Credit Card Debt Under $21,000!

This weekend, I spent a lot of time looking at our finances and figuring out our cash flow for the next few months. Things are still tight, but thanks to some money received for a project my husband is working on, things are looking up.

I paid some more on our credit cards today, and our credit card debt now stands at $20,951.

I am proud of the progress that we have made. I decided to chart it out so I can see graphically how we are doing:

With looking at that graph, I see that we are nearing the halfway point. There’s a few more thousand dollars to go before we hit it.

Sure, things have slowed down a bit around here with paying off our debt, but I am keeping focused and positive. There will be a point where we will see that line hit zero!

Posted by Tricia on May 28, 2007 at 12:00 AM in Debt Updates | 18 Comments »
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danielle responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Great job!!! Just take baby steps. Don’t focus too too much on the zero mark, rather on the 20K even mark. Then, worry about the next goal later.
I am really glad you did something there.
Kristine responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Wow, what an accomplishment! You should be proud of the progress you’ve made so far. Thanks for sharing your journey out of debt.
D responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Love the graph, really helps to show the massive progress you have made.

Stay strong!
nancy responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Today’s blog just made me smile. You gave me so much encouragement by YOUR accomplishment. I am where you started!! God Bless!
misskate responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Congratulations! You must be so proud of yourself and family! YAY, You!
I love visual representations, whether it’s line graphs like above or pie charts like on ncnnetwork.
Slow and steady and you will get there.
I am always inspired when I come to this blog, but especially today!
Rob in Madrid responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Hi Tricia I spend alot of time over at the simpledollar.com blog and while it’s a great site but he made the transition from spendthirft to frugal seem almost effortless. I like your blog because it shows the struggle that all of us face in trying to overcome debt.

Anyways one important point on getting out of debt is you have to deal with the underlying physiological (thank you google spell) issues that got you in debt in the first place. Instant gratification, keeping up with the Jones laziness in money management etc. Problem is as you begin to get free of debt you will find it hard not to succumb to temptation again. Even if you don’t you’ll be tempted to loosen the purse strings again.

I would highly suggest two things. Starting an emergency fund even if it’s a dollar a day, secondly setting some goals that you save up for. It seems to go against the grain to put money in the bank instead of on debt but the purpose is to get used to having cash in the bank and more importantly getting used to saving up for things.

For example the wife and I normally would use credit for holidays. This year for our trip home we are saving up and expect to have cash in the bank before we leave. Never done that before and it’s a nice feeling. By saving up for it changes how you view money. Could it have gone to debt, sure but we need to change our mindset on how we manage money.

Trent has an excellent article on 31 days to fix your finances
Bob responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
You might consider revamping your chart so that your debt is expressed as a negative number. Then you can continue to use the chart as you punch through the zero (no debt) and start plotting your investment income (expressed as positive numbers.) In other words, express debt as a negative investment.
MVP responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Love the graph. Try this with your weight loss too!
gzone responded:
Posted: May 28th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
We too have focus our efforts on this matter. By far it is the best thing to do with money.
Little Miss Attila responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Almost at the Halfway Point . . ….

at Blogging Away Debt. And this, so far as I can tell, without any involvement in DA. Whatever works!……
Frugal Momma responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 5:19 am
Congratulations! You should be so proud. I have watched your blog since the beginning and this is a day to celebrate.
Tyler responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 7:42 am
Put off paying on the CC’s until you have at least $1000 in an emergency fund! Don’t make a bump in the road be a huge pot-hole!
Chitowngirl responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Keep up the good work!!!
Matt responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
congrats! You’re making great progress before you know it the figure will be in the 10K range.
Jen responded:
Posted: May 29th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
Wow! I know I’ve congratulated you before, but I’m not sure I ever came right out and said this:

I am so impressed by how much you’ve paid off!!!!

Great job!
mbhunter responded:
Posted: May 30th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Keep up the good work!
Blogging Away Debt » Blog Archive » More About Emergency Funds, Rainy Day Funds, or Whatever You Would Like to Call Them responded:
Posted: May 31st, 2007 at 9:49 am
[...] other day, when I was able to share with everyone that our debt was under $21,000, it felt so good. I felt like we were making some progress [...]
Plus6 responded:
Posted: June 1st, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Congrats! Very impressive. Your hard work is inspiring many others.