pay off my credit cards

Deadlines tend to slide, don’t they? Damn. I managed to get through the holidays without completely destroying this goal, but I’m still about three paychecks and a state and federal tax refund away from paying off my credit cards.

Still, that’s better than the two-months-until I’ve been stuck at for what seems like forever. If it only takes me an extra two months to reach this goal beyond what I originally said, that’s still good.

Well, I slid a little bit, but now I’m back on track.

My Financial Freedom Day has moved a bit. I bought a new iPod nano, which I justified thinking that I had enough other things to sell to pay for the nano (including my iPod shuffle, which I did eventually sell). Plus I made large (for me) donations to help victims of Katrina, which I put on my Visa card. So my balances went up when they should have gone down.

I’ve recalculated, though, and my new Financial Freedom Day is December 15, 2005, just two months away (why does it seem like I’m always just “two months away” from paying off my credit cards?). My total balance between two cards right now is $1009.67, which seems like a lot but in less than two weeks I’ll be paying over $600 towards that balance.

Unfortunately, being behind on this goal also means I’m behind on saving $2800 by the end of 2005 – so I’ll update that entry, also.

I applied for another credit card (no, wait, hear me out!) that is offering 0%APR interest on all transferred balances. It’s also got a low (although variable) interest rate on purchases, and no annual fee.

Surprise of all surprises, I was approved!

So now I’ve consolidated all my current debts onto one card, and will not be paying any further interest on that debt until it is paid off on schedule.

I will also be closing three accounts, including the one I mentioned last time that was currently unused. In fact, that one is already closed.

I’ll be keeping the new one, and the VISA that gives me miles on Alaska Airlines (because I earn another round-trip US ticket every year for using it). And that’s it.

Countdown to Debt Freedom Day continues… T-minus 51 days and counting!

I’ve got less than two months to go! I messed around with the numbers in the spreadsheet I use to keep track of all my debt and all my income, and I managed to re-arange things so that I pay off my debt one paycheck faster while simultaneously putting an extra $30-40 in savings.

(Don’t laugh; hey, it’s not much but it’s better than nothing)

In other news, somehow I accidentally applied for and received another credit card, one with a whopping $750.00 credit line and a killer 23% APR (owie). I haven’t activated the card yet, but the temptation to use it is so strong. Lots of things call out to me, “Buy me! Buy me!”—I could use new clothes, a new teevee, a bike to get around one… I’ve even considered using it to put a down payment on a car. How’s that for stupid? When I’m so close to my goal, to jack my debt up again.

I’ll be strong. I can do it. 9/15/2005 is my Day of Freedom.

Starting about 15 years ago, I was introduced the world of credit cards. Coming from a typical lower-middle-class family that never talked about money except in the most abstract way possible, I had a very poor idea of what “money management” was all about. I had an income and I spent it on stuff I liked.

Then I met some friends who strived to be upper-middle class, and who said things like “It’s not like it’s real money; it’s credit” and assumed that it was normal to have credit cards maxed out and just pay the minimum balance. Whoa. Talk about falling in with the wrong crowd.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized that buying groceries on a credit card with a 21% APR was a Bad Thing. Of course, by then, I had been dragged through the modern-day gauntlet of dealing with Collection Agencies. I had to figure out on my own how to say no to abusive phone calls and demanding voices on the other end. I shifted from thinking I’d never have to pay all this back, to thinking… well, that I won’t ever be able to pay all this back, so why bother? I decided that the only thing “good credit” got you was more credit, and tried to run.

In other words, my thinking went from bad to worse. I didn’t differentiate between unsecured debt, like credit cards, and secured debt, like a mortgage or a car loan. And I discovered that yes, if I had to, I could live without a car, but that it would be nice to own a house someday. But not with my credit history.

About ten years ago, I met a man who took me under his wing and helped me see lots of my life in a different light. I realized, in part, that I did, in fact, incur those debts, and that if I wanted to maintain my good mental image, I needed to pay them all back. Part of that was having a career plan (hard to pay back debts when I bounced from low-paying job to low-paying job), and the other part was actually setting aside the money towards those looming unpaid balances.

There’s way more to this story than I should tell here. However, my main point is that I have felt like I’ve been in financial prison, figuratively speaking, for at least 10 years. I screwed up and I’ve been paying the price (heh) to undo my mistakes.

And I now stand within 3 months of being finally, forever, completely free of all my past and current debt. I’ve got just under three months and I will be a free man once again.