On A Sour Note

 I almost closed on my first trade!

As a former football coach of mine would always say, 
"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

There was this guy that was going to trade me his Big Baby Taylor Guitar, but when he got it out he decided to tune it up and strum a few strums and what do you know?

He fell back in love with the freaking thing. That was supposed to be mine! Does he not know I am trying to trade myself out of debt? I know what he is getting in his stocking this year... a lump of coal.

By the way, why did this picture show up when I searched "lump of coal" on google images?

Changing Tunes

Blue Eyes I had confidence in you and you let me down

I guess your luring blue eyes are not as captivating as they used to be. On a different note, Mr. Sinatra did remind me of my love for music, and a thought came to me: I have a guitar. Not just any guitar. A guitar that has been very close to my heart. Literally, when you play the guitar it rests close to your heart. 

On a serious note, myself as well as my brother-in-law have used this guitar in many settings. Something about playing music just soothes your soul. For my first serious trade I am letting my Ibanez Electric Acoustic Guitar go. This guitar has been loved. There is only one small scratch on the front base of the guitar. It also comes with a very strong hard case by Freedom which has also done some traveling and has really held up. AN UPDATE: I really regretted letting this go, enough said :"(

Model # AEF18-NT-OP-03

It has as a slim neck, feedback resistant body, very comfortable, high fidelity electronics. really has a great sound plugged. Spruce top, fire rosette, chrome hardware, arched mahogany back, mahogany sides, fishman sonicore pickup, Ibanez Aeq 40-4-band EQ, Natural high gloss finish, Die cast tuning machines, Rosewood Bridge and Fret board, and Ivorex Saddle.

My fingers would just glide down the neck with ease 

I really miss playing my guitar. I wouldn't ask any questions if one randomly showed up at my house...hint hint 

Frankly Speaking

I guess Old Blue Eyes wasn't the best choice. 

What was I thinking? Really I wasn't. Do you remember when I said he was my all time favorite singer? Confession: He's not. I don't know Jack about Frank...

...Aint That a Kick In the Head? Take a listen to good old Dean Martin

I'm actually growing to like old Frank Sinatra. I sure do miss my vintage Hi-Fi

This is similar to the one I had. To think I just gave it away. Stupid me!

Frank Wants to Know if Anybody is Out There?

How can you not like good old Frank? 

If you're a single guy out there or even wanting to spice that romance back up, Frankie boy will do it for you. Check out the clips below to hear some of Sinatra's greatest hits.

Lets be Frank

Let the trading begin!

I spent today rummaging through the the storage shed, garage, attic, and the closets trying to find something to kick off my project and all I ended up with was a hurt back from all the junk I was tripping over.

I am starting to think I am a hoarder! 

 I have collected a lot of junk over the years. Just as my wife! For example, why do I still have those little pieces of sheet rock that I someday might use, or the inch of 2x4 from my last disaster. I wanted something cool to be my first trade. I wanted to be like the red paperclip guy.

I decided to take one last look in the storage shed...

I knew I had something cool, but what? Then it hit me, no not an idea, but the freaking shovel I left sitting out. As I was tripping (more like "falling with style") I noticed something up on a shelf, it was all my old records that I was holding onto because someday I just might have another HiFi. So here it is for my first trade, I will be letting go of my all time favorite singer Mr. Frank Sinatra.

My project has changed, so keep reading more posts! Frank failed me. I really tried, I promise.

 (The case is for Only the Lonley, but the record is actually Point of No Return)

p.s. I know that trading Frank is the right thing to do, I just saw a sign No, seriously. My wife made me turn on the tv to get ready for her Wednesday night shows (Modern Family- if you don't watch it, you're an idiot....according to the wife). Anyway, I just turned on the tv and it was on PBS...wouldn't you know a documentary about Frank Sinatra is on! Sign? I think so.


Update: As of 4-27-12 I still have these records. I never was able to trade them, not sure why. Anyway, since I started the new project, which you will read about if you continue to read...I never really tried to do anymore with the records.

So Maybe This Can Be Done

Check out this website. This kid started with a cell phone and ended up with a pretty cool car.

Today I start the hunt for whatever I am going to use to kick off this whole trading up adventure. I feel like I should have been born in the early 1900's because I have no Idea how to put a picture or video on my blog. I just learned how to text a few years ago. I am pretty sure my Grandma started texting before I did.

Diving Into The Unknown

 I know there are programs out there to help you get  in control and get out of debt but... 

 I want to try something different. I want to trade items, starting with something small, and working my way up to something big enough that I could sell to pay off our debt at the end of this project. I guess you could call this some what of a bigger better game?

My goal: I want to see if it is possible to get rid of all our debt, which is around $95,000 or so in roughly 3 years through consecutively trading up items. This includes our credit card debt and stupid financing mistakes, school loans, and our house.

It seems crazy but anything is possible if you set your mind to it. As a family, we are getting our life back in order and regularly working on a plan to eliminate our debt for good. Life just happened (cars broke down, people got sick, death, unexpected, jobs lost, etc..). I can't count the number of times that we had a large savings built up of at least 3 months living expenses or more and then without warning we would get hit with something that wiped our whole savings out! Then, back to back to back, additional things would happen digging us deeper in a whole.

I know others have tried the so called "Craigslist trading up game," but this is different...


This applies to everyone of us. There are not many people these days that are blessed to be debt free. Some out there were born into very wealthy families, others to not so wealthy. Some out there had everything stripped away from them and at one point had the so called "perfect life".

 Life is dealt differently to each person. Some go along never having anything happen to them and then there are those others...Where it seems to never stop raining. This is my story...I was born into a very wealthy family, and through a series of events, everything we ever had was stripped away. I know there are others out there have tried these "trading up" projects, but mine is different. Mine is unique, and I feel many others out there can relate.


Thanks for checking out my project and I hope that you enjoy the journey with me. 


Who knows where this project will take us, or the type of people we will meet. I am excited to dive into the unknown and experience an unique project, that from my knowledge has never been done like this before. However you happened across this site, I would love to have you as one of my followers.