The Credit Burden

I have always been good with my credit cards. My parents helped me establish good credit during college and I've always "respected the plastic."

Due to a few unlucky housing situations and a string of long distance relationships and getting paid peanuts at my last job, I unfortunately drummed up a bit of debt for myself. Now - I have to say that i fortunately have no student debt, i own my car (a beat up geo that i paid cash for 4 years ago) and becos of the old car, my car insurance is pretty low as well.

So when i say i have debt - i'm not talking about 10's of thousands of dollars. But enough to give me worry because i feel like owing anyone is a burden. It's always on my mind. I have 3 credit cards, and i recently paid off one of them by utilizing my tax refund and some extra money i received for presenting at a conference. So i think i've been pretty responsible about using the "extra" money in my life to pay my debts. Literally.

As i've gotten older - i've realized how important it is to be in control of your finances. There for awhile - i just felt like this happy go lucky sense of "everything will work out, it always does." But now i live in my own place and am totally responsible for the bills coming to my name and my address. And i made a new years resolution to really start paying attention to my budget so i can make a dent in my credit cards and start focusing on SAVING money instead of paying off debts.

I got a free online account with Quicken - and it connects with my bank account and i can go in and categorize my spending, create budgets for certain categories and see the trend of my spending. It's been a big wake up call for me.

I've made some major changes in my spending habits. The biggest thing i've found that has helped is that i do NOT make any online purchases with my credit card with the promise to "pay it off later." That always turned into me deciding i didn't really have the money to pay it off from my paycheck that month and so i'd pay a little bit of it and then start paying interest anyway. It was a slippery slope.

So now - if i really want to buy something online or buy someone a gift off a registry online, etc - I simply use my debit card so it comes straight from my bank account. This way - there is no "i'll pay it off later" because it's being paid for immediately. So if i don't have the money in my account - i shouldn't be buying it anyway.

This new mentality kicked me in the pants a few times at first and now i'm much more in tune with what i can spend when i'm not living on the cushion of credit.

I also have started grocery shopping with my boyfriend. This means we pre-plan our meals, make a list (check it twice) and we only shop ONCE a week. This has majorly impacted my budget, but in a positive way. Before, grocery shopping was a roller coaster bill. Some times i'd go in and spend 100 bucks, and i'd end up eating out more than i should and throwing away good food.

Now i've limited that by pre-planning my meals and only budgeting for 2 meals "out."

Weekends are my only wild card now - but i've been able to keep things in check.

While i'm being paid more at my new job - we've been having "furlough days" so my paychecks since Christmas have been smaller than normal. I've basically been getting paid 140 bucks less each month which really adds up quickly!

But things are looking up as today as the first paycheck of the new fiscal year and we get full checks again - so now i'm in a position to double what i pay to my credit card each pay period and not even feel the impact in my budget.

So - God willing nothing happens unexpectedly in the next month - I should be debt free by August 1. And then after that i can start using the money i was paying toward debt to start saving for the future.

My future already feels brighter - just knowing i'm on the cusp of a major accomplishment - one that has been YEARS in the making.

YAY!!!