On Track to Meet my Goals (Check the stats!)

Please direct your attention to the 2008 Challenge bar chart mid way down the right side of the page. I've paid almost 1/3 of my revolving debt since August! What a great feeling! I'm really on track to eliminate credit card debt in 2008.

Back in October I went to the snowball calculator and entered in numbers from my budget. At the rate I was going (paying almost 50% of my net salary to debt including personal debt, student loans, and hospital bills) it would have taken me until July 2010 to pay off my credit card debt! I'm not kidding, I have the printout with notes right here in front of me. Thats when it hit me. I can't live like this for three more years. I had to make some changes and start getting serious about paying debt.

I plugged in a numbers to represent a few different scenarios. First I used $300 to represent a) approximately the additional income I could bring home with a $5000 raise or b) a reasonable amount to make from my second job each month. That additional $300 monthly payment brought my payoff date up to August 2009. Then I started thinking. What if I get a raise and work hard at my second job? I added another $300 into the snowball calculator. My payoff date jumped up to February 2009.

My choice was clear: year and a half of working hard and stretching my budget to the limit or three years of working and just scraping by? Oh yeah, and the interest paid. The interest paid in scenario 1 was around $12,000 and the interest paid in scenario 3 was around $6000. I'd have to pay $6000 for the luxury of what? Being lazy and spending money that wasn't mine? Once I saw the numbers I made it my mission to make it happen.

I started the monthly challenge back in November to remind myself that I had goals to meet. I set my monthly additional income goal to $400. In this I include cash back bonuses, money made from tutoring, money made from referrals, things sold on amazon or craigslist. Any money that comes my way in addition to my salary. I've met this challenge every month since I set it. Back in November I finally worked up the courage to ask for a raise and to my surprise they gave me more than I asked for!

By the time Patrick from Cash Money Life started the Carnival of Financial Goals I was ready to re-evaluate my 2008 goals. I decided that if I threw in some budget cuts in addition to my raise and extra income I could bring my payoff date all the way up to December 2008! Made paying off my personal debt my financial resolution for 2008 and printed out the snowball calculator chart. I keep the debt snowball payment chart hanging over my computer as a reminder that meeting my goal is possible.

Two months later I am right on track, check the stats!