I kept track of my accounts in December, but didn’t get around to posting an update due to holiday travel and just plain laziness.  Obviously, I took a step backwards in credit card payments – which really were based on finance charges.  But as always, I’m really looking forward to the next few months since I tend to get a pretty nice tax refund which I apply directly to my debt.  I’m hoping to knock off one of my cards and increase my snowball payment amount.

Pretty good progress across the board this month – though my savings did drop a bit due to some minor car repairs that couldn’t be put off.  The big news is that I dropped below (above?) the -10K net worth mark.  Though it’s the credit cards that really need to be my main focus.  I was able to put $783 towards them in October, so we’ll see if I can increase that amount to at least $1000 and make it consistent here on out.

So this October net worth update is extremely late, but I wanted to get it up on the blog before I post the November chart in a few weeks.  As you can see, not a lot has shifted.  I need to re-evaluate what money is going to where in order to make sure I’m throwing as much towards my debt as I can.

In fact, this has become even more urgent to me now that I did a quick estimation of the student loan debt that I will have upon completion of my MBA.  For about half a second, I considered starting a student loan debt payment account to begin collecting money to start off with a large lump sum payment.  However, I quickly realized that it would be smarter to pay down all of my other debts in the hope that once the new student debt shows up – it will be the only debt that I will need to focus on at that time.  Sure it will be big – but it will be really nice just to have the one debt item.

Now, that I wrote my intentions, I do have to be upfront in saying that I did just take a vacation. During the vacation I spent about $800 or so.  I take one vacation a year, and many have commented that I shouldn’t be taking vacations or spending money like that if I’m really serious about paying down debt.  However, that money comes out of a “vacation fund” that I do not count towards my net worth and, to be honest, I don’t regret getting away for a bit and recharging the batteries.  In fact, going away on vacation (with a dedicated fund / budget) is a nice way of showing yourself how life could be if you didn’t have to worry about money – which is the ultimate goal.

Anyway, it’s back to reality and time to really start planning for 2010 and how to make the most of it right from the start.  The end of the year is always tricky.  Just like vacation, I have a dedicated holiday or gift fund that I save up throughout the year (not counted towards net worth).  This way, the scramble for Christmas gifts doesn’t impact my budget or debt payment.  Plus, there’s the hope of year-end bonuses and next years tax refund to look forward to.  Usually, a nice boost to the plan.

Hey there, everyone.  Welcome to my blog and welcome to this mid-September edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction.  Listed below are 7 posts that I found to be interesting and in-line with the content of my blog as well.  I hope you find one or more of the topics as useful as I did.

Lastly, thank you to everyone that submitted an article. Enjoy!

M is for Money submitted a post called Can a Spender Become a Saver?

If you’re reading this post then I’m assuming you want the answer to be yes. It all depends on your mindset going into it – do you really want to climb from debt or do you still crave spending?

The Smarter Wallet submitted a post called Credit Crisis and Subprime Card Traps

Stricter credit card regulation is coming in early February, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t get hurt.  This post goes into some of the credit card options available to those with credit trouble. The deck is stacked against the debtor – I would suggest walking away from the plastic as much as you can, for as long as you can.

Get Rich Slowly submitted a post called Sweating the Big Stuff

An example of cutting larger things from your budget to improve your cash flow (and your life).  Actually a guest post from Sierra at Childwild.com, this story goes beyond the popular “just cut your morning coffee” suggestion that most PF blogs hold as the golden rule.

Financial Highway submitted a post called Basics of Credit Score and Credit Report and How often to Check.

Typically, I check my credit score once, at the beginning of each year, from one of the three reporting agencies.  It’s a good idea to track it – regardless how often though.  This post quickly goes over some of the basics.  My tip: I would never pay for “credit report alerts” or anything else they’re selling – instead, be active and be your own alert.

PT Money submitted a post called 5 Ways to Improve Your Credit Score

Now that you know what to look for in your credit score, here’s 5 ways to improve it.

Budgets Are Sexy submitted a post called Students! Manage Your Debt.

I thought this post was good since my decent in to debt began right after I graduated college.  Having a good (i.e. realistic) understanding of finance and debt management is crucial when you’re starting out – it’s easy to fall behind.

Bargaineering submitted a post called Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover Review.

I’m using the debt snowball technique to attack my debt and I’ve written a post or two on Dave Ramsey, so I found this review of his book and the comment thread to be interesting.

All the asset accounts are up – especially savings and the liability accounts are slowly making their way down to zero.  I haven’t slowed my debt pay down, from what I can tell it’s a slight increase in finance charges that is negating some of the payoff.

Plus, there were some slight set backs this month since I just realized that I get paid every other week and not on set days of each month – as I believe I had originally been told.  Well the bills went out and the money didn’t go in, so I got hit with some overdraft fees and spend about half a week kicking myself.  I’m back on track now and don’t expect anything like that to happen again.

But little mistakes and finance charges won’t stop me or hold me up for long. Especially since today I paid off yet another credit card! Yep, the debt snowball keeps on rollin’ and that bigger payment of $300 has rolled into an existing $115 payment creating a – you guessed it – $415 monthly payment to the card with the next highest interest rate.

It’s ironic that the day I look forward to each month is the day that huge chunk of cash goes out of my account to pay down that debt.  It’s a sick sense of satisfaction watching the effect those big chunks have on that total debt number.

So again, I realize I’m in the debt paydown process and therefore not really looking to accumulate a large amount of stocks.  But lately, I’ve been very glad in my decision to purchase a decent amount of AIG stock when it hit rock bottom (about $1.40 or so).

Today, AIG stock rose $3.72  per share – which is great considering the only real news was the the new CEO was optimistic.  It just goes to show you how sensitive the stock market is to things like this.  Just more evidence that wealth built on stocks alone can’t really be considered a solid foundation – which is why my monthly payment to the emergency fund is 3x more than my monthly stock purchase.

So I have 10 credit cards right now.  But thankfully, not all of them have balances on them.  In fact, four of my credit cards now have zero balances, but I have not closed them due to fears that it will knock my debt to credit ratio out of whack (more than it already is) and hurt me more than help me.

But in reviewing this old consumerist post, I’m wondering if I should cancel the zero’d out cards now and continue to do so as I whittle my balances down or if I should just wait until I’m completely debt free and have a little card canceling party?  It would be really fun to call these guys up sooner rather than later to say thanks, but no thanks.  But my sense is that I should wait.

I’d really be interested to know what you guys think and why?  Have any of you experienced adverse effects of closing out your cards while still paying down credit card debt?