Paying off a credit card: Priceless
Okay, I haven't exactly paid off a credit card in full but I am darn near close. Today I sold the remainder of my gold jewelry for a cool price of $1070. Which will go right to the $1385 balance currently on my Gap Visa. I get paid on the 15th and so the remainder of the balance will be paid off the 15th. I think I may actually have enough to cover it now, but I don't want to mess around with my loan deduction. That leaves 2 credit cards, one with about $7,000 and the other with about $2500. I may do a balance transfer on one of them, depending on whether I can negotiate anything.
The morning got off to a great start, too. I won a $10 Amazon gift card just by posting at wise bread forums. I'll save it for now - it'll come in handy if I have to buy any gifts. Today I ran down to the nearby consignment store and sold a Cynthia Rowley dress for the price of....$24. UGH. But, that dress doesn't fit, it's been sitting in my closet for 3 years, and it's ugly. $24 more dollars that I didn't have that will go to the credit card company. I also sold another item on ebay for $25. I'm trying to think of the combined effect of these little sales rather than just the individual low price...At least the rest of the clothes that I can't sell can go to charity for the tax deduction.
I also ran over to the ING cafe today to donate a winter coat. And they gave me a free coffee!
I cannot tell you the amazing weight that has been lifted simply by finally admitting the problem and doing what I need to do to fix it. I am so excited to feel what it will be like to owe nothing to the credit card companies...and to know that part of any excess income I have afterwards can go to the principal on my student loan...
I've also subscribed to the Dave Ramsey podcast. I've learned some interesting things. Especially that comparatively speaking, there are people out there WAY worse off than I am. I think the biggest lesson I'm learning is that so far I'm really not missing all of the needless spending...like on the "treats" or the Starbucks or makeup. I know it's only been about 2 weeks, but I really thought that the withdrawal would be much worse than it is.
Okay, I did buy a dog bone today (for the dog). But that's been my only expenditure since last week! That's huge!
