pay off my credit card

So I’m considering a personal loan from my local bank. For an unsecured loan they charge like 9% interest, which is much lower than my cards. But, would I be able to resist the temptation to use the cards again… I couldn’t afford both the loan payment and new credit card debt. Hmmmm. I have to consider.

One down 3 to go. About 10% dollar amount gone. This is gonna take a WHILE.

I’m going to sell some stuff and use the money to pay down a chunk of one of the cards. They have been creeping back up in the past few months, with the unemployment situation and all. A big chunk knocked off would sure help me make some progress on this faster.

I used the card. Dang it. But, it was something that we absolutely needed and couldn’t wait until payday. I guess these things will happen from time to time. As long as I don’t make a habit of it, I’m not going to beat myself up. Too much.

If I can stick to the plan we’ll have both paid off in 2 years. That seems like a really long time and I know it will be hard to stick to it for that long, but it will be worth it to not have that bill hanging over our heads every month! It will give our budget some “wiggle room” for a change! Of course, it will go faster if we come into some surprise money, like a tax return or end of year bonus or anything that we can put on it. Conversely, it will go slower if an emergency expense comes up. But I’m hoping for surprise money, not surprise costs. :)

Total they are just under $8k!! So far we’ve knocked it down by almost $1000 since June. We no longer spend on them, and we are paying more than the minimums but it is still going to take a few years. I’m hoping to speed that up by putting tax returns (if we get any) towards that. Right now, though, it is looking like about 3 years even if we never get off track. Boo.