I am down to $1,400.00 on one card
Dee, that's great! How long did it take you and what was your strategy? I have tons of MK debt and believe me I am finding it is much harder to get rid of than it was to accumulate!
Lipstick, it has taken me over a year to do it. I started in January of last year. Living with my mother helps, but I also transfered balances to 0% interest rate cards. That brought down my minimum payments considerably.
I had credit cards that had as much as 29% interest rate. I also used this calculator to see how much of my payments were going toward principal vs. interest: http://www.bankrate.com/gookeyword/calculators/creditcards/credit_card_debt_calculator.asp
With my new lower minimum payments, I would take the minmum payment and times it by two or three (or whatever I could afford).
Some of my debt was due to late payments. In order to kick that habit, what I do now is to look at the due date and figure out which paycheck I could pay that from and write in the amount on two calendars: one that I keep in my purse and one that I keep on a wall. Sometimes I pay online, and sometimes I mail in the payment. I also purchased a bill paying folder and write due dates on that too.
I don't use a budget spreadsheet, but I do use the calendar religiously to forecast how much money I will need for the month. I haven't used Microsoft Money for a while, but I'm thinking of updating my info tomorrow. Money is an excellent program if you don't let it go for a long time.
One of the best things I did is to change my attitude about money and credit cards. I started to view credit cards for what they really are: loans. You are basically asking the companies to loan you money to pay for the item you want. I've never defaulted on a car loan, but why was I in such debt with credit cards?
And if I don't have the money for an item, I just don't purchase it.
Another habit I will get back into is the envelope system. In fact, I think I learned about the envelope system here on the forum a while back. It is where you put a certain amount of cash in different envelopes (one for gas, one for rent, one for groceries, etc.) Once you are out of money in the envelope, you are done. No more spending on that item. I also used the outside of the envelope to track where my money went.
I pay in cash and I try not to use my debit card. If I use my debit card, I stick the receipt in my check register so I remember to record it. I also do a trick that I learned from Suze Orman: Never pay the exact price for anything. For example, if an item comes to $1.50, I give the cashier $2.00 and put the rest in a coin container.
I've stopped using Coinstar and have started rolling my own coins and bringing them to my credit union. I use those old medicine bottles to sort my coins.
And I vow that I will never get sucked into an MLM scheme ever again!
Michelle
