Dinner...debt

Last night I went to dinner with a couple friends, spent about $16. Didn't seem like much at the time, but now it does. Oh well...what's done is done. I will have to more aware in the future and stick to coffee outings if I can.

I just made a payment to my loan of $200 which brings my balance down to $8,3xx! I realized that I have paid $3,000 in just less than two months since I got the loan. Before really trying to get out of debt, I never would have thought I could do this. So cool!

Fell off a little

Yes, I went shopping for a few items of clothing. I spent about $100. It really isn't bad for what I got which was a wool sweater, New Year's Eve top, a pair of leather flats and an Xmas gift. I have not removed tags from anything in case I decide to return any of it (doubtful).

I knew that I REALLY can't spend time in clothing stores or I may spend money, but I was shopping for someone else so had to go to this store.

Oh well...I will just keep on going, pluggin' away at this debt I have. As of today, I owe $8,575 and am seeing the light a bit brighter!

Books

Over the past month or so I have been reading a lot more. Not magazines or the Internet like I usually do, but books. It makes me feel good in more ways than one. It is nice to sit and learn something on your own terms...not in a class setting.

I feel like a sponge trying to absorb as much information as I can. It's nice.

The long weekend was nice too! I needed a break from my busy life.

It is Thanksgiving Day and I stayed home, cleaned a little and read half a book. We didn't have turkey...my mom cooked a duck but it is yet to be eaten. Sure looks delicious though!

I am thankful this year for my friends, family, and good health...and last but not least, I am thankful for finding Dave Ramsey in January. What a motivational source of great information!

I am looking forward to being debt free!!!

Whirlwind

The last two weeks or so have been so busy, it's all a blur! The move is complete, and I've been keeping up with the job and ebay. I got sick during the move which was really uncool...because I had to keep on going in order to stay on schedule.

I did miss some work, but I REALLY needed to. Of course, I kept on pushing myself, even being sick, which didn't help the matter.

Anyhow, I'm better now.

One thing that made me feel good was knowing that even though I was missing work, my financial situation would be ok. My bills would not fall behind, because I only have one debt left. In the past, I would have forced myself to go to work to make the money...no good. This time I felt at ease...and that, is priceless!

I've updated my sidebar with the new total of $10,28x.xx. It's true, I've paid about $1,200 in the last three weeks...unbelievable! I never would have imagined that I could pay that much off in such a short amount of time!

If you are on a journey similar to mine...keep at it! You'll get there on step at a time!

One last loan

There is quite a bit I want to post about but really don't have the time right now since I'm moving...so I will sum it up to say:

I paid off my car and got a loan through my bank to pay AMEX.

I'll post more when I can.

Thought I did it...

Finally...I balanced my checkbook. I don't do this as often as I should but I know that I have money in there, I just never know how much there is. It's complicated, people owe me, I pay my mom's bills after she gives me the cash among other things, and it's hard to keep track of it all sometimes.

So...I had to do it because I knew I had SOME money and I'm so close to paying off my car. After I made all the calculations and figured how much money I need for food and car insurance before my next paycheck, I realized I had about $350 extra.

What does this mean?

I have the money to pay off my car!!!

So... I did!!! Or so I thought.

I looked at the balance, made a transfer and went to look at the $0.00 balance, but instead it said $0.05. Hmmm??? Oh yeah, a day's worth of interest on the balance I had.

My car isn't paid off yet.

I could make another transfer to my account, but instead I think I will go to the bank tomorrow and tell them I want to pay off my car. Then I can find out how to get the title for it.

So now, all the extra money I make goes to AMEX...my last debt!!!

Listening to Dave Ramsey and hearing callers stories has really kept me motivated in this journey. It was just what I needed and I found him at a good time...early this year when I started paying things off. If I remember correctly, I was driving to the Post Office to take some ebay packages when I heard him on AM radio. Around that same time, my local bank was offering a free trial subscription to mytotalmoneymakeover.com for a few months so I signed up.

Really, I don't know which of the two came first. Doesn't matter...I'm just glad I found him to keep me going!

A little more...

My car loan balance is now down to $243.00!!

Under $500 owed on my car

As mentioned in my last post, my direct deposit came through and I have paid $380 to my car loan. This leaves me with a balance of $393!

I have officially knocked out half of my starting debt (mid-January 2009) in just over 9 months! -- Can I eliminate the other half in the same amount of time?

All for now :)

And another car post....and a dead camera

I'm up and it's late...one thing I am thinking of is, "Wow, I can't believe I'm about half way there from when I started in January...and my car is really about to be mine!"

I'm amazed...I thought I would be one year early in paying my car off, but really, it's two years! My loan is not due to be paid of until September 2011!

In the morning, my direct deposited paycheck should be in my bank account and I will be able to pay a nice chunk of money to the bank. -- My sidebar is currently not updated, the real amount is $773.xx and not $997.xx since I paid a bit more in the last couple of days. I'll update it after this post.

On another note, my camera died. I need it. My ebay needs it. I'll have to get a new one and I can't wait much longer. Do people still use film cameras? I'm too impatient for them...and what if you took a bad picture with old school film and you didn't know it until it was developed??? No thanks.