Five Figure Credit Card Debt – Buh Bye!!!

Yay! We received our economic stimulus payment today and I sent off a huge chunk of change towards our debt. Our payment was for $1,500 and I originally thought we would only use a portion towards our debt.

Well, I couldn’t resist using all of it to put towards our debt. That brought it to $9,198.

But I couldn’t stop there. I had to contribute $200 more to put it under the $9K mark. Our checking account will be tight for a while, but if the money isn’t there…we won’t spend it!

That brings our total credit card debt to $8,998! We have paid off over $28,000 of our credit card debt. My little graphic at the NCN Network made it really sink in that we are getting so close to debt payoff now.

We are definitely in the home stretch

Posted by Tricia on May 9, 2008 at 8:39 AM in Debt Updates | 31 Comments »
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Sarah responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Way to go! Truly an inspiration!
Alison responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 8:54 am
You’ve caught me! I was having this little “race” in my head to beat you to $0 of credit card debt. When we started at over $10,000 of debt, you were around the $16,000 mark, so I thought to myself, surely we can get there first. Not so much, you’ve caught up with us! Technically we still have about $50 on you, and I haven’t made my stimulus check debt payment yet, but now I’ve got to kick it into high gear. You’re such an inspiration, and definitely a HUGE motivating factor to get rid of this debt! Congrats!
Mar responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Tricia, I don’t know which is giving me more vicarious enjoyment this spring – watching your debt paydown accelerate or watching all the blindsides at Tribal Council on Survivor! Right now, they’re pretty close! Congratulations – doesn’t it feel wonderful, especially knowing that you have money in savings to cover any emergencies that might come up!
lyssa responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 9:23 am
congrats Tricia! that’s wonderful news!
Dedicated responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Under $9k – wow! Just think how much of each payment will go to principal now instead of interest.

Debt free by year end? I’m thinking this is going to be a nice Christmas for you 3.
Crispy responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Yay for you! It really kicks up the motivation to pass a milestone like that, doesn’t it?
Brainy responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Nice! When I broke through into the 4 figure mark, I found that things really sped up.

You’ll be out in no time now! Woo-hoo!
Cos responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 10:47 am
super congrats! that’s going to get on such a roll that you’ll be out of the debt muck in short order. you’re a standard by which even other debt bloggers have got to look up to! way to go!
Sherri responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Yay! =D
Stephanie @ PoorerThanYou responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Congrats, Tricia! It’s so exciting to watch your balance go down!
Daniel Aziz responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hi,

I have been following your blog for sometime now and really enjoy reading your posts.

Very inspirational read!

Thanks
Dan
justine responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:18 am
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Julie Mead responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:19 am
WOW! Tricia thats amazing! Under $9K seems so small compared to what you have already accomplished.

Great job! You are so disciplined.
Dave responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:24 am
That’s awesome Tricia! Well done! I just did a post on how “addictive” it is to see that number go down.

Well done and best of luck over the coming weeks coping with the lack of expendable funds.

THIS is why I subscribe to blogs like yours.
Jim ~ mydebtblog.com responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Tricia you’ve made leaps and bounds on getting your debt paid off. You’re down to the last quarter of the pie to chip away at now. My wife and I have a lot further to go but you’re an inspiration to us to start tackling that and getting it paid off. Congrats!

Mar the blindsides on Survivor are great but so is paying off debt. I’m pulling for Amanda.
Jen responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am
That’s awesome!!!!! You have come SUCH a long way!
alex responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Way to go – I love that you went ahead and put the extra on the debt instead of buying stuff…think what will happen this time next year when you put that in an account that will pay you 4% interest… or the stock market that could pay over 10%….
Mar responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Jim, I agree. If it were my debt being paid off, that would be more pleasurable, but it’s not so it’s about equal for. Fortunately, I paid off the debt several years ago, except for the mortgage, so I know what you and Tricia and everyone else currently paying off have to look forward to.. It’s well worth the pain and sacrifice and current denial to get there. Good luck!

I’m rooting for Amanda too, but I’ll be fine if Cirie wins it.
paidtwice responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Congrats!! How exciting!! This is so thrilling!
My Daily Dollars responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
You’re amazing! Congrats and good luck wiping out the rest!
Kim L. responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
That’s so great! You are so close now I bet you can taste it!
Lynn responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
way to go Tricia! We threw a lot of ours at our debt. I made the payment as soon as I could because if that money stays in the bank we will spend it.

I’ve only been reading your blog for a few months but it is helping to keep me motivated to pay off our debt. I actually believe now that we will be out of debt sooner than later.
danielle responded:
Posted: May 9th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
All right, Trish!!! I have been waiting for this post almost as much as I was waiting for my own $1500.
Congrats.
James responded:
Posted: May 10th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Tricia,

You are my debt payoff guru! Wonderful, congratulations! I am sure that the balance of your cards will soon be gone!

Best,

James
Nate responded:
Posted: May 10th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Good morning and congratulations! Hey, we’re just over 11k, close enough for a little challenge. I’ll race you to $0. We just paid off our van with our rebate. Now just our credit card.
Eva in TX responded:
Posted: May 10th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Congrats! You go, girl
Matt responded:
Posted: May 10th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Congrats on reaching 4 digits. This site has kept me inspired for the last year and I’ve gone from 54k to 37k in debt hoping to have it gone in about 3 more years. I hope I can keep up even after your debt is gone. That is so awesome for you.
CanadianKate responded:
Posted: May 11th, 2008 at 10:03 am
My high speed has been down for a few days so I haven’t been able to check in to see how things were going. Imagine my surprise when the page comes up and you aren’t under $10K but are under $9K! You go girl!!!!
Tricia responded:
Posted: May 13th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Alison – LOL about the racing with us. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this journey is that life doesn’t stand still. Who knows what’s around the corner so the best tactic for us is to throw money at our debt when we have it. Keep checking in to let me know how you are doing!

Dedicated – it’s funny you mentioned Christmas. When I was writing this post I did a little month count on my fingers to see if we could be debt-free by year end. It could happen.

Thank you to everyone for the congrats! I do feel that a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders now that we are in the 4 figure range. There will be more on that later.
NCN responded:
Posted: May 13th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Wow! Rock on! How cool is that – you should feel so very, very proud of yourself. I LOVE the fact that you not only sent the whole 1500 bucks, but an additional 200 as well… very ‘ncn-ish’ of you! Keep it up!!!
zarfkitty responded:
Posted: May 13th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I have been reading your archives over the last several days and I am so inspired!!! Our little family of three has just started our debt reduction project – a six digit number at the moment (including car and student loans with the CCs). Congrats on breaking four digits!