get out of debt and stay out of debt

I need to do a few things…I have 2 credit cards that I am in debt with. I am in the process of settle’n the lower one. LOrd knows when I wll get to the other one. I also need to find someone to help me get some false debts on my report. I rather pay someone then call around for hours. So after I pay off this one card I will go and get help with the rest.

I’ve lived in NYC for three weeks now, and I’m feeling very, very anxious about the dollars and cents. I’m floating balances on two of my three open accounts while waiting for my tax return (additional moving expenses and first-month cash-flow issues), and am only now beginning to put a bit of money into may savings account and emergency fund account. Even combined, I don’t yet have a month’s rent set aside, let alone funds should an emergency crop up down here. Part of that is because I’m trying to keep funds readily available until I get my new bills on a schedule and have my kitchen larder stocked enough that weekly shopping is only required for produce and dairy, but the other part is because I still don’t have a truly solid understanding of precisely which things are more expensive and how to account for the differences.

Since the budgets that I’ve set for myself aren’t functioning as intended or anticipated, I spent quite a bit of time yesterday putting together new ones. First is an expense recording spreadsheet—for listing each individual item I spend money on. I note the date, location, item, unit cost, and amount paid, with the amount being placed into a column based on category:subcategory (Daily Living: groceries, Entertainment: Theatre Tickets, etc.). The second is a budgeting spreadsheet, noting budgeted income and expenses versus actual income and expenses. Things like rent, transportation, and insurance payments are easy to record based on bills I receive and online payments made, but the more incidental expenses that can vary a bit are those I’m having trouble with. In order to make that easier, I set up the sheets to “talk” to one another. The Expense Recording sheet tallies the total dollar spent in each subcategory, then feeds that amount into the corresponding “actual expense” cell on the Budget sheet.

Remembering and writing down every single thing I buy is irritating (like the $5 spent on roasted nuts, a bottle of water, and a charitable change jar during a walk through Manhattan yesterday), but I hope that keeping a record will help me better plan uses for my money each month.

I am currently 7,500 dollars in debt my goal is to eliminate it all in 6 months. I’m starting this today. So far I am cutting down on most Of my spending and giving up my apartment next month. I have also Started looking for a second job. In this economy it will be hard but I’m determined.

Like many young people, I received both a diploma and a cash-in of my Financial Aid IOU statement upon graduation—to the tune of $80,000. Add grad school education debt (and the charge-card living required to eat while going to school), the car payment that became a requirement of employment, juggling rent and bills and everything else associated with the “financial independence” of living alone for the first time, floating cash-in-hand each month with credit card use and fees, and it adds up to a huge amount of debt in a short amount of time. Eradicating my debt became a goal with real, solid, measurable actions for me in February of 2007, coinciding with my second job out of school, at a level well-above “entry.”

I started with budgets. I paid myself first, just a few dollars into a savings account from each paycheck, in case of an emergency situation (like new brakes for the car). Then I paid the necessary bills (Rent, Utilities, Car Payment, Groceries, Insurance). From the remainder, I parceled out the required payment for each individual account (credit cards, student loans, car loan, etc) and pooled the remainder together. That remainder was applied to the highest-interest account each month, until each one was paid off.

First the three credit cards were paid and closed; I now have one card with a small limit that I pay off each month, and two store accounts (Macy’s and Lowe’s) that offer financial benefit, given how much I shop there (in both cases, purchases are paid off immediately). Last Wednesday I made the final payment on my car, six months early, saving about $300 in interest. That leaves only student loan debt: with just over $20,000 left at a very low interest rate, I’m comfortable adhering to the plan set up with my lenders for paying it off by 2014.

All of that said, I don’t feel financially “safe” yet; I’m not sure how much of that is related to the current economy, how much is related to emptying my savings account for my impending move to NYC, and how much is related to the fact that my tight budget of the last few years will be cinched a bit tighter for city-living.

I’m anxious, and uncertain. And thus, am keeping this goal on my list, because budgeting, and being financially independent with a substantial savings, need to remain in my conscious mind.

You pay one, another comes! You think you are caught up and here comes another one. I hate going to the mailbox!

OMG!!! will this never end!!!! Debt sucks. period. But with faith and determination I shall get out of this hole that I have created for myself. I know that it is Satan’s attempt to manipulate me into thinking that it will never end, but I know that it will.

...but will try…next year! I’ve got two major credit card debts:
Chase = $7,200 and WAMU = $4,200.

The debt keeps adding up and the phone calls keep coming. I will never get out of this hole. I have to continue school to get a good job to make money. I need to make money to pay off this debt. Yet this debt is caused by me going to school.

They should totally only be used as a substitute for cash you currently have, or will have within a month.

When I got my place last year there were a bunch of necessities I needed (lawnmower, bed, you name it), so I didn’t feel bad charging a lot of things. My goal the last 6 months has been to pay off my cards and have my only monthly payments be my utilities and mortgage. I am probably 2-3 months away from the freedom I seek.

FEELS GOOD