Footprints on the Moon

That’s what I posted on my Facebook last week, anyway. As you may recall from my last financial post (maybe not, as that was 5 months ago…), I’ve been struggling with the credit card debt lately. The money’s just not stretching as far as it should these days… between a few necessary purchases, and the insanely high interest rates that credit cards carry, I just couldn’t get any traction.

I’d finally had enough, so I went to my credit union and talked to someone there about consolidating my high interest credit card debt. Long story short, I’ve now financed my credit card debt a couple of ways. The first is a credit union credit card which affords a 0% interest for six months, and will be at 7.9% for the remainder of the time. The rest of it is financed through a secured loan (secured by the title to my car) at 4.99% for the life of the loan. Since the interest rates were previously at 16.24, 20.99 and 21.99, I do think it will be much easier to make some forward progress now!

If you go back and look at my most recent financial statement, you’ll notice the total balance is about 400 or so dollars higher than it was before, thanks to a couple of purchases and the transfer fees the credit union charged. Even so, I’m incredibly optimistic, and am in the midst of reworking my budget to fit the new payments. My minimum payments have dropped about $20, and we’ve already covered how much less I’m paying in interest! I’ve considered getting a second job to help pay things down even faster, but I have to confess I don’t have much motivation to look. Between a full time job and derby, there’s just not much extra time left to fill with more work!

As far as the chart goes… I thought it would be much easier to just start over than try and fit everything in. I’ll update the sidebar… at some point. Here’s to progress!

(I didn’t make this, I found it, but I’ve lost the source.)

Yesterday marked week 52 of this weight loss journey. One year later, I’ve seen incredible changes… in my body and in my life! Here’s a picture of the physical changes. The top row is my Before pictures, taken April 10, 2010. The bottom row is the pictures I took last night, April 10, 2011. One year and 55lbs lighter.

Also yesterday, I discovered that I don’t have any summer clothes that fit! So while I won’t be buying any rocawear jeans, I will be “rewarding” myself by looking for some shorts/capris to wear now that the weather is getting nicer! I even have my eye on a really cute skirt, but that will have to wait until I have more money in my budget I think

Obviously, I still have quite a way to go, but I’ll get there eventually. The food plan could use some more focus, and I’ll probably be adding in some more exercise somewhere as (*whimper*) my body seems to have adjusted to the skating three times a week! I’ve been stuck on a plateau for a couple of months now, and it gets frustrating. But it’s hard to stay frustrated when I look at these pictures and see how far I’ve come in a year.