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.

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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.

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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.

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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.