Category Archive: Paying down my debt

CapitalOne: $504.48/$750
Chase: $591.25/$700
Walmart: $253.32/$400
AE: $34.00/$160
Kohl’s: $384.89/$400
Macys/JCP = $0
= $1767.94

Previous post = $1783.88
So a loss of only $15.94. Which isn’t much, but it should be noted that I actually put $200 onto the Chase card, and then paid it right back off (so I could get the points). And I added that $34 to the AE card, which will be paid in full this Friday. Plus I haven’t paid on the Kohl’s yet for the month of June, even though I put stuff on there. :(

In the next week or so, I’ll be getting my Financial Aid, which will give me about $1000 in cash. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll do with it.

Only took me saying “Either close it or connect me to a manager” but it got closed :)

Bye bye Discover! CapitalOne, you’re next!!

capitalone:
… limit: $750
… have: $554.48
chase:
… limit: $700
… have: $605.11
walmart:
… limit: $400
… have: $278.32
discover:
… limit: $300
… have: $0 **CLOSED**
kohls:
… limit: $400
… have: $345.97

macys/jcpenny/ae = $0

Total debt == $1783.88
Last post == $1911.15
Loss of $127.27 in debt. :D And one card!! My credit limit may have dropped slightly, but still, nice :)

the last post was long and windy and boring and took me like an hour to write BUT I AM HAPPY

when i first started this, i had lots of debt. (i still do, but…)

capitalone:
… limit: $750
… had: $756.03
… have now: $543.68
… change: $212.35
chase:
… limit: $700
… had: $684.76
… have now: $630.11
… change: $54.65
walmart:
… limit: $400
… had: $353.32
… have now: $278.32
… change: $75.00
discover:
… limit: $300
… had: $261.60
… have now: $118.69
… change: $142.91
kohls:
… limit: $400
… had: $376.02
… have now: $340.35
… change: $35.67

macys: $0/$600
jcpenny: $0/$150
ae: $0/$160

Add all those “Change”s together? $520.58 Yes, when I started this, I had a balance of $2431.73. That was February 23rd. Now, just TWO months later, I am down to $1911.15. I have paid off $500 of my debt..

So really, if I stayed at this (which I know I can’t, sadly as I’ll not be getting as many hours) I could pay my debt off in 8 months. That’s before the end of this year. Yeah, I could potentially be debt free by Christmas. What a Christmas present that would be. :-)

Now, there are a few things to take into account here. Interest is one of those things. As I wittle away, the interest continues to pile up. That’s why, even though I’ve made some decent payments towards Chase, it’s only dropped 50 bucks. I’ve probably lost a good 20-30 to interest. Boo.

But still, it’s working. As as I take more and more off, less and less for them to take interest on, eh? In the next two weeks, according to The Plan, I’ll knock off another $175. Another two weeks, another $175. Another two weeks, another $125. So in just over a month, I should be down to about $1450. What percent would that be? Why, it would be 42%. ;) In the next month, knock off… $300? One hundred a week would be doable I think… $1150. 33%. That’s livable. Three months from now, so by the beginning of August, I want to be at $1000 in debt.

Can I do it? We’ll have to see. I’ll keep my loyal readers (are there any?) up to date :)

capitalone: $543.68/$750
chase: $630.11/$700
discover: $118.69/$300
walmart: $278.32/$400
kohls: $340.35/$400
macys: $0/$600
jcpenny: $0/$150
ae: $0/$160
= $1911.15/$3460.00
= 55.24% O_O

Not bad. Time to update my plan though, since I was horrid with money this week. :(

still to do:
… $75 for feb/mar phone (dad has it)
april 30th:
… put aside $50 for Chase <– may be dropped to $25 … pay may insurance $100 may 7th: … PAY OFF DISCOVER \o/ and then close it … pay $75 to chase ($50 from previous weeks) <– may be dropped in order to do the above ;) … (no more transfer to capitalone – would rather pay it off – no fees :D) may 14th: … pay $25 to walmart … pay kohls ($50) … pay server ($60) may 21st: … pay $50 to chase … pay $50 to capitalone may 28th: … $35 for may phone … $50 to kohls june 4th: … june insurance ($100) … $25 walmart june 11th: … $50 capitalone … $50 chase And I really can’t plan much farther ahead because I don’t know if I’ll have a job :( Next goal after Discover is to close down the CapitalOne. Yeah, it’s my oldest, but not by much. It was opened in November 2007, and Chase came along in January of 2008. It’ll probably look worse that I just opened Discover in June of last year… but I don’t want to pay that ghastly annual fee :) I’m pondering taking some of my loan that I’ll get back in cash (student loans \o/) and put a chunk of it down on the cards. I paid for my first two years using these cards so it’s really just paying off old school bills. =o= I dunno. Maybe I’ll just pay off the CapitalOne, close it and then I’ll only have Walmart/Chase/Kohl’s to deal with. :’( *pokes donate button :P

