waiting for my fifth card to authenticate or verify something or other. Not sure why they need to do this; I’ve been paying my bills monthly with the same checking account for the last 8 years. If it were an impostor it’d be wayyyyy too late to figure that out. 14 hours ago

So, I have five credit cards, and as of this morning two were on auto-pay. I am tired of calling in every month to the other three, especially since I like to go on (free) silent retreats where I can’t contact the outside world for a week and a half at a time, so I decided to put them all on auto-pay. I started with my highest-balance card today. It’s always a hassle getting these things set up for the first time but once it’s done, it’s done. 15 hours ago

One thing led to another and I found out that, barring any unforeseen disasters, it should be within my power to apply reasonable, sustained effort for a few years and pay off these cards. I have a month-by-month plan to get started on effective immediately. :) 1 month ago

1) $0 – Just paid this off yesterday
2) $719.27
3) $847.33

Total: $1,566.60

There were some things I charged to cards 2 & 3 earlier in the month, but since shunning them on March 6th they haven’t accumulated more balance. I’m glad I was able to pay off card 1 completely like I had planned. Now I just need to continue to not use them and keep chipping away at the balances, starting with card 2. Will report back mid-April. :-) 2 months ago

Having come into a little bit of extra money this month, I decided to pay off one of the credit cards completely.

Now, all of the money that was going on that one can be moved to the other, and I might also throw a bit of money that was previously used for cigarettes at it too!ll

Here’s to paying off debt, one unsmoked cigarette at a time. 2 months ago

Right, time to actually do it.
Save money on stupid things (£5 per day on lunch, when I could make my own for a fraction of that price??) and throw the savings at my smallest debt first. Once that’s done, move on to the next debt.

End goal is to be pretty much debt free by the end of this year! 2 months ago

I made a payment of $103.43 on one of my cards today, which takes down my total debt to $1,647.20. But, not long after making the payment, I stumbled upon a debt snowball video on YouTube. I think this is something I’m going to try for a while and see how it goes.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a debt snowball, it’s a debt reduction method encouraged by Dave Ramsey that basically entails paying off one debt at a time starting with the smallest debt and working up. While throwing as much money as possible at your debt in focus you just make minimum payments on your other debts, until of course they are the main debt to be paid off.

This would mean for me that I would be paying off my cards in this order (by balance):

1) $222.20
2) $650
3) $775

If I do this next month I should have the first card completely paid off… and I imagine I could be able to pay off the second card in three or so months. It’s worth a go. 3 months ago

Total Credit Card Debt: $1,750.63

This is between three cards. It is quite a bit, but not nearly as much as some people and for that I am thankful. Having more consumer debt than this would be a nightmare!

I’m trying not to use them at all this month because last month I overspent a bit on my AmEx Blue Cash and carried over the balance instead of paying it in full like I usually do. Everything I’ve spent so far has been coming out of my checking account. 3 months ago

Paid $125 more today. Just $550 more to go. Feeling good. :) 3 months ago

I’m getting closer! I plan to pay off the rest of one card today! woohoo! feeling good. 3 months ago

I get paid tomorrow so I just scheduled a payment for $200 to be withdrawn tomorrow. It will be gone before I even know its there. 3 months ago

January Starting balance $1686

I was tempted to pay the lower balance card off first but I am going to pay the one with the highest balance because it carries a highter interest rate.

Once the cards are paid off I will (try my hardest) to use them for REAL emergencies only like I need to get my car fixed, or my daughter (truly) needs something I dont have the cash at that moment for. 3 months ago

Have ~$1600 on my AMEX card 4 months ago

I think I can have one of my cards paid off this week when I get my next paycheck. Then only one left! And student loans :( 4 months ago

I was almost done with this and then had a “friend” charge hundreds of dollars to my credit card (unauthorized) and can’t get her to give me the money for the charges. I have no idea what to do and am SO frustrated because I was almost done with this. I can’t afford to pay other people’s bills for them! I am so stupid for getting myself into this situation. 5 months ago

I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since I last wrote about this goal…and yet, I don’t think I’m any closer to absolution. I have twice the debt I did when I last wrote on this topic, but half what I had at the peak.

My cousin lived with me for about a year, and moved out just 6 months after the basement was finished.

I was not sad to see them go. I just don’t think it was a very good fit.

My new housemates are wonderful. Clean, neat, considerate. They adore my dog, they eat mostly vegetarian, appreciate what I’m trying to do with the house and in my life, and are genuinely amazing people. I love them.

Since fall 2010, I’ve finished renovating the basement apartment, flattened the lawn, gone through heartworm with my pup (rescued H+...horrifying and expensive treatment, and doesn’t even work 10% of the time) and refinanced the mortgage. I was not able to take money out…and due to a lousy appraisal the first time, had to wait an extra year to qualify.

But it happened, this past summer.

Since then, I’ve paid off the HELoC, and just finished paying my uncle back for the original down payment on the house.

I still have $15k in debt, but it’s moving. Let’s just hope I can pay it off before the Subaru kicks the bucket…or rather, gets so expensive to fix it’s no longer worth it. 6 months ago