We’re on the home stretch. Less than a week until this crazy month is over. If everything goes according to plan I’ll have done 3,000 push ups and 3,000 sit ups. I’ll have written 50,000 words towards my novel. I’ll have taken 30 days and 30 steps towards being a better man. And most importantly of all, I’ll have a kick-ass mustache to show the world.

I only wrote a few words today, but the weekend is before me and I cleared my schedule for nothing but writing. With any luck, I’ll reach my goal of at least 10,000 words this weekend.

Push ups and sit ups are caught up with. I’ll admit, I’m looking forward to having a break from these when the month is new. It’s tiring and my endurance is waning.

Today’s challenge in my 30 Day Challenge is to start a debt reduction plan. As it stands, I now have about $20,000 in student loan debt. Peace Corps allows us to tie that up in a nice pretty box while we serve and then to place that box on the deferment shelf. Peace Corps also allows us partial cancellation on Perkins loans for the amount of time served. Each year I serve, I cancel 15% of my loan. If I continue my service for four full years, I can cancel 70% of my loans (years three and four allow 20% per year for cancellation). Unfortunately, my Perkins loans are only a small part of my debt.

At the moment, that’s all my debt and now there isn’t much I can do about it. I have some money in my bank account but I’m planning on using that for travel and vacations. However, when I finish the Peace Corps I will get $7,425 as a readjustment allowance to use as I will. Plus, I have another chunk of change of similar size tied up in a CD. Coupled with the Perkins loan cancellation, I shouldn’t have more than a quarter of my debt to worry about when I get back (though some of that readjustment allowance is going to keep me going as I transition into a new career). With any luck, I’ll land a high paying job and have the debt paid off in a month. That’s totally doable for a man of my stature in life in the current economy, right?

Finally, I spent most of the day at home today because I had work being done on my apartment. Peace Corps requires that any volunteers living on the first floor have bars on their windows installed as a safety measure. While I won’t get into the silliness of me living in this apartment for a year without having them (not Peace Corps fault or choice), it’s nice knowing they’re finally installed. I had dreaded having them because I thought I’d feel like I was living in a jail cell, but I was wrong. Take a look for yourself:

I may or may not be using my window as a dry-erase board. Also, I may or may not have been given five keys for the lock on the door.