Paying Off Visa

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Starting balance:  $ 290.62

Deposit:                 1885.74

Subtotal               $2176.36

Expenses:            $1087.25 mortgage

                                 233.00 power bill

                                 175.00 car payment         

                                 162.17 life ins/ Mr. Struggle

                                   68.24 house phone/internet

                                 440.70 Visa-final payment!

Ending balance:     $  10.00

           

Notice I was finally able to send a check to completely pay off our Visa.  I can’t remember when we last had a zero balance.  Unlike Dave Ramsey suggests, we won’t cut it up because we are a bit too pragmatic and are afraid something might come up and we might need it, especially until we are able to save up a sizable emergency fund.  With a large family, older cars and appliances, and lousy medical insurance, you never know when you might need a bit of credit.  We also like the added protection of using a charge card rather than a debit card when shopping online, such as notification of possible fraudulent charges and removal of charges in dispute.  We have faced such issues with our Visa in the past and have been pleased with our credit union’s quick response.  

Our next debt to tackle is the Gecaf appliance loan for the oven we had to buy before Christmas.  We owe about $900 on it, making it the smallest of our debts.  The loan has no interest charged for a year, but if a single payment is late during that year, it reverts to a 24% interest rate.  That makes me really nervous, so of course we plan to pay this off as soon as possible. 

While we are working on the appliance bill, we also have to start saving for some graduation expenses.  Both of our daughters are graduating this spring.   Our oldest is out-of-state, so we will need travel expenses to attend the ceremony.  We also plan to do some sight-seeing during the trip and don’t want to use plastic to pay for it.  If all goes well, we should be able to put aside enough cash to cover this before her graduation date at the end of May.  We also need cash to cover an after-graduation luncheon for the second daughter, but her school is a short drive away so we won’t need travel expenses.

Wow, that’s scary; only ten dollars left after paying all the bills!  If it weren’t for my husband’s second job, I wouldn’t have been able to pay off the Visa.

How are you doing with your debt-reduction plan? Are you seeing progress?