November Financial Update
I updated the progress in my sidebars over the weekend, but never came back to explain how things changed this month.
My CitiCard remained paid off. Obviously I don’t need to point that out, but since it’s the only debt completely paid off, I enjoy claiming it. 
Car Loan went from 70.67% to 73.66%
WaMu card went from 9.91% to 11.34%
Capital One card went from 15.80% to 16.95%
Discover card 5.19% to 5.34%
Perkins loan went from 9.13% to 10.12%
Nelnet loan went from 3.15% to 3.81%
And the grand total of debt went from 11.08% paid off to 12.04% paid off.
With the exception of the car loan, all of those changes are accounted for simply from minimum payments. The car loan doesn’t have a minimum payment (long story about a standing financial arrangement), so that change is accounted for with a bit of snowflaking. Also this month, I mailed off the check for my December 1st car insurance payment.
The totals for this month will probably not change a whole lot from where they are right now. It will be another month of minimum payments across the board. All of my “extra” cash this month is being funneled into Christmas presents. I’ve actually started shopping, and the first present arrived on my doorstep today! As far as the rest of the shopping goes, I’m probably going to put it on credit. Before you panic, the money IS in the budget, and I have no plans to spend more than I have available for Christmas shopping. I know technically the smartest thing to do would be to wait until I have the cash on hand, but since some of it won’t get here until a mere 6 days before Christmas, I’m really not comfortable waiting that long. I’d rather purchase the things now and pay back the credit card 6 days before Christmas. If I’m going to buy someone rc helicopters (I’m not but you never know who is reading, and I don’t want anyone to know what they ARE getting), I might do that online, and I don’t want to worry about things being sold out, or not arriving in time. In past years, the gatherings have started a week or two before Christmas, so I just don’t want to take the chance.
So my Capital One card will slide backwards for the next month and half or so, but will be right back on track in January. Maybe not the best decision ever, will cost me a few dollars in interest, but it’s the one I feel most comfortable with.
