It’s been a while since I updated my credit card debt payoff progress. That’s probably because I haven’t been focusing on paying them off very much lately. Of course, I’m not using the cards, so even just paying the minimum payments is reducing the balance. However, I’m not paying much extra so the progress has slowed quite a bit lately.

My starting balance was $25,559.82 when I started this blog in September, 2007. Through the end of June, 2009, the balance is now $7,876.90. The total paid off so far is $17,682.92. That’s about 22 months, for an average monthly reduction of $803. I was doing much better with that, but over the last few months I’ve only paid a couple hundred dollars toward the debt.

I started 2009 with the goal of paying off the credit cards completely. I’m no longer on pace to make that happen, but I’m still hopeful that it can be done. If I can cut out some more spending and find some extra sources of income it might still happen. At the very least, I want to finish paying off the smaller of the two cards, which has a balance of $2,905.70. Getting at least that much done shouldn’t be a problem.

By Eden, Wed 15 Jul 2009, Comments Categories: Credit Cards, Debt

As of the end of February 2009, my total credit card debt is down to $8,969.87. This means I have paid a total of $16,589.95 from the time I started this blog with $25,559.82 in credit card debt.

My pay-off pace has slowed a bit lately, but I expect to be making a rather large payment in the next month or two and possibly eliminating the third credit card of the four that I started with.

It won’t be long until I’m done with credit cards for good!

By Eden, Mon 2 Mar 2009, Comments Categories: Credit Cards, Debt

I haven’t brought this up here on the blog yet, but one of my big plans for 2009 is going back to school and getting a Master’s Degree. I’m going to school online for the following (terribly long named) degree: Master of Business Administration with an
Emphasis in Management of Information Systems.

This is a good choice for me because I like business and entrepreneurship and I currently make my living in the IT field as a Web and database developer. I see much greater career potential if I move into management and this degree program is part of my plan to get there.

The good:

• It wouldn’t be hard to double or triple my current salary with a good management position. I see this as the next step for my career.
• A salary increase like the above would pay for the degree in about one year or less.
• It never hurts to have a Master’s Degree on your resume.
• As long as I am an employee this should help me to earn more money.

The bad:

• I’ll be adding $25K – $30K of debt.
• If I don’t get a big salary increase I’ll be paying off this debt for a long time.
• This is a big time commitment for the next 18 months in my already very busy life.
• Ultimately, I want to work for myself and I don’t really need another degree to do that.

I’ve never felt fully comfortable that I made the right decision to go back to school. However, I didn’t want to continue procrastinating so I decided it was better to jump in and get it done rather than continue to sit on the sidelines and not make a decision. I’ve only started this week, and so far so good, but we’ll see how my opinion forms as time goes on.

The debt versus education argument is a classic in the personal finance world. What do you think? Did I make a good decision?

By Eden, Thu 8 Jan 2009, Comments Categories: Debt, Education

This is a great way to start off the New Year! As of the end of December our total credit card debt is finally under $10,000 ($9,776.07 as I write this). The balance has been just over $10,000 for about 2 months now, but I have slowed down payments recently as we may be facing some uncertainty with jobs and other things.

One of my goals for 2008 was to pay off all the credit card debt. We didn’t accomplish that, but I knew it was a rather lofty goal and not hitting it isn’t so bad. The good news is that we paid off $8,728 and eliminated two of the four original credit cards—including the highest interest rate card (was about 11%). Our remaining two cards are both locked in at under 5% interest.

One of my goals again for this year will be to eliminate the credit cards entirely. We’ll have to come up with a little more money than we did last year, but with more hard work and a more intense focus on frugality I know we can do it.

By Eden, Fri 2 Jan 2009, Comments Categories: Credit Cards, Debt

No, I’m not talking about some metaphysical foolishness, sold by the truckload thanks to the Oprah. I’m also not going to suggest crazy, get-rich-quick infomercial trash.

The secret to getting out of debt, or doing anything else meaningful for that matter, is quite simple and you already know what it is.

HARD WORK!

I know that isn’t always the answer we want to hear, but it’s true. No matter how many times I’ve tried to avoid it, I always do my best in life when I just forget everything else and put in some hard work (but I’m careful to work smart as well).

That’s it. Go work hard and you’ll be on your way to financial freedom.

Okay, there is a little more to it than that. You could go do hard work breaking rocks or digging ditches but if you are breaking the wrong rocks or digging a ditch in the wrong place all that hard work has gone to waste. You need to work smart too and you need a plan. But the plan is the easy part compared to the hard work that it’s going to take to execute that plan. Whatever plan you end up with, just make sure it includes some hard work somewhere or it’s just going to fail.

Now quit reading blogs and get to work!

By Eden, Sat 8 Nov 2008, Comments Categories: Debt, Life