Now that it April is well underway it’s time to face the music about my debt reduction efforts for the past three months. First quarter 2012 is not going down in any books as a huge success for my finances but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be either. I struggled with keeping my bad spending (and bad diet) habits in check and I had several moments where I just felt like waving the white flag and admitting defeat. Fortunately, a few really great things happened during the last three months that will help me gain some momentum in the coming quarter. The biggest was S landing a killer job with killer pay… now we can equally split the household expenses which frees up more of my money towards debt reduction!
Besides the meager amount of debt paid off I did have some other achievements to help me become debt free:
- Took a look at some of the triggers that unleash my spending fury and am working on making lifestyle and habit changes to help me avoid disaster in the future.
- Wrote out a list of major expenses I have coming up and worked them into my budget so they won’t sneak up on me anymore.
- Changed my direct deposit at work so that a small amount goes automatically into savings to build up that emergency fund.
- Paid off the small debt to my folks which significantly reduced the “shame factor” I carry around with me.
All in all here’s where I am today:
Student Loan: $37,611
Car Loan: $10,600
Credit Card 1: $4,746
Credit Card 2: $4,893
Credit Card 3: $636
Parents: $0
Total: $58,486
Here’s my starting point back in October 2011:
Student Loan: $38,339
Car Loan: $11,684
Credit Card 1: $10,577
Credit Card 2: $3,635
Credit Card 3: $0
Parents: $600
Total: $64,835
Paid off to date:
4th Q 2011: $5,051
1st Q 2012: $1,298 + $150 in savings
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