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

To be 100% DEBT FREE by January 1st 2013.

********

New year, new start and all that good stuff. I spent this week doing the hard work and by hard I mean taking pen to paper and reflecting on my finances for the last 3 months. There is no easy way to say this but, I blew it. Big time. I let my spending get out of control and deluding myself into paying off credit cards in full each month only caused me to spend more. I fell into a funk, other factors involved and just ignored my money problems and whipped out whatever card I could find first. I ended up having 3 ISFs to wachovia, due to not caring missing a due date and slapped w/a late fee and misc bank fees for ATMs usage not @ my home bank.

I've kicked my on ass so many times I'm now wearing it in front of me.

So now what?

First thing I did was get 4 books on money and debt @ various stages. Due to wachovia only seeing fit to refund me $51 of the $101, despite the fact in the 11+ years I have had the account, formerly w/SouthTrust, I did not have ISFs, I have decided to take my business elsewhere, ING Direct. The added benefit is that they pay me interest and offer me free overdraft protection, just in case.

I've been reading the first book, not quite following it to a tee, I'm too chicken shit to see my credit report right now, but I get mobilized.

Thursday, my first evening off in almost 2 full months, I printed all my statements from the last 3 months, banking and credit, and before I got online and aloofly plugged them into MS Money, I got a out my notebook, gave each category a page and plugged in my spending patterns. It was sobering and humbling.

It took me about a day to absorb, truly absorb how much I bring home, not including Jobs # 2 & 3, and how much I spend and to really see how I've been financing my lifestyle w/credit.

Then I took the categories and broke them out into 4 blocks. First bills, the ones I must pay or else, basically food, shelter, utilities, car and my loans and taxes.

Then secondary then third then 4th. When I broke out my spending and what I take in, I barely have enough money to cover my First bills, I have no idea how I managed to spend so much on secondary thru fourth-ary, expenses, yet I did. And that made me ashamed and queasy.

Today, my first full afternoon off in almost 2 months, I don't head into work till 7, I cleaned my room, cleaned out my purse, took all the credit cards out of my wallet and put them up, threw away the overtaxed wallet that is freakishly loose with only 2 bankcards and my DL and finally came online to update my wachovia acct, which hadn't been balanced since the end of Oct I think.

Now all my accounts are current and bills are paid. In the last week I also got a plain monthly calendar, for me to note when which bill is due, I plug them in 3 days early, since working so much I don't have much leisure time and ended up paying my capital one visa the day after it was due. When I went into wachovia to ask for a courtesy refund, I also got a blank check register to log my spending, which'll be used for my ING account, and I got a notebook to jot down my financial plans, like which bank account will be my emergency fund savings and which will be my long term.

I still don't feel good about my situation, I know I've taken steps in the right direction and can't change the past, but I still feel foolish about doing so good for the last year and now this. Then again, I was in denial about my tax bill for so long, I was only sorta doing goods so perhaps this is for the best.

As I stated in my first line of the year, I resolve to be 100% debt free in 5 years or less. In my head I think I'm about 50k in debt, including taxes, still havne't gotten the state ones back so it's a guesstimate. My financial goal is to pay off 10k in debt each year, divide by 12 you get the monthly amount, but I'll let that stay fluid since some months I'll be able to pay more and others I'll pay less.

I committ to putting @ least $500/mo to my current debt, as I pay the minimum on the rest and if I make over $500 that month, all excess will go towards it till it's paid in full and I roll over it's minimum payment + $500 to the next smallest debt and so on and so on the snowball goes.

More later this week, I want to catch 40 winks before I head out to work.

So I got a bit spoiled this month. Nothing too bad or out of control, but I ended up using the money that would've gone towards paying off the car loan ASAP on...stuff.

Firstly it was my godsons birthday, then I just needed to stock up on household and personal items and lots of stocking up on healthy eats that I'm now more health conscious, instead of buying 2 fers that are loaded w/refined carbs and HFCS, I'm opting for $3 for 3 lemons. You get the idea.

