Debt right now

Well, what a mighty hole we’ve dug ourselves.

Now, it’s time to grab shovels (or rolled pennies) and start digging our way out.

The debt we owe our children has continued to (ever so slowly) decrease. We borrowed $1500 from each child and have paid back $650 to each of them. Our car loan has continued to decrease as well. We have a 0% loan so it’s nice to see the payment actually affect the bottom line.

Our credit card is a whole ‘nother story! We charged and we charged and we charged and now we have to face the music.

For 2018, my only resolution, or goal, is to have our credit card balance below $10000 by the end of the year. That gives me 12 months.

Here are our current debt totals:

            $17248.36         Credit Card at 15.74%

            $850                 The Boy

            $850                 The Girl

            $8925.00           Car loan at 0% - payment is $345

Our total debt stands at: $27,873.36. YIKES!

There’s really not much I can say. I have no excuse. I just need to stop buying on credit card and start digging out of debt!

I just redeemed a statement credit on our credit card to the tune of $280. That should at least cover the interest for the month. I also have $500 in payments scheduled to go towards our credit card debt. Any extra money will be funneled that way as well. I’m hoping my next statement will have a balance of $16,500 or lower. It’s going to be really close, and obviously dependent upon whether or not we charge anything this month. (*We did pay cash for our groceries last night, small win!)

In order to meet my goal of under $10000 for the year, we need to pay back a minimum of $604.03 per month, not including interest. It is a doable amount if we are diligent with our money. And in all honesty, we usually aren’t. Including interest, we need to pay back closer to $800 per month and I am a little nervous about reaching that amount. I will shoot for $604 per month first, and then go from there.

I would love to say “debt-free” by the end of the year, but I think that has been my biggest problem in the past: I haven’t been realistic about what we can do. $600 ($800 with interest) towards credit card debt is realistic.

I will try to keep track of my progress each month and find out if I am meeting my goal of paying off over $600 of debt per month and therefore on track to meet my goal of credit card debt below $10000.

I know I say this every time, but, wish us luck.