[baselle]

I live in Seattle and work at a large non-profit in the area. I finished paying off student loans in May of 2002, when I realized, looking at my credit card debt, that I just traded good debt for bad debt. Ugh. I paid off all of the evil $15,000 credit card debt this last October.

Now I'm concentrating on a 6-8 month emergency fund, getting some savings for a little more investing, and maybe some bucks for a down payment on a house, although with Seattle bubble prices, the real estate guy laughed in my face. Heh, I might not get that house, but I will be free and sitting on a pile of savings. How bad could that be?

I'm a volunteer tax preparer, and I'm finding that its an amazing amount of fun, and I've learned a lot about taxes.

I like the frugal and saver sites; I've gotten a lot of support and advice from them, and I hope to give a little back. Frugal people are generally more interesting because they're working towards a goal bigger than mindless american consumerism. Spenders all say, "look what I got"...and they all sound alike.