Another New Year

Happy New Year!

I am young, under-mid-twenties single mom of one. I am in debt and I want to get out by the time I'm 30 (hopefully it won't actually take that long - that's more than 5 years).

I have three credit cards and two student loans to pay off.

Credit Card # 1: $600 - currently paying $200 monthly
Credit Card #2: $2,500 - currently paying min. bal. - about $45 monthly
Credit Card #3: $3,200 - currently paying min. bal. - about $104 monthly

I am on interest relief (IR) and only pay $10 per month on each student loan. Since the government is paying my interest on these guys, I can focus on the credit cards first.

Student Loan #1: $2,200
Student Loan #2: $3,400

I'm starting this blog to keep myself in check and on track.

Money Goals for 2009:

Goal 1: Pay off two credit cards.

- Plan: Put $200 towards Credit Card #1 every month no matter what.
- Potential Success: Credit Card #1 will be paid off by March 2009.

- Plan: Put $240 towards Credit Card #2 (starting April 2009) until tax return is received.
Use tax return for remaining debt on Credit Card #2.
- Potential Success: Credit Card #2 will be paid off byJune 2009.

Goal 2: Be as frugal with food as possible.

The most money-consuming habit I have is FOOD. I'm seriously hopeless at cooking and spend at least $50 a month on food and drink outside of groceries. And when I do grocery shop, I spend at least $70 a week. This doesn't even include baby formula, wipes, and diapers (I set aside $100 a month for that).

On food alone, I'm spending more than $300 per month. That's for a 1.5 person household.

- Plan: Create a food budget/calendar thing that works. Maximum I would like to spend on
food per month is $200 (I'm sure we can live on $50 of food per week).
- Potential Success: Monthly money savings and hopefully a new skill?!

Goal 3: Create an Emergency Fund (or keep the one I have LOCKED DOWN!)

I guess I already have one, but it's definitely been dipped into for things that are needed but wouldn't be considered emergency. For instance, I blew $300 on groceries, food, and presents in December. I have $80 left and dented someone's car. I hit but I didn't run. I now have to pay her deductible (which I have no idea how much that is going to cost) and my car has a big, nasty dent too. I have not yet gotten an estimate because I know there is no way I can pay it right now anyway.

Also, another thing I've been doing is using the ER fund as Savings and vice versa which brings me to ...

Goal 4: Keep the ER fund and Savings seperate

Truth is, I already got like 3 accounts. One of them is my daughter's. I know I shouldn't, but because her money is not to be touched anyway, I've labelled it ER money. $100 already goes in there monthly..but the pressure of the seasone leaves me with only $80 in there. Emergency only! Emergency only!

Not much goes into the Savings account. Like $20 a month. And I even dipped into that a few months ago!! But it's a lot harder to access than my other accounts so I KNOW I won't be dipping into it this year. Which leads to my final goal ...

Goal 5: NO MATTER WHAT ... DO NOT DIP INTO THE SAVINGS ACCOUNT!

*Sigh*

Cheers to getting kept in check!!

- Mama