So apparently last year I bought a membership to a comic website. Apparently it auto-renews each year. WTF. Oh well, only $12. But I do plan on calling tomorrow morning and seeing if it can be cancelled.

balances:
capitalone: $618.68
chase: $615.00
discover: $165.51
walmart: $303.32
kohls: $351.49
= $2054

._. TOO MUCH~

still to do for this week:
… pay dad for february phone ($35)
… pay server :(
april 16th:
… pay capitalone $75
… pay dad for march phone ($35)
april 23rd:
… pay walmart $25
… pay dad for april phone ($35)
… pay discover $50
… put $25 aside for Chase
april 30th:
… put aside $25 for Chase
… pay may insurance $100
may 7th:
… pay kohl’s
… put $100 towards CapitalOne and transfer the remaining balance from Discover… closing it :) should be about $130 that I transfer over.
… pay $75 to chase ($50 from previous weeks)
may 14th:
… pay $25 to walmart
… pay $25 to capitalone
… pay $25 to chase

Starting around this time, I’d like to do something like $25 to both CapitalOne/Chase each week. And each week, I’d have one “extra”. example:
first friday: $25 to capitalone, $25 to chase, $100 to insurance ($150)
second friday: $25 to capitalone, $25 to chase, $25 to walmart, $50 for server ($125)
third friday: $50 to capitalone, $50 to chase ($100)
fourth friday: $50 to capitalone, $25 to chase, $35 for insurance ($110)

So in a typical month, this would knock off $150 from the CapitalOne balance and $125 from the Chase balances and $25 from the Walmart balance. Plus it gets phone, insurance, and server paid for no problem. It would require me to work an average of 25-30 hours each week tho. And this doesn’t take into account that I normally like having $50 in my account each week ($20 that I take in cash for petty spending, and $30 for gas)

So I don’t think I can do the above plan. But I don’t want to non-$25 points, because then it just gets confusing. If I add the above, and add in another $200 for my non-bill paying, it ends up being $685 I need a month… so $171.25 a week. Which would require like 30 hours a week. Easy to get sometimes, not so much others. Like this past week, I managed to get 26.75, which will probably net me about $150. Barely covering what I need. :\

And who knows how many hours I’ll be getting when I move to Eau Claire? =o=

But at least taxes will take care of what I owe my brother. I’ll be coming out with about $100 extra from taxes. Eep.

I get 30 hours for the payday of April 23rd.

april 23rd:
… pay walmart $25
… pay dad for april phone ($35)
… pay discover $50
… put $25 aside for Chase

april 30th:
… pay chase (??? from this paycheck, $25 from last)
… pay insurance $100

may 7th:
… pay kohl’s
… put $100 towards CapitalOne and transfer the remaining balance from Discover… closing it :) should be about $130 that I transfer over.

Will probably not post in this series until next week, because most of the billing cycles should have revolved and I’ll have my due dates & min payments. (The only one I got so far is CapitalOne, which is due May 2nd)

Also, I have $5 dollars now. D:

UGH. Money is not predictable enough!!! I kinda forgot about the whole I-need-gas thing… but I got more than I thought I would today. $257. :) So I’ve decided to change it up a bit…

april 2nd:
… chase: $50
… pay $100 for tuition
… pay $100 insurance
april 9th:
… pay kohl’s ???
… pay discover $50
… pay server
…… how much i put on the kohl’s is determined by who pays me for server. if everyone does, i only need $50 for this, and I’ll put $50 on kohl’s… if not… =___=
… give dad $70 (if i have it…) for phone
april 16th:
… bad week – i only have 18 hours due to me having a lot to do in the pay week… orientation on monday, store closed on sunday… :(
… pay capitalone $75
april 23rd:
… pay walmart $25
… pay dad for april phone ($35)
… pay discover ???
april 30th:
… pay chase ???
… pay discover ???
… pay insurance $100

And there’s April laid out. April’s a good month, because I only have one lump sum due – insurance – instead of the three that I dealt with this month. ($125 for ticket, $100 for insurance, and $100 for tuition)

I actually only got 30 hours… so my paycheck yesterday was only $204. According to my previous plans, that would have left me with a whopping $4 to pay for a week’s worth of food & gas.

