Not much of interest in this post, not a lots been happening on the credit card front lately.
I’m still holding off on getting a consolidation loan to pay off the credit cards, I pretty much have a good permanent job now (for the first time in five years), but I’m still in my probationary period for another 2 months. I’ve heard some lenders won’t borrow to people during their probationary periods and I don’t want a failed loan application on my credit report, I’ll hold out another couple of months and then is should be smooth sailing.
I think I have about $300 in my everyday account which I plan to transfer to my credit cards in the next day or two. I shouldn’t need the extra cash until next payday, but I’m always wary of not having that little bit of backup. If worst comes to worst I can either draw a cash advance which costs $25 in bulls$#t fee’s or I can raid my coin jars and show up to some social occassion with sack full of dubloons.
On the good news front I managed to motivate myself to have a play with my car on the weekend. It’s been running real rough for a few months now, but I’ve hesitated spending the money on a proper service as I only tend to drive it on weekends. It’s basically a two tonne shopping trolley. My mechanical skills at their best could be described as medicore, but with $100 in parts I’ve managed to get the old girl running smoothly now. I could spend a whole lot more on her, but I really can’t justify it for the return I’d get on it.
And just for the record the car parts did NOT go on the credit cards.
August 29th, 2005 at 11:54 pm
How do you go from admitting to a problem of credit card debt and then keep spending money on credit?
August 30th, 2005 at 5:39 pm
Credit cards are a like a chainsaw, used wisely they do a great job and save a lot of time. Use them with reckless abandon and they will cut your legs off!
August 30th, 2005 at 6:24 pm
You mention going out on social occasions a lot, don’t know if most of these are in the past or future but when I was in debt up to my ears at the tender age of 22, I didn’t go out, didn’t buy clothes basically didn’t have a life in order to pay it off.
It sounds to me like you need to make some sacrifices and stop justifying everything you buy. Like I said, I’m not sure whether what your writing about is past or present, but that’s just my advice if your serious about getting rid of debt.
If your worried about a failed application on your report - don’t be, it look far worse to be owing $20,000 in credit card debt.
August 31st, 2005 at 12:14 am
Hi Molly, I’m a social sort of person, I’m not giving up my life just to make my credit card debts go away quicker. I’ve lost a couple of friends unexpectantly at an early age and having been through that I’m not going to sit quitely at home watching my credit card balances dwindle while the whole world goes on around me.
It’s all about balance, a yin and yan thing so to speak. I’d love to have my credit cards paid off in six months (which is completely possible if I set my mind to it). But I’m happy to delay my credit card goal if it allows me to share more time with those around me.
And as someone said before, “You can’t spend it when you’re dead!”
September 5th, 2005 at 3:01 am
It looks like you’re on your way steadily. If not, you’ll have to answer to us
September 7th, 2005 at 4:13 am
I have to agree with Molly. I don’t think you are truly interested in getting out of debt. You say balance is the key. I agree with that but you did not use balance when getting into debt. How do you suppose balance is going to work when getting out of debt. I’m afraid that until you make some hard decisions, you will always be a slave to credit cards.
September 8th, 2005 at 5:55 pm
Hey Broke — you have a very interesting site, and it’s very clear that you speak your mind and are very candid about your dealings with money and credit card debt. Lots of people (Molly, JLP, and others) are watching you and want to help you succeed in getting out of debt. Their advice is good, and I’d tell you much the same thing.
If you’d like to have some more exposure for your site, submit your best recent post to the Carnival of Debt Reduction. First issue is up September 19th — check out my website for details!