get out of debt

Yeah babies!

Here’s my update:
- Just paid $62 on my VISA & $143 onto Mastercard. Both now again ZERO balances.
- I was going to pay $255 onto my line of credit, but bumped it up to a payment of $355.

Here’s my list-action.

Visa – - – - – - -$0.00 Lmt.($7600)
OverDraft – - – - $0.00 Lmt.(3000)
MasterCard – - – -$0.00 Lmt.($4800)

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Line of Credit – -$8800.00 Lmt.($10,000)
Student Loan I – -$5595.99 Amnt.($9824.83)
Student Loan II – $2633.07 Amnt.($3536)
Car Loan – - – - -$9980.96 Amnt. ($16,000)

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Total – - – - – - $27,010.02 – - Amnt.($54,760.83)

Total w/out Car Loan -$17,029.06 – - Amnt.($38,760.83)

I’ve posted a photo of my current list to pay off my Line of Credit. A few more 100’s crossed off the list.

(Meanwhile… back at the ranch…)

I made it to another payday. Almost broke, but I’ll be able to make some small dents in my debt/s.

A $289.00 car payment being taken out of my account, $200 on credit cards, and a couple hundred on my LOC.

Still waiting for a boost of cash to come my way…

Here’s my update. Lately I’m obsessing about my debt. Something has to come along to make a substantial dent—$$$.

Visa —-—-—-—-——-$0.00 Lmt.($7600)
OverDraft-—-—-—-——-$0.00 Lmt.(3000)
MasterCard —-—-—-——$0.00 Lmt.($4800)

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Line of Credit —-—-$9200 Lmt.($10,000)
Canada Loan-—-—--$5595.99 Amnt.($9824.83)
BC Student Loan —-—$2643.07 Amnt.($3536)
Car Loan-—-—-——$9980.96 Amnt.($16,000)

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Total-—-—-—-—$27,420.02
Total without Car Loan—$17,439.06

I figured out how to transfer funds to and from different banks. Now I won’t procrastinate about going to the bank to withdraw funds, and drive to the other bank to deposit funds. I can do it from home.

How soon is now?

I just sent in a quote for a “side-job”. Fingers crossed. If I get it, it’s an extra $4000-$6000 onto the debtsky. What a boost that would be!

I wanted to pay a few hundred on my new “debt list”. But, the interest kicked in (end of month), so some payment got sucked up by that.
Well, it’s started now though. $9500 is crossed off. Only 94 more cross offs to go.

I’m hoping for some extra little $ to come my way, so I can make substantial dents in this list.

This feels impossible right now. But, I did it last year to pay off $7600. In 6 months.
(see photo above)

Yes. It is indeed payday. One problem I have to resist, is the tempatation to put so much $ onto my debt/s, that I’m scraping by for the next 2 weeks.

TOTAL:$27,960.81

I enter this contest online, to win $3500. They give this amount away every month. This would help a fair bit on my debt.

I have a feeling some extra money might be coming my way. We’ll see.

Please, please, please, let me get what I want…

Total Debt as of May 28, 2008 = $28,010.96
Visa —-—-—-—-—$0.00 Lmt.($7600)
OverDraft-—-—-—-—$0.00 Lmt.(3000)
MasterCard —-—-—--$150 Lmt.($4800)
Line of Credit —-—-—$9500 Lmt.($10,000)
Student Loan 1-—-—-—$5700 Amnt.($9824.83)
Student Loan 2 —-—-—$2680 Amnt.($3536)
Car Loan-—-—-—-—-$9980.96 ($16,000)
Total-—-—-—-——-$28,010.96

Total without Car Loan —-$18,030

I think I’ve posted this before, but I’ll post it again. I paid off my VISA in about 5 months. The balance was $7600, with a limit of $7500.

First of all, I cut up the card. This wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. In fact, as soon as it was done, it was like a weird weight was lifted off my shoulders. The little thing was burning a hole in my pocket everyday. Dinners, CD’s, clothes, etc…

Next, on the back cover of a notebook, I listed the debt down the page in multiples of $100. So, $7600/$7500/$7400..etc,....$1000/$900… all the way down to $0.

I would make payments of $100 or more, and cross out the amounts as I went along.

I think that a lot of people lose focus on what they’re spending/paying back. The numbers get foggy, and you just lose track. Having this simple list, on your fridge, above your bed, anywhere that you’ll look at it everyday – gives you a visual layout of the debt.

A lot of us are “visual learners”, and this gives you an instant picture of the progress that is being made. Plus, it motivates you to want to see the entire page with every number scratched out-down to $0.

At the end, you can frame the page as a reminder of “Never Again!” will you bury yourself in debt, because you worked so hard to get out. And you have a picture of all that work – as a reminder

Anyway, that simple way helped me. Maybe it will help others too. (Now I think I have to start a new list…)

Visa —-—-—-—-——-$0.00 ($4800)
MasterCard —-—-—-——$0.00 ($7500)
Line of Credit —-—-——-$9544.41
Student Loan-—-—-—-—$5700
Student Loan II-—-—-——$2680
Car Loan-—-—-—-—--$9980.96

Total-—-—-—-—-——$27,905.37

No More credit cards. So now the slow climb up the “Line of Credit Mountain” begins…
The car loan is a “daily expense” that is just a part of living in a city. Having the car enables me to make money on side-line work, outside of my regular job.

It was so easy to bury myself in this hole, and it happened in a very short time.

It’ll be a long time before I see the light at the end of this tunnel.

So I did it. I was sitting there in front of the computer debating whether or not to sell my stocks. Selling them would give me about $9000 to dump on to my debt. With a few clicks, I sold it all. Pretty much managed to break even. I felt soooo good about getting rid of this garbage. Now I have cleared my Over draft of $2800, My Visa of $4300, and the remainder onto my Line of Credit.

Here’s the update, (as of this Tuesday)

Line of Credit:-$8447 (Limit $10,000)
Mastercard:——-$1000 (Limit $4,300)
Overdraft: ——$0 (Limit $3000)
Visa :—-——-$0 (Limit $7500)

The above are my urgent debts to clear.
The others are My two student loans, and my car.
The Student loans are bottom of the priority list. The interest is tax deductible at least. The car… well that payment I’m used to; it comes out every month, and I need a car, so no big deal.

There it is, in all it’s mountainesque glory.