Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Tricia

I’ve been a slacker since July with posting financial details. That’s when things got busy with life and I let the details slide. As long as our debt was going down and we spent less than we earned – in my mind we were doing alright. I’m almost done with our income and spending report and I hope to have that posted this weekend.

I do have an update for our net worth and the little graphic in the left sidebar is updated. It is so nice to still see that line going up. Our net worth as of January 31st is ($23,489). You can see all of the detail on my NetWorthIQ profile.

There are a few things to note. Our car has finally decreased in value to around $4K, probably due to the lower gas prices now. For quite a while, it was hovering comfortably above $5K. If gas prices go up again, there is a chance the value could go up since it is a fuel efficient car (not a hybrid, though).

During one of the last net worth updates I posted, I received a few comments about my retirement fund. I wasn’t updating it, even though the value was very likely changing. I’m sure it has lost value with everything that is going on right now. Since there wasn’t even $3K in it and I am no longer contributing to it, I decided to remove it from our net worth. It’s not money that I plan on pulling from anyways. The rest of our assets we can sell/pull from if we need to.

There is one other thing missing from our net worth. Back in October, I sold this blog to Jeffrey Strain (from SavingAdvice.com and FreeMicroLoan.com and other sites too). That is sitting in a separate savings account earning interest and I am pulling a salary from it monthly to equal the income I would normally make from this site. There is still money in account, but since the sale price is not public it is not on our net worth.

Part of the sale agreement was to keep blogging here for six months. That means that my commitment per the terms of sale ends March 31st. Our credit card debt will probably not be paid off by then, so I’ll be here for a while longer after that. Some of you have asked me to keep blogging. You will still see me around here because I am looking forward to following the next blogger and participating in the comments. You’ll also probably see me around other debt blogs as well. I haven’t had the time to read many of your blogs lately, and I’d like to get back into doing that. I’ve also thought about finding a blogging gig somewhere. If that doesn’t materialize, at the very least I will join a forum. If I do, I will announce on here. I’d like to thank those that shared your opinion about me still giving updates now and then – you’re right.

Everything still seems very surreal. By the end of this month, we should be able to get our credit card debt to close to $4K. Only a little bit more to pay off and we could technically use our savings to pay off the rest. It’s hard to describe, but I feel like asking my son to pinch me. After three years at reducing debt, so much of it has become second nature…extra money automatically went towards our credit cards. What will it be like without having credit card debt? I guess only time will tell.