Hope everyone had a joyous Christmas as well as a safe and wonderful New Years! Most of my free time this month was spent doing as much family stuff as can be squeezed into the ridiculously cold weather December decided to throw at us. But since we live in the Midwest, it’s not as if winter is a surprise or anything… 
As I mentioned last time, my efforts at earning a little extra are paying off in a fairly major way. December took November’s successes and handily passed even that success up in a way that boggles my mind. The earnings have slowed down in the last ten days or so, as I expected. But now that I’ve got a taste of the potential out there, I’m hooked, and am excited to get cracking in ‘09! 
When my assorted commissions started coming in in mid-December, I must be entirely honest: we blew some of it going ever so slightly overboard with our gift giving. We budget a bit every month for Christmas gifts throughout the year (’cause Christmas isn’t a surprise, you know!), but decided to add a chunk to that total when I saw how things were going. Even though we had it to spare, it still felt a little odd going off budget.
But most of the excess went to doing some heavy damage to our debt. Which was a lot more fun than it sounds like! I decided to check this month’s running total a few days before the end of December, and saw I was a couple hundred dollars short of a big number. So Chase got paid twice this time around. Because when I realized how close we were, I just had to see five figures disappear in a month!
Let the blood letting begin!
| Nov 30′08 | Dec 31′08 | Change | |
| EVERYTHING We Owe | |||
| Credit Card Debts | |||
| Chase | $16,873.40 | $16,200.00 | ($673.40) |
| Other Debts | |||
| Home Mortgage | 38,315.84 | 38,265.60 | (50.24) |
| Low Energy Loan | 13,926.38 | 13,799.58 | (126.80) |
| Line of Credit | 21,949.70 | 13,159.82 | (8,789.88) |
| Medical Debt | 3,565.31 | 3,065.31 | (500.00) |
| TOTAL Liabilities | $94,630.63 | $84,490.31 | ($10,140.32) |
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I admire how optimistic you can be about your debt. I think it’s great to have a firm grasp on your financial reality, but it’s very difficult to do. It IS a little like bloodletting. Kudos. Luck.
Thats great that you can those kind of strides in just one month, keep it up. a lot of people could take a page from your book.
There is something to be said about taking down your credit card debt in chunks. It just feels good, I propose that it is the feeling of being in control. Sure you still owe on it. But the fact that you are tracking it alone means it is way more likely to go down. I don’t know if you’ve tried, but Chase has been willing to lower interest rates if you can get someone with a brain on the phone. Tell them you are going to do a balance transfer…they’ll get moving to help.
It is good to see you take strides in working of your debt. I’ve found that being well organized and keeping track of what you owe and making a plan to take care of it can really help solve your financial problems. Thanks for the great example.
It is always a good idea to handle credit card debts in blocks than taking the whole thing in one go. For one, if we had the dough to pay off the credit card debts in one go, we would not have any debts to talk about, would we?
But by organizing your debt payments, you can now streamline your payments according to the inflow you receive for that month. By organizing the payments, you should be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, if not the light then at least a glimmer, every now and then. Good luck and hey, we are all in the same club! Nice to have some company!
You definitely have the right attitude.
I think you have a great plan here. When you have a plan about how to tackle your debt it doesn’t feel like such a massive undertaking. Great job and I hope you pay it off.
as usual, mortage is the priority and major among all debts.Maybe a refinance for your mortgage loan would help? or finding a good opportuny to double up your income.
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You can call your credit card company and actually find out what extra charges and fees you possibly may be accruing on your card that is adding to your debt. Many people overlook the small charges and focus on the large amounts of debt they have to repay. Print those monthly statements (that is if your credit company doesnt charge, well they shouldn’t, its standard these days) and check the details out.
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