Pursuit of Excellence

The first two posts introduced you to my  current situation. How I got here, and what I’ve determined to do to get out. The most important fact to remember is once you start this journey, you’re not alone. Someone before you or someone after you will make a decision to get out of debt. The types of debt I’m specifically referring to are credit card, a line of credit, term loan, and student loan debt. These types of debt reflect my struggles. There are many different types of debt and some debt is good and some debt is bad. This journey to a debt free me is a journey out of bad debt.

I’m blessed to be paid on the 15th and the end of the month, so either every two weeks I’ll post an update, or I’ll post a monthly update. In the previous posts, I listed out my credit cards, line of credit, term loans (consumer loans) and student loan balance. Since I know that the term loans, and student loans are making principal and interest payments, my focus on the update posts is going to specifically be on the revolving lines of credit (credit card and personal line of credit) balances and the term loans. I  will not post balance updates regarding my student loans, but I will inform you of any offers regarding student loan consolidation. Here are the balances and the total amount that’ s been paid up to this point as of 8/15/2015.

Wells Fargo Line of Credit

$4,500.00

Capital One Card

$5,600.00

Barclay’s

$2,490.00

TD Ameritrade

$2,110.00

Since the Journey of a thousand miles post , I have paid off the Capital One card that had a balance of $2450.00 through a balance transfer to the Wells Fargo Line of Credit. The TD Ameritrade debt has been reduced by $211.41. The Wells Fargo Line of Credit has increased by $2305.00, and this increase does include some reductions. The other Capital One card is my main target. It’s balance has been reduced by $800. The total amount reduced so far just going by the payments to TD Ameritrade and Capital One is $1,011.41. How was I able to reduce the balances by this much within a span of less than 15 days?

The fastest way to reduce debt on a internal level is to have a burning passion to accomplish your goal.  When you have this desire, your mind is challenged to look for opportunities to make money appear. For me, I sold things I didn’t need anymore, I pulled money I had set aside to save, and I even liquidated some stocks. Your situation may be different than mine, but the worst thing you can do is to either bury your head in the sand, or throw your hands up and give up. You can’t hit Goliath if you run away from him.  I know that this month will probably be one of the best months of debt reduction so far, and with that I encourage you to sit down and create two things: 1) a budget and 2) a debt reduction plan. Once you sit down and create a budget, you will have a better awareness of your financial condition. If you’ve never made the time to create a budget  before, I’d like the opportunity to sit down with you and create a budget. Feel free to contact me.

Keeping count:

As of 8/4/15 my revolving line of credit debt was:

$15,856.41

$13,661.41- credit cards $2,195.00- Wells Fargo Line of Credit

As of 8/15/15 my revolving line of credit debt was:

$14,700.00

$10,200.00- credit cards $4,500.00-Wells Fargo Line of Credit

My personal goal is to have paid down my credit card debt down to underneath $10,000.00 even if it’s only $9,999.99. It’s important to set small and measurable goals, and if that’s hard to do, then at least set a goal and work toward it. I believe in your journey too. Getting out of debt does require sacrifices, and moments of doubt, but when you make the end of this journey, you’ll find that you’ll have the knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge. Don’t be discouraged, and I encourage you to pray into your situation. See you in the next post.

A Debt Free Me