get out of debt

this will be done by the end of this calendar year.

Although my debt still has some ups as well as downs, I’m now down to about 21K, ahead of where I wanted to be by this time. This isn’t all my doing (I’ve had a little help) but much of it is. I also now have a secured source of supplemental income in the coming year, which makes up for my never getting a raise.

I should be able to get rid of the rest of my debt at about the modest level of spending I enjoy now. I have it down to about 34K, including all student loans and all consumer debt. It’s a tall order, since I will be paying almost all of my pay after groceries, rent and utilities towards debt.

I’ll check in in about a year (end of 2010). I hope at that point to be down to something close to 20K. We’ll see, since there are always unexpected twists and turns.

I just paid off my credit line on my checking account again. My one massive consumer loan gets whittled away at about 550.00/month, as do my student loans. I also have lesser credit card debt that I am paying 400.00/month on. I pretty much have nothing left to work with between all the payments. Oh well, though; it’s all on track.

The wedding was rather a financial setback. I won’t say it wasn’t worth it, but between all the travel costs, the duds, paying for wedding party and musician-friends lodging, rehearsal dinner, I have new credit card debt :(.

I have three categories of debt: 1. recent credit card debt, on one card, and likely to be paid in full in the next few months; 2. long-term consumer debt, a much larger sum, that I consolidated and I’m paying in automatic payments every month; 3. student loans, that I pay off in two monthly payments and one quarterly payment. Oh there is one more category: the line of credit on my checking account, which will be paid off in a month.

I’ve looked into consolidation, but it isn’t worth it in terms of interest rates. But I have a lot of debt payments every month. It’s a strain, really, but I’m anxious to finish this process. It takes patience, because given my current projections I won’t be done until well into 2011 (!!)

today I got some news that will help me make a lot of sudden progress on my debt. While I won’t be able to pay it all off, I will suddenly be able to pay off a large portion of it.

that it will be about three years for me to pay off the bulk of the debt I have accumulated. I haven’t adding to it lately, but I do have to watch my money more than I do. Since I have gotten that job I have sometimes been acting as though finances are no longer a big concern, but that just isn’t so. I’ve gotten better about bringing my lunch and not feeling like I have to do everything I want to, particularly in a hugely expensive city. But I have some things tempting me right now.

First, I don’t really have much extra money for the holidays this year, but I do have a large family and expectations about presents. Fortunately, there isn’t pressure to spend more than I have, really, but the numbers can be daunting and of course I do care about these people. But I will have to budget it out and see how much it will cost me.

Unforeseen shit: My car has not really been operative since mid-October when the transmission decided to die. It is great that I don’t really need to use it and can get virtually everywhere using public transportation, but it is handy for groceries etc. K. got a zipcar about a week ago and I went for a major grocery run, so that’s ok for a while. But if I got a gig I sure would miss that car while I tried to figure out how to make it work with a zipcar. It would be complicated and tedious. And it isn’t tenable for me to be without a car forever. The question is, do I rebuild the transmission on a ‘98 with 227K on it? Or do I sell it, get basically nothing for it, and try to buy something serviceable that might or might not last very long?

I also need to fix the harp and get it regulated. That is just one of those things, I’m afraid. Total cost on that is probably about 500.00.

I want to get a plane ticket to go to North Carolina after Christmas, especially while it costs about 200.00. But I know that if I go there for a week I’ll end up spending more money than if I stay for that same week in Michigan with my parents where my needs are all taken care of. And I won’t have any way of getting around if I don’t rent a car. There are zipcars there and buses but it is harder to make it work there. Also, where would I stay? I feel that I have taken advantage of all of my friends in this regard. Oh wait, I just had an idea . . . my friend A. is not using his house right now and would probably let me stay there. I think he has mice, but that’s ok, it would be free, and close to the center of town.

Also, a rare book that I have wanted a copy of for years finally appeared on Abebooks. It currently costs 180.00 and because the dollar is getting weaker, not stronger, is getting more and more expensive the longer I wait. I’d love it if K. would get it for me for Christmas, but I don’t want to tell him to, and it is a lot of money.

Finally, I really want to see Werther in San Jose, MacBeth at SF Opera and Iron & Wine in Oakland. These all cost lots of money, particularly if I get two tickets!

but I took an important step this week in that I got approved to refinance the debt with my credit union. No more outrageous interest rates, and also, the payments should be easier to make. Also, I have been living far more within my means since I took this job, and haven’t amassed anything very large since moving. Assuming nothing goes wrong in the next few years I should be able to do this. As long as I just stay healthy, and continue to live within my means.

I finally reconciled my credit cards. It didn’t take that long, actually; I just really didn’t want to contemplate the damage I had wrought over the past 2-3 years. Now that I’m pretty sure it has turned around, however, I finally can contemplate this. It’s sobering, but certainly not insurmountable. Especially now that moving is over, at least for the time being.

Before this gets done, like so many other people, I need to consolidate. And before this gets done I need to reconcile my credit cards and then get them onto one, along with the remaining back tax bill. Once that gets done, at a reasonable rate, I should progress even faster than I have been. This job, shall we say, came along at just the right time financially, otherwise I would have dug myself an even bigger hole than I did.