It's April everyone...for those of you who have been hiding from your stack of bills and avoiding the calender with the due dates circled.

I think it's time for a fresh debt check so I challenge you to take a look at your debts and add them up. Where do you stand with a pay off plan?

 

- Remember, debt is not your friend and having some does not help you to maintain a stress free and happy life. Get rid of that debt...today, right now. If you feel buried by a mountain of bills and have not yet started to consider how to crawl out from under them, check out the many posts here that can help you to lower expenses or find ways to make a little extra money.

 

 

March was hard for us since we had to stay at a hotel the night of my eye surgery and weren't monetarily prepared since we found out on Thursday that I had to have surgery on Monday.  We did pay for gas and food with cash.  Just had to charge the hotel but did get it a medical reduced rate. 

We paid off one CC in March and our mortgage payment went down $15 so those two amounts are now going toward another small balance card.  We elected to put them toward that because it will only take about 2 months to pay it off and free up some more money.

We don't make huge inroads with lots of extra money every month.  We're just picking away little chips at a time.  But little chip eventually break off big chunks!

re-tired

 

re-tired:

March was hard for us since we had to stay at a hotel the night of my eye surgery and weren't monetarily prepared since we found out on Thursday that I had to have surgery on Monday

Medical things can come up unexpectedly. Often they are hard to budget for as it can be very expensive. How is your eye now?

re-tired:

We paid off one CC in March

That's getting somewhere. One debt down! You'll make it to the next.

 

 

I've had a few unexpected expenses - mostly a vet bill - but given the economy and some upcoming planned expenses for refinishing the last unfinished room in the basement, I chose to put my tax refund in savings, so I had cash available.  I've done pretty well the last year with avoiding my credit cards unless it was something I could pay off before interest accrued - so I'm very happy with that.  Right now I'm concentrating on the last $6800 in student loans; once that's done I can get my snowball going much better.

 

karenteacher:

Right now I'm concentrating on the last $6800 in student loans; once that's done I can get my snowball going much better.

What other debts do you have, Karen?

 

Brandy-

I'm still squinting!  I can see the edge of the bubble at about the middle of my eye.  It's weird, kind of like a bubble in a level--it stays level with the ground no mater what position I'm in.  My next appointment isn't until May 6th and the dr is hopeful that the bubble will have dissipated by then.  If it hasn't I don't know what happens.  But it can be another 3 to 6 months after that before my vision is back to whatever it will be.  I will admit that I am apprehensive.  I have to refrain from crying a lot because of the frustration.

re-tired  

Still concentrating on getting credit card debt paid down.  Just paying "normally" on everything else.  We were able to pay a big chunk on credit card in March with tax refund.  I will get my longevity check this month and will use that to make another (hopefully) sizable payment.

 

re-tired:

I'm still squinting!  I can see the edge of the bubble at about the middle of my eye

I hope this improves for you.

 

Brandy:

 

karenteacher:

Right now I'm concentrating on the last $6800 in student loans; once that's done I can get my snowball going much better.

What other debts do you have, Karen?

 

1st mortgage, HELOC, and car.

 

karenteacher:

1st mortgage, HELOC, and car.

Bigger stuff but not as bad as having eight credit cards in addition to that, eh?