Financial Strategy

It is that time of year for me to reflect on my financial picture both presently and in the future. When I say future, I am referring to the next year. It seems every year about this time I will try to re-organize and simplify my finances.


What are my outstanding debts? I have two. The first is a "buy now pay later" for new furniture. I bought the furniture "before" my husband was laid off and before I took a 7% pay cut. Now I know why "buy now pay later" is not the smartest of things to do financially.

The balance 1758.97 is due in full May 25, 2009. A recent payment(from EBAY sales) of 505.00 will be applied to the balance which brings the amount down to 1253.97.
I have approximately 6 months to pay off this balance.

Which is 208.00 dollar a month.
If I further break it down, it would be 52.00 dollars a week.
Or... to take it one step further, about 7.50 dollars a day.
That certainly puts things into perspective.

The next outstanding debt is my VISA. This is the card I put school related items such as tuition and books. Oh yeah... I did buy that laptop for my schoolwork too. The card balance is 1920.00.

How did that happen? At one point I had no credit card debt. How it happened is a whole other post.... about feeling how I never have enough and "What about me"! I have financial issues...to be sure.

On the plus side of this discussion, I do have comfortable savings. So.. the debt is bad but not awful. I know I have the peace of mind of money tucked away in case I REALLY, REALLY need it.

It is my plan to pay down the credit card significantly in the next 6 months. I will strive to eliminate half of the amount. Half of the amount is 960.00 dollars.
Which is 160.00 a month , or 40.00 dollars a week OR 5.75 dollars a day.

After further use of my handy dandy calculator, I calculate that I can simply pay 13.25 dollars a day to my debt for the next six months and my goals will be reached.

Okay, 6 months is a long time for me to commit to this. Actually, knowing that I have to pay this off and it might take me 6 months to do it, will motivate me to definitely shorten the time frame and get this monkey off my back.

So, for now this is my plan to decrease the debt over the next 6 months.


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