so i have recently decided to pursue a really, really, really, really, really difficult goal: to pay off my credit card debt by the end of this calendar year.
in aid of this, i have been going down my expenses the past four days, and, like Ebenezer Scrooge, slashing through any expense that isn’t strictly non-negotiable. like, food. i retain my grocery budget for the month, and, like, rent and electricity. but, once i ferret out another couple of recurring charges, i think i will have cut out about $200 in actual monthly bills, and slashed about another $100 in “potential” bills: things that i plan to spend money on but that aren’t actually hard costs (like yarn, or soapmaking supplies). i’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that with rather a lot of effort, and with help from my mom paying her mortgage (for real this time), i will nearly double the amount that i’ll be sending to the credit card debt. and if i can keep that up for the next six months, without fail, i will wipe out the debt by the end of the year.
i may not make the goal, actually. i have a couple of big expenses coming up later this year that i can’t really avoid — eye exam and new contact lenses; home and auto insurance premiums, etc., that sort of thing — but, at least, by the end of the year, if i can stick to my completely bare-bones entertainment budget of $5/mo, and eliminate eating out and unnecessary shopping and, you know, fun, i should have it down to within about a grand of being paid off. and i can’t even begin to tell you how great that will be.
that said: expect lots of whiny blog posts that will have “I’m bored!” at their root, between now and then…
