When I first started this blog my credit card debt totaled $10,330
A couple days later I had brought it down to 9790.00.
As of yesterday (5 months later) here's the new breakdown:
Credit Card 1: $1955.51
Credit Card 2: $1952.56
Credit Card 3: $ 619.32
Credit Card 4: $ 3490.00 (ouch!)
Total: $8017.39
When you look at it, this doesn't seem like a lot of progress, but I feel like I'm on the right track.
First of all, since last time, I started a new job in a different state. I still carry a mortgage until I can lease my house and I'm paying rent down here. You'd think that would be a huge strain, but even to my surprise I've actually felt in better financial shape than at home....even though I am also still paying cable/utilities there for when I go back.
I really don't know what it is. My commute to work is shorter, so I don't fill my gas tank as often. I do go out to shop maybe once a week for groceries, house needs. I haven't made any big purchases or gone on any shopping sprees, online or otherwise. I don't know. Besides the shorter commute I don't feel like my spending habits have changed all that much since December.
But my paycheck looks better (that must be it) so I think I made a good decision to leave my last job.
Another update is that as of a couple weeks ago, ALL of my accounts are current. There was one student loan that kind of slipped through the cracks and it's now up to date.
I mentioned last time that I checked my credit score for the first time in years. It wasn't pretty. It still has a ways to go, but last week it increased by about 45 points. Awesome. The weird thing is that the increase is due largely in part to a student loan that seems to report whenever I make a payment. I guess that's good but I haven't been hitting the student loans with more than the minimums yet...my focus has been the credit cards.
So that's the update. My strategy is to hit Credit Cards 1 & 2 hard. I've calculated that I could have these two totally paid off by August, but I think I may be able to knock them out sooner. I think things are looking up. I can't wait until I can report here that all of my credit card debt is gone!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Credit Score Kick in the Tail
This week I decided to get brave and check my credit score. I've been afraid to look at it for a couple years now because I was pretty sure it was pretty ugly. And I was right. I expected it to be bad, but not THIS bad. My credit was beautiful just 3 years ago.
I guess the good news is that my credit score can't get any lower because I've obviously been trying my best to reduce my debts. Also, I now know the exact total of my outstanding items. I also see that I don't have any collections companies after me. Another good thing is that every account on my credit report is something I recognize, so I don't have an identity theft problem. And although I have annoying debt, it's not as bad as some other people have it.
The terrible news is that since my last entry here, three of my four credit are now closed by their respective companies. Ugh. The frustrating part about that is that I've been paying toward them, but just never able to pay the $250-$375 minimum payments in one lump sum.
But although that sounds awful, I've been doing a better job of keeping up with all of my accounts. I definitely have not made as much progress as I plan because every time I think I'm going to knock a $500 dent into one of my accounts on my "free" payday, some unexpected bill pops up or my car needs all these repairs.....if it's not one thing, it's something else, as they say.
It's not worth it to post my current balance here because there hasn't been that much progress. But I'm getting somewhere.
In other news, I've been aspiring to work two jobs to achieve this debt reduction goal. In my area, it just feels hopeless though, because most of the facilities with openings in my field are owned by the company I work for. So out of frustration, I applied to work in a bigger city a few hours away. I got the job! It's going to pay a little more and there is more opportunity for people with my job title, so I'm hopeful that I can get a second part-time job and work my tail off this year.
Maybe next time I'll have made some bigger financial strides.
I guess the good news is that my credit score can't get any lower because I've obviously been trying my best to reduce my debts. Also, I now know the exact total of my outstanding items. I also see that I don't have any collections companies after me. Another good thing is that every account on my credit report is something I recognize, so I don't have an identity theft problem. And although I have annoying debt, it's not as bad as some other people have it.
The terrible news is that since my last entry here, three of my four credit are now closed by their respective companies. Ugh. The frustrating part about that is that I've been paying toward them, but just never able to pay the $250-$375 minimum payments in one lump sum.
But although that sounds awful, I've been doing a better job of keeping up with all of my accounts. I definitely have not made as much progress as I plan because every time I think I'm going to knock a $500 dent into one of my accounts on my "free" payday, some unexpected bill pops up or my car needs all these repairs.....if it's not one thing, it's something else, as they say.
It's not worth it to post my current balance here because there hasn't been that much progress. But I'm getting somewhere.
