New Debt

I haven't posted in three months and my finances reflect my lack of focus. I've been on this debt-free quest for two and a half years and I really lost focus. I think several factors contributed to my relapse into spending, including the long-time in this step of debt repayment. Dave Ramsey recommends trying to finish Baby Step 2 in 18-24 months. I can see the wisdom in that.
My new debt is a car loan. I bought a 2004 Dodge Stratus, mainly for my son to use. Sharing a car was proving difficult once school and cross country were in full swing, so after much deliberation and car shopping I found a car that should last him through college. He is thrilled and I am able to make plans more freely.
My total debt is now just under $4000. Not where I wanted to be, but on the bright side, it is less than this time last year!
Time to refocus--plan meals, apply for a summer job.

Side Bar Update

With January's payment, my debt went down to $5400. At this rate, I have nine more months to go :(. I want to be finished with debt in six months.
Goal for this week: Send in for medical savings account reimbursement. It may be enough to bring me back on target.

$75 for 1st 30 to sign up for debt help survey

Bob at Christianpf is helping with a new debt help web site. He has the information and the link. To qualify you must have >$5000 in credit card debt and at least two other types of debt. Sounds interesting!

Looking forward-becoming debt-free in 2009

In August, my goal was to pay off my credit card debt by May 1 of 2009. With the expenses of buying a house and moving, I'm a little behind where I wanted to be at the end of 2008. I currently owe $5700. That means I would have to pay $1400/month in order to make my goal of May 1st--not possible.
I must revise my pay off goal, but the end is definitely in sight. I really think I can be debt-free in 6 months! Wow! I'm looking forward to Baby Step 3--saving a fully funded 3 month emergency fund
I still have to make a budget for January and the New Year. I'm not sure how the utilities will run for the new house, so I'll have to estimate the gas, electric and water bills for 2009. I'm looking forward to crunching the numbers.

Debt down, Savings up!

As you can see from my side charts, my debt is inching down and my savings are inching up. New totals:
Debt:
CC1 $830 (I still hope to pay this one off this month)
CC2 $6000

Savings (mini emergency fund)
$515 (adding $80 each month)


Progress is slow, but the numbers are going in the right direction!

NCN mini-charts

Check out my debt and savings mini-charts on the side. Aren't they cute? Thanks, ncn! If you don't have a savings and debt chart at No Credit Needed Network, I encourage you to make one. I love the visual representation. I can't wait to watch the debt shrink and the savings grow!

Current debts

I think that listing my current debts will help keep me accountable as well as helping me track my progress. I am a visual learner!

• CC1 $925 (Plan to pay off in Sept)


• CC2 $ 6050 (Plan to pay off by May '09)

I also owe $160,000 on my house, but I'll probably move when DS graduates from high school.

Looking at my listed debts is rather encouraging to me. Less than $7000 to go--single digits. I can do this.

Goals to keep me enthused:

1. Post my info on NCN network http://www.ncnnetwork.com/. I've seen those cute pie charts on other blogs.

2. Look for other visuals to reflect my debt-free journey. Suggestions, anyone?

My generation

In reading some of my favorite pf blogs, I can't help but feel a little over the hill. It seems that most bloggers are much younger (and wiser about money) than I am. Without giving a specific age, I can tell you that I wore bell-bottom pants, tube tops and danced to the Monkees! Yes, I am a baby-boomer.

I hypothesize that we Boomers are less aware of our financial unhealthiness than the generations preceding us and following us. I'm not sure of all the reasons, but one reason might be that we had a lot of stuff growing up and we came to feel entitled to it. When many of my generation married or otherwise set up housekeeping, we did so on nearly the same par as our parents, because credit was so easy to obtain. We then kept on charging. As children came along, we tended to finance everything from boats, to vacation homes, to college educations and weddings. The general mindset was that as long as you could pay the monthly payment, you were financially healthy.
I found two articles that support my hypothesis:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24586616/

http://www.mynippon.com/social-security-privatization/2005/03/baby-boomers-clueless-about-retirement.html

What do you think? Are boomer clueless about financial health?