pay off my debt

I was working for myself last year and so owe self-employment taxes. I also had a tough time in November/December getting regular hours, so I pretty much depleted my savings. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to pay taxes this year. At least I have a real job now.

Okay, I managed to save up some money so I can maintain a minimum balance of $1000 in my checking account. That way I know when to cool spending before it becomes an overdraft. I’ve also managed to get my savings account up to $1000. Now I’m working on one credit card at a time, making payments every two weeks on that one while paying the minimum on the rest. I’ve calculated that I’ll have that one paid off by May, then can turn to the next one. After that, the interest rates on the remaining cards are relatively lower and it will be easier.

I’m also working on putting a little money aside each month for things like travel over Christmas and a digital camera. I’m trying to stick to a savings schedule, so I have some way to check my progress every couple of weeks. This helps me make sure I’m not spending all my money on frivolous stuff—if I send it off to a credit card or tuck it into a savings account, I can’t spend it!

Doing some quick math, I figure I can get all my credit card debt (everything besides the student loans) paid off in five years if I pay all finance charges plus whatever might have gone on the card that month plus $36.00.

That sounds pretty easy, right? But fees being what they are and the fact that I have five accounts to pay on right now means the total I have to pay out is around $600 a month.

I just don’t have a regular job so it’s hard to budget right now. This is really frustrating. I’m actually putting almost everything on credit because I don’t want to accidentally overdraw my checking account (again) when the bills come out automatically each month.