Well, I decided to start over and really work hard on getting myself out of debt, namely credit card debt. In my first few years of having credit cards, I rarely, if ever, carried a balance. I dutifully paid each card in full every month. Unfortunatly, due to personal family problems, I ran into some problems with college and found myself in desperate need of money to pay for my college tuition. Three semesters later, I am in deep credit card debt, and astonished at how I let it get this bad.

I currently have three credit cards with the following balances and interest rates: $1157.00 at 0%, $1797.32 at 0%, and $3179.28 at 14.4%. The third ones is the worst, and I did call and ask to get the interest rate reduced a few months ago (it used to be over 18%!). I am about to transfer MOST of that balance to a 0% card and then throw that card in the freezer for emergencies only, as out of all the cards, it is the one I would like to keep when all the others are paid off and cut up.

I owe several thousand in student loans, but I'm not concerned with those until I graduate, as the credit cards are the most pressing issue for me. Most of my student loans aren't gaining any interest until I graduate anyway.

Anyways, I've worked hard at my job and have just gotten a raise, and a promotion (which means ANOTHER raise) so I should soon be making about 90 cent more per hour. I've created a pretty strict budget using Microsoft Excel and plan to stick to it pretty strictly. I have my regular job, which I will be working 24 hours a week once school starts at the end of August (pretty much full time hours until then). I can't work more than 24 hours a week once school starts because I will be taking 18 credit hours worth of classes, and a 50 hour unpaid mandatory school internship on top of that. In addition, I will continue to do paid surveys online whenever I qualify for them and get free samples of things such as shampoo and the like to keep my expenses low.

I have many goals for myself starting next month (although I have been keeping track of my finances this past month just to have a comparison). One is to stick to my budget and pay off my credit cards. The second is to do my very best in school and earn respectable grades. The third is to eat healthier, while still sticking to my budget. The fourth is to exercise regularly. I feel all of the goals actually work together to support my getting out of debt, as improving my health should help me need less medication (I hope) and fewer doctor's visits (fewer illnesses).

Well, these are my goals and my plans to reach them. I'll try to post more regularly this time.