Numbers Don't Lie

To everyone out there in the blogosphere, trust, numbers don't lie. Since my posts in 2010 I have wracked up several more thousands of dollars of debt. My credit card debt is over $30,000 now. But I have finally stopped debting over the last few months. This time I plan to stop this madness for good. I know what you are probably saying, yeah, that's what you said the last time. But no friends, this time is different. I want to change my net worth. I have spent much time pondering what I should have pondered before: Why do I debt? Also, on February 10th, 2012 I gave my life to Christ as an adult. I had done this already as a child, many years before at age 6 or 7. But I truly turned my life over to Jesus on February 10th. I didn't make a big declaration in front of a church or anything. I just had a conversation with God about things that I was doing that were not good for me. And once that conversation was had, I knew I had to crawl my way back out of the hole that I had dug for myself. I am literally drowning in debt. I am suffering and suffocating. And I deserve better. My husband deserves better. At age 36 I want to do more with my life. But I cannot live life to the fullest when I am barely persisting in thousands and thousands of dollars worth of debt that I owe back to my parents, banks, the IRS, ACS, Sallie Mae and the U.S. Department of Education. So you will see a lot more of me over the next few months. And feel free to join me on this journey. I am sure there will be some ups and downs but that is life. I will do whatever I can to get to the end goal. I would also like to save as much money as possible. Also, I will give you the real numbers. I have been financially irresponsible for too long. It is time for real change.

And before signing off I would like to invite you to participate with me in a seven month debt pay off challenge. This challenge will begin on Friday, June 1st, 2012 and end on Tuesday, January 1, 2013. Come one and come all. I do not care who you are or what gender you are or what race you are or how old you are. If you have debt and want to get rid of that debt, then we have something in common. For the challenge I would like for you to identify the following in the comments section below: 

1. Which debt, in particular, would you like to pay off. 

For me, I would like to pay off what I call, Discover Card #1. My Discover Card has the amount of $1,414, 89. Actually, correction, this Discover Card is my husband's Discover Card. We will be married 3 years in June 2012. And I was never one to go shopping with my husband's credit cards. That is not the kind of wife I am (or at least wanted to be). I can wrack up my own debt. But my husband so graciously allowed me to use his card to pay for a course I wanted to take. My university, a big, well-known state school, did not take Visa, can you believe it? So my husband allowed me to use his Discover card. I was supposed to pay that debt right back. I did not. My husband has been awesome about it. He has not asked me, not one time, when I am planning to pay him back. Perhaps because he views his money (or credit) as my money as well. I have been making the minimum payments of $40 dollars each month. And I thank God I have a husband who has been as accepting of me and my financial woes as he has been. But this ridiculousness has got to stop. And so the first person I want to pay back is my husband. I would also like to pay off my Bank of America #3 card (Yes, this means there is a BOA #1 and #2 out there). The amount of $633 is on the card and I would like it gone. Afterwards, I want to pay off BOA #2 which has the amount of $2,500. I may not be able to pay off all 3 cards, but I want to come as close as possible to getting them all paid off. So this is my goal for the seven month pay off challenge.  

2. How do you plan to go about paying this debt off.

I have natural hair and have been getting it two strand twisted at a natural hair salon for the last year and a half. I think my stylist is great. She is the best stylist I have ever had. However, I go every three weeks and spend about $210 dollars a month. Therefore, I will have to forego this luxury. The next item I will be foregoing is my Blackberry. I was going to switch to the Iphone when it comes out in October but I realized I really need to forego the expense of a smart phone and go with something more affordable. This will afford me an additional $100 to pay down debt. My contract with Verizon ends in August. Also, I have an additional $100 that I also want to put towards debt. Therefore, starting in September 2012 I'll be able to put $400 towards debt in addition to the monthly payments I am making on each card. Soon I will give you the details of each card and their interest rates. 

So again, please feel free to join me on this debt payoff challenge. I will come here often to post about how I am doing and it will be great to watch that $30,000 plus shrink down to $0. Once that happens I can move on to the parent debt and the even more serious student loan debt. I am already making monthly payments to the IRS and will hopefully be done paying them within the next two or three years. Yes, this is my life for now but I am determined to change for the better.