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!

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.

*squealz*

I got another gift!

This is my Capital One Visa card as of today:

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! :)

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*

Continuing the tale of my debt, next up we have Capital One Visa. Hmmm...I've had this card for about 5 years now. Credit limit started about $500 and is now, $950. Meh.

If you've read this blog for more than a few months, you'll know my dirty little secret. [small voice] I paid this card off months ago. [/small voice]

So how'd I wind up back in the hole for the same amount?

I moved and lost my freakin' mind.

Ah well, that was then, this is now.

As of this posting the owed amount is: $698.73

I will update this post as I pay down on this debt.

11/24/06 Update: This card is has been paid in full!

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!

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.

I'm so giddy about this I'm queasy and am getting a dull headache. After finally tallying up all the monies I netted from the last few months, I have enough to pay off the balance on the Capital One Visa card as of now!!

[updated 30 mins later]

Ooops...lol...I played myself. In my excitement I paid off $448.32, thinking that was the balance, but it seemed so low. Especially since I've been in the 500-600 range for the last few months. I went back and reread all my statements thru Sept and caught where I read my available credit for what I still owe. :blush:

I can't make another online payment for 24 hours so on Monday I'll pay off final $53.36 and am really paid in full as of Tuesday.

I expect next month to have some residual interest charges, I'm too giddy to even fight it, whatever, it still doesn't take away from the fact that this card is dunzo.

Tomorrow I'll update the chart on the right and on Tuesday I'll lay out my repayment plans for the remaining 2 cards. Keep in mind though, I have way more debt than this, various loans, but it's too much for me to comprehend so I'm focusing on the credit cards first. Doesn't make the pay offs any less sweet, but I'm trying not to get uber excited either.

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.