It all began at the first house.

My journey began around 12 or 13 years ago. I had just gotten my first job after college and purchased my first house. It wasn't much but that 800 square feet was mine. It was a great location just off the Mississippi river in NE Mpls. A working class type area with just a couple of troublesome neighbors. But for $32000 it was a steal. I think everyone remembers coming out of school and getting their first job. Man $22000 per year...I'm loaded. Then comes the bills. My house was not a money pit by any means. But the chore of trying to get stuff to fill it killed my credit cards and what little money was coming in. My buddy Bian and his girl friend(now wife) moved in with me and we all decided to split the bills and my mortgage payment. It was a good deal for both of us and it worked great. A year or two down the line they moved out to get their own space. And then my problems really surfaced. Without my roomies, I was short on money and needed help fast. Lucky enough for me, this was the closest I would come to rock bottom. And I started to rethink my finances and try to turn it around. I am not sure where this blog thing will take our discussions or lead us. But I hope that my wife and I have a place to put down and work out ideas(crazy or not) and to hopefully hear from others to share the journey. Please feel free to drop comments and compare thoughts and ideas. This is my main goal. My wife and I constantly are trying to find the one thing we can do more to speed up the process and get rid of the balance of our debt. We will most likely be pitching things back and forth through some of our writings. I will most likely ramble on and take discussions in different directions at the drop of a hat. My mind works that way even though I am fairly regimented in my daily life. Oh well, good start. I just always think back to the first house and some of the financial pain that I felt. I turned quickly though and started to push my soon to be wife the same direction. I am sure in time you will see that she is now much more money conscientious than I. We have definitely traded roles over the almost 10 year journey.