Yeah! The truck loan is paid! We are already starting to chip away at the HELOC, the next highest interest debt at 3.2%. It is currently at 14K. The upcoming vacation tickets are paid in full, I finally bought some clothes after not buying anything for 6 months. Mostly clothes for the vacation.

The bigger win is the change in habits regarding shopping. Lessons:
1. Budgeting totally works. Figuring out exactly what type of budget works for you is important. For me, projecting on excel my goals, and then adjusting future expenses to achieve, is the key. Instead of watching every penny of household spend, I have a total bi- weekly amount I stick to, spent on groceries, gas, etc.

2. If you put it on a cc, you pay it in full when due. Period. I know a lot more about my cc debt now. Got rid of all misc. cc, down to spend on only one, and if I spend it, I pay it. It s working!

3. Technology is your friend. I know exactly where all my money s at all times. Checking, savings, investments, bills due. I am appreciating Mint.com too.

Now it will take us a while to pay off that HELOC- but we are on our way. And we are still on point to cancel all debt except mortgage by end of year.

One note- we had to buy our vacation airline tickets early and since we pay in full, that extended the payoff date for the truck into March.

Hello everyone, my name is Bingo and I love to spend money. Like any 12 step program admitting the problem is a great first course of action. Because I like to shop and have not, in the past, conditioned myself to long range planning, I have spent more than I should. Consequently I have the following debt (married but will speak in first person for sake of blog)
Cc1 6000 at 13% interest
Cc2 8000 at 0% interest for the next 17 months
Truck 4500 at 3% interest
Car 15000 at 1% interest
Home equity 16000 at 3% interest

Income is 115k with very solid job, 150k in 401k, 60k in IRA, savings is only 1200 right now but saving 800 per month towards savings.

Luckily, there are some bonuses in my future that will greatly accelerate the playoffs

Cc1 will be paid off by 1-1-13 (bonus)
Truck by 3-1-13 (due o accelerating payments)
Home equity paid off by 6-1-13 (combo of bonus and acceleration)
Cc2 by 9-1-13 (acceleration)
Car by 11-1-13. (Acceleration)

So far in the past month I have cancelled all of my misc store credit cards- which are way too tempting to run out and spend small amounts on at a whim. If I am going to be mindful I don't need that temptation.

Lucky we have a very low mortgage and live simply. Budgeting is really helping me change my habits of mindless spending. Just looking at that spreadsheet keeps my wallet in my pocket.

Looking forward to learning and sharing on this site!