So I've been blogging about my finances since mid-2007. The general idea has been to self-monitor my debts and, one hopes, watch the indebtedness dwindle. The debts have indeed dwindled, but at an alarmingly slow pace. Here I am, almost two years later, and I've only dented the indebtedness by a total of $4900. Even that hasn't a steady drop--more like a series of rises and falls as life and Murphy keep intervening.
Right now I feel like I'm in the financial doldrums--the fiscal version of the depressing calm that beset sailors in olden times. It's not that anything terrible is happening to me financially. But it's also not like I'm making any great progress on debt reduction, either.
Case in point: For the month of April, I managed to reduce my total indebtedness by a whopping $88.41!
I gotta do better than this if I plan to ever retire debt-free.
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5 comments:
Is everyone enjoying their fire insurance money?
I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but that money has long been spent. I not only used it to reimburse two of my daughters for their personal property that was stored in the garage, but to make repairs and paint my rental house, and to pay property taxes and as my Christmas fund. Ultimately, while I was grateful for the money, it has wound up costing me as well, particularly in increased home insurance costs.
It is normal to feel frustrated if you are progressing s-l-o-w-l-y towards your goals, but you are progressing!
Do you like to play with spreadsheets? I have my mortgage set up on a spreadsheet. Then I can easily plug in different what-ifs and see what happens. Have you set up your debts on a spreadsheet assuming minimum only payments? If not, I suggest you do it. Then you can play with...what if I can pay an extra $10, what if I get a bonus and pay an extra $500, what if what if what if.
It's kind of fun, in my opinion. Also, when you start feeling frustrated, you can look back and see the extra dents you have already managed, and realize you ARE making progress.
Grace,
The way I look at it, your debt has decreased. No, not by a huge amount, but just look at all the stuff you have funded in that time period?
Keep at it, and maybe by this time next year, you will have added another 4,000 to decreasing your debt. Here's hoping MURPHY stays away for a bit!
Better than nothing.
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