get out of debt

I noticed that my credit limit had been increased again, so yesterday I called my bank and asked them to lower my interest rate. They took it down 8 points! Now both cards are at the same, OK, rate and one of them gives me points. I’ve decided I might close the other one instead of the one I’d been planning, since it has a smaller balance and no points incentive.

Hopefully I’ll get a tax rebate too, so I can use that here and cut down my payment time.

I am working my ASS off on this goal – so far only the minimum on student loans, but my bigger priority is the ill-advised credit cards of my youth. Thanks to a gift from my grandmother, I’m about to pay off one of those! Then I can put more money towards the other one each month and soon I will be out of one of my financial holes. Right now it doesn’t feel like my loans will ever be paid off, but hey, I had to go to college so what was I supposed to do?

I never write about this goal because I don’t like talking about money. I admire everyone who feels comfortable putting exact figures in here, but I just can’t bring myself to do that. However, I really am making progress, plus every month I put money in my savings account and my TIAA-CREF retirement fund. I made an Excel document to force myself to sit down and look at the exact numbers (it’s easy to schedule electronic payments and ignore the total) and I update it every 3-4 months so I can see my progress.

Basically I just want to pay everything off so I can do more cool stuff! I hate being anxious about money but now that I’m making specific plans I feel more in control of my finances. When the demon credit cards are paid off I’m hoping that my money anxiety/guilt over spending money on myself will disappear.