Twice in a row being on time, not too shabby. Ok, let's get to it.

Here is where I was 5/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. William & Fudge. Last month $2,576.81. Now I owe $2,426.81.

2. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,425.99. Now I owe $7,336.31.

3. Target Visa (+ Federal Taxes). Last month I owed $8,710.19. Now I owe $8,445.19.

4. Sallie Mae. Last month $23,381.49. Now I owe $23,192.30.

Grand totals: Last month I was $42,094.48 in debt. Now I am $41,400.61 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $693.87. again, not a heckuva lot of progress. A chunk of April and May monies went to paying off bills in real time vs. putting them on my credit card to worry about later. I think this will be the last month (knock on wood) of bare minimum payments and I am hoping to rebound in July w/an attempt to @ the very least splith my smallest debt in 1/2.

Suprisingly ontime this month, considering the fact that every fiber of my being hurts, but I'm off tomorrow so it's all good right?

Here is where I was 4/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. William & Fudge. Last month $2,726.81. Now I owe $2,576.81.

2. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,513.69. Now I owe $7,425.99.

3. Target Visa (+ Federal Taxes). Last month I owed $9,093.84. Now I owe $8,710.19.

4. Sallie Mae. Last month $23,542.20. Now I owe $23,381.49.

Grand totals: Last month I was $42,876.54 in debt. Now I am $42,094.48 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $782.06, resulting in not much progress. Or so it seems. Let me just say, compound interest is a bitch, more on that later.

In my defense, I can't always have stellar months where I pay off cards in full, it was exentuating circumstances the first few months of the year that helped me pay off the smaller debts, plus I had more motivation. Now I'm tackling the multi thousand dollar debts and compound interest is totally working against me. I also gave up on the third job last month, I had a HUGEEEEE tax bill to pay, I have car tags and insurance due, it was my mom's bday and mothers day, so the extra hundred of dollars that could've went to my debt had more pressing matters to attend to.

So it goes.

A few things I need to do and while I am HORRIBLE @ following up on my blog cilffhangers, I promise to try better.

- Compound Interest is kicking my ass
- Numbers don't lie, finally did a budget and um, yikes!
- Lean months are coming
- Going back to school??
- Taking a step back to see what I have accomplished so far

Doing this 2 days early b/c I'm scheduled to work EVERY FREAKIN NIGHT this week...*ahem*

Here is where I was 3/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. Capital 1 Gold (+ GA Taxes). Last month $4,873.29. Today it is Paid in FULL!.

2. William & Fudge. Last month $2,876.81. Now I owe $2,726.81.

3. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,603.81. Now I owe $7,513.69.

4. Target Visa (+ Federal Taxes). Last month I owed $8,940.81. Now I owe $9,093.84.

5. Sallie Mae. Last month $23,734.48. Now I owe $23,542.20.

Grand totals: Last month I was $47,883.20 in debt. Now I am $42,876.54 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $5,006.66, resulting in me paying off 1 more credit card and consequently, my GA Tax bill!!

Put it like this, when you do not see me updating this blog for weeks on end, I'm offline trying to make money...heh

I'm not sure what's up w/the Target balance of going up, I didn't make any purchases on the card, if anything, I was more likely to have been bleary eyed when I did the update last month. Oh well.

For some reason, I'm not feeling accomplished. Looking @ the numbers on paper, I can see something was done, I can grasp that 5k is nothing to sneeze @, yet I still feel like I'm not getting anywhere. I don't know exactly @ what point will I feel like I'm making progress, maybe when all cc's are paid off? when I have 1 student loan left? I dunno.

********

So I quit job #3, it was insane and I'll leave it @ that. No regrets nor any rush to find another job#3. I've just been taking it easy the last 2 weeks, enjoying a few days a week off and as of last week, decided to open up my availability for job# 2 and as much as that place irks me, it's pretty much a no brainer to just show up and get my job done.

Plus for better mental health, I've changed my time to leave @ 9pm Mon - Thurs, Friday nights I'll stay till whenever, plus I don't mind going in on Friday, traffic is off the wall, why not get paid right? On the weekends, I work till 2pm. This week, being my first since the change, I have 25 hours which is pretty good, and I'm off on Saturday.

