CITI Professional

The current balance on my CITI Professional card is $1,501.20! This is now my smallest balance so according to the Dave Ramsey method I should pay this off first. The goal is to make a $1000 payment in August and then pay off the remaining balance in September.



I hope we can stick to our goal. We have a lot of expenses coming up for August. My dad’s 60th birthday will be here in three weeks so I will probably have to buy him something nice. We are still expecting some medical bills and my wife has some back to school shopping to do (she’s a teacher). We also need to pay off Discover and cut up the cards, I am tired of putting stuff on them, but stuff keeps coming up.

I swear, feels like debt and expenses will never end, maybe I should rename my blog “Living With Debt” since it seems it will never go away.

HS

Discover Cashback Bonus

After heavily using the Discover card the last couple of months we finally reached some cash back bonus! The current balance is $33 but I can only redeem $20 right now. This is a free $20, no finance charges or fees; we got paid just for using the card! I would like to wait until the balance is 40 to cash out but I also want to stop using Discover.




What would you do with $20? Should I charge more and make it $40

HS

Discover Balance

The current balance on Discover is $249.39! I was hoping to be at $0 at the time of this post but we had a lot of unexpected expenses in July. We paid four medical bills and the electricity was an extra $100 this month. The wife also had some expenses related to her vacation which put the balance well over $1000. The goal for August is to pay this off and completely stop using Discover. Having an emergency fund might help to offset using a credit card, but I think I rather pay debt off right now instead of saving.



We also managed to save close to $500 dollars this month so I sent that to the CITI Professional card. My goal is to make that card the smallest debt and pay it off in August or September. That should leave CITI Premier Pass and Best Buy.

I will post all the balances over the weekend.

HS

The Electricity Bill

Our electric bill this month is $300 dollars! Ouch! Our house is 2500 sq ft and the AC stays on 80 all the time. Our highest bill last summer was $216, I wonder if the rates have gone up during the last few weeks. I did catch part of this article last week from the WSJ:

“Texas had some of the cheapest power rates in the country when it zapped most of the state’s electric regulations six years ago, convinced that rollicking competition would drive prices even lower.

This summer, electricity there is some of the nation’s priciest.

Power costs are rising in the rest of the U.S., but everything is bigger in Texas: On a hot day in May, wholesale prices rose briefly to more than $4 a kilowatt hour — about 40 times the national average”

I hope they go back and regulate! We will survive but I feel really bad for people making less money and those with children. It is bad enough that gas is 4 dollars and groceries have gone up. I’m hoping the August bill will be lower, we are going to up the thermostat to 82 and make more use of our ceiling fans.

This will probably impact the debt payments for July. Discover will probably have to be paid off in August; hopefully the balance will only be around $250.

Anyone else shocked with their electricity bills?

Discover Card Balance

Most of our July spending is complete and our Discover credit card spending got a little bit out of hand. The goal was to stay under $1000 but as you can see below we are way over that amount. I currently have $500 saved up for credit card payments and an additional $1000 coming in next week. Our goal is to pay off Discover and completely stop using it.



I know we need to stop using credit in order to get out of debt but our lifestyles are very dynamic, we travel, we take vacations, we go out with friends, etc. As they say, we only live once so we might as well enjoy it. Of course I don’t want to live once and end up in debt over our heads so that’s why we will pay this off and move on. The goal is not to use any credit cards in August.

I will post all of the balances as soon as I get rid of Discover.

Check back soon for more debt updates.

HS

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Our female Golden Retriever gets to stay home in our bedroom with the TV on every day. I got home early today and the Oprah Winfrey show was on. Suze Orman was lecturing some couple about debt and I could not believe what I saw, they have 135,000 dollars in credit card debt! Is that even possible? Her husband works and makes 100,000 a year, so he probably brings home 75-80. Their car payments alone are more than our mortgage and we probably make about the same.

And here I am worried about CITI and Discover... :)



If you would like a recap of the episode please visit the Oprah Winfrey Show - The Mom Who Shopped Her Family Broke.

HS

Discover Card Balance

The current balance on our Discover Card is $539.04. My SIRIUS satellite radio subscription went through on Discover pushing the balance over 500! It only bills every three months and this is something I “need” for my 40 mile commute to work. My wife will be going out of town for vacation in the next few days so she will also be using Discover a bit, she promised she won’t go over $300. Our goal is to pay off this balance before the end of the month and completely stop using this card.



On a positive note, our emergency savings with Bank of America is now $300 and E*TRADE is $160. I think I’m going to cancel the E*TRADE account and send that money to the CITI Professional Card. I would like to have that card paid off in August and then concentrate on Best Buy.

I will post the balances next week; we seriously need to get the snowball rolling again.

I hate debt!! It seems like it just won’t go away!

HS