I have been writing about debt for a while and it has been easy. Why…because I had a lot of it. But that has slowly changed over the past several years. I am at the point now where I am ready to put it all down in black and white and become aggressive about paying it off. The reason…I have a plan for what I would like to do in the next five years. And I can’t do it with debt. A debt management plan is essential at this point.
At the current time, my husband I are looking at about $15K in credit card debt and about $35K on a home equity line of credit. My goal is to have all of this paid in full in no more than 3 years and I really would like it to be gone in 2 years. With certain parts of my income being inconsistent, it is hard for me to pin down an exact date.
I would like to move to a 55 and over community in 5 years or less. That would mean having all the above listed debt paid off as well as saving $40K to $50K for being able to move. The real goal here is to get away from the cold. I have spent many years having to put up with the cold, shovel snow and drive to work on icy roads. My husband and I are hoping to move to a part of the country that has a warmer winter. We are thinking Arizona, but we are keeping our options open.
I have eliminated some of my unnecessary expenses from my budget. I will be taking a closer look at how I am spending my money in the next few months to figure out what else I can do without. I have eliminated my personal trainer and have opted to do the same things she has been guiding me through for the last 6 months on my own. From where I was 6 months ago to where I am now, this was money well spent. Now it is time for me to work this program on my own.
The one thing I have to work on is increasing my income. I am not sure exactly where to go with that. I will look at what has worked in the past and what has been successful up to this point and move forward from there.