Pay Yourself First Challenge

I can't begin to tell you how great these past six months have been, participating in this contest. I know it sounds cheesy and obligatory, but I think all four of my competitors completely deserved to win.

When Beth and I got married, we (especially myself) were still very new in the area of finances. I had a checking account since beginning college, but I didn't know much more than that. Even then most of my time using that checking account involved soaking it up until I was as close to overdrawing as possible (sometimes going a little too far) and then deposit my next check.

Back when we were submitting our six month goal for this contest, I naively conjured up a number. I had a decent idea of what we could do, but with my rough budget I had made and some wrong ideas, I anxiously and hurriedly entered $6,000. The very next day, after sitting down and making a more complete and detailed budget with Beth, I got a little nervous. Scrach that, very nervous.

So while brainstorming different video ideas at the beginning of this contest, there have been a few that never ended up happening. One video idea involved me going to random stores and trying to pay with board game money. Of course it would have been a joke and would have only served as an example of what not to do. But guess what-- it worked!!

While training for Russia, I've been finding ways of subtly letting people know about my involvement. I definitely tell people that I know, but I've been creative about getting the word out there. Here are a couple white boards I've been hijacking-- one outside an auditorium and one outside a cafeteria: