I’ve had thousands of dollars in credit card debt since 1997. I remember applying for a job in March of 2001 which I calculated would help me erase my credit card debt in about twelve months. I didn’t get that job. Nobody got that job, in fact, the entire web design sector was crashing, and ... Continue reading this article…

Earlier this year, I suggested starting the decade off right by paying off debt. In general, debt is something that should be eliminated. Credit card debt is expensive and often unnecessary, personal loans generally carry a cost to personal relationships as well as interest, and mortgages hang around forever and make you a renter who ... Continue reading this article…

According to an online poll conducted by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (which exists to encourage you to set up a payment plan, but that doesn’t necessarily make their data suspect), Americans are more likely to pay more toward their credit card debt since their statements were re-designed to show just how awfully long ... Continue reading this article…

I mentally separated my two credit cards into “Legacy Debt” and “Newer Debt”. The former has been with me on a variety of cards, banks, and interest rates since 1997, but in the last couple of years I consolidated it onto one card that I haven’t used to purchase anything. I’ve been paying it off ... Continue reading this article…

Happy Friday. It’s been just about a month since my last debt update, and I’m feeling relatively successful at it. I’m still on track to get rid of it by July, having eradicated $1,267.39 in the last four weeks. Aside from the satisfaction of persistence, there’s actual good news: as of yesterday, my employer has ... Continue reading this article…

The last three weeks have been pretty lousy for my push to get rid of the credit card debt before summer (summer? When did I decide that? Just now, I guess). With a total balance of about $5,500, and making payments of at least $1,300 a month, you’d think it’d be a straight path to ... Continue reading this article…

This was a pretty good week for saving money. Last weekend, I took my strict $100 out of the bank for the next seven days, but I also ordered a small-ish present for my wife, which cost about $50. As a result, I set myself a challenge to see if I could spend $50 or ... Continue reading this article…

Imagine your income were sliced in half while your debts remained the same. How would you prioritize your payments? For those who have only credit cards, I’ve always suggested using, or at least understanding, the Debt Avalanche, but that doesn’t take into account other debts you might have such as personal loans and the mortgage. ... Continue reading this article…

The last time I talked about my credit card debt here, one of our community said that he didn’t know the specific numbers of my problem, and it got me thinking that I’ve probably lost sight of one of the main reasons I wanted to be writing here in the first place: to keep myself ... Continue reading this article…