pay off my debt

I’ve made good progress on this goal. I wiped out the mortgage by selling the house, and moving family in with mom. Pending the divorce, that’s a great move for us, and for mom since she needed round the clock supervision. Come January, when I get the cashed-in funds in my erstwhile retirement account, I pay off the rest, except for the car loan and student loans, which I’ll continue to pay off monthly. I wouldn’t recommend the cash out of the retirement funds, except that this was a unique situation – I went solo to make more money, and this will be possible, but only because I’m being funded initially with those proceeds. It’s a huge risk but it’s an investment I needed to make in my own future, as crazy as it sounds at first. So, kids, don’t try this at home. But come January – no more credit card debt, ever!

I’ve made progress on this one. I’ve been current with all my monthly bills, save one, in the last five months which is a HUGE improvement for me. Will get totally caught up and paid up by the end of this year, although absent a lottery win, Christmas will be a touch bleak this year. That’s fine, though, because solvency is my gift to the whole family.

Everything else I want to do costs money. But this is, supposedly, my number one goal. How to reconcile this apparent conflict? We all set priorities. Do I still mean this? Is this my priority above all else? I think it should be. Without it, my career development prospects are dimmed, I can’t have another kid, and the stress level is through the roof, which affects EVERY thing else, including my weight. What a grand statement it would be to delete every other thing on my list and leave this.

But I am not ready to do that yet, if ever. I like variety and the whirlwind of swirling interests that surrounds me. It comforts me. I am no Spartan.

My tax bill this year is $3,700, between the IRS and the state.

I need an aspirin or 20.

It’s been an interesting wild ride lately with the money scene. I haven’t been able to catch my breath, it seems, with all the money in and out, the cash from the auctions in and the fees from the auctions out (eBay is expensive, y’all), the late payments from all the medical bills piling on late last year – sigh.

So, I’m doubly proud of myself that I seem to be improving my grasp on my wallet, and have started scheduling my bills in my planner by due date, by payday, and by date I need to send the payment. I’ve started writing down all my expenses in the planner as well, so I’m getting a good sense of how much I’m getting nickle’d-and-dime’d here (and it’s a lot – let’s just say ATMs are not my friend right now!).

I think these steps are going to improve my credit score by keeping me on time with those payments. Since I’ve also signed up for automatic withdrawal on three of those accounts, that will force me to put the brakes on the personal spending and keep the cash in the account for the upcomign withdrawal, which I can’t stop. No discretion = no variance = prompt payments.

Where I stand: about $14,000 in personal/credit card debt, $40k in student loans to pay off, and about $88k remaining on my mortgage (excluded: car payment)

What I’ve done so far: arranged for automatic payments on three of my five credit cards.

Next steps: Pay off the lowest-balance card and catch up on the payments for the personal loan; prepare a matrix of all debts with account information, interest rate, minimum payments, due dates, and balance.

Next steps after that: Prepare a schedule for eliminating those debts on the matrix, with deadlines.