The fun thing about actually making progress paying off a credit card is that the lower the balance gets, the more of a dent each payment makes. This month’s payment will put me below $4K on the one card, which I can hardly believe. I don’t remember when the balance was that low. Yes, I realize how crazy it sounds to think $4 is low, but considering I was starting at $8K, I’m pretty mtherf_ing proud of that.
cheekykitten's Life List
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1. Write more
1 cheer3,040 people -
2. travel
6,037 people -
3. belly dance
1 entry212 people -
4. kayak
179 people -
5. get a tattoo of a phoenix
1 cheer1 person -
6. drive cross country
434 people -
7. build a teepee
4 people -
8. Learn to cook
3 cheers6,554 people -
9. Commit.
1 cheer33 people -
10. decorate my house
337 people -
11. have more adventures
4 entries . 2 cheers127 people -
12. pay off my credit cards
2 entries . 2 cheers886 people -
13. start keeping promises to myself
1 entry . 1 cheer1 person -
14. volunteer
3,834 people -
15. learn Spanish
12,560 people -
16. go surfing
326 people -
17. take ballroom dance lessons
38 people -
18. have a better attitude
2 entries28 people -
19. finish my novel
739 people -
20. simplify
2 entries . 2 cheers590 people -
21. name a star
1 cheer84 people -
22. swim with dolphins
1 cheer6,083 people -
23. sleep in a haunted house
23 people -
24. send a message in a bottle
3,041 people -
25. ride in a hot air balloon
1 cheer1,615 people
But my wonderful teacher has promoted me to the choreography class, so I guess I’m making progress. She is a very encouraging person, and I find myself wanting to try very hard in return for her teaching me. A Buddhist friend of mine told me that one of the most compassionate things you can do for another person is to teach them. So I need to buckle down.
Last year I called my Visa people and whined to them that I didn’t think I’d ever pay my card off. They had been raising my rate for a while because I had over a certain balance but continued to use the card…never mind that I was paying on time. Anyway. So I got them to put me in a payoff program. They slashed my interest rate, and for the last year and a half I have paid off more than $2000 of it. By Xmas I will be under $5K for the first time in YEARS.
I have one other credit card with a little still on it, but I expect to have that one paid off by this time next year, if not sooner.
This is something I knew I had to get serious about because soon I will have to start paying more on my student loans each month in order to ever pay them down. Right now I’m barely making a dent. And I’ll probably be looking at a new car payment in the next couple of years, so there’s that too. Man, I wish the Asskicking Fairy had come to visit me when I got that first preapproved card in the mail. I know what she would have said: “If you open that envelope, you will still be paying for it when you’re 30.”

