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As you can see by our debt total at the left, our credit card debt now stands at $11,598. We received two payments that resulted in a $1,400 payment to our credit card. We received our tax refund, and my husband received some money for a piece of equipment that he sold.
I am so glad that we received our tax refund and the delay was not due to us having to pay some money last year. I have been a first-hand witness to someone’s account being seized by the IRS so I feared the worst when I saw our refund was delayed. The IRS won’t give you money back if they show that you still owe money. So I know that we are completely in the clear and all is well there. Whew.
The equipment my husband sold was a bit bittersweet. It’s nice to have the money, but in a way we no longer have that piece of equipment to sell in a pinch. It was one of the nicer things that we owned that we knew we could get a nice chunk of change for. After researching the going price on eBay, we decided to just sell it back to the company it was purchased from. As expected, it was a very simple process and we received the money as promised.
Our next windfall will be with the economic stimulus check that we should receive via direct deposit in May (here is a link to the payment schedule). Depending on where we stand in May, that payment should take us below the “five figure credit card” debt that we have had for so long.
We will be in four figure credit card debt range. Wow. We will really be on the home stretch.
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Credit Card Debt
- Starting = $37,614
- Paid Off = $28,616
- Current = $8,998
- $25 ING Savings Bonus
Savings Account
- Current = $3,203
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Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Seems like just yesterday, your credit debt was above $30k. Amazing how the balances fall so fast now.
You guys are doing awesome!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 7:50 am
WOW WOW and triple WOW Tricia! That is fantastic!!!! Good for you guys
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 8:59 am
What is crazy is to think what if you keep the same mentality once you pay off your debt - saving $26,000 in one year!!!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Awesome! It will feel soooo wonderful when your debt falls below 5 digits
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Please don’t pay it off too quickly. Some of us depend on you for success!
HS
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Equipment isn’t something to be used for selling when you are “in a pinch.” That’s a poor person’s mentality. Plus, it’s a depreciating asset. The better plan - which you are on - is to sell the item and put it toward debt or put the money in a savings account for when you’re in a pinch.
Congratulations on the continued debt reduction and on making smart choices with money!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 10:20 am
That’s great. . . Those milestones really keep one going. I’m really impressed with your discipline!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I am really happy for you. I can’t wait to see it under 10K. Got anything else you can sell?
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Great news!
And, it’s great to see someone using their tax refund to reduce their debt rather than to buy more STUFF.
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 11:28 am
This is amazing progress. You’re going to have to start thinking about what you’ll blog about when you’re finally debt-free!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Don’t fret so much about the equipment… consider this:
When you sold that piece of equipment, and put that money toward your debt you received the interest rate’s worth of return - if that’s 12% on a credit card then you just made a 12% return on that money!
I hope that makes the sale a bit more sweet than bitter
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
You should increase your number of tax exemptions so that you are not giving the government an interest-free loan with your tax overpayment–plus you get a bit more money each paycheck. I think it is far better to owe a little bit of tax rather than getting a tax refund.
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Good job, the 4 figure mark is almost there. Faster the debt is gone the easier it is to actually save and keep money in your hands.
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I disagree with HS. I DO hope you pay off your credit card debt soon. You really really deserve it. However, I also hope (perhaps selfishly) that you won’t cut ties with the blog world when you do, but will keep us up to date on your retirement saving and student loan payoff, which I assume would be next.
Congratulations!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Excellent job, the amount of have paid off is really unbelievable!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Yeah for Tricia! Great job! I love reading about your success. It really is what I needed to hear today!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
That is AWESOME news Tricia! You are always an inspiration!!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
You need to set up a mini celebration for the day that payment posts that put you under $10k. Next stop? Freedom! Keep it up!
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Fantastic!
Down into 4 figures from $30k…wow.
Posted: April 7th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Oh, I am SO excited for you guys!
That is the most wonderful news in the world…and for us to be able to share it with you, even better!
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Here’s a solution for those of you who want Tricia to keep blogging away her debt… Tricia should borrow $35,000 to buy an investment portfolio and then she could blog away that debt.
(Given the markets right now, I don’t really want her to do that, but she could pretend to do that and we wouldn’t know the difference!)
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Congrats. You continue to inspire . . .
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Please keep the same lifestyle after blogging away your last dollar of debt. Put the savings into an couple of index funds, preferably the low cost ones of Vanguard, and start living of dividends and capital gains. Assuming you keep on saving 20000$ per year and knowing you can withdraw 4% of uour portfolio to still keep up with inflation, you would have the following ‘extra’s’ each year:
1s year: 800$
2nd year: 824$ + 800$
3rd year: about850$ + 824$ + 800$
And so on…
(3% inflation is assumed)
Keep on doing this and you will become truly financially free. Think of it as buying your time. Anyway, good luck, whatever you decide to do!
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
I vote for doing the same thing with the student loans. They are debt, too.
Tricia, what happened to the savings? It used to be right under your debt amount…
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Thanks everyone!
About the blog once our credit card debt is paid off…I’m not sure where to go from there. We will still have student loans and credit cards, but it really depends on what is happening in my life at the moment. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to borrow any money so I can keep blogging about my debt
danielle - thanks for the head’s up! I’ve been playing around with some stuff and I forgot to put my savings total back. It’ll be back in a bit.
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Hmmm…What about taking $1596 out of savings and putting it towards your debt? You’d still have $1609 in savings…. C’mon, you know you want to…
Posted: April 8th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
oops, I meant 1599