Does it cut into my overall plan, just a bit, but again, my goal is do pay an extra $500/mo to existing debt an as you can tell from last month, I exceeded that goal by $4,000...hee!!

One more thing that soured my mood a bit, is that I lost out on some ad money last month. The good thing is, I never rely on that money, it's always in addition to what I make @ job #2 so on paper, it's no biggie. I also got a smaller ad, so I didn't completely lose out on much.

********

One last note on payments, I made a strategic decision to pay off the capital one gold card before the smaller debt. Reason being, that debt has no interest. Matter of fact, interest is the main reason I cleared out an old acct to pay off that card. @ the start of the year, I was earning 5% interest, and this week it went down to 2.96%. That day, I also happened to open up my cc acct and checked the monthly finance charge.

You know where this is going right?

I'd have been a dope to keep holding onto that $1,500 and earning about $3/mo when that 5k in debt was costing me $65/mo. I totally feel the same way about the Target debt. I cringe when I see how much interest I'm doling out, so the new plan will continue. Pay that off as soon as I can, and pay the minimum on the W&F loan, which if I keep @ the minimum payment of $150/mo, will be paid in full by Sept of next year.

********

Yet, I'm still all blah. I think I know what the prob is, while I'm working so very hard to become debt free, I have pending debts that can't be avoided, 2008 Taxes, state and feds (due in April); car registration, car emissions, insurance renewal (all due in May); tires, tune up, hair care (flexible I guess) and a few more things, so guess what kind of catch 22 I'm stuck in?

Either use existing cash to pay the new debt, or pay off the cc and end up putting the new debt back onto the paid in full cc. Ugh. Yea, that's what's been sticking in my craw for the last few days.

It has helped me reevaluate much of what I'm currently doing, I haven't been being super strict w/myself in terms of my finances. I can possibly squeeze more money out of my daily spending to set aside for the upcoming debt. I can pick up extra hours from job#2. If I can avg 25 hours/week for the rest of this month, I can get $700 and use 1/2 of that to take care of the car, still leaving $350 to pay down on debt and I can try to eek out and extra $150 from my main money (job #1), which if I tighten the spending belt, may be doable.

We'll see. Stranger things have happened to me, who knows. Maybe that fairy debtmother will shine her light and give me the 43k I need to make the rest of my debt completely disappear.

Had I posted this on the 8th, my mood would be very diff't. I'm in a pretty big funk lately. Things are NOT going good on the home front, I'm tired, I feel myself getting depressed. I started doing some "extra" shopping and don't even get me started on my eating and weight. It's been a long day and an even longer week so while i have time, I'll update where I am debtwise. Here is where I was 2/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. Old Navy Card. Last month I owed $432.86. Today it is Paid in FULL!

2. Toyota Car Loan. Last month I owed $1805.40. Today it is Paid in FULL!

3. William & Fudge. Lasst month $3,026.81. Now I owe $2876.81.

4. Capital 1 Gold (+ GA Taxes). Last month $4,873.29. Now I owe $4,727.29.

5. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,690.45. Nw I owe $7,603.81

6. Target Visa (+ FederalTaxes). Last month I owed $9,205.81. Now I owe $8,940.81.

7. Sallie Mae. Last month $23,897.83. Now I owe $23,734.48.

Grand totals: Last month I was $50,723.33 in debt. Now I am $47,883.20 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $2840.13, resulting in me paying off 1 credit card and my car loan. Like I said earlier, I was way more pumped when the car was paid in full, but my mood is so blah now. I was driving today, heading to the mall for some moderate retail therapy, when it hit me, this is how it begins. I stop caring, it feels like too much work, it's so hard, I'm getting depressed and I tune out for a few months.

The fact that I told myself just come home and get the stuff updated and actually sat here doing just that for the last 1/2 hour means a lot. I'm sure things will be better in coming days and by then I'll be more in the mood to blog about money and debt.

