A financial update

I thought I'd give a little update on my finances.  I decided to follow total money makeover plan after reading Dave Ramsey's book (that I checked out of the library, of course).  If you can get past the Christian slant of his show, it's quite entertaining and informative.  So, when my tax refund comes (which better be soon since I filed 2 weeks ago online) the money will go directly into my emergency fund instead of to a credit card.  That kind of kills me, but I do see the value in it, especially since I have gone off of credit cards.

So here's the low down:

Chase Amazon account:  $7, 149 (getting ready to transfer balance to 0% interest card)
Chase Visa:  $2,074

Washington Mutual:  $2, 239 (down from $3,000, with another $300 payment pending)

Gap Visa:  PAID OFF $1750

American Education Services:  about $100,000

Xpress Loan Servicing (servicing my Sallie Mae loans):  $43,000

Savings:  $120 in ING CD

Checking account:  $800 (but I do get paid today yay!)

Today a speaker from some law school is coming to our office to discuss the new Loan Forgivenes act passed last year.  I'll defintely be bringing my calculator to see how I'll be affected.  I'm desperately hoping it will lower my $1070 a month loan payments. 

I signed up for some weekend work shifts (aka Night Court) to bring in an extra $200.  It's suprising what a big difference that makes in my paycheck.  I was hoping to get a shift for some weekend prison client interviewing, but I didn't get to the sign up sheet in time.  I'm still looking for some additional part time work,  but having a hard time finding it.  I've been trying to spread the word that I'll do basic tax returns.
Today I plan to take some more clothes over to Buffalo Exchange so I'll have some pocket change for the weekend.

I did my budget for this month, and it looks like I'll have about $600 after bills are paid to go towards credit card payment.   The longer I do this, the more horrified I become at how carefless I've been with tracking my money.