12,229.71
As of this past Sunday that's how high my credit card debt had hit. That's high. Now I know it could be higher, & lots of people do have higher CC debt, but I don't care it's still really high & I'm ready to be done with it. I pay $600 a month on my cards, which is above the minimum, but it doesn't do anything because I turn around & put it right back on there. So, I literally put them in the freezer. Spending freeze for real y'all. Next week I get my last check from my old district & then next month I'll get my first check from my current district. After taking a much harder look at my spending, & seeing what my new checks look like I'll reevaluate how much I put into savings & how much I pay off on my cards every month. At the current rate it will take me almost 2 years to get them all paid off if I put nothing else on them. However, that's a whole lot sooner than it would be if I kept going with my current way of spending.
Besides apps, what are some ways y'all save money??
And because it's Friday:
Moments I'm Grateful For
Moments I'm Grateful For
4 - Meeting a cute guy at dance lessons
5 - Free tacos for lunch
6 - Incubus/Jimmy Eat World concert
7 - Making new social studies teacher friends
8 - How well my volleyball girls played
9 - Getting out of work early
10 - A 2.5 hour lunch break
I got rid of cable and that was a HUGE saving. Not eating out also made a huge dent for me
ReplyDeletehonestly, it doesn't matter how high they are compared to other people, it only matters if you think they are high. good for you for wanting to pay them off! i worked my butt off to pay mine off and my balance was about the same as yours. shopping was by far my biggest downfall. i had to cut all of my cards up, i had a spreadsheet with exactly how much i should pay to get them paid off by X time, and i would go in and edit it every single month if i paid more or less and when the interest had been added. i put every spare cent on it. i had a portion of my pay go into a separate bank account and then i only allowed that bank account to be used for credit card payments, i couldn't transfer it to my main account. that helped a ton as well. good luck!!
ReplyDeletePay off your credit cards first. They're costing you 21% APR; you're not going to find a savings account that pays that high. I'm not saying don't save money, but you're saving a lot of money not having a roughly $240 a month interest charge. If you can afford $1000 a month, you'd be out of debt in less than two years.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you've finished that, find a savings account for that $1000 a month. Don't go back to spending it. I was in a similar position where I ended up borrowing the money against my 401(k) and paying it back at $300 a paycheck for three years. Had I been smart, I would have started sticking that $300 into a savings account after the loan was paid, but I wasn't.
I won't really know how much extra I have until I get my first paycheck from my new district in September. I know it won't be $1000 though. Continuing to save money once I've paid something off is my big downfall. I start off good for a month or two but then it falls apart.
DeletePaying CC's off is the best way to go! My 401k is the reason I stayed where I'm at. Always put in a percentage higher than you want to and go higher ever year! Yes to 2.5 hour lunches!!
ReplyDeleteThe long lunch was a nice surprise! We were able to go actually sit down somewhere & go shopping for a bit for new school clothes. One of the CCs is going to take a long time but the other 2 should actually go fairly quickly now that I'm not using them.
DeleteWow, how brave of you to post your CC total! I personally have a lot of shame around my spending, so seeing other people's struggles helps me to feel better/less alone.
ReplyDeleteI've still been shopping like crazy lately (ugh), but something that has really helped me has been reminding myself exactly what I came to a store to buy. It helps me to say no to $25 mascara in Sephora if I keep telling myself that I'm only supposed to be buying make-up remover, you know? My budget posts also help keep me aware of my spending and to see how much I end up using the things that I buy (although Fran's link-up has sadly fallen apart lately).