Re: my cat, the grief is still there, but I'm feeling bette. We are looking into becoming a foster home for cats/kittens that need nurturing. Doing that in a way to guard my heart from what happened, not ready for the permanent replacement just yet. Also, I do have an idea of the cat I want next and until it shows up, this is a way to fill the hole in my heart and bring some kitten antics back into the house.

********

Now onto my debt.

What I am going to do, from now till the final pay off date is, track my progress monthly. The graph on the right side of the site will change each month (hopefully downward motions only...lol). In the blog part, I'll break down where I was and where I am. Also in the far right column, I have a quick and dirty cheat sheet of debt. Ok, here is where I was 1/8/08:

Here is where I am as of today:

1. PayPal Buyers Credit. Last month $112.50. Today it is Paid in FULL!

2. Capital 1 Visa. Last month $468.92. Today it is Paid in FULL!

3. Orchard Bank MC. Last month $1,027.70. Today it is Paid in FULL!

4. Old Navy Card. Last month I owed $683.44. Now I owe $432.86.

5. Toyota Car Loan. Last month I owed $2,057.68. Now I owe $1805.40.

6. Target Visa. Last month I owed $2,470.1. Now I owe $2,126.78.

7. GA Taxes. Last month I owed $2,183.74. Now I owe $2,183.74.

8. Capital 1 Gold. Last month $2,910.32. Now I owe $2,625.43.

9. William & Fudge. Lasst month $3176.81. Now I owe $3,026.81.

10. Federal Taxes. Last month $6,934.03. Now I owe $6,934.03.

11. Direct Student Loan. Last month $7,776.56. Nw I owe $7,690.45.

12. Sallie Mae. Last month $24,050.68. Now I owe $23,897.83.

Grand totals: Last month I was $53,121.83 in debt. Now I am $50,723.33 in debt.

In the last 30 days I have paid down $2,398.50, resulting in me paying off 3 credit cards. Now for some fuzzy math, bear w/me, this is a convoluted story, try to stay awake ;)

Back in January, I got "pre approved" for up to 10k @ 8.99% w/free balance transfer. Let me back up a bit more. When I first added up my GA Taxes, I must have missed a year, b/c I was off a few hundred bucks, actually owing bit over 2k and not the $1500 or so I thought.

Ok, so I'm getting these offers and then I get the tax bill and then I get a "convenience check" from Capital 1 Gold.

(There is much more going on behind the scenes, including 3 phone calls to the GA IRS, finding out one of the years went into collection, DESPITE the freaking fact that I already paid it and now I have to call them tomorrow and figure out why this all happened.)

Anyway, anyway my thinking was this: use the CC check to pay the tax bill then do a Balance Transfer to the new card.

Well, I ended up getting approved for $600 bucks. Yup. Before I knew it, $500 went to Cap 1 Gold. @ first I was pissed, but believe it or not, this all worked out for the greater good.

Remember the miscalculation on my part? (2k not $1500?)

Well I wrote out the CC check for the $1500 and mailed it on the 14th, bill was due on the 15th. After my 2nd call to the GA IRS, realizing it was over a week and no check posting, I went online and paid each year w/the cc.

By doing a balance transfer of $500, I was able to free up much needed space and the next day I went ahead and paid it off (that Juniper card will ONLY be used for car related purchases such as gas and oil changes, minor things I can pay in full each month).

*Whew*

Long story short, my cap 1 gold now has my GA Tax bill on it.

Now the next part of the story is, I felt my "true" debt didn't reflect the actual picture so I made a minor change to the chart and how I'll log things.

Target Visa card is the card w/the Federal taxes on it. I went ahead and removed the taxes from both credit cards. Each month I will report the pay down amounts separately. It won't be an exact science. Until the credit card part of the debt is paid off, I'll just leave the tax debt as is. All payments will simply count towards the older debt. Of course I'm not factoring in interest. When the cc part of the debt is paid off, I'll count the final payments on the same card, as tax debt. If that makes any sense @ all.

So now what? According to my overall breakdown for this year, updates in bold.

