The Path to Debt Freedom

I've landed a second PT job at Target. The hours that I am there are rather "cruel." Four a.m. for 4-5 hours, and with a 45 minute commute. This isn't easy because I close at my first job by 10pm Sunday-Thursday and 11 on Friday and Saturday if I am scheduled to work those days. Wow! Talk about being bleary-eyed. That itself is a 25-minute commute providing there are no deer crossing the road to worry about. Very rural where I live.

The good news is that I've essentially doubled my working income which will allow me to set a goal to become debt-free. If I am dilligent and aggressive, I should be able to pay off my one loan and cc debts by Christmas of next year.

This is incentive, and to me, I equate this to paying off a house mortgage. Except I don't own a home, nor do I want to at this point in my life. As long as I have a roof over my head, I'm happy.

It's all good, you know!

For the past year, I, a 53yo gal, have been really toying with the idea of going back to school. While watching certain shows on the Science Channel, I realized that the Cosmos was my niche. I knew that this was what I was looking for "once I grew up" but didn't know it until just recently.

Over time I would always be mesmerized by anything having to do with the universe. After seeing Saturn and its rings through the lens of the family telescope in the FL panhandle, or living at an altitude of 6,500 feet at the Air Force Academy and feeling as if I could reach one of the arms of the Milky Way. The Aurora Borealis looming in front of me after a long horseback ride in the Snake River plains of Idaho. Moments like those never left my memory.....

I had to ask myself if I was too old, could I afford it, did I have the focus to shlepp through however many years it took to get a doctorate, a Ph.D in Physics, perhaps Particle Physics. Perhaps Astro Physics if I was truly ambitious. I know I would start my B of A in Earth Sciences

What temporarily put the kibosh on my plans to enroll was the financial aspect of going to school. How difficult would it be to get grants, loans, gov't sponsored and/or from a private entity. I also read an article about how many graduates from college had spent thousands in private schools, when, they could have attained the same level of education in public colleges. Hey, I put MY two who chose to go to private U's in this, too. Both are indeed working, thankfully.

I bring this up because of the current economic climate, but by no means see it as an end all to whatever dreams I have.

My goodness! I can't believe it's been a month since my last entry. :-( I won't be beating myself up over this. Work and life got in the way. In the meantime, things are set up on Mary Hunt's website. I have to say that hers is one of the really best set-ups for paying down debt and keeping track. It's very simplified, and there's really no excuse to not use it for those of us with needing to get rid of cc debt.

I've got two CCs set up on automatic. Chase and HSBC. It's nice because I was able to work something out with Chase and they willingly and dramatically reduced my finance rate. Looks like someone's trying to "clean up" their image. How do you say, "too little, too late." But better than not at all. ;-D

Over the course of time, I also signed up with UPromise and opened up an MM account and 36-month CD with Sallie Mae. I am seriously contemplating going back to school. If not, it'll be there for my retirement.

This seems to be the story of my life. Don't get me wrong; I'm not feeling the least bit sorry for myself, but I am struggling to pay off debt. And with this acknowledgement, I need to keep the challenge from growing out of control. Thusly, if I blog here for all to read, perhaps it will keep me accountable for making the right decisions, not spending needlessly, etc.

On the flip side, however, is the fact that the cost of food is forever going up and up, especially when the cost of gas rises for no true reason. Then when the cost of gas comes down, the food costs don't. Such is the state of this vicious cycle for many of us.

My goal is to use Mary Hunt's Debt Manager to see how I am progressing. I'll make sure to record this progress here. So, with this in mind, I am starting the path to freedom from debt and look forward to many more postings of positive progress in this forum.