Progress report

I haven’t done one in at least a couple of months, I believe. I need to get some tickers for the overall debt countdown but other things took precedence.

At any rate, here’s the status:

Citi card

Started at: $6101.62, Nov 19th

Currently at: $5,803.30, March 11th

Nothing spectacular here, but that’s because we have a fixed 4-percent rate. So this is the card we will pay off last.

Chase card:

Started at: $827.52, Nov 19th

Currently at: $382.62, March 11th

The balance on this had been $0, but a disputed charge wasn’t settled in our favor. So we’re back to carrying a balance here. However, I have it scheduled to be paid off in early April.

United Mileage card:

Started at: $3831.15 on 11/19

Currently owe: $1161.79 as of 3/12

Just glancing at it, you’d think we paid down $2669.36 in the past 5 months. But that’s not the whole story.

What you don’t see are the balance increases along the way. There were two times we had to get the car looked at (for over $100 each time), Tim’s trip back to Washington plus rental car ($500), and all sorts of other things that I’m forgetting. In the end, all the trials and tribulations added up to $2983.49.

So, in reality, we’ve paid off $6057.05 in the past 5 months on just this one card!

Total paid:

On November 19th, our total credit card debt was $10,760.29.

As of March 12th, it will be $7347.71.

• That’s a difference of $3,412.58.

• That’s a 31.7 percent decrease!

• On average, then, our debt decreased by $682.52 each month.

• With interim expenses, we actually paid over $6,800 in 5 months!

• That’s a monthly average of $1360!

• That’s 43 percent of our income!

• I’m overusing exclamation points! But I don’t care!

The future:

We still have a few things coming our way. Tim’s mom is going to visit in May. We put her ticket on our card, which will post over the weekend. She had already sent us some money, so the real cost to us is only $30.70.

That’s not the end of costs, though. She has arthritis in her hips, plus surgically repaired knees. So she needs a firm mattress to sleep on/allow her to get out of bed without a struggle. We’re also hoping to show her that there’s room for her here in Arizona and thereby convince her to move down here. We know she’ll be healthier here, and we’re pretty sure she’ll be happier, too.

Given all that, we are getting a bed for the office. We found a very good deal: a name-brand, full mattress, plus box spring and frame for $210, including 8.2 percent tax. Luckily, we’re also due a $165 credit against Tim’s plane ticket, thanks to our mileage reward card. So we’ll only see a $45 balance increase, net.

On the job front, Tim is interviewing on Monday for an office job. We have no idea if it will work out, but, if it does, we’ll need to buy him a few more shirts and pairs of work pants. Marshall’s will probably be affordable, but we’re still looking at around $100 (or more).

So our balance is likely to go up a total of $200ish in the next month or so.

All that being said…

Barring any major surprises, we’ll be finished with the United card by early April.

And, miraculously, we’re still on track to pay off the Citi card by the end of June.

Pretty exciting, huh? Now everyone just keep your fingers crossed that no more (big) surprises come our way!

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