With that amount, @ the very least I'll pay off all the smaller credit cards:

PayPal Buyers Credit - (Paid in Full!)
Capital 1 Visa - (Paid in Full!)
Orchard Bank Card - (Paid in Full!)
Old Navy Card
Ga Taxes
Toyota Car Loan
Capital 1 Gold
and $1900.72 toward Williams and Fudge.

In the short term, that means over the for the next 10.5 months I need to pay off the Old Navy Card, Capital 1 Gold Target Visa*, Toyota Car Loan, GA Taxes and $1900 towards Williams and Fudge for a grand total of $8,448.78.

*since breaking out the tax debt from the cc's, the target visa balance was smaller than the cap 1 gold card.

********

Last thing, as this is my first full week w/o job #3 and I'm almost caught up on missing sleep. I started to reread a few entries and realize I left a few things hanging. I PROMISE. Tomorrow I am going thru all entries since the year started and conclude the cliffhangers.

In an effort to be 100% transparent and honest to myself, for the rest of this week I'm going to spell out exactly how much I owe, it burns me up I don't know my state taxes yet, where applicable, give a brief background on how the debt spiraled back out of control (specifficaly the credit cards)

As of today, I owe the following:

1. PayPal Buyers Credit (PBC) $112.50 out of $900.00
2. Capital One Visa (C1V) $468.92 out of $950.00
3. Old Navy Card (ONC) $683.44 out of $750.00
4. Orchard Bank (OB) $1,027.70 out of $1,1100
5. Capital One Gold (C1G) $2,910.32 out of $5000.00
6. Target RedCard Visa (TRV) $9,404.13 out of $9500.00

Card #1 - PBC $112.50

Logged into PayPal to make a purchase, took a chance in opening another line of credit, instead of getting the actual card, I got a line of online purchasing credit.

Card #2 - C1V $468.92

The majority of purchases on this card was made before I moved and a few household items.

Card #3 - ONC $683.44

Plain and simple, a lack of self control and thinking after all my "hard work", I "deserved" nice clothes. This after me spending the weekend of Black Friday returning almost $1k worth of clothes and goods. I vowed to myself, I have enough clothes and shoes to last me for a long while. Nothing, no matter how cheap it is is worth the hours I put in w/the part time jobs and when I really look @ how many hours, how much my feet aches to get a bi weekly check of about $250 if I'm lucky, and I can just charge up $150+ w/in 10 minutes, it makes me queasy.

Card #4 - OB $1,027.70

I thought I was doing the right thing by putting my food shopping on this card and paying it off in full each month by making $75/week payments. I had everything scheduled w/my online banking and must have missed the dates b/c the weekly payment stopped and next thing I know, the card is just about maxed out.

Add to it, a spontaneous order of a product I saw on TV, buying it for the house, back in Sept/Oct I was buying up a storm on household improvement items as you'll learn in later purchases, this is where I stand.

Card #5 - C1G $2,910.32

This card financed me moving, from renting the truck, to buying furniture for my room. It also fed me, despite buying food on the OBC, I started eating out more and more and more.

Card #6 - TRV $9,404.13

The bulk of the damage on this card came from buying a whole lotta clothes and household furnishings, then returning almost $800 worth to free up room to pay my federal taxes.

Ugly ugly ugly.

My plan of attack, is to go back to a tried and true method that worked for me in the past, the debt snowball. Working 2 part time jobs, I was able to put away a chunk of money to tide me over in the coming lean months as hours dry up and I may take a leap of faith and leave one job to find another that pays more. My modest goal is to continue to pay the minimum on all cards, while I throw @ least $500 to the smallest debt, then roll that over + the old minimum payment to the next highest.

Using that method alone, I shold have the C1V and the ONC card paid off in 2 months, and will then have $500 + $12 + $40 to add to the OBC and so on and so on.

********

On a positive note, I finished my first personal finance book of the New Year, truth be told, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but it is a good reference and gave me some background insight on specific debt issues I had, like the federal taxes. Let's just say I'm glad I nipped it in the bud when I did, like I actually had a choice.

Next up, I'm going to give Suze Orman's new book a read. That book I got mainly to get the free $100 from Ameritrade. Even though it's an investment account and my funds are tight, I can put aside $50 a month. After 12 months, she gives you $100 reward, which is way more than I'd earn having $600 sit in a traditional savings account.

I originally stated

Going forward, I'll update my monthly progress after the 15th. All my statements end the end of the month and the two capital one cards ends around the 7th.

Being that my credit cards are now paid in full (bwah!) this is my final update!! (booyah) In it's place, and the new category I alluded to, will be the Loan Repayment Progress Chart (boooo!)

Here's the credit card progress chart from December 06:

Here's my January progress:

Thanks for the memories...NOT!

Curious to see what my savings would be over the course of paying off my credit card debt, I used CNNMoney.com's trusty debt reduction planner calculator. Say that 5 times fast. ;)

First up, if I pay the minimum of $92/mo:

3 years and 11 months?!?! Booo!!!

Now that the other credit cards are paid in full, what'll happen if I rollover those payments and add it to Capital One Golds $92/mo for a $170/mo minimum?

1 year & 10 months???? Meh!

So what'll happen if I not only rollover all those payments and tack it on to the Capital One Gold minimum, but I also add my $236 10% snowball...

9 months??? Okay okay okay...

So how about this? What if I add up the rollovers, the $236 10% snowball AND I toss in all recent bonus monies?!?!?

Why, I come up w/this:

Huzzah!!

As promised, as of today January 31st 2007...I am now 100% Credit Card Debt Free! It's been a long slough, in coming days I'll regale you all w/tales of the debt pay off. Later I plot the loans pay off, for now, I dance.

Oh, and b/c it always helps to accompany credit card pay off posts w/the obligatory money shot...here it is:

So one of my plans when I pay off the Capital One Gold Card, is to turn my attention, and debt snowball, towards the next highest debt. Right now that position is just about tied by my Toyota Car Loan and one of my Williams and Fudge Student Loan.

My original game plan was to pay off the car loan next, that way I could drop my insurance and save an extra $60-$75 a month. But after talking it over w/a friend, that may not be the best thing to do.

I thought after 3-4 years the car wouldn't get anything back in case of an accident. But she told me I should look @ the blue book value for the car 1 year older than mine to now. If I pay off the loan by next year, it'll be the same amount of time. B/c it's a Toyota, which holds it's value, I may still get a few thousand.

Unless that is what I save when I reduce my insurance, doubtful I'm guessing it'll be about $720-$900 ($65/$75 times 12) then I should keep it fully insured till it the blue book value is less than what I can save on my own.

Makes sense.

The student loan isn't racking up interest, it's just a total amount due that I'm paying monthly, but I thought I can make a bigger dent paying off the car then rolling over all the monies + the $263 car payment to the student loan vs. rolling over $100 from the loan to the car.

*shrug*

It's not a huge deal, as they'll both be paid off, but I'm just fishing for ideas. Any pros/cons to paying either off first? Are @ this point are they both equal?

The major pro point is the psychological boost I'll get from paying off the car first, 1 less debt. Other than that, I gots nothing.

What do you think?

I update my credit card progress on or around the 15th.
Here's the debt chart from November 06:

Here's the credit card progress chart from November 06:

Here's my December progress:

The minimums are as follows:

Rollover minimums from 3 paid off cards: $96
Capital Gold: $89
Total Minimum: $185

My 10% snowball is $236.84.

Towards the end of the month, I'll update the debt chart to the right and post the numbers for the other 4 debts: Williams & Fudge, Toyota, Sallie Mae and Direct Loans. The last day in each month I'll post my revised Net Worth.

I've done the deal.

As of today, I've paid off 3 credit cards:

Target
Orchard Bank Mastercard
Capital One Visa

I may not have been ready, but I bit the bullet and got it done. What does this mean in the long run?

A few things.

The minimums now get added to the 10% snowball, $236.84 ,and all go towards the Capital One Gold card.

