a VISA by osmosis. I wonder,  I had a personal loan with them years back and I bet I got the card that way. I remember getting ‘assigned’ a credit card I think. The cobwebs are pretty thick up here..

For the Master Card Mosaic.I have NO idea how this card landed in my wallet.  I’m not a BMO customer – Oh wait – I was. The student loan.

A quick story about the student loan. I had this loan for years and years and years. I still remember the payment – $61. The total was never much – about 5 grand I think and at $61 a month it took forever to get whittled away. Now considering, my gross income at the time was probably about $71  I was OK with that.

Well, as luck would have it, my little hobby site about memory prices actually started to pay off, and I started to make a wee bit more than my $71/a week/month. Fast forward a few years – OK, seven – and the student loan is down to about $1000. By this time, I had the $1000 saved and thought, what the heck  - I’m in no hurry really as that $61 payment has been with for so long it’s like family, but I decided to pay it off anyway. So off I traipse to the new Bank of Montreal in downtown hamilton (scary down there now) and announce my intention to pay off my loan. The teller had me write a cheque for the balance and she handed me a receipt and that was it. The End.

There were no angels singing. (like my lattes) , or balloons or streamers or anything. Cars didn’t stop in the street, the bank manager didn’t come out and shake my hand and give me a larger than life recepit, and nobody took my picture and published it in the picture.

I guess if there’s a moral to this story it’s this: My life didn’t change by paying off my student loans. I went home, made a  sandwich and then went to work. The end.  All these get out of debt books and sites sometimes make it seem as your life will change drastically the day you become debt free but in reality for me it just ended up being a number on paper that changed and I was now for the first time in a decade, with $61 more cash flow.

I know the get out of debt  gurus state that you should aim for three years  to be debt free –  but heck, I hung onto that student loan for ten years and I’d do it for another ten if I had to. I had a very good day job that was relative to the schooling and the loan so if it took me 20 years to pay off –  so what? I was making my payments on time (or close, most months) and the banks  were happy and I was happy.

Don’t let the get out of debt issue  become your only purpose in life. I know, money issues can be a worry and I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor and I’ll be the first to say that being behind the eight ball for about 28k isn’t the best place to be financially, but it really is only money. For now, I’m making my minimums and when I find some extra income it goes towards the debt. But if I had a choice of a year’s worth of lattes or being out of debt a year faster  - I’d choose the lattes. The extra year would come around eventually, anyway (the good lord willing)

I read an article today about a gentleman that is close to paying off his mortgage in about ten months and has the money in the bank now that if he wanted to he could write a cheque and be done with it.  He posted on his site that he had the cash in the bank, but what’ the race? 9 or so more payments and it’s gone anyway and interest rates are low so he’s happy to pay that small little extra bit in interest on the small remaining amount that’s left on his mortgage.  I think it’s a good move. There’s no streamers or balloons when you pay off a mortgage. The streamers come later  - when you realize you’ve got a years worth of mortgage or student loan payments now saved and you’re in the enviable position of what to do with  extra money  -  I think that’s when you can celebrate and you can crack open the bubbly.

All this to say: Don’t let the debt get you down. Be frugal, spend wisely and do your best to get out of debt fast and don’t give the banks any more than absolutely neccesary,  but remember to stop and smell the roses too. Another month or so of payments won’t matter a lick in the long term. This is a slow slow process this get out of debt thing and don’t look back and wish you’d have stopped for ice cream  (or a latte) on the way. Life’s too short.  I recommend the latte route. It’s way more fun.

PS. I has planned on starting to write about credit cards at the start of this post, but I got sidetracked with my little student loan story, so  all 3 or so of you lucky readers will have to wait until next time for for the credit card fun to begin.

Until next time, Spend Smartly.

Related posts:

1. RBC Royal Bank of Canada Credit Cards
2. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards
3. WestJet MasterCard Credit Cards from RBC Royal Bank

There’s two MasterCard cards being offered by the Royal Bank to use  so let’s look at each one seperately, shall we?

