So I did some arithmetic over coffee this morning, before getting ready for work, and it looks like if everything holds steady for the next little while, at worst I will be out of credit-card debt by next march, and with a little more effort, it’s even possible I might actually be totally out of debt by the end of the year!

I think I’m going to make that my goal. I’ll keep on brownbagging lunch and avoiding using my car ($4/gal in the city for the premium gas my car drinks!) and doing errands on foot and .. well, I’m not going to give up my magic laundry fairies (because they really do improve the quality of my life, and I think that’s worth safeguarding), but I did cut back from the magic pick-up and bring-back fairies (who turned out to be not so very talented at the bringing back thing, though in fairness they were good at the picking up) to the drop-off and take-away fairies, which saves twenty bucks or so a month. Maybe I can give up Netflix (though I hate to, but that would be $25/mo!). Anyways, I’m going to make it my goal to continue to be a complete cheapskate for the rest of the year and try really, really hard to get it all paid off by then, because if I do, I can increase my 401(k) contributions at open enrollment in December, to use up the extra money I’ll have once my credit cards are paid off. And really, that would make me feel really really badass. :) From exhaustingly endebted to responsibly saving, in 6 months or less! (Well, actually it’s been about 6 years at this point, but I’m pointedly ignoring the past.)

I’ll have to do some more math tonight and figure out exactly what I’ll have to cut out of my budget to make room for this kind of money. But I’m feeling really cheerful and energized. Who would think that doing compound interest calculations over your first cup of coffee on a Tuesday would turn out to be a good thing?