We just got an extra $150 check in the mail (from my husband's freelance work). I just deposited it today to cushion our account more this pay period since we've have more surprises this pay period. I hate "surprises".

It feels like whenever we get ahead a little bit on our debtload, we accumulate more. Thankfully, it is not usually quite as much as what was paid off, but it's still so frustrating! We have my husband's bonus coming up in September and I had hoped to have no overdraft or any new debts that would claim the bonus so it could all go to credit cards, but in August alone we have accumulated about $1500 in new debt. Although we expect the bonus to be quite a bit more than this, it's still incredibly frustrating.

Looking at what we owed in Dec. 2007 (in terms of credit cards only) we were at $33,472. In May 2008, we were at $28,757. Now in August we are at about $29,622! It just seems we always take two steps forward and one step back; I just wish we could keep going forward.

I guess I have to look at the bright side and see that we DO owe less than we did in December and just not think of all the money that we've paid, but has been canceled out due to new debt.

On a good note, we have had some good news on unexpected money coming our way. My husband has done some freelance work and has a check in the mail (not sure how much). I have a check coming from CafePress (about $40) AND we have a homeowner's insurance policy refund check ($492) coming in the mail. Here's to hoping no more debt will creep in so we can put all of this and the bonus to our current load. Oh, best news of all is my husband is getting a promotion...they will probably be negotiating the new salary tomorrow, wish us luck!

OK, down to the nitty gritty. I have been keeping a personal record of our debt status for a while now. Here is the last one I did for July. Since I did this, we have transferred a some CC balances to 0% cards, but have also charged about $200 to our Target card and have about $700 in overdraft (UGH), but hey 8-8-08 is our turn-around day and things are going to get better from here on out!

Current Debt: July 2008

Student Loan #1
% V, Outstanding: $2,567

Student Loan #2
4.3% V, Outstanding: $1,623

Chase
15.43% V, Outstanding: $4,664

Bank of America
10.24% V, Outstanding: $10,502

Bank of America
9.90% V, Outstanding: $10,315

Chase
10.99%, Outstanding: $2,102

Target
22%, Outstanding: $0

Lowe’s
22%, Outstanding: $0

Home Depot
Outstanding: $0

Overdraft
18.00% V, Outstanding: $0

401K
Loan 1, Outstanding: $1,012 (Pay off 07/31/2009)
Loan 1, Outstanding: $4,336 (Pay off 07/16/2011)

Car Loan
9.90%, Outstanding: $15,944


DEBT TOTALS
Credit cards: $27,583
Student Loans: $4,190
401K Loans: $5,348
Car Loan: $15,944

THE BIG DEBT TOTAL: $53,065