WestJet RBC Mastercard

With this card, the first thing I noticed was there was a $39 annual fee for the card. I could never understand why you would pay a fee for a credit card. I mean, you’re already coughing up big bucks in interest if you carry a balance on the card so why tack a fee on? Perhaps this is to ensure that there’s some sort of penalty or disadvantage. If you’re in the habit of paying off your balance each payment period, I guess there’s not much gain for the credit card company to have you as a client, thus the fee.  Anway, do the math before you decide to apply for the WestJet MasterCard from RBC to make sure it’s right for you. If you travel a lot, and use your card a lot maybe this is a no brainer…I know I wouldn’t have much need for this card right now.

The good news is you do get $25 as a welcome bonus on your first purchase, so your first year I suppose – you’re only out $15 to try the WestJet card and see if you like it. This of course assumes you take a flight with westjet to cash in your westjet dollars. You could be a westjet dollar millionaire, but like money, they’re only good if you spend them. Then, they have value.

On ‘everyday purchases’ that you make with this card, you get 1% back in Westjet Dollars, and they’ll bump the percentage up to 1.5% if you buy flights or packages through WestJet or WestJet Vacations.

WestJet RBC World Mastercard

The first thing I noticed with the WestJet RBC World Mastercard is the annual fee is double than the non-world version above at $79.00 annually . But once you get  past that, the good news is the WestJet dollars you get with your first purchase is much higher at $100. So unlike the other Westjet RBC Mastercard, the WestJet RBC World Mastercard actually gives you enough of a bonus to start to fly. As I write this I can fly to Halifax for $109, so with a $100 headstart, it would only cost me $9 (plus taxes, etc) to fly with WestJet. I’d get a pretty good warm and fuzzy feeling about spending $79 and then getting $100 worth of something that starts with more welcome dollars.  I’d be much more inclined to go with the World Mastercard Option.

And with your higher annual fee, you also get more WestJet  dollars back with your purchases – this time it’s 1.5% on everyday purchases, and 2% on your purchases with WestJet and WestJet Travel. If you spent $20,000 over the course of the year on your everyday purchases (which is possible)  you’d have $300 in WestJet dollars at years end.  Maybe it pays for a small round trip or makes a dent on an annual vacation somewhere warm.

WestJet flies to pretty much every major Canadian City , Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and so on and lots of popular travel destinations such as Las Vegas, or Florida, California, or Cancun to name just a few.

The new WestJet MasterCard from RBC could be a great way for you to save some money on your travels with WestJet.

Related posts:

1. RBC Royal Bank of Canada Credit Cards
2. BMO Bank of Montreal Credit Cards for Canadians
3. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards

But here’s the thing: It should be easy as there’s only two steps involved to get out of debt:

Spend Less Money

Make More Money

I know I’ve mentioned this theory before, but I gotta tell ya, it’s not working so  well for me and I think I know why and I’m here to admit it  - As one reason I wanted to post  here was to publicly embarrass myself to do better – I lack focus and patience with my little projects with making money online. I try something for a few days or weeks and then move onto something else. There’s so many things I could do or try  - so I try tackle them all and get nowhere with all of them, which is discouraging to say the least, and which is why I haven’t been around the past few days….

Yes, I’m still looking for a job with one eye, but I’d lie to you if I said it was my top priority as I have had some luck with making money online and want to continue with this program but I look at the calendar and it’s March already and I’m impatient and do not want a year of nowhere..I want to look back at the year and and know that I’m on track towards debt freedom. I’ve got about 900 days still, so there’s still time to redeem myself.

So. I’ve been thinking. These past few months haven’t been a complete wash as I’ve learned some things in how to get free traffic  to sites with google and how to go about it.  It works –  as you saw with my little test with the litter boxes I made you all suffer through

For the time being, this will be the last of the write what I want and  rattle on about nothing posts. Instead, I’m going to dedicate this month (or so ) to writing more about finances and on topics such as bankruptcy, or debt consolidation, or what banks offer what services and how much. I might even do a bit of research even before I start to just type randomly, like I’m doing. Heck, I might even learn a thing or two.

The goal  is to have this site offer more value than what I’ve been offering and I’m also going to make more of an effort promoting this site. Debt reduction and getting out of debt is a competitive topic, but it’s a challenge and I have had some limited and surprising search terms find me and now I need to get working so that more and more readers visit this site.

