Extra Pay Check

For those of you who get paid every other week and will be getting 3 checks this month, what are your plans for that "extra" money?

I have 2 options, either

1. Complete car repairs ($700) and put the rest toward paying off Master Card

or

2. Pay off Master Card and charge some of the repairs on Amex and/or Visa.

That way I can have a zero balance on one card (to motivate me and perhaps raise credit score), and I can pay off the charge with my tax refund.

I know the smart thing is to use the cash to repair the car since I don't plan on buying a new one any time soon, but I would get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing a card with a zero balance.

What do you think?

First Bills Of The Year

First pay check of the year.

Funny how it takes 2 weeks to earn it and only 5 minutes to spend it. This is where my money went...

1. Sallie Mae (Notice that she did not need a bail out) - $645
2. Electric - $154
3. Master Card - $50
4. Stupid - $34

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, I pay Sallie Mae $645 a month. I was unable to consolidate my student loan due to my credit score so I am currently stuck with a high interest rate. Hopefully after I pay off 2 credit cards my credit score will improve enough that I can consolidate that loan. I was thinking about asking (begging) Sallie Mae for voluntary forbearance for about a year and using that money to pay off my credit cards faster. That should raise my credit score enough that I should be able to get a great interest rate. What do you think?

I am working on lowering the electric bill. For the past few weeks I turned down the heat to 74 when I go to work, run major appliances during off peak hours, and watch T.V. in the dark.

The Master Card will get paid off at the end on the month with my *Free Check*

I only have one payment left for Stupid (don't ask), I plan on taking that $34 and adding it to credit card payments.

That leaves me with $137

I also spent money at

Super Market - $2
Fast Food - $7 (Last Trip)
Fast Food - $4 (Last Milk Shake, worth the money)
Lunch - $33 (Took my employees out to lunch)
Target - $24

I now have $67 for the next 2 weeks. That is enough to gas up 2 cars (mine and my mothers)
and a little money left over. I planed on sending my ex another $50 but buying my employees lunch messed up my budget, but they deserved it.

How Long Will It Take

I set the goal of paying off two of my credit cards by December 31, 2009. Then I got to thinking, with a new (higher) interest rate how long will it take me to pay them off. According to the yahoo.com financial calculator it will take me 1.8 years to pay off my Amex and 9 months to pay off my Master Card. Not acceptable. But I have a plan.

I get paid every other week (as apposed to twice a month), because of this twice a year a get a check that I don't have to pay bills with. This check will come on January 30, 2009. Yeah!!!!! I am going to take that money and pay off my Master Card. And as we all know, January is when you can file you taxes. Thanks to the insane interest on my student loans I should get a decent refund. If I get what I got last year and use it toward my Amex along with my second "free check" that will take me from 1.8 years to pay the card off to 7 months. If nothing bad happens I can reach 1 of my goals by July 2009.

Not bad, not bad at all.