Ten-Digit Dialing Starts Tomorrow in Utah

Utah has two area codes, 801 and 435, and as of tomorrow (March 1st 2009) anyone wanting to call anyone else will be required to dial all ten digits to reach them regardless of whether the person lives a hundred miles away or just across the street.

Police-involved shooting apparent “Suicide by Cop”

Sometimes violence hits too close to home, or in this case, too close to my parent’s home.

This incident happened yesterday afternoon just down the hill from my parent’s in East Layton, Utah. It looks like an apparent “suicide by cop.”

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Story available at KSL.com.

Finished Baby Step Number One

My wife and I have recently decided to undertake Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover to help us get out of debt and secure our financial freedom.

Dave recommends the following seven-step process to achieve financial independence, he calls these the “Baby Steps to get your finances in order and on track.”

  1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
  2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball (excluding your home, see step 6)
  3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
  4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
  5. College funding for children
  6. Pay off home early
  7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate

One rule is to work on one step at a time, finish the one step before moving on to the next step (if you want to know why, read his book!!).

Today marks a big day for us, we’ve successfully checked off step one. Funny, it’s not that big a step, but it feels liberating and already the weight of debt is being cast away.

Tomorrow, on to step two. We have a line-of-credit, vehicle payment, and two credit cards to pay off (probably in that order).

(Hat tip to Mike Dopp for helping light a fire under my finances to turn “talk” about financial security into action.)

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