pay off my credit card debt

One credit card DONE. We are now on to card #2. We added the payment from the last card which was $15, the extra $200 a month PLUS the minimum of this card which is $40. So, $265 a month on this card and it will be done in about 5 months.
We get our tax refund and we are keeping only $100 per person and paying off another one and then moving on to the 4th…dont ask. I told you, she had a lot. We found a house that is perfect and by the time it goes on market we can have a good chunk of debt gone. Plus, she is a veteran so we can get a VA housing loan so no closing or down payment costs.
Go us.

I went on a job interview and it went well. Like scary well. They said they would make their decision beginning of next week and call by end of next week, so needless to say, this week has been the longest in my life. This job is a grown up job. No more secretary crap, no more having the title of data coordinator and doing that sporatically. This is 100% research with hospitals all over the country and the world. No more making copies, fetching coffee, all of the stuff I didnt think I would have to do with this job. She was very clear in the interview that we have an administrative department that does those things, I would be doing research data and working with hospitals and universities from across the world. I believe her too because the salary is about $13,000 more than I make now. They arent going to pay me that to do things that doctors are too lazy to do.
So I am excited, dreaming of possibilites, hoping for a phone call. Dreaming of our family hitting the 6 figure income so we can pay our bills off in 1-2 years instead of the 3 or 4 we had originally planned. I already gave P the speech. The speech that sounded like her mother. “There is NO reason to be in debt when we are making that much money. Its disgusting on top of embarrassing and shameful if we cant make it work”. I think she got it.
I hope I get it. I really hope. Since the interview, I have been wanting to get out of here.

This week we pay 1/2 of credit card #1. Next month, we pay it off. Then, one to card #2. How exciting. One step at a time.

I told P that with her personal training money, she gets 75% of it for whatever she wants (shoes, bike stuff, race entry fees, whatever) so it wont come out of our money. 25% goes to me so I can start paying extra on the bills. Within 10 months, we can pay off 3 cards. She got excited about that and was quickly on board. She likes visuals. I like spreadsheets. It works out. So, today I scheduled our first payment of 1 bill for 9/4 because of the holiday and literally am paying half. 1 more payment and its done. Then, on to the next one which will take 4 months. Then the 3rd which will take 5. Maybe 6 because its a little over what we budget for. So, either we throw the last $75 on it or we wait another month (month 6), make the payment and use the remainder to pay card 4.
No matter how you look at it, Im excited. 4 cards in about a year is great. I just need to rip them from her hands and burn them. Though, since we agreed the PT money is hers to do whatever with, shes done quite well. Its all she talks about, what shes going to do with her money.
Hey, whatever works. Partnership is a compromise. Its her extra job, her money. Im glad she agreed to share it.

I told P that if she wants to race in the Boston marathon she has to agree to 2 things. 1) after the marathon, she has to agree to pay off 2 credit cards in LESS than 1 year. That means no more spending money on races or anything frivilous for at least 5 months. She said ok. I have to laugh, Im thinking by day 6 she will be sounding like a 6 year old “I promise I’ll never ask for anything again if you let me get this…” and 2) every single expense from a new pair of shoes to hotel to travel to food need to be paid in cash. NO cards whatsoever. Again, she agreed. She did say she could wait until 2011 to race, I told her 2010 is fine if she can do these things. I told her I was SOOO not kidding. She can tell Im serious about a lot of things since the affair. This is a partnership, not a one personship.
Its called priorities, find out what is more important, paying debt and living a stress free life or running races and racking up debt to fund it.

I told P last night we are sitting down on Sunday, writing out all bills, how much is owed and interest if there is any. Then we make a plan to pay the way Suze Orman said to. If I get one of these jobs I have and will be interviewing for, we live like we do now on the salary I make now and all extra money goes to paying debt faster. Not shoes for running, not bike stuff, not clothes, not races; paying debt. She says she gets it, but then mentioned a race last night. I told her that this would break up our relationship. An affair we could make it through, money we wont. Decide whats more important.

Granted, its only been a week, but being back in the same household has helped a lot. 2 sets of groceries and 2 sets of everything didnt help our financial situation. Not that it was bad, but having an extra set of everything took away from other priorities. So, her being home has been a help. We each took $20 out of savings and paid the bills. We made a weekly menu and followed it exclusively. I only bought lunch once, when our department fridge broke and my lunch went bad…gross. We also put most of our bills on monthly automatic pay. On the off chance we dont have the money to cover it, we have overdraft protection of $1000, which we used only once, when we first moved here and I was still not working. Better to be safe than sorry. So, that is a nice load off. We are sitting down Sunday and making our pyramid plan again. (Which bill gets the most paid to it while others get $5 over minimum, when that bill gets paid off, roll the whole payment over to the next card and so on. We have paid off a LOT of debt that way.) Time to pay the rest. We owe Suze Orman for that one. I know people crap on her, but her basic intent is there. Its easy to follow and helps with debt. A friend of mine in St. Louis who used to be a CSI is now a financial advisor…I know, we laugh about it too, is giving me advice on what to do with our 401ks. We are thinking of taking the money we are putting into our employers 401k and opening our own through her. She has some great ideas and has better one on one service. My employer still contributes to mine. 10% of my salary every year. Its the only nice thing they do for us. I just need to be here a little longer to be vested.
But anyway, funny what a difference a day makes. Even more amazing what a week does.

So I have been trying to put it nicely and trying to get my girlfriend to see that there are some things that are important right now and others that are important to overall scheme of life. Yesterday, I needed 2 tires because of holes so I bought the whole set because the other 2 werent so hot either. She tells me to charge it. Apparently we just met because this is what we have a savings for. She has charged tires and repairs for her car and total that is now up over $1000. We went to Old Navy so I could get some short sleeve shirts (which is unusual for me, I NEVER buy anything for myself) and she charged it. UUUGGGHHHHH.
Last night I sat here with the bills and realized everything we paid off in the last year has been tacked back on. Thank god I live alone now because I LOST it.
Apparently getting a house and having a baby do not compare to buying things she wants right now. This is getting so F#@*ing old.

When my girlfriend doesn’t “need” things, we save like crazy. We have paid off 3 debts AND have over $3000 in savings. I told her we should take $800 of it and pay a good chunk of another one to help us along. Its been nice knowing that we have extra in checking if we need it, a nice start on savings and some of our debt paid off and $350 in our holiday club account for christmas shopping. I already gave her the speech of “we have to make a list and be very careful how we spend it”. Because we cannot repeat last year and run out of money without shopping done. What a great place to be in March of 2009.

I feel a little guilty for posting this one because orginially I had opened the Dell card to get a laptop, but a guy where Pace works fixed ours for free. Go free! So all I charged to it was an 18 month subscription to Norton antivirus 360 and web sweeper. Total = $118. I paid it off today. I guess its a pay off. But this one is a little one.