I also need to get back on selling the stuff on ebay. I was all gung-ho  for a while, but it’s easy to fall off the wagon and there’s lot  of reasons Let’s see: part with stuff, I’d really rather not to only get pennies on the dollar for  and then  I have to wrap it, pack it,  mail it, insure it and fill out customs forms. Buying is way easier. You bid, you buy, the stuff shows up.   There’s also the resistance you make up on your own and really  - and with  a lot of things – once you get going , it’s not too bad. I don’t miss my extra iPod I had, and I was able to toss another $100 or so towards the debt. I have lots more ipods and other stuff.  I know for a fact that I’ve got a few things to sell.

I read a book this weekend about why resolutions fail: You say you’re going to exercise more. What’s more? Is going to the fridge for another beer exersise?  No, but I suppose you could argue that it is, but the ‘exercise more’  goal is too vague. The goal needs to be tighter.

My mistake so far as been starting this site and saying I’m going to get out of debt in 1000 days. Not a bad start, but I need to tighten it up some. How am I planning on reaching that goal? What’s my goal for March, or April, or six months from now?

I want to be making $40/day in new income from this site (or others I’ve got)  by Canada Day- July 1. That’s 4 months away. It might be tight to do so  and I might fail spectacularly but I’m going to give it a shot  as $40/day knocks the debt down on time.

How? I’m going to write 50 articles (to start) on getting out of debt or personal finance that are actually useful, and answer a question – such as my Bank of Montreal Locations post, which gets some search traffic. That post took me all of about 2o minutes to write and it will work for me forever. How’s that for a return on your investment? And if it’s a dud – I’m out 20 minutes. I need to do more of  that. And even if the 50 articles  are a bust, it will be valuable content  to this site.

Theres’s a plan BTW, I’m going to pick ten topics  and write five articles each I think. RRSP’s might be one topic, tax sofware might be another  and timely topic to investigate, maybe I’ll dip my toe into creditcards a little later too.

The far away goal is to have  a $100/day income from this site and others.  The goal for 1000 days is to have this site alone count for the $100 days. Ultimately I want to turn this around  - not only to be out of debt in another few years, but have the fact that I recorded my debt freedom journey to be my new source of income. It’s doable, I just need to work on promotion more. As much as I I appreciate my family and friends dropping by  to this site –  it all comes down to more traffic. More traffic equals more money and I’ve got to keep my eye on the prize which is more value. I’ve prattled on about it long enough, so now it’s time to get busy and take action.

For the ebay project: I want to apply myself for one hour per day to eBay activities. Heck, it’s only one hour. I’ve read (and agree) that batching your tasks is a great way to get things done and applying one hour to my project might help make me some more funds to get out of debt , and also get rid of lots of stuff which isn’t needed or missed.

And that’s the news. I’m looking forward to sharing with you what I learn.

Hopefully, getting out of credit card debt will become easier the longer this little journey takes me.

Related posts:

1. I Have Nothing To Hide. I Have Credit Card Debt. Day 26
2. Ten Steps to Eliminate Credit Card Debt
3. Debt Freedom Plan. 90 days down and 910 to go.

Yesterday, this site got a visitor from the search term: cost of latte at starbucks toronto

And….yours truly popped up in Google. I’m number 6 out of 58,000 possibilities, just under Macleans Magazine which has been around for far longer than I have:

But look at how it determined I was relevant -(see the bolded keywords?) it sees that two words are in the title of the post, and thn google seems to find some other words here and there  and puts them together as the main keywords, so I get listed on the front page. I’m not complaining but nowhere in this post  is that search term mentioned. Google seems to gather phrases due to their search algorithm and somehow I rate enough to be on the front page.

But I know for a fact I  nowhere in the post did I write cost of latte at starbucks toronto. I wrote about living in Toronto, and how much I lurve my lattes and all that Jazz about angels singing (they do)  but I was just rambling about nothing like I tend to do here and lookie at that, the big G seems to think I’m relevant.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this example as it highlights how the big G works much better than the way I explained it yesterday.

