Back in October, I had a tarot reading, which I posted about here. One of the things that the reader saw was that the rest of 2006 would be a struggle, financially speaking, (well, in other ways too, lol) but that in 2007, our money situation would start to get better, and that 2007 would generally be a year of new beginnings. (So far, Check!)

( Read more... ) I sure hope it keeps rolling in. I would love to leave as much of my debt behind in 2007 as possible and start next year with a clean slate. (By clean slate, I mean the only debt being our mortgage and probably the rest of my student loans.)

I hope you are all having a lovely and fun weekend! :)

Don't believe anyone who tells you it's possible to remodel your bathroom for about $500. It's not.

No matter what, it will cost more, take longer, and require more work than you ever thought possible.

Hopefully, after this is done, I'll be able to say it was all worth it. :)

My goals included some things pertaining to my finances.

Goal: Develop and implement a plan to reduce debt more quickly.

Status: In Progress-I already posted about the loan I got to consolidate my credit card debt with my auto loans. I've been paying nearly twice the payment each month, in an effort to get it paid off within just over a year, instead of the two year term of the loan.

The only use the one credit card that's still in my possession has gotten is the purchase of a plane ticket, half of which is paid off, the other half of which will be paid before it is due next month.

I've also been paying extra principal on our mortgage each month, and paying more than the minimum on my student loan.

Goal: Develop and implement a plan to increase savings more quickly.

Status: In progress-in the "loan" link above, I also outlined some things we've done/are doing to save more money. This has enabled us to put about $200 a month into our savings account. As soon as our loan is paid off (another year or so) we'll be able to save even more.


Goal: Increase charitable giving (possibly by volunteering more time as opposed to money).

Status: In the planning stages. We've been focusing more on reducing debt/saving money so far this year. On one of my "to do" lists is to contact the Humane Society about opportunities to volunteer there.

I'm more than a little pissed off at myself right now.

At this time last year, we had received a substantial financial gift from Ryan's grandfather. This gift was enough to enable us to pay off one of our cars, put a decent chunk in savings, and pay down a majority of our credit card balances.

I've just added up all my current credit card balances. (I have 5 credit cards. 3 Major Credit Cards and 2 Store Credit Cards.)

They're over $7000*.

I've had myself in substantial (to me) credit card debt since I was 18. In the 8 years since I got my first piece of almighty plastic, I've had 2 consolidation loans, and one nice gift that helped pay a lot of them off. I never keep the balances down for long.

When will I learn???

*That would be the HIGHEST credit card debt I've had myself in to date.