pay off my credit card debt

One credit card DONE. We are now on to card #2. We added the payment from the last card which was $15, the extra $200 a month PLUS the minimum of this card which is $40. So, $265 a month on this card and it will be done in about 5 months.
We get our tax refund and we are keeping only $100 per person and paying off another one and then moving on to the 4th…dont ask. I told you, she had a lot. We found a house that is perfect and by the time it goes on market we can have a good chunk of debt gone. Plus, she is a veteran so we can get a VA housing loan so no closing or down payment costs.
Go us.

1 card paid off…right before the interest rate kicked in. Yay!

But, I had to buy shingles a few weeks ago, and since they didn’t take Discover, I had to put in on a Mastercard. That I used to pay off every month. So, instead of being down to 2, I’m down to 3.

The good news is that I have a new roof, new insulation, and repaired gutters. Bad news is that I’m in more debt.

I’m going to transfer the MC to the Discover card, since that one has 0% on balance transfers until August or so. It’ll cost about $100, but save me more than that in interest. I hope. Then, pay off the Discover purchase, pay off the other MC, and pay off the Discover transfers.

Just not sure what I’ll be using to pay for day to day expenses through all of this. The correct answer in the 0% MC, but it’s within $500 of the limit right now…which is not a happy place.

So…time to get another 0% card, transfer the first MC balance, use that for living expenses and pay off the other 2? Does this sound like a reasonable plan? D’oh.

...’nuff said!

It’s been a year since the break-in and the start of the plumbing disasters. Life has been hard this year, but I think better. I quit my second job, got a dog, got debt.

I’m actually up to 3 credit cards at this point…but did I mention there’s a plan? They are all 0%APR right now. That expires for the first one in November…and I will have paid it off that very month. The next one expires in February, and the one after that, in April or May. Falling into this whole only took 2-3 days…getting out will take the better part of 2 years. I’m hoping I don’t have to get any other 0%APR cards…I don’t like the juggling and having to think about how close this one is or which one am I paying off? But I’m making it work for me.

I went on a job interview and it went well. Like scary well. They said they would make their decision beginning of next week and call by end of next week, so needless to say, this week has been the longest in my life. This job is a grown up job. No more secretary crap, no more having the title of data coordinator and doing that sporatically. This is 100% research with hospitals all over the country and the world. No more making copies, fetching coffee, all of the stuff I didnt think I would have to do with this job. She was very clear in the interview that we have an administrative department that does those things, I would be doing research data and working with hospitals and universities from across the world. I believe her too because the salary is about $13,000 more than I make now. They arent going to pay me that to do things that doctors are too lazy to do.
So I am excited, dreaming of possibilites, hoping for a phone call. Dreaming of our family hitting the 6 figure income so we can pay our bills off in 1-2 years instead of the 3 or 4 we had originally planned. I already gave P the speech. The speech that sounded like her mother. “There is NO reason to be in debt when we are making that much money. Its disgusting on top of embarrassing and shameful if we cant make it work”. I think she got it.
I hope I get it. I really hope. Since the interview, I have been wanting to get out of here.

I’ve managed to chip my debt down to around $2300 now… I’ll make another big payment soon, and then $1300 would be more manageable. I plan on starting my savings all over again—and it will grow much more faster now that my debt is going down YAY

Woohoo! I’m credit card debt free!

Okay, so my limit is only $300, so it’s not like I had thousands to pay off. But I live on a pension, so it’s really hard to make anything more than the minimum payment.

How I did it: I paid off my credit card debt with the refund I got from my tax return. It was my first priority when I received my refund.

What next: The hard part is actually keeping it at a zero balance. I think this is actually harder than paying it off.

How I feel: Awesome!

i have plenty to get back to the bank and both of my sisters and my mother.

This week we pay 1/2 of credit card #1. Next month, we pay it off. Then, one to card #2. How exciting. One step at a time.

I told P that with her personal training money, she gets 75% of it for whatever she wants (shoes, bike stuff, race entry fees, whatever) so it wont come out of our money. 25% goes to me so I can start paying extra on the bills. Within 10 months, we can pay off 3 cards. She got excited about that and was quickly on board. She likes visuals. I like spreadsheets. It works out. So, today I scheduled our first payment of 1 bill for 9/4 because of the holiday and literally am paying half. 1 more payment and its done. Then, on to the next one which will take 4 months. Then the 3rd which will take 5. Maybe 6 because its a little over what we budget for. So, either we throw the last $75 on it or we wait another month (month 6), make the payment and use the remainder to pay card 4.
No matter how you look at it, Im excited. 4 cards in about a year is great. I just need to rip them from her hands and burn them. Though, since we agreed the PT money is hers to do whatever with, shes done quite well. Its all she talks about, what shes going to do with her money.
Hey, whatever works. Partnership is a compromise. Its her extra job, her money. Im glad she agreed to share it.