The minimums are as follows:

Target: $48
Orchard: $27
Capital Visa:$21
Capital Gold: $89

Making Decembers payment $421.84. Not a bad chunk of change. On that card, I have 2 more majorly necessary purchases to make. I knew they were coming and while I've been stalling on getting the work done, I'm just going to get it over with. That'll make that card go up a couple hundred dollars this month, but that will be the last charges I make till the big payoff.

Man, if I can end the year credit card free, can you imagine? It's like the antithesis of the season. Now's the time people go into debt up to their eyeballs and worry about it in January. I have the chance to just have loans to focus on the 07. That'll be a great day! :)

Here's where the credit card debt gets scary, it's in the thousands. See Target, Capital One Visa and Orchard, all gives me a sense of, it's not that bad, it's under a grand. Then I see this card, and want to puke.

They also recently raised my credit limit. Double!

From $2500 to $5000, not sure what I did to warrant that uptick, but I got it.

As of this posting the owed amount is: $3,027

I will update this post as I pay down on this debt. A caveat, I forewarned this card will be going up in the shorterm.

12/15 - I have 5 more short term charges for this card. 2 more vet visits, oil change & wash, tires, tune up. I should have these short term charges completed w/in a month. From January 15th on out, the only transaction on this card will be, pay offs!

I currently owe $2,863

1/31/07 Update: This card is has been paid in full!

Going forward, I'll update my monthly credit card payoff progress after the 15th. Two statements come in @ the end of the month and the two capital one cards comes in around the 7th.

Here's the credit card progress chart from October 06:

Here's my November progress:

The minimums are as follows:

Target: $48
Orchard: $27
Capital Visa:$21
Capital Gold: $89

My 10% snowball is $236.84. That + $48 will go to Target, the rest will get the minimum.

Towards the end of the month, I'll update the debt chart to the right and post the numbers for the other 4 debts: Williams & Fudge, Toyota, Sallie Mae and Direct Loans. The last day in each month I'll post my revised Net Worth. Or in this case, shall I say Net Lack...heh

Are we havin' fun yet? *groan*

No time like the present to dust off an old category. Let's all hope this go round, I make it longer month 8 eh? AND I don't relapse...*snort* Bringing this monthly feature back, I've also revamped the chart. Included on it is ALL my debt car loan and 3 student loan payments. I feel more honest doing it this way...patting myself on the back for nearing paying off my credit cards was 1/2 hearted as I always knew in the back of my mind there was more. Way more.

As I'm restarting, this month'll be just where I'm at. Next month the compare & contrast fun begins!

Here's the debt chart from October 06:

The green arrow is the debt I'm paying off first.

Here's my standing in spreadsheet format:

The minimums are as follows:

Target: $20
Orchard: $28
Capital Visa:$25
Capital Gold: $97

My 10% snowball is $236.84. Seeing that it is more than I owe on Target, the extra will roll over to my Orchard card...and so on and so on...

Jeebus, 8 months? Has it really been that long?

Well let's get too it shall we...

Here's the debt chart from April 06:

Now for May of 06:

The green arrow is the debt I'm focusing on first.

Here's what the progress in spreadsheet format:

As you can see, as of today, 5/17 I am Capital One Debt Free WoooOooOOO HooOoOoOoOo!

Orchard Bank, I am now lQQking @ you. *snort*

I'll now start paying them the old $62 I was throwing @ visa, plus the required minimum payment, $32, making their total monthly payment: $94.

Last month, it was quite iffy whether or not I'd get visa taken care off what w/@%$% gas money and driving out of town, but I pulled it off and as professed, am quite happy :D

Now that I can just about see the end of this particular debt tunnel, what's next? Man, the REST of my debt. *sigh* I'll have to face it all @ some point but doing it w/the momentum of being credit card debt free, considering how LONG I've been in credit card debt, will be a great motivation.

Later on I'll update on the gas/water fiasco.

A much more timely update than last time ;)

Here's the debt chart from February 06:

Now for March of 06:

Just a reminder on how the chart works. The green arrow & text is the debt I'm focusing on first. Since Capital One Visa has been PAID IN FULL, I retired it from the list and shifted things around. I even got fancy and updated the arrow to make it...er...greener...and...um...bolder...lol

Here's what the progress in spreadsheet format:

As for my repayment plan, well I'm still doing the revised minimum of $62 and tossing all bonus monies @ it, which this month *crossing fingers* I may have a few tricks up my sleeve. Details to come...

