Hi there and welcome to another personal confessions and this week (39) I decided to update you on how my "debt is no small matter" is going. In my last update last month I talked about some of the steps I am taking to ensure I am debt free by December of 2014 - this is a new personal goal I set last month but as you know life does love throwing curve balls and that's ok. If you want to read more about my last update and what steps I took to help me on this journey then click HERE. When I first started this series I talked about how I got into debt and how I was slowly crawling out. It has not been easy changing bad habits but it has not been particularly hard as well because I am determined and I have a goal in mind. I told you about my new rule in the first series "if I don't have it I don't spend it that's my new rule no more pay later high purchase kinda situation because I am done." I have pretty much lived by this rule since I made the conscious decision to be debt free, is it easy yes and no because temptations are so many and good lord are there temptations many but having a strong family and will power behind me I am forging ahead. If you want to read more about how I got into tempt and my crawling out of it then click HERE.
So coming back to today, where am I and how am I doing? As am sure most bloggers know (except for the super organized) when I normally set my goals I hardly look back at them until maybe a week before I am due to set new ones. When I am setting goals I think I will check constantly to ensure I am on track but usually that's not the case, but, I do love when I remember to check my goals and found I have done them (some or all) I feel more happy because it was not a task that needed remembering it's something part and parcel of my life that didn't get pushed aside. I realized with my target to be debt free by December 2013 is not looking overly promising - because I had decided to make an impromptu trip, which is costing an arm and a leg but its totally worth it.
Where am I?
When I started this life changing goal I made a table using the different amazing excel budget templates around to create my budget for 2014. I created a table which contains:
- Who I owed (agency and/or company)
- Balance (original and current)
- Contact details and reference numbers
- Account (I have two accounts so needed to know which account paid what bill)
- Payment date and payment plan (agreed amount).
This table has been my constant companion and I update it religiously every month-end and its color coded. Red = not paid/missed (either my fault or theirs), Green = paid and Grey = account closed or frozen. Every time I pay off an account I grey it out and usually delete the account but other times I wait a few weeks, call the company/agency again and ensure its definitely paid off. I also have another tab on my excel spreadsheet, this is for my mobiles, rent and bloggie payments of sorts. Having this table has helped me keep my sanity because I have all the information for all my accounts in one place and I am able to see how I a progressing and what accounts I can close out before intended due date.
How am I doing?
I just finished updating my table and I am doing good, due to the impromptu journey next month everything will be tight but not too dead tight. I am happy to say I have cleared 75% of my debt and I can not wait to clear the remainder 25% in at a maximum 6 months time. As I stated earlier my December goal is still possible but life has given something much more worth while for the mean time so I am ok postponing the deadline.
This is where I am and how I am doing so far, how is your debt-free journey going so far? What changes have you made lately to help support your finance setting?
Labels: debt, Money issues, Personal confessions
