Tuesday, February 10, 2009

What to do?

Alright, taxes are filed. One of my state returns got rejected but it's for $38 so I don't really care when I get it. Grand total is about $4k. I'm happy that I can make a huge dent in my debt but at the same time I am frustrated that I have so much debt. If I didn't have all this debt, I could go to my friends birthday extravaganza in Dubai guilt free and still have money to save. Oh well, I guess I have to think about all the things I charged and enjoy that right now :(. This is definitely incentive to wait till I have money before I have fun. It's so much better when the money and the thing you spend the money on happen around the same time.

Oh well. Enough whining.

This is my situation. My BOA LOC is currently in the high $4000. I can put $3K of my refund towards it (the rest is going into my budget). I have not made my February payment on that account ($450) so I will do that when I get paid on Friday. That will leave me with about $1600 or so on that card. I have $2000+ in my savings account and I am contemplating using that to payoff the card. I know a lot of people advise against using your emergency fund but I really want to pay off the account. 22% interest is not fun. If I did that, I would have about $700 left in the e-fund and I could pay of BOA this month. It would free up $450 a month and I can increase my contributions to my savings and payments on other accounts.

You know what, writing this down has convinced me that this is what I am going to do. Yay! Blogging is amazing. I used to think about my finances but I don't think that I would be close to paying of one account if I hadn't started blogging. Reading all your stories and thinking about what I am going to write about makes me plan so much better.

In other news, I'm reading the millionaire next door. I am about a quarter of the way into it and right now I think it's so-so. I don't like the tone of the authors because it feels very preachy. They could have gotten their message across without sounding so sanctimonious. On the other hand, the message is definitely making me think. I am going to start looking into how I can get away from a 9-5 and doing something that I run. I'll let you know my final verdict when I finish the book.

If there is anything else you guys would love to know, let me know.

4 comments:

  1. I think you're doing the right thing to pay that bad boy down. I guess I don't mind living life on the edge a little bit (obviously) and I'm a proponent of less debt, even if it means less cash sitting in the bank.

    I mean, really - sorry to the E. Funders out there - if I have $1,000 in the bank, it's not going to sit there. It's going to pay off a debt. That's because I'm a member of the 22%+ club as well, and only those who are there know what it feels like. So here's your back-pat: You are doing the right thing, I say.

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  2. Good job, that's what I should do with my federal return. But its only going to be around $1,800...

    Still cant decide.

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  3. having so much debt is not good . However do pay it with kewl mind . hope you will be debt free soon

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  4. I only got $89 for my federal return and I owed my state. Boo. :(

    I like having the emergency cushion to fund any problems that come up--but I have a way smaller income than you do, too. My current savings cushion is for summer when I'm not paid. I wish I could take it and throw it to my credit card, but I can't. Ugh.

    If paying off BoA is going to free up $450/month, by all means DO IT. Even if I paid off my CC it would only free up $80/month. =)

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Hit me with some tough love