I was watching Myth Busters over the weekend and they had a show where they were talking about how lead balloons can not fly. When you’re looking at material make a balloon, 2 characteristics come to mind: strong and light. Lead is neither. Lead foil rips easy and is 6 times heavier than aluminum foil.

In the end, the built a 10x10x10 cube and inflated it. All the time repairing rips. Make sure the various sides weren’t rubbing against each other. After it was inflated, it rose to the top of the ceiling and yes the lead balloon floated.

Sometime when I think of my finances, it seems that I am trying to get a lead balloon of the ground with debt and financial obligations being the weight of my balloon. The rips occurring so easily are my old spending habits.

So how do I get a lead balloon airborne? Well, I’ll follow what the Myth busters did.

1) Have a plan – So my plan is to start shedding debt. The order will be credit cards, my car, wife’s car, wife’s braces, and son’s medical. Basically it is from highest interest rate to lowest.

2) Implement the plan, working each step of the plan – In other words, concentrate on the first step. Let’s get the credit cards paid off before worrying about sending more to the cars.

3) Plan for the catastrophic risks – I may not know what the risks are, but I can plan for what happen when they occur. I have a budget that should take care of most things (car maintenance, house maintenance, etc.). I also have an emergency fund to go above and beyond this. I haven’t tapped into since I started a budget.

4) Review progress of the plan –
Now, you can review your progress to your plan. Is too aggressive, not aggressive enough?

5) Make adjustments as necessary – Little bumps are to be expected. Just rework the plan and make the small adjustments you need to.

And this is how I plan to fly my lead balloon. Tears rips and all, my toxic shining balloon will rise