Oh, and BTW: It’s 4.69 with tax for a Venti Latte here in Toronto, and it’s 4.86 with taxes in New Brunswick. (due to the higher HST).

Oh and BTW #2: Today I got a FREE Venti latte due to a barista error.  Not only do the angels sing, they’re free today.

Related posts:

1. The Cost of a Venti Latte
2. The Cream of the Crop. Finding my Niche.
3. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards

Well…..it works! With a double listing too!

This goes to show you that maybe, just maybe – one day if I keep  at it I might actually see some traffic  from Google. I doubt I’ll ever see any traffic for this search term but I’m finding the more and more I write, the weirder the terms are that get results.

And I’m finding the really weird thing with what the big G will return the search terms for… see the above screen shot? I’ve had two different posts combined to create a sentence that

A. gets searched for

B. the results get combined  and a search is returned.

Let me explain this better… see the photo above?

One post I wrote was the now famous one about bright pink kitty litter boxes

The other post was 90 days down  and 90 days to go.

What’s weird is I might actually get a visitor from a search term such  as ” Can kitty litter boxes get changed every 90 days?”  or “ “Can I wear pink for 90 days”.   Moral of the story: People search for the weirdest terms, and if you can figure out what google has determined  your site to be relevant to.  I get a handful of visitors for esquire watches because ONE day when i was more diligent with my eBay Auctions I wrote about my esquire watch  and I was selling it…blah blah blah.

Here I am thinking I’d write about bank of montreal locations (which gets a bit of traffic, btw) and debt and finance related terms about money and getting rich online and the future untold wealth I’m going to achieve with my bright pink kitty litter box empire yet Google thinks I’m about something completely different.

Oddly enough, the ads I run are targeted to finance/debt and so on, but the searches are nowhere what I thought I’d see when I started this silly little adventure. At least with the yellow pages – you had a sign company  - you ran your ads under signs. No guesswork.  With the big G, it’s free but you’re really at the mercy at their algorithm.  So much for the days where AAA kitty litter box company would get the first listing due to the AAA at the start of the company name.  (Ah, the good old days)

I’ve decided to give up on the idea of becoming the next HOW TO guy, or Mr. Make Money Online Guy as well, firstly I have no clue and it’s not what I want this site to become. Right now, this site is fun for me. I get to run silly little experiments about pink kitty litter boxes and that’s enough for now.  I don’t want this site to become a job where I actually start to  have to research a post – these posts are my stories and  I want to keep it that way for now, so I’m bailing on that idea for now for a couple of reasons.

I wish I knew what’s next for this site but I’m enjoying it now the way it is. I enjoy the fact that I can sit down and just write. ( me, a writer – who knew?)

I’ll still keep you posted about the debt scenario from time to time, and speaking of which the Mastercard Bill came today and I have sinned: In Jan I thought my road to riches was running google ads but all that happens is I’m out  $250. Add another $150 for my storage locker and my  Mastercard bill is going up, not down.  But, I caught the google silliness in time.

I’ve been toying around with  a company called hubpages.com, where you write about anything you want and they’ll split the google ad commissions with you 60/40. It’s a great way if you don’t want to bother with setting up your own website. I think to make any money you need to have  hundreds of these little mini sites, so that’s what I’ve been up to this month. I’ve got about 20 up so far and the upside with these is you start to get traffic from google quickly. I bet if I wrote a hub about the litter boxes it would rank strong in the search engines and fast ( ooh – now I have to try) It’s currently just me in the land of the pink kitty litter boxes search results as you see above so it wouldn’t take anything to rank for that term. If I make a hub on credit cards – I doubt it will ever see the light of day as there’s way too much competetion for that term. But, if I wrote about Credit Cards for Cat Lovers I could get  ranked pretty quickly. Anyway, that’s what  I’ve been up to. I dont’ really care if I make any money,  it will allow me to quickly test a topic and see if it floats to the top of the search engines  - then I  could make  site on it proper.  But I can knock off a 400 word article in about 20 minutes. My goal is to have 100 of these  by the end of March and I’m at 20 for this week alone so the rest shouldn’t be too hard. It’s a great way to test the market   – write five or so hubs about  each topic – kitty litter boxes or the benefits of eating an oranges and see what gets traffic.  If it does, make a site about oranges or litter boxes. Then, you link your hubpages article to your new oranges site and now you have  two sites in the top ten.

