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House Proceeds – Credit Cards, part 6

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This is part 6 of where the house proceeds were spent and accounts for the bulk of the money.

This is the BIG SPEND – my credit card debt! I was pretty close to spot on when I made the plan. Although I didn’t realize that even if you pay off the debt prior to the due date, they do charge you interest the next month even if you spend no money on the credit card. And not all credit cards do that.

Total Paid in Credit Card Debt: $24,582

So yes, more than 1/2 of the house proceeds went to debt. And it feels, so, so good. And I’ve written recently about starting to close credit cards. I’ve not rushed into it. As I do want to see what happens to my credit score as I close them. Right now my credit score is sitting at 718. Closing my Amazon Credit Card only dropped my score by 1 point. I was surprised by that. I thought it would drop more dramatically especially since it was one of my older cards.

credit card (generic image)

NEVER AGAIN!

I do mean it when I say I’m breaking the cycle I’ve been in for far too many years.

In fact, as I visited Beauty and her fiance at the end of June after their 4 wheeler wreck, I did determine that I am going to need to do some work on this side of me. Not sure how. But I do need to do the work.

I recognized as I enjoyed their beautiful home and country lot and then a friend’s apartment in Atlanta, that the temptation to have my own place again can and probably will hit unexpectedly. And knowing me, I would make bad financial decisions getting there. (No, I’m not saying that I am facing that temptation now. Living with my parents and helping them is my #1 priority now.)

But I do recognize that I have a really, really bad track record. And I’ve put things in place to keep me accountable especially on the savings front. But I really feel I do need to eliminate the easy access to credit card more than I had planned. And deal with my decision making issues.

More things to bring up with my counselor, who can only talk to me when I’m physically in the state of Georgia due to insurance regulations. So next appointment is in August. I’ll explain that another time.

Total house proceeds spent explained in this series through part 6: $34,325. More to come…

 


7 Comments

  • Reply AS |

    Back here in April, https://www.bloggingawaydebt.com/2025/04/plan-for-house-proceeds/, your credit card debt was approximately $20,600.

    Today, you talk about paying off approximately $24,600. You point out that finance charges continued to accrue after your large payments, let’s say that was another $500-1000. (~30% interest rate).

    That leaves another $3,000 of new, undisclosed credit card debt that occurred between the end of April and the beginning of July. Presumably, separate from the large expenses you’ve been laying out here to avoid a double count.

    If you didn’t realize this $3,000 discrepancy, then you have lost control of your finances again.

    But if you did realize this, then you should have openly discussed it and owned the overspend, instead of hoping readers wouldn’t pick up on the discrepancy.

    I think everyone is worried that the money is about to run out. You’ve not said anything about income or cash flow, not even a statement like “My income in June was sufficient to covered my budgeted line items and I didn’t dip into savings” nor “My income in June didn’t quite cover my budgeted line items, I dipped into $XYZ of savings”.

  • Reply Cheryl |

    Why would you hold on to the cards? Who cares what your credit score is. You need to have savings and retirement not to mention paying off your student loans before you think of buying a car or another home. Exactly how much money do you have left?

  • Reply Anonymous |

    How did your credit card balance go up $3600? You said a few posts back it was $21,000.

  • Reply jj |

    I almost wish you had started with this first, before we saw the spending on other stuff!

  • Reply Cecilia |

    I commend you for acknowledging you have a spending problem and wanting to work on this. Why is your amount of credit card debt thousands of dollars higher than you said it was? Knowing what you actually spent that additional cash on will help you break the cycle.

  • Reply Hortense |

    There is such a thing as a financial therapist. It won’t be free but a few sessions could be a worthwhile investment.

  • Reply L |

    The paragraph where you talk about wanting housing for yourself and making financial mistakes to get there is a disturbing contrast to your defense of the graduation and 21st birthday spending. It comes across like paying for hotels for fun purposes is a higher mental priority for you than the ability to fund actual regular housing. I get that you are representing yourself as choosing to be with your parents for the caretaking support, but it’s also rings true that you would struggle to get your own apartment right now if you didn’t have this option.

    So to me when I read how you’re talking about housing, I’m hearing that you are trying to recast housing yourself somehow into a “want”, some financial temptation where you could be mistaken to prioritize that. Rather than the reality that your finances are so dire you cannot afford to house yourself, and therefore it would be absurd to pay for discretionary hotel stays. Yes you have an alternative for the time being, but the future is uncertain. Really what mistake would you make getting yourself a roof over your head that would be worse than 3k in one month on parties?

So, what do you think ?