This is the companion to my Month 0 video. [Watch it here] https://youtu.be/lWS4vshtnEA for the full starting line.
Here's something that didn't make it into the video.
I filmed my Month 0 video once. I had my numbers, I said them out loud, I said every penny of my $41.75 in assets. I thought I was done.
Then, before I started editing, I found more debt. Not a lot, by the standards of the hole I'm in, but $2,637.74 that I'd missed. So I threw out the first video and filmed it again.
Some people would call that overkill. Nobody would have known. But this channel only works if the numbers are real. The starting line is the thing every future month gets measured against. If I'd used the wrong number and those debts showed up later, it would have looked like I'd gone deeper into debt in month two, and my whole trend line would have been a lie from day one. So the video you're watching is the second take, with the right number: $129,771.82.
But here's the part I think matters more than my story. I was trying to count everything, carefully, knowing I'd be saying it on camera, and I still missed $2,600. If that happened to me, there's a decent chance your number is off too. Not because you're careless, but because debt is good at hiding, especially once you've been avoiding looking at it.
So here's how to find all of it.
1. Go through all of your mail and email, not just the recent stuff.
This is what caught mine. When you're drowning, you stop opening certain envelopes. You archive certain emails without reading them. I get it, I did it too. But those are exactly where the debts you've forgotten are hiding. Search your inbox for words like "balance," "past due," "statement," "collections," and "final notice." Open the pile.
2. Pull your free credit reports from all three bureaus.
Go to annualcreditreport.com, the official free site for Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Pull all three, because they don't always match. One more thing to know: when an account goes to collections, it can show up under the collection agency's name instead of the company you originally owed. So if you see a name you don't recognize, don't assume it's a mistake. It might be an old debt with a new owner.
3. Remember that some debts never show up on a credit report.
A credit report isn't a complete list. Medical bills, money you owe a friend or family member, some personal loans, and buy-now-pay-later plans may never appear on it. You have to think through those yourself.
4. Put it all in one place.
One list or spreadsheet: who you owe, how much, the interest rate, the minimum payment, and whether it's current or past due. It's an ugly afternoon. But until it's all written down, you're guessing, and you can't make a plan out of a guess.
Why bother?
Because you can't fix a problem you haven't measured. You can't outrun a number you refuse to look at, and you also can't beat a number you only think you know. Looking at the real total was the most uncomfortable thing I did this month. It's also the first thing I've done in a long time that actually puts me in control of it.
So here's my real starting line, all of it:
Weight: 350.8 lbs (down 71.2 since I started this channel, and 93.2 from my heaviest at 444)
Total debt: $129,771.82
Assets: $41.75
Net worth: –$129,730.07
Every month from here gets measured against those numbers. If you're doing your own Month 0, don't round it, don't skip the envelope you've been avoiding, and don't count anything that makes you look better than you are. Find the real number. That's where the climb starts.
▶️ Watch the Month 0 video: https://youtu.be/lWS4vshtnEA
— Brad
