it’s the end of june

Well, here it is. The day I thought I would pay my credit card off completely. It’s a somewhat sad day, because it’s not happening today. For a couple of reasons. One, I did not get my mileage check today as I thought I would (boss is on vacation). And two, I am embarrassed to say I used my credit card for a purchase of a birthday gift.  I did not foresee that purchase before I made my last credit card payment, therefore not having enough in my checking account to cover the purchase. And since I had it down to the penny, throwing $30 back into the mix creates a problem.  Another thing that is throwing things off a bit is the fact that my boss let me use my credit card (since I earn miles with Delta) to buy something for the office that cost around $4600.00. Needless to say, right now my credit card looks like I went on a mad shopping spree. Not that I would EVER spend money like that shopping, my mindset of spending has drastically changed (just ask my family) since I came back from Nicaragua. But that’s a blog for another day (one that is definitely festering in my heart at the moment)…Something good worth mentioning about my credit card situation at the moment is that I have paid off the remaining balance that was on the last statement. That means I shouldn’t have any finance charge for the next statement…definitely a good thing!

Because of the crazy exceptions at the moment, I’m not gonna update the numbers on this post. I’ll wait for next week when I will hopefully have a big, fat 0 to put up for Amex and some subtracting from the Student Loans. Until then, I think I might add a few posts dealing with some of the issues going on inside me. There’s so many thoughts on sooooo many things right now and I want to get them out. Maybe someone out there will even offer up their comments about what they think of it all. So look for a few somewhat “off the wall” posts in the next few days…and enjoy!

I must finally be gettin' Serious about this...

I had a hard five minutes debating whether I should make the payment I just made or to wait a week to make sure nothing comes up that I need to pay for. But my seriousness about getting out of debt overrode any unforeseen expenses in the next week and I just put another $700.00 towards my Amex card! yippee!!! it's going down quick...and I LOVE IT! It's still gonna be a nail-biter to the end, but I am hoping I can get the Amex paid off by the end of June! That means only 16 days and I will be credit card DEBT FREE!!!!! =)

Not only did I pay the $700.00, but I made my monthly $200.00 payment towards my student loans last Thursday.  That means my loans are now under the $11,000 mark!!!

the dwindling debt numbers are...

Student Loans  ---  $ 10,916.64
Amex  ---  $ 810.70  (if this number looks a little off, it's b/c of 
                               the ragged ol' $ 34.56 periodic finance 
                               charge on my credit card! ugh!!)

Thank you, Mr. IRS!!

so...I've been itching to make my first significant payment towards slaughtering my credit card debt since I received my tax return check a few weeks ago.  I was very pleasantly surprised by the number on that check.  I was expecting $200ish dollars. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty sad by that number because I usually get a somewhat larger check than that. But I thought "it is what it is".  Then I get my return and it's a whoppin' $1165.00!!! Talk about being giddy! I broke into giddy laughter every few minutes after opening that check. But my mom, being the wise woman she is, warned me not to get too excited, in case it was a mistake. (We all know Mr. IRS would never allow me to get away with a mistake that's in MY favor!!). So I made a call to Mr. IRS to make sure everything matched up and was correct. Ms. nice IRS lady went into great detail with me for each item on the return and explained that we'd made a mistake in my taxable income (i think?) and I was also eligible for a new tax credit that came available this year and since it was the first year, they went ahead and calculated it in for me (Thank you kindly, Mr. IRS for the extra $$$$$!!!!!!!!). What a blessing!!!  I start this blog and get serious about getting rid of my debt, and God blesses me immediately with a great amount of money to get this process started, not to mention what a motivation starter that check was!  I added $435.00 to that $1165.00 check and yesterday I made a payment of $ 1600.00 on my credit card!!!! I hope to have that sucker paid off by the end of June! A somewhat steep goal as I've been running figures in my head, but I think I can do it. I just have to minimalize my life for the next few weeks...scratch that, minimalize my life for the next 12 months!!!! But what a GLORIOUS day it will be, when I'm finally out of slavery!!!

Thank you Jesus for your wonderful surprise! =)

~the current numbers...

Student Loans ---  $ 11,077.84  (still the same)

Amex --- $ 1,476.14   (oh yeah!!)