January 27, 2008

After much trial and error, I figured out how to post the spreadsheets.

So, update for today. Nothing new paid, but I have my plan of action. On my chart, I have my three debts and their progress as I pay them off. I plan on updating them at the beginning of every month to reflect any payments I make.

In May of each year, there is a large drop in the amount I owe due to my repayments I plan to make on my student loan when I receive my tax return each year. This year, I have a $2500 payment scheduled based on what I figured my tax return to be. However...the government announced a retroactive tax change for 2007 and I went to a website to figure out my new estimated tax return. The new number should be around $3200. Good news for me! I have left the chart at $2500, but will change the information on it when I get the actual refund.

The orthodontist payments will remain the same each month, $250 per month, but there is no interest on this debt.

Leons is the goal for now. As I wrote earlier, I am trying to throw a lot of money at it right now just to get rid of it.



It's funny, you know? I am trying to get out of debt just so I can get back into it. You see, my goal is to get rid of these debts so that we can buy a house. I don't mind that kind of debt though. I look forward to making payments toward my own house instead of paying rent to someone else.

January 25, 2008

*sigh*

I have my wonderful spreadsheets and charts all ready to go in Excel, but I can't figure out how to put them on this blog now. If anyone out there knows how to help me, I could sure use some advice.

Anyway, I ran into some trouble this month. I took the step to find a cheaper insurance company and I found one that is $60 per month cheaper. YAY! The bad news is that I need to pay 2 months up front. BOO! So after forking over the double payment, that left us a little short until today (payday).

However, I am still on track for getting my Leons card paid off, maybe even early. I have a promise from my ex to pay off some money he owes toward our son's braces. Since I made the full payments on them for the past few months, I can use the money toward other bills. If he comes through, I can pay off the Leons card this month.

$600 left owing to Leons. I'm aiming to pay $300 on January 31.
$3500 owed to the orthodontist
$6572 owing on the student loan

January 3, 2008

I've decided to tackle my Leon's card first since my interest free period ends in May. I don't want to end up paying the high interest that comes on those sorts of cards.

I owe $900 to Leons and today I made a payment of $300. At the end of January I should be able to make another payment of $300. I also made a $50 payment on the student loan although that barely covers the interest.

I'm still working on a spreadsheet to get my debts organized but it's almost finished.

My New Year's Resolution

Today is the beginning of a long journey for me. I've made the decision to get my finances in order and make a plan in order to get it done! I've started this blog to lay out my plan of attack and record my progress. One day I will be able to calculate my debt free day but for now my goal is to sort out the mess and see what to tackle first.

A quick check shows my personal debts to be:

Leons card
Student loan
Vehicle lease
Orthodontist

Besides these I have monthly bills for:

Phone/internet
Electricity
Insurance


I've been reading up on getting debt free and the first thing I should do is try to get these organised in Excel to track payments and amounts owing. Seeing it in an organised format like that will help get my debt into perspective.