Saturday, July 30, 2005

What I could do with my interest money


Every month I'm always shocked when I check my credit card balance and the total has gone UP instead of DOWN. I flip out and think that I have become the victim of identity theft and that someone has been using my card to buy sexy lingerie (do you remember those commercials?). In a panic I check my transaction history and realize that the balance has gone up because they have added my finance charges. Geez, I hate that!

At this point I am paying a little more than $50 every month just to finance my debt. And that is a lot of money! I started thinking of all the ways I could be spending this extra $50 every month and I got really sad.

1) I could be putting that money towards paying off even more of my debt every month instead of racking up more. If you think about it $50 x 12 = $600 which would be more than half a month off of my debt repayment plan!

2) I could ALMOST buy a new pair of shoes every month, or at least not feel guilty about buying these.

3) I could save up a down payment for my chateau. In about 30 years I might have saved up half of what I need.

4) I could buy a big SUV and spend an extra $50 on gas every month.

5) Have a fancy dinner at Chez Panisse every month (alone and without drinks).

6) Drink about 15 Black Forest Coffee Drinks from the Coffee Bean every month.

7) One night out on the town with cover charge and 3 apple martinis.

8) 5 extra movies every month.

9) I could buy that really cute sweater I've been drooling over at the GAP.

10) Buy one pair of underwear from Victoria's Secret (yeah right).

Until I pay it off, that $50 will have to go to the interest! At any rate, I made another $100 payment on my card so I won't be tempted to spend it. New balance = $16,788.50.

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4 comments:

Tracy S said...

that is like my favorite commercial ..lol I laugh everytime it comes on ...still ..:)

BeckEye said...

This is quite depressing! The credit cards are bad enough, but student loan interest is enough to make me want to drive smack dab into a tree. If I at least had a job I liked or had anything to do with my degree, that wouldn't be so bad. But sitting here in office monkey prison doesn't really make me feel good about paying for that quality education!

Rex Venom said...

Money is good. But that smile of yours ranks right up there too.
Rock on!

Kris said...

I cringe every time I have to look at our statement...the interest just makes me so mad sometimes. Crazy.

ryn: Love love LOVE books! lol The library rocks my need for info. Between that and the internet, I'm in heaven. What *did* we do without the internet before...?