So, today I decided to add up the interest we paid last month on our credit cards. It totaled $558.63! Five hundred, fifty eight dollars and sixty three cents. I'm a little sick to my stomach thinking about it. That's more than the monthly payments for both our brand new car and insurance. Throw in some gas and maybe we would get up that high! That's almost the cost we paid for my portion of our one week all inclusive honeymoon at an ocean-front Mexican resort. Jeepers!Over one year, this would be $6,703.56. Wowzer! I know we can't pay this debt down in just one year, so it could be multiple years at this rate. Agggghhhhhhh! Okay, enough already. I need to stop.
What I need to do is really make progress this year at paying our debt down! I'm going to try to turn what I first thought of as frustrating, into motivation. Perhaps I'll put post-its around with the daily interest number on them (roughly $18.62), as a reminder of what we're paying. Maybe the next time we think about ordering a pizza or going out to dinner or something, we'll think about this number. I just had a funny thought, have you ever seen past marathon runners who get 26.2 tattooed on their legs... well, 18.62 may be my number! This whole get out of debt journey kinda feels like a marathon to me :)
Ugh... that is a number I definitely don't want to calculate, but probably should!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a marathon! I've been calculating my daily accrued interest on my student loans for a couple months now because it REALLY motivates me to make payments whenever I can!
ReplyDeleteIf you decide not to put post-its all over your home with the number, maybe you could just put a little post-it on your credit cards/debit card so whenever you pull them out to pay for something you see that number and think, "Okay, do we REALLY need this?!" Good luck!
Whoa! It definitely puts it into perspective. I like the post it note idea, having a visual reminder always helps me.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your marathon!
Truer words were never said. It IS a marathon, and parts of it seem like we are running up huge hills or even backwards. But we will get there!
ReplyDeleteI hate paying interest too. Especially when the interest rates we get from savings accounts are so less. You are right, I bet we would make payments a lot more frequently if we knew the interest we are paying each day!
ReplyDeleteElla
Calculating interest really puts debt into perspective! And how much it stinks! Here's to a year of paying it down....and the more you pay it down, the less will go to interest...
ReplyDeleteThe interest is the part the banks downplay when offering CC,s if they said up front how much the interest would be over the term of a loan or a CC nobody would have any debt.
ReplyDeleteHeres to a year of getting rid of it for good, you now have to take a pair of scissors to the cards.