plan of attack! rawr.

i've spent some time thinking about how i can measure my success with this project--and, without even realizing it, miss emily (one of my oldest and dearest friends)gave me a few helpful tips that i think will make reaching goals and feeling successful more tangible.

in addition to calculating what an item will REALLY cost (when you consider the interest you're paying each month) she provided a really great explaination of another technique:

i live off of the snowball effect. i'm sure you've heard paying off the highest interest loan first is smart, and it is. but what is smart for your motivation and effort ... is making your biggest payments each month to the loan with the smallest balance. pay the minimum amount due on anything else and every other penny to that smallest one. when you see that zero balance, it gives you such a thrill that you just want to keep going, and you take what you had put towards that loan and you now add it to the payment on the next highest loan. eventually you are putting all of your money to the same loan and then eventually you are debt free.


now, obviously emily didn't come up with on her own, but i know she's a smart, responsibly lady and to me, this makes the most sense.

so, the plan now is to attack 2 credit cards and 2 student loans--where all my debt comes from.

the first victim will be my gap credit card. once that's paid off, i'll shift my focus onto my visa, then finally my smaller of 2 student loans. if i'm successful, i will knock all three of those out this year and can focus my attention on the mother of all student loans--the big 5 figure balance.

eliminating those 3 payments will free up just about $400 each month (on average.) and that would be kind of amazing...dontcha think?

tonight i make my first move against the gap card...it's going to involve a pair of scissors and, of course, you'll all get to see my handiwork.

bwa ha ha ha!