pay off my credit card

i am so frustrated with bank of america. they incur all these unknown and hidden fees and i feel like every payment i make is fruitless. i know i will get this done, my plan is to pay it off by next september, but its difficult, especially when i call my bank with simple finance rate questions and they act like im a fucking idiot.

I HATE THE MAN!

While I haven’t made any new payments, I can happily report that:

1. the m/c is still in the freezer, in it’s baggie of frozen water
2. I haven’t made any purchases at all with it.

Yay me!!

I know, it hardly makes a dent, but it’s better than going, “Oh! I have $200 credit available, I better use it up!”

I did this a while ago and forgot it was on my list!!? Crazy me. It’s amazing how much further one’s paycheck goes when one doesn’t have to send off as much as possible to the mean credit card people.
What a relief!

I’ll tackle my credit cards one by one. First on the list is the Macy’s card.

I received my BOM statement in the mail yesterday. OMG is all I can say.

$25 overlimit fee
$200 interest

and….. balance is $18,500. I almost died.

I took my card and put it into a baggie, then put it into a larger baggie which I then filled with water and froze. It’s in the freezer and will stay there as long as possible!

I called Delbrook today to cancel my table for the November 21st craft sale. That will be $70 refunded to my Mastercard, but that’s not why I did it. I just can’t deal with the stress and PITA of a craft sale right now. Not to mention I don’t have much product and I will be doing the PBC craft sale. So I’ll do the PBC one and use the proceeds to pay for the tiling of the laundry room floor.

Helen is buying $40 of soap from me today and that will go towards the m/c.

Baby steps, that’s for sure. Better than nothing, though.

1. Leave the card at home – stop those impulse purchases.
2. Use up the food at home, sitting around in the cupboards.
3. Use up all of the toiletries, rather than constantly buying new makeup, shampoo, etc.
4. ALL extra cash (ie. from soap sales) go to the credit card, much like I used to save that cash for the California 2009 trip.
5. No more online purchases! Including iTunes – use btjunkie.
6. Record all purchases (whether on credit card or cash or whatever) on an index card (one card per purchase) and carry around in my purse. The less in there, the better!

$500. So my goal is to use it as little as possible… only for emergencies like gas or something.

Done with Disneyland now, and I am pretty sure I could open my OWN scrapbooking store with all of the supplies I already own! So let’s DO THIS!

Mom and dad paid them all off for me… I was paying so much in interest I couldn’t get out of my slump anymore…

They paid them off, and just put it all in a lump sum for me to have one monthly affordable payment. They’re charging me only 5% interest on my entire total. I am so greatful for them. I am so lucky. I have no idea what I would do without them. They are my saviors. Literally.

It’s been a long go…I’ve spent the past 4 years living with a balance and now…I’m down to the last $300 dollars (The initial debt was 20x that!) Within the next week, I’ll be receiving a cheque from my job to cover expenses and I’ll be at a balance of $15…which I’ll of course, wipe clean fast!

How did it all happen? A combination of factors – I moved overseas to work and had to wait a month before getting paid (and didn’t have much to start with on top of the unfavourable exchange rate). I split with a boyfriend who had controlled me by buying me things and decided that the only way to clear myself of him was to pay it all back. And, like most of us, I was living a touch too extravagantly for my budget!

How have I gotten out? My lovely fiance couldn’t fathom the thought of me paying ridiculous amounts of interest to the credit card companies and thought we should pay it completely with our line of credit which has a MUCH lower interest rate. I then began a VERY vigorous regime of payback. I took on an extra job – working 20-30 hours on top of my regular 40 hour work week – at a restaurant where the tips were incredible. That money went STRAIGHT to my debt.

I lived frugally – if I saw something I wanted in the shops, I waited a day before buying it. I went to the library instead of buying books. I started using up bottles of shampoo/shower gel/soap/perfumes/makeup before buying new ones. I’ve cashed in my air miles and points (all those points accumulated by my debt…eek) to get gift cards for shops if I needed to purchase something. I read magazines online instead of buying one a week. It is amazing how these things add up.

I also started to write down all my purchases. I keep receipts from purchases made on my credit card (petrol, larger purchases) in my wallet and make sure to transfer the money straight to my credit card account as soon as I get home. And finally, I started purchasing with cash – When you actually SEE the money being spent, it’s a lot easier to change your mind on the purchase!

So, hopefully I’ll get my expenses cheque soon and my next entry will be one of celebration – Seeing that balance at ZERO!

it may sound repetitive. but i never charge stuff. only fuel. thats usually it. well things went bad just recently and we had to charge quite a bit. its still in double digits. so to some of you it may sound silly to be upset about it. but i HATE HATE HATE debt. especially when it was as low as it was. anyways. card wont be payed of this month. :( but hopefully soon.