Update figure - finally!

So I finally remembered to fill in my budget and here's the big number....and here's the big update!

*drumroll*

$18,969.24

!!!! Or, if you include how much I've paid down my school loans, the total amount of debt paid since November 2007 is....

$20,266.08!

Another thing to be proud of...

I meant to p0ast this earlier but I forgot.

In June, for the first time in my life, I made a donation the campaign of a political candidate. I'm not going to tell you who, or what office they're running for, but it's someone I really believe in and would like to see succeed. So I made a pretty sizable (for me) donation, and it was matched by a former donor. That was part of the reason I chose to donate when I did - I was inspired by the commitment that a former donor was showing to continue being part of the campaign if he/she was willing to match donations (which could be up to $2300, potentially, although mine of course was much smaller than that). But I figured if other people are willing to make continuing commitments to this cause, then that confirms my feeling that there is something special going on here. I really want to see this person elected, and because I feel passionately about what I think should happen, I decided to "put my money where my mouth is," as the saying goes, even though I am otherwise being so tight-fisted with the rest of that money.

So my update figure could have been a little higher, but I'm glad that I was secure enough to be able to do this and I'm proud of my active participation in the democratic process. Yay!

Oh and I swear I really will update my budget doc later and give you a real update figure ;) I think it will be a good one. I just keep forgetting!

P.S. Make sure you get informed and VOTE this year! :)

Back ... with a bang!

So I *meant* to update my blog on June 16, as I usually do, with my Debt Reduction Resolution Update (TM), but that was right in the middle of the last week of school and I was losing my mind. After that, I spent a couple of weeks being exceptionally lazy and as mindless as possible :)

But it's mid-month again, and I just got paaaaaaaid, so I decided to go online and make a few payments. Now I don't have my fancy budget database file with me (I'm not p0asting from home), so I can't give you the tremendous update figure you are so anxiously waiting for. That will have to be p0asted later. There are a couple of big things I *can* point out now, however!

1) I paid off my second-to-last credit card completely. Now there is only ONE left with a balance on it!

b) My only remaining credit card is locked in at a rate of 2.99%.

III) The amount on that card is less than I make in one month. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be able to pay it all off in one month (I will be paying my 6-month car insurance *IN CASH* next month after all), but still. That is a very reasonable target balance to have in my sights.

4) After that card is paid off, I will only owe money to my mom. And a) it's at 0% interest (currently! ha ha!) and 2) I really don't mind paying money to my mom. She's a nice lady.

So can you believe it? Only one credit card left to go...