Personal Victory

This weekend I made headway into my “Debt-Free by ‘13” plan.

Ever since I turned 18 I’ve had issues with credit card debt. My parents were never really open and informative with me on how to be financially smart so I fell into the credit card trap pretty early on.

It started with a Macy’s card. All I wanted was this really nice peacoat that was going on sale Black Friday and if you opened a card you got an extra whatever percent off. Well, of course, once I had the card it became my go-to place to get stuff if I didn’t have the cash in my bank account.

That card was soon followed by Victoria Secret, Borders (via Chase), and American Eagle. Thankfully my AE card has never had a limit over $125 and I’ve never requested to raise it. VS on the other hand keeps raising my limit, which makes me keep using it :(

I quickly maxed out my Borders Visa one cause it was the only card that I could use anywhere, but Macy’s wasn’t too far behind. I’ve been steadily paying them off since.

This past holiday season I got stupid again and opened up 3 more cards: Pier 1 (where I work), GAP (where I work) and Banana Republic.

Now that the insanity of the holidays has completely faded I realized that I need to get serious about my finances. I think I already mentioned in a previous post that this year is going to be expensive and I wasn’t joking.

In March I have a Vegas bachelorette weekend, a wedding in Sonoma, and hopefully the purchasing of plane tickets to Europe. In June/July there is a high school graduation, a bridal shower, a bachelorette party (thrown by my sister and I), and a trip to Europe. In August I have my sisters wedding week. I also need to save up enough money to afford 3 weeks off work.

Cray cray.

So anyway, I spent last week figuring out how to tackle this mountain and came up with a game plan, prioritizing each card in order to eliminate one at a time. Then I took the cards out of my wallet so I wouldn’t have the option. I know the stores can look it up but I am hoping that extra effort gives me the opportunity to stop myself.

Today I had my first test. I worked at Gap and saw a bunch of cute socks on sale for 98 cents a pair that I decided to get for Tesla. When it came time to pay I had already mentally decided to just put it on my Gap card, but not being able to just grab it out of my wallet reminded me of my plan. I could’ve just had them look it up but I chose instead to use the cash I had in my wallet.

Its a small victory, yes, but its mine.

Also, American Eagle is paid off as of last Friday! One down, six to go. Next up: Pier 1.