As for Orchard, it's the bane of my existence, more on that later too.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!! Oh and Happy April by the way :).

That overzealousness in capital one visa has been righted. There was no ghost interest sitting waiting to scare me, so I called up the rep, I won't even get into how tortuous that call was, if she apologized ONE MORE TIME, I would've flown a plane over to her part of the world, *cough* and given her something to apologize over. By the middle of the call I was craving a crude New Yorker on the other line, but I digress.

She transferred the payment over to the gold card, I threw down an extra $100 to push the balance down further and of course paid my revised minimum of $62. To say the gold card doesn't have long for this world is a major understatement ;)

Matter of fact, things go according to plan, it may vacate the premises by the end of this month, if not sooner!! That's what the above YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!! was all about...lol.

I need to tally up some monies, perhaps later tonight. I guess while I'm @ it, I can go ahead and update the chart, though I may be updating it again in a few weeks. Oh what the hell, downward movement is so sweet, it's worth it to change it over and over so long as it's going down...

My ideas are still brewing in the background. I just need some solid time to get the sites up, I've narrowed it down to 2 and they'll both be hobby/biz sites. So I'll enjoy doing it anyway and they have the potential to garner some small traffic. My mother threw out an idea for a site too, a quite good one, but I need her to do the groundwork, as it stands I'm already juggling a few of my own and don't want to take time away just yet, else that capital gold and orchard bank will be sticking around way long than necessary, if you know what I mean.

Later this week, I'll update my debt stats and that chart. Oh and a few strange tales of other sources of online income that seem to have dried up.

Laters!

Here's where the snowball starts picking up some steam. I was paying $25/month to the Capital One Visa card, I'm going to roll that over to the Capital Gold card where I've been paying $35 a month, even though the minimum payment is $27.

Now I'll keep paying $35 + $27 (from paid off Visa) for a new minimum payment of $62/month. Any extra monies will get thrown towards it at the end of the month.

Tomorrow I'll explain why the Orchard card went up, way up, but how I kept it down. *Barely*

Been a few months since I updated this puppy, but that doesn't mean I haven't made any progress. ;)

The last time the debt chart updated was in November 05 and it looked a little sumthin like this:

Here's how it look as of February 06:

Just a reminder on how the chart works. The green arrow & text is the debt I'm focusing on first. Now that the Capital One Visa is dunzo, my Capital One Gold is next in line.

Hard to seen the moves in the graph, but the data looks like this:

When I next update the chart, the end of March, I'm going to remove the zeroed out visa graph, when they are all zeroed out, I'll bring them all back for a final encore. I'll also update the total owed #'s to remove everything above 1800. The way it reads now, my total debt looks less than each card I'm repaying.

Tomorrow, my repayment plan. On Wednesday I'll tackle why the Orchard card went up 15 bucks.

I don't think it's hit me yet how much progress I've made.

Good news on the repayment front, though I skipped updating the graph for two months, more b/c I was avoiding this site than anything else, but I've made a bit of a dent.

Now, the last time you saw the chart for August 05 it looked like this:

Here's November 05:

Hard to seen the moves in the graph, but the data looks like this:

$200 down in 2 months, I meant to make more progress on the Capital One Visa debt, since that is my focus, but, Orchard Bank membership fee set me over the edge, I got them to refund that one by the way, and gas prices in late Aug/all of Sept threw me for a loop. I ended up charging gas, but paying it off, in addition to what I pay each month just to keep Orchard from getting out of hand.

If all goes well, I can make a big dent in Capital One Visa over the next two months. Today I just made my payments as normal, but by the end of the month, I'll pay $200 and in December @ least another $200 if not more.

Tomorrow I post an update on my $100 investment experiment. It's turning out to be a tad more tedious than I hoped, but there is still hope so I'm going to stick with my plan.