In other news, I've been aspiring to work two jobs to achieve this debt reduction goal. In my area, it just feels hopeless though, because most of the facilities with openings in my field are owned by the company I work for. So out of frustration, I applied to work in a bigger city a few hours away. I got the job! It's going to pay a little more and there is more opportunity for people with my job title, so I'm hopeful that I can get a second part-time job and work my tail off this year.
Maybe next time I'll have made some bigger financial strides.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
January Debt Reduction Update
Well, it's been a month since I officially resolved to get serious about this debt. In the grand scheme of it all, I suppose I'm doing alright. I'm not adding any charges to my credit cards, and really I have too little available credit to do any damage even if I wanted to. I was able to make a $300 payment on one of my maxed accounts this month---it's still over the limit and that amount wasn't even the total minimum payment, but everything I put towards my debt is progress.
Before, my strategy was to pay the closed and maxed accounts because I wanted a continuous decline in my debt. In other words, I didn't want to clear out some credit on my usable cards, only to run the balance back up when I need gas or feel tempted to get fast food. Know what I mean?
The downside is that this month I've had to borrow money from my family for gas and expenses I didn't budget properly for. I've never had to ask anyone for anything and even though I always pay back, I don't like being that person. So this time I'm allocating some of my money toward my available cards so that I can pay the miscellaneous if need be.
So in short, the good news is that my closed account is now below its credit limit. Also, I can only remember buying fast food three times since the end of December.
The bad news is that I wasn't able to pay as much this month as I had wanted. We all know how something comes up just when you think you are getting ahead. This month I got a bonus at work and as soon as it went in my bank account I had to use it for a car repair.
And remember I mentioned earlier about how flighty I can be when it comes to new hobbies....well yeah. I tried to get into making jewelry, with the hopes of learning how to do it well and selling it eventually. Another hobby bites the dust! I spent at least $150 on that, which obviously couldve been put toward my debt. It turned out not to be my thing, but I wouldn't have known had I not tried. If you don't know what you're good at you have to see what sticks.
Other than that, I have really fallen off my goal to take my lunch to work. It feels like it's been a long time since I've done that, but it's actually only been about two weeks where I've been just eating in the cafeteria like old times. I really need to get back on board. My plan to drink water instead of buying sodas fell by the wayside but it really is my fault because I've been buying sodas for the house and when I drink them, I don't want water. I need to go cold turkey....and it would do me some good because I've been noticing some split ends in my hair again.
I went to the grocery store today and spent over $100....basically not caring how much I spent. But I guess the good thing is that I have food to take to work.
I would go through and give the grand total of my debt as of now, but it would only depress me so maybe next time. Hopefully I can do better this month. Being aware is half the battle.
Before, my strategy was to pay the closed and maxed accounts because I wanted a continuous decline in my debt. In other words, I didn't want to clear out some credit on my usable cards, only to run the balance back up when I need gas or feel tempted to get fast food. Know what I mean?
The downside is that this month I've had to borrow money from my family for gas and expenses I didn't budget properly for. I've never had to ask anyone for anything and even though I always pay back, I don't like being that person. So this time I'm allocating some of my money toward my available cards so that I can pay the miscellaneous if need be.
So in short, the good news is that my closed account is now below its credit limit. Also, I can only remember buying fast food three times since the end of December.
The bad news is that I wasn't able to pay as much this month as I had wanted. We all know how something comes up just when you think you are getting ahead. This month I got a bonus at work and as soon as it went in my bank account I had to use it for a car repair.
And remember I mentioned earlier about how flighty I can be when it comes to new hobbies....well yeah. I tried to get into making jewelry, with the hopes of learning how to do it well and selling it eventually. Another hobby bites the dust! I spent at least $150 on that, which obviously couldve been put toward my debt. It turned out not to be my thing, but I wouldn't have known had I not tried. If you don't know what you're good at you have to see what sticks.
Other than that, I have really fallen off my goal to take my lunch to work. It feels like it's been a long time since I've done that, but it's actually only been about two weeks where I've been just eating in the cafeteria like old times. I really need to get back on board. My plan to drink water instead of buying sodas fell by the wayside but it really is my fault because I've been buying sodas for the house and when I drink them, I don't want water. I need to go cold turkey....and it would do me some good because I've been noticing some split ends in my hair again.
I went to the grocery store today and spent over $100....basically not caring how much I spent. But I guess the good thing is that I have food to take to work.
I would go through and give the grand total of my debt as of now, but it would only depress me so maybe next time. Hopefully I can do better this month. Being aware is half the battle.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)