This works. I’ve been testing – and for one search term I am number 5, 6, and 11 spot out of 27 million possible pages with that search term.  :)  The term doesn’t get  whole lot of traffic, but with a bit more effort I bet I can get all three top spots on the front page. Think about it – three  out of  ten spots could be mine.  I might slowly be getting the hang of this make money online thing. Having one site works  long term too  (like this one). I bet if I stick to it, I will get more and more search visitors over time just due to the fact that I’ve got more pages to offer. This page now has over 1100 words that mention pink litter boxes, making money and getting out of debt, and I’ve got pages about esquire watches and pink litter boxes and I even see a bit of traffic of people searching for that lady that promised me millions by just replying to her email. (I guess I’m not the only one that got that junk mail)

Anyway, I want this site to be about me and my adventures – who knows maybe if spring comes along soon I’ll come out from hibernation and take a photo or two to share and brighten this site up a bit. But I don’t want this to be a job. There’s no posting schedule. I don’t want to commit to daily and then let you down. I want to post when I want to post and have some news or something fun to share  - like today’s adventures with the pink kitty litter boxes and my small, small victory about figuring out how search engines work  and what it takes to get on the front page.  Because that’s where the money is – if you can convert somebody searching to visit your site, click a link, buy a product, enter their email and help them find what they were lookin g for  - you’ve created value, and creating value = $$$.   I’d rather this site get 100 vistiors a day from searches than 10,000 a day from twitter or facebook. Twitter and facebook for the most part are just browsing  an entertainment. The traffic from search engines are where it’s at. Solve a problem. Create Value. Make Money .

All right, I’ve rattled on too long for one day dontcha think?

See you soon,

Jim

PS. Is this not the coolest kitty litter box you’ve ever seen?  The robot litter box. How cool is that?  Almost makes me want to get a cat…..I said almost.

Related posts:

1. Bright Pink Kitty Litter Boxes
2. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards
3. Understanding Google Search Engine Results

What the heck does Bright Pink Kitty Litter Boxes have to do with debt and debt freedom?

Let me explain: I was talking to dear old dad the other night and I was saying that I was supprised at the lack of traffic that this site gets as it’s a pretty competive niche, this get out of debt niche I’ve found myself in. I’ve done much better in the apple memory niche than in the debt niche. Anyway, I was explaining how despite the fact that I’ve got 90 plus days of articles to read, I’m seeing about 25 visitors daily, which isn’t a lot, and I should have picked a better topic something like, I dunno….bright pink kitty litter boxes as I might actually get  a chance to be seen in the search engines with that term.

So this is a little test: Can I get a click or visit from a user searching for bright pink kitty litter boxes? I’ve  done some research and there’s no other page on the internet entirely dedicated to bright pink kitty litter boxes, so this might just have a chance at getting in Google.  I’m just real curious to see if at all I make it. If I do make it 0n the search engines for  the search term bright pink kitty litter boxes than I’ve succeded and I think I will have figured out  a formula for getting some search engine traffic to this site.

As much as I do this for my entertainment mostly at this point in the game, it would be pretty cool to have  some sort of income from this site by the end of my 1000 day challenge to get out of debt. Maybe I’d be out of debt and this site would make me enough to I dunno, have a celebratory dinner or even a trip to some warm and sunny beach. (not that I’m much of  beach guy, but I like the warm and sunny part) .

Where was I? Oh, so if this little plan does work than I now know the secret sauce. I’ll never get  in the search results for credit cards, or mastercard, or the term get out of debt (though I’m trying) I could get ranked for a bunch of smaller search terms such as Middle aged guy who spent more than he made and is now 38 grand in debt. It’s a mouthful, I know but over time  I might get enough trust from google to rank for  middle aged debt, or late in life debt, or $38,000 in debt.

And it all starts with Bright Pink Kitty Litter Boxes. You never really know what to expect when you come here do you?