Well, that obviously won’t work, will it?

march 26th:
… capitalone: $75
… walmart: $25
… put $50 aside for tuition
april 2nd:
… chase: $50
… discover: $50
… pay tuition – $50 from this paycheck
… pay insurance, getting the extra needed funds via a Direct Deposit Advance.
april 9th:
… pay kohl’s (this isn’t actually needed… see below) $50?
… pay server

Both my paychecks for the 2nd and the 9th will be almost exactly 40 hours. =o= I work the ENTIRE week that I get paid for on the 9th, and 6 of the 7 days for my 2nd paycheck.

As for my Kohl’s, I don’t actually need to post another payment… though I should. I found some clearance basics in my size, and so I got those. Spent $19 on my Kohl’s (before my 15% discount, remember) and then I posted a $30 payment. So a gain of about $10 in credit there, though I would like to post another payment on the 9th if I have the money. But I do need to start saving for next month’s payments, as I’d like to make them bigger. Chop off about $400 from my debt again. ($100 capitalone, $100 chase, $25 walmart, $75 discover, $100 kohl’s) That would actually open up enough credit for me to transfer the remaining balance of the Discover over to either CapitalOne or Chase. This is in late April.

And I was thinking, maybe I’ll leave Discover open another month, before I’d get the annual fee. Which I believe would be June. (It got applied June 24th, 2009) So close it late May, and I save that $59. =o=

Oh, btw, the four I pay online all have their payments scheduled :-)

capitalone
… due april 1st, $23 min
… current balance: $669.00
chase
… due april 10th, $20 min
… current balance: $665.00
walmart
… due april 5th, $15 min
… current balance: $328.32
discover
… due april 12, $15 min
… current balance: $215.51
kohl’s
… due april 15, $10 min
… current balance: $339.12

other fees needed:
april 1st: $100 for insurance
nowish: $125 for speeding ticket (yeah, $75 less than I thought :-D)
soonish: $100 down payment for fall tuition
april 14th: server

soooo…
now: I have about $200
… put the $125 aside for speeding ticket
march 26th: big paycheck :D nearly 40 hours.
… capitalone: $75
… walmart: $25
… pay $100 for tuition
april 2nd: no clue how big the paycheck will be, but since it’s second half of scratch off, probably bigish
… chase: $50
… insurance: $100
… discover: depending on paycheck, either $25 or $50
april 9th: not a clue
… pay kohl’s :)
… rest will go to server

SO… balances after payments, before interest
capitalone: $669.00 – $75 = $594
chase: $665.00 – $50 = $615
walmart: $328.32 – $25 = $303.32
discover: $215.51 – $25 = $190.51
…or $215.51 – $50 = $165.51
kohls: $339.12 – who knows :P Probably $50 so = $289.12

Current balance: $2216.95
After Payments, with lower Discover payment: $1991.95
After Payments, with larger Discover payment: $1966.95

Now, when I started this silly blogging thing…
current balance: $2431.73
Assuming I do the bigger payment,
current balance: $1966.95
That’s $464.78 less in debt I am.

And remember, I have a total credit line of $3150.00, so after payments, it’ll be 62.44% filled. Which isn’t all that bad. :)

note: depending on my hours, and how much I can scrounge up, I may be putting more towards these payments than scheduled. ;) Because as far as I can tell, I will having something like $150-$200 left over, if hours pan out right. Which could mean a $25 bump to each of the payments. That is GOOD, right? :-D

I never really realized how much goes out to interest. $13 in interest on CapitalOne this month… wow, that’s two hours of working. =O= …and $13 on chase too x_X

capitalone
… due april 1st, $23 min
… current balance: $669.00
chase
… due april 10th, $20 min
… current balance: $665.00
walmart
… due april 5th, $15 min
… current balance: $328.32

And Discover and Kohl’s haven’t had dates set for next month. Wooo. Balance on Discover is $222.00 and Kohl’s is $316.57.

Speednig ticket is due April 12th. So I gotta make sure I have $200 for that :-D