Thank you all again for the advice on what action I should take on which debt to pay off first (post of 7/13).

I have decided to put all extra money toward the personal loan that is at 6%. I like the fact that it is not revolving debt so once it is gone it is really gone. While we are not using the CC at all and have not been for a long time there is still the possibility hanging there.

The other factor that decided me was that I also realized that if I can get that personal loan paid off by January 2009, I can always get my credit union to grant me another personal loan to transfer the balance that remains on the CC which is currently at 0% through the beginning of February 2009.

So, I will keep the ticker running on the 0% CC, but I will be adding one for the Personal Loan since that will now be my new GOAL. The personal loan is not due to be paid off until the end of 2010, so I am hoping to pay this off 2 years early. *fingers crossed*

I would really appreciate feedback from all of you. I know there are many more financially savvy individuals here than practically anywhere else, so I know I'll get great thoughts and suggestions from you all.

I have been putting all extra money toward the CC you see to the left which is at 0% until February 2009. I was hoping to have the entire balance paid off by the time it returns to a higher rate. At this point I am not sure if that will happen or not. Right now I have about $600 to put toward my goal, but I am holding on to it until I get some advice from you guys.

Now that I am half way to the 0% offer's conclusion and have only paid about 25% of the balance off, I am wondering if I should change my plan. I am thinking maybe I should put all the extra money I was putting toward the 0% card instead toward the debt with the smallest balance (a personal bank loan) - $3300 at 6%, or to the one with the highest interest rate (another CC) - $4600 at 10.51%.

We are trying to pay down our debt now by throwing all extra money toward it, then save for a down payment on a home. I would love to be able to buy a home within the next year while prices are still down, but right now our debt/credit limit ratio on the CCs is still very high at 38.6% (down from 41.2% in January) and our minimum monthly payments are high at about 27.5% of our monthly gross income.

If we pay off the bank loan we would lower our monthly payments to 24.3% of our gross, and if we pay off the 10.51% CC it would be about 25%.

We've never bought a home before or shopped for a mortgage but I think those are things they look at during the mortgage process. Do any of you who know about mortgages and home-buying have any insights for us?

Any and all thoughts are welcome!

I received a check in the mail Friday for $64.00 for doing my decoy mail* assignments for the Winter quarter (Dec07-Feb08). They are catching up after falling behind on payments, so that is why I have received 2 checks so close together. I am only paid 4 times a year by them and now I am all caught up so I don't expect another payment for 2-3 months or so. Anyway, this is "extra" money so it is all going toward paying down my goal CC.

New Balance 0% CC: $7,416.70

*See my 6/15 post for an explanation of what this is.

The ones place and change from my paycheck today is $8.14, so this will be sent to the 0% CC.

New Balance: $7,480.70

In other good news, I worked some extra hours the last few weeks so I will be able to put an additional $125 toward this CC this month. My payment of $175 is automatically send from my checking account on the first of the month, so on July 1st it will be $300 instead of $175. I will update the balance from that transaction after it is officially made on July 1st. Don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched and all...but I am excited that I am making headway.

I received my Fall check from the decoy mail* place yesterday for $71.50 and I also received a refund from overpayment to my Capital One card for $0.06 (yes, it cost way more to print and mail the check than the actual check is worth...another reason credit card companies are renowned for their idiocy).

New Balance on 0% CC: $7,488.84

*A mail decoy is someone who gets mail delivered to them under "strange" names and records when it was delivered and in what condition. I am paid a small fee for each piece I enter.

Boy, where does the time go?! It is already more than a week into the month and I have not reconciled my ING interest yet. I am usually right on top of that because I put that earned interest toward the Goal CC and that makes me happy.

I earned $16.12 in interest for the month of May which will be going to pay down that evil CC you see to the left. WooHoo!

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,560.40

I received a paycheck this week and the dollars place plus change will continue to go to the 0% Goal CC, $9.65 this week.

I also forgot to post that I put $4.56 from my paycheck 2 weeks ago toward the Goal CC.

My automatic monthly payment of $175 also went through this week.

Total new balance on the 0% CC: $7,576.52

I love being picked to try out new products, and while I can't give away any specifics since I crossed my heart and promised Pinecone I would never divulge the information, I can say that I really enjoyed this product and hope to see it in stores soon...with a few of my recommended tweaks of course!

$5 Pinecone check to the Goal CC -
New Balance: $7,765.73

I got paid today, so $2.93 goes to the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,767.79

Received $20 from MySurvey and $5 from Pinecone Research this week so I am putting an extra $25 toward the 0% CC.

New Balance on Goal CC: $7,770.72

Also, bad news: I paid $3.39/gal for gasoline at BJ's (cheapest place around)- up from $2.99 a month ago!

Good news: I got 36.1 miles to the gallon on my last tank of gas.

I have several sub-accounts over at ING that earn interest, but I only allow the EF to accrue it's own interest. The other accounts I transfer the interest every month over to the current goal so, $13.02 in interest going to the 0% credit card this month.

The regular monthly payment of $175 went through the other day and I had $5 leftover in the YNAB budget last month to add, so I owe under $8k on this debt now! Hooray!!!

New Balance on 0%CC: $7,999.36

I got paid on Thursday, and continue to take the ones place and change and put it toward the goal. This check was funny because there was no change. It was an even dollar amount which is really unusual. Anyway, $3.00 toward the evil CC debt.

I found $172.80 in the budget for the 0% CC. I have been skimming money from some of my other categories that I feel are okay with a little less. I hope I'm right. I'm also looking forward to my next paycheck this week and putting even more toward this goal. I really want this debt GONE! I need to move on and be able to buy a house, and that can't happen until this is paid off.

We actually have more debt after this is paid, but it will be a really good chunk gone. I'm not sure what the next goal will be (paying off more debt or saving for a down payment), but nothing can happen until this goal is met so I am trying to get there as fast as humanly possible.

New CC Balance: $8,195.38

I am feeling a little bit better since my last post. Thank you again to all who posted support and encouragement for me! I truly appreciate it.

I received a check in the mail yesterday for some side work I do as a mail decoy - $58.50 for 3 months of work so not a lot but a nice little "extra". I took that money along with $40 I had leftover from my "allowance" last paycheck, $54 I cut from our budget this month and the interest earned on my ING checking account last month and made a payment to the 0% CC - a total extra payment of $153.82 that will go through tomorrow.

Updated 0% Credit Card Total = $8,368.18