It's hard to believe that I only have $1,600 in debt left to pay off. My target was to have this paid of by mid November but I've been off sick for more than a week and as a contractor I don't get sick pay. So we'll have to wait. I'm getting by on my EF.

On another note, it seems like forever ago that the 2008 financial collapse changed the lives of so many of us. Almost 5 years ago. Any thoughts on where you are now?

Squeezed a little extra to my line of credit payment this week to bring it in under $8,000. Started the year at $8,850 and am now sitting at $7,993. I'm targeting $7,200 by the end of March with a stretch goal of getting it under $7K. I have some unpaid time off coming up so it might be tough to meet that goal but I'm up for it.

In the last few days I've listed three items to sell on line. I have been working on a list of sellables in my home and have about 15 items so far. Not sure how sales will be just after the holidays but it's worth a try. If anyone wants to join me I'd be happy to have the company. My goal this year is to sell $1,000 worth. I'd love to target $100 per month but will settle for the $1,000. Anyone in?

My total amount of found money year to date is $29.13. Definitely worth my effort. My DH thinks this sort of thing is of little value but I actually enjoy the chase!

I have a huge Amex bill due on the first of January. I love my Amex as I am not loading on new debt as it is due in full every month.

It will take me part of January to recover from this huge payment. So I'll be back to paying off my final credit card debt in three or four weeks. I am planning on paying of the balance of $8,850 this year by the end of November. So I'll be thinking on how I'll do it over the next day or two. One way will be to continue to auto debit every pay in the amount of $125. My tax return will add about $1,000 I think. Mileage and other expenses (found money, surveys, taste testing, etc.) will also be thrown at it. I will be doing the ebay challenge but I don't have much faith in ebay as most of my items are decorative and not exactly in high demand in January.

I also need to get some funds for a week or two off unpaid for medical care for my sister who is on the transplant list for yet another liver. I'll be her primary care giver when she is released from hospital. Rather than complain about it I consider myself fortunate to have a boss who understands and have the option of continued life for my sister. (Well that last statement is rather stupid!!!:-))

I'm thinkin' about how all this fits together. It's so great to have options. I can make this work. I just need a few more thoughts to solidify so I can make a firm plan.

Donations to my cause are welcome, natch. For your convenience I have paypal!

Bahhh! My payment last Friday to my line of credit has not hit the account yet. But I'm going to post my year end results anyway because I have just made the last payment of the year.

In 2012 I paid off $8,870.00 in debt. In addition, I added $382.60 to my emergency fund. My only remaining debt is $8,850.00 on my line of credit (revised target was to get it below $9K this year). So the VISA is gone! My line of credit is down from $12,435.00 to $8,850 now sitting at 8.4%. I am using my extra funds this month that normally go to the line of credit to pay for Christmas expenses.

I can see that the line of credit will be gone in 2013. I'll have to up the payments a bit so it's done by the end of November to ensure I have more cash flow in December for the holidays.

I DID IT!!!

The original plan was to pay off $5K on my line of credit. Looks like I'll only hit $3,500. And I'm ok with that. The original balance was $12,500 and it looks like I'll get it to $9K by year end easily. So I needed to set new goal. My goal for the rest of the year is to see how much extra income I can generate to decrease the balance from $9K. Perhaps I can gather another couple hundred bucks. Join me on my journey to see if I can hit a few hundred bucks in the next 10 weeks. The good news is that I'll likely get a $1,000 tax refund in Spring of 2013 so that will bring the balance down to under $7K. Since I paid off my debt in excess of $8,700 this year it looks like I will be debt free by the end of 2013!

Amazing.

Finally under $11K! Exactly $10,957.97 to go. Targeting to get under $10,000 by the end of October, early November.

Wrote a nice long blog but it got lost in internet waste land.

Recap: I made my lunches for the week and froze them. Managed to only have unplanned spending of $7.53 which is a heck of a lot less than the week before. Darned emotional eating! I ate my lunch for breakfast then did drive through just before an important job interview that may have a significant impact on my income. I'm not beating myself up over it.

I have been tracking every penny I spend as my SA colleagues suggested. First, I hate doing it. I always forget and then at the end of the day I'm searching for my receipts. Second, holy cr$p, I spend a whack of money. This week was spendier than normal, had to pick up some clothes for my son. Fortunately he is not a clothes horse and I spent only $100 overall for shorts/underclothes/socks. He only asks for clothes twice a year and could care less about what brand they are. I'm fortunate.

Lastly, I have budgeted to pay off $886 on my LOC in the next 5 or 6 weeks. That will bring it in under $11,000. It looks right on paper but not sure if it's doable.

We have a heat/humidity/smog alert. Geez, we need rain!

Have a great weekend, especially to those of you who have a three day weekend!

Looks like paying off this line of credit will be a little trickier than I thought. That darned interest payment of $87 per month is really frustrating. Last week I was able to snowflake about $43. I did this by pinecone surveys (my first cheque arrived this week!), taste testing, some mileage expenses, and using my coin jar contents. I will be paying $100 per week against this debt but the net effect will be paying off only $1500, not the $5000 I wanted to achieve by the end of the year. Any suggestions for coming up with the extra $3500 are welcome. Perhaps you have an idea that might make this dream come true.