ok ladies, i have a deep dark secret that i am coming clean with.
i am in credit card debt and i hate it. i have three credit cards, one with j.crew and two visas {one with my bank and one with the devils at capital one}. i owe a total of $5,799.42. my average interest rate is 19%.
this is incredibly embarassing for me to write about. my parents are both involved in finance and i think they did a great job of {trying} to instill in me the importance of personal financial responsibility. but like so many other things, i just didn't listen. that ends today {well, december 31, to be specific}. i'm getting a jumpstart on my new year's resolutions. this is the year i get {mostly} out of credit card debt. i say mostly because, based on the delightful plan that oprah and suze orman have devised for me, it will take approximately 16 months, give or take a few, to pay everything off.
i'm not including my car loan or my student loan in this because to be perfectly frank, i don't mind being in debt for those two things. don't get me wrong, i certainly don't enjoy it, but i need a safe, reliable mode of transportation and ummmm....education rocks!
i could give you lots of excuses as to how i got myself into this pickle , but they would still be excuses. and for every legitimate excuse {i.e. replacing the entire front end of my car after my accident in april. not cheap, even with insurance}, there are excuses in the form of shoes i "needed" to have.
i am telling you all this because i NEED, nay absolutely MUST, be held accoutable for this goal. putting this out there for the {blog}world to see is motivational to me. a few encouraging words from you lovelies wouldn't hurt either. here's how it's going to go down:
according to suze and o, the most effective way to go about this is paying off the j.crew card first {while still making the minimum payments on the two visas, natch}, then the bank visa, and then the capital one card {henceforth known as "the devil card"}. i owe $1,180.35 to j.crew and will be paying $295/month until it is paid down. By my calculations, that should be done by april 30. at this point, i will begin paying $316/month to wachovia, in attempts to pay down the $972.26 i currently owe {minus the minimum payments i'll be making in the interim}. that should take until july. and then i begin the long process of paying off the devil card. at $389/month, it should take me another 8-9 months to pay that off. so i'm just not going to think about that one just yet.
whew....it actually feels pretty good to get this all of my chest. now i'm realistic...the above plan means assuming that i have zero "emergencies" in the next year and that i never, ever slip and charge a nice meal out on the town or a pretty new dress. which ideally, i won't. but life happens. the trick is just to stay on track, even if i slip a couple of times.
bravo to those of you who made it through this incredibly unfun and long post! you will be getting monthly updates from me from now on about this decidedly dull topic, so i'm going to be brainstorming ways to make this a little more fun for me {and you}. yay for fiscal responsibility!
time to go put some plastic on ice...
then
now