Anyhoo...I had allocated making an extra $500 payment to the car this month, but I'll now need to use that to pay off my already paid off credit card...lol...odd I know. I don't put more than I can pay off on any one card in a given month. And I only charge things I'd end up paying cash for anyways, like gas, groceries...etc. Nothing frivolous and aside from my godsons Birthday and my DVDs, I've been a good girl.

It's not catastrophic by a long fall...I'm pouting a bit b/c now I'm a bit off in paying back the car quickly, but I'll catch up again. Plus all I did, I enjoyed, liked, wanted. No harm no foul.

I also think I needed a mental break from the PAY IT DOWN NOW mode I've been in since November thru February. After falling off the wagon so to speak, I'm ready to get strict again.

After I pay off the car, a few things I'd like to work on:
- Setting up a gift fund, where I put aside say $20/mo. That's almost $250 in a year and more than enough to cover bday functions. My godson is really the only person I'll do something for.

- Setting up a grocery budget. Since I've put buying clothes on hiatus, I tend to spend my extra shopping hours in the grocery store. Which in and of itself isn't bad. But I'm also constantly playing w/meal plans so now that I have one I plan to stick w/for the next few months, I need to go twice a week, once on weekend once midweek and I need to take it easy @ the Farmers Market. I go nuts when I see all the fresh produce and it only lasts but so long.

- I need to budget period. I don't have much monthly bills, like gas, electric, cable etc. All my bills are fixed, so I need to do a better job of paying the fixed (actually I do an excellent job @ that) but I need to do a better job of managing the money that's left over so I'm not 1) putting 100% of it towards my next debt, then feeling deprived till I get funds again or 2) spending the extra b/c I'm no longer paying off credit card bills.

*whew*

Ok, things feel a bit clearer now. So yea. To sum it up, I went out of control. Regained control. Need a game plan for the future future.

Laters.

Quick pop in to update a bit of life news, I'm MOVING! Starting mid June, I'll be living w/my aunt, which will bring a HUGE relief on my walled and also means I can pay of some bills mucho faster. A while back I said one day I'd be brave enough to tackle my student loan debt, well, I'm getting closer to that day.

I haven't worked out all the loans, I've been to 5 colleges @ some point people, but I did contact one to update my mailing address etc and double my payments. @ one point I was paying $25/mo and about a year ago I went up to $50. Now I'm @ $100.

I squeaked "How much is my balance?" and shut my eyes tight, bracing myself...

$5400...

*gulp*

Ok.

That means 540 months to pay off...yikes!

But...if I can pay an extra $400 a months, 10 months. Ok. I'm game.

As soon as Orchard is done, I'm paying that debt of next, and will update my little repayment chart on the right --->

Unlike my cc's, it's not a given I'll be able to scrape by $400 extra bucks, believe it or not, I want to go back to school next year. Really. But this time I want to pay in cash and this time, it's a state school, much lower tuition. So I need to save as well.

So I may be able to pay @ least what I was giving to the cc's $94 I'll round it up and it'll be an even $200 a month, 2 and 1/2 years. Not to bad and it'll allow me to squirrel away tuition money too. If I pay it off quicker, I'll be away from starting school that much longer and my goal of using the new degree (potentially even more money) will be that much further away too.

It'll be a short-term sacrifice, for a longer term goal.

So I ended up passing on the 2nd source of online income...it wasn't quite worh it. I know I know your prolly thinking *SLAP* your are in debt do what you gotta do, but trust me, it wasn't worth it. The upside is I gained my time to get some other things done, so I may be taking a bit of a loss in the short run, I should be able to make up for it in the next 3 months. Sorry I can't be very specific, it's a small world and the blog world is even smaller, so there ya go.

Oh and I got not 1, but 2 sources, of online rev so Hoorah!

I have my 2-3 sites on the backburner, I'm more leaning towards 2, the 3rd one is not really the way I want to go for me, but the other 2 are things I'm passionate about. I want to make a bit more headway in paying off the cc before I use money to invest in those sites, I'm thinking May I should have @ least 1 up.

Next time I update, my $15 credit from Capital One, seems I was a bit zealous in my repayment. I'd like them to transfer it over to my other card or refund it ASAP, bastards charge crazy interest but pays not a cent. Harumph.