I haven’t gone public with just when I think I will be out of credit card debt. After doing the initial calculations, I figured on December 2011. I have tables that show the whole timeline and I have since revised them several times so that December became June.
After I got the promotion, I revised them again and I was astounded: my goal of making that last payment changed from December 2011 to December 2010.
I could be out of debt this year.
This is a very grand goal and it depends on three really big challenges:
- That I continue with gazelle-like intensity. That doesn’t just mean no shopping—that means very little extra anything. It’s definitely lean living and it’s not as hard as it might seem, but it’s not easy either.
- That things go according to plan. This means that there are no big surprises or an abundance of small surprises. I know that things are going to come up—they always do—so this will be more about how I handle them. For the last year, I let the expenses that come up derail me from making any progress. I’m determined not to do that this year, but if I lost a job or something, then I could easily be thrown completely off plan.
- That I have a job this summer. The weird thing about my full-time job is that it’s a regular 9-month position. I don’t work during the summer. Last summer, I did work because one of my coworkers was on leave, so I took her place. It’s quite unlikely that the same will happen this year, which means I will have only my part-time job and the much smaller salary that goes with it. There are three possibilities: I work only the part-time job, I miraculously get to work both jobs this summer, or I find one or more other jobs to make up for my normal full-time salary.
If the dream scenario plays out, I could actually be out of debt by October. Otherwise, it would probably be about February of 2011. So, I’m going for the middle ground, but still pretty dream-like goal of the end of 2010.
It’s going to be a very big challenge. I figure I will either succeed spectacularly or fail spectacularly, but either way it will be a big success.
{ 5 comments }
Holy moly! That’s incredible. You can do it!
Good luck; I hope you manage it. But don’t get downhearted if it takes longer than you expect; most things do. Just keep going and you’ll get there.
That’s impressive, and if you do it, you’ll be getting there just ahead of me. We can kick debt’s ASS in 2010
Wow, go for it! A year is so short in the scheme of things, and how amazing would it be to get that out of the way so quickly??
Wow! That’s awesome! You have inspired me to really buckle down and get rid of my debt. I usually have a budget, but then it gets thrown to the wayside when a dinner or opportunity gets thrown my way– and a planned $200 credit card payment turns into the $25 minimum payment. Ugh. But I just moved back in with my parents in Ohio (getting rid of a 1000/mo rent in Los Angeles). It’s a tough bullet to swallow, but I keep thinking NO DEBT is on the horizon. So, this may be nosy, but do you have student loan debt as well? Right now I’m just trying to tackle car loans and credit cards, after that I have about $50K in student loans (from getting my masters)… I could only imagine if I went on to get my PhD!!
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