What did i do EXACTLY?

I covered how I was a hermit in my debt-paying days, but not the steps i took financially. So, without further ado, here they are:

1)paid off my smaller debts first. My two student loans were at an interest rate of only 5% or so, but I owed so much less on them than i did my big honker of a credit card that I wanted to get them out of the way first. I had money collecting in my bank account over Christmas break, so much of that money went to paying half of one of my student loans off first. That felt so good, I was hooked on paying debt. A good first move for me.

2) I continued to pay twice the minimum on the credit cards while paying off student loans.

3) I transferred almost half of my credit card debt to a 0% interest rate card.

4) I opened an ING account to start gaining 4% interest on my emergency (savings) fund. I allocated $25/mo to that account. before that, it was just sitting in my BoA savings account, gaining like 2 cents a year. phhhblt.

5) once my student loans were paid off (took me 3 months or so), i threw everything i could at the higher-interest rate (remaining) credit card debt. my interest rate there was like 15%!! i thought it was around 9%, but apparently they changed it to an adjustable rate sometime the year before, and i received the notice in the mail but promptly stuffed it in my file folder and forgot about it. I wish i could say i bargained the credit card co. to decrease the interest rate, but instead i tried to pay it off as quickly as possible. I was done with that a few months later.

6) I read everything i could get my hands on about debt and cutting back. I stopped going out to lunch and dinner, made do with the clothes i had, started paying attention to what i bought, and stayed at home or went to the library instead of the mall. or, i went on fake shopping sprees. i did this in grad school, too--i'd walk around a store, collecting things that i wanted and acted like i was fully intending to buy them. then, when it was time to leave, i left the cart or whatever where it was and left the store (sorry, retail workers). this fulfilled my need to shop--really, it was all about the experience of shopping and deciding what i wanted--without hurting my wallet. I know. i'm wierd. but i LOVE my fake shopping sprees, collecting shiny new things in my cart, imagining where I'm going to wear/use them, and then having the willpower to walk away from that when i realize (again) that i really don't need that stuff. I guess I'm testing my resolve or something. Whatever it is, i love it.

7) Made a debt removal spreadsheet. I calculated how much i had to pay in order to be debt free, then assigned each month a certain amount. I also paid bi-monthly. I LOVED sending those checks off, too. Sometimes, if i could afford it, i sent more than two off. seeing the debt shrink by huge amounts warmed my soul like no new wardrobe could.

8) kept at it. finally! paid off the credit card with the interest rate and started focusing on the 0% interest rate card, and none too soon, given what was about to happen...

9) kept at it.

10) had to take a break to move--suddenly i had a first months rent and security deposit to think about. ugh. there goes my june-july payment! my car needed a new...everything. i also had a vacation planned in july, and then my grandmother got sick, so I was blowing money left and right on plane tickets and moving supplies. grr. set-backs will ALWAYS happen, be prepared!

11) sept. 06--finally back on track.

12) kept at it.

13) debt-free!! today!

14) A future post...