The best part – me neither. I’ll let you know when the those searchers for bright pink kitty litter boxes come knocking down my door….

In the meantime, be good. be debt free.

Related posts:

1. Revenge of the Bright Pink Kitty Litter Boxes
2. Bank of Montreal BMO Bank Credit Cards
3. The Cream of the Crop. Finding my Niche.

1. Go out out night. A latte called my name. I remember when I used to go out at night. And then somehow, I got older and out at 8pm is just crazy, crazy, crazy. On weeknight, even.

2. Read my horoscope.

My Horoscope for today: Tonight: Watch A Movie, and Surf the Net and my first reaction was “And this is different from every other night how exactly.?

But, there is a tie-in to the horoscopes and the debt.  All I do is stay in and surf/work/movie watch. Partly, it’s due to the weather –  sure, I’m waiting for sprintime to roll around before I go outside on a regular basis, but the other reason I stay in and surf/watch movies: Its’ cheaper.  It doesn’t cost a lot of money to stay inside and read a book with a cup of tea.

I had a friend tell me today that they envy my urban lifestyle. But here’s the thing: I’m trying so hard not to spend any disposable income (save for a latte or two) and get this debt knocked down, that there’s not much to do in this city that doesn’t cost bunches. King Tut is here in town. Great – it’ll cost ya. I can walk to the Eaton Center. What’s to buy? Nothing, really. I don’t need  a swatch, or a savorski figurine or a 5 thousand dollar Baume and Mercier watch. I’ve got it all here in my little 600 square foot condo. In fact, I’ve got too much stuff. I definitly don’t need to to get more stuff.

I wonder though: can you be too frugal?

I was talking to my sister the other day and I said that I might consider a move again this fall to something bigger. Why? So I will have a place to hold all my stuff! But, I wonder if that’s the lifestyle I really want? I don’t have room for my big record collection, so for now I’m listening to MP3’s and playing the 40 or so records I do have here and I don’t really miss the record collection.   I don’t want a bigger place so I can fill it with stuff, and this has taken me a long time to realize this, but I want a bigger place so that I feel more for lack of a better description:  ”roomy”.  Because  I am a homebody most days and I do enjoy a lot of space, I do want a bigger space, but not so I can fill it with crap I bought at the mall.

Back to the frugal: I’ve been toying with the idea of starting to exercise. I’ve had a bum foot for a while, so that’s been my excuse  but as I enter my mid 40’s, I’m starting to feel gravity’s pull and a good bit of exercise wouldn’t hurt the ‘ol waistline. I’m not looking for abs of steel, but the mental benefits of exercise are what I miss.  But until now, I’ve been cheep cheep cheep and walked past the gym pretty much every day. I did go in and they want about $100 monthly for the membership. I’ve been avoiding joining –  as well,  a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks these days that can go against the debt. I’m a fan of walking and tennis, so at this point in the season, I’ll just wait until spring and get some exercise in another month or so when the weather warms up. But I wonder? Would the gym membership be a good investment or just another $100 monthly out the window?

There is a debt angle  to this post, really. I think there’s such a thing as too frugal. I’d much rather make ten dollars a day more, than save five. I think after you’ve canceled the cable, and magazine subscriptions, and sold some stuff on ebay to get the debt knocked down as best you can , the next step in the path towards getting out of debt is to make more money. Saving a few bucks on your groceries with smart shopping and coupons is fine and dandy, and I’m not discounting it, but more income and cash flow is where the debt can really disappear faster and that’s where my efforts lay now. I’m only up about four bucks so far today for my online efforts, but the beauty of what I do is that it could increase dramatically. I’d work for four dollars a month for a year if I knew that there’d be light at the end of the tunnel at the end of two years, or three years.

I guess I should wrap this up as it’s another terribly rambly post about horoscopes, frugality, and the benefits of exercise.  Wow.

Besides, I’ve got the net to surf and movies to watch.

Thanks for reading.

Related posts:

1. Money Isn’t Important. Freedom from Debt Is. Day 11
2. Debt Freedom Plan. 90 days down and 910 to go.
3. Debt Freedom Plan. Day 50