Paying down the CC!

Since starting this little blog, I’ve made some good progress (in my opinion).  Last month, I paid off my mom (YAY!).  She even said she didn’t think I would pay her off, so that felt especially good to be done with that.  Also, I just got back my tax refund and put the entire amount toward my old ccard, which will bring the balance down to $1255!  I decided I’m going to take the money I have in savings (at ING.. ~$390 + about 65 bucks from checking and bring that down to the nice low sum of $800!).  Sadly, my new card I got (for the flight miles) already has a balance of $581  (and a yearly charge of $85!  I should have read the fine print more carefully).  I will make sure this does not get out of hand.  I know I will be putting almost $1k of dental bills on it at the end of March and the beginning of April (2 crowns and maybe some fillings..eee) and my dental insurance will be maxxed out too.  Sucks!  I guess this is my fault for drinking soda and not flossing.  Hopefully I can get the dental stuff knocked out now and not have to worry about it once it’s all taken care of.  I’d rather have teeth than not have teeth when I’m old, so I want to make sure I don’t let them get too bad.  I have decided that once my debt is taken care of, for the remaining 8 months I want to save more than HALF of my take home income.  The magic number I’ve decided on is $1k per month.  I wonder if I can do this.. if so, it would be a nice 8k lump sum I’d have at the end of the year… oooh.. and I think I would still have a decent amount of spending money left.  So, here is the paydown plan for Ccard 1(amazon.com card – HIGH interest rate):

Balance on 3/9/09: $1255

On 3/13  Pay 455 – bring it to $800

On 3/19 Payday, pay $500- Bringing it down to $300

On 4/2 Payday, pay last $300 and be done with it!

 

Ccard 2 (Continental Miles card – low interest rate): Current balance $581

On 3/19 payday: Pay $100 – bringing balance to $481

3/25 & 4/8 – Dental Charges : ( -- Add another $1k to balance : $1481

4/16 Payday- Pay $600 towards Ccard 2—bring it down to $881

4/30 Payday- Pay $500 toards Ccard 2- bringing it to  ~$381

5/14 Payday- Pay off entire Ccard 2 balance!

 

Then starting 5/28, I will start saving half my paycheck!! It sounds like a good plan, so I hope I don’t get off track!