Okay! I know it seems like I’ve forgotten about this blog, but I haven’t. I haven’t abandoned my mission to get out of debt this year. The time has finally come: I get paid tomorrow night and I will actually be able to put a good chunk of it to paying off my debt!

The past couple of paychecks have been used mainly to catch up on paying some utilities and also for unfortunate, unforseen, unwanted events. It has been discouraging, but I know once I make my first dent in my credit card bills it will feel liberating and motivate me to be more aggressive.

I’m torn though. I don’t know what strategy to follow. Every time I think I’ve decided on one, I go right back to contemplating it all over again. It’s really a no-brainer, though. We have one credit card whose balance is so high, that our minimum payments are around $350/month, and out of that $350, $220 goes just to our monthly interest! It’s insane. I would be crazy to not try to at least cut the balance in half fairly quickly. But on the other hand, we have a couple of lower-balance credit cards ($2K here, $4K there… etc.) that can be paid off in around 4 - 6 weeks; and just the thought of actually being able to eliminate one credit card completely and never have to make a payment on it ever again is oh-so-tempting.

If anyone is reading out there, what would you do? Pay off the smaller balances first? Or try to pay off the highest interest rate/balance card first? Hurry! I make my first payment tomorrow.

We got paid today, but again, nothing will be able to go towards paying down any debt — justminimums still.

One of our cars decided to give us problems that totaled $400 to repair. And we just recently had to have it towed and repaired 2 months ago. Same symptoms and everything: check engine light and choking. Two months ago, the repair shops said it was some faulty sensor. We got it fixed, paid them $160, and prayed that was the end. Not so. This time, even though it was the same symptoms, somehow we were in dire need of new brakes, a new different sensor, and some other stuff. Why they didn’t catch these things the first go ’round, I have no clue. But yeah, to prove my point: it’s always SOMETHING. Not that my point needed proving. I’m sure you all can relate.

If it seems like I haven’t started talking about how much debt I’ve paid off, it’s because I haven’t.  My emergency fund is back down to $8 due to a real bill that showed up unexpectedly. So the credit cards will just have to wait. I want to talk more about my discouragement and impatience with this whole process, but probably when I’m less emo about it.