A personal idea to get me out of credit card debt

[Guest guest]

This weekend, I stumbled upon a great idea for me that made me kick myself in

the rear repeatedly and wonder why on Earth I didn't think of it a lot sooner.

Early on in college, I applied for and received a credit card with a limit of

$15,000. Being naive to such things, I maxed (sp) out the card in relatively

short order on (in hindsight) rather asinine things which were totally unrelated

to college. I've had to pay the minimum since, since my money management skills

are lacking. Essentially, as soon as I get money, I get the urge to spend it,

and not save for the proverbial " rainy day. " So because of interest rates the

way they are for credit card (along with the occasional late payment), I've been

stuck with that $15,000 for several years, and haven't seen it go down at all,

and now I really need to begin starting to save for those rainy days, as well as

for a home of my own in a couple years.

Which brings me back to this weekend. It occurred to me that, except for rent on

my apartment, I'm paying all my bills and utilities on the Visa check card

attached to my checking account. I specifically set up the checking account a

while back to have it at the same bank as my credit card. This way, I have to

just do a funds transfer to the credit card as if I was sending the money from

my checking to a savings account. It would count as a payment, and would be

effective immediately since it was the same bank, eliminating the need to write

a check every month for it. It dawned on me that since I also get direct

deposit, I can transfer as much money as humanly possible into the credit card,

leaving just enough for rent & other miscellaneous items which need checks or

cash, and have all the bills be paid directly from the credit card. This way, I

can have everything in one location in terms of something to pay, and pay it off

as fast as possible. I calculated out that after

rent, and other miscellaneous items, I'll be able to put in $35,000 in the next

18 months, more than enough to cover the total amount I have now on the card,

plus the interest that would accumulate while paying for the balance, the bills

and utilities I'd put on it, as well as groceries, gas and any other expenses

that I would also include on there. The amount also factors in the money I would

have to begin paying back for my student loans for my Master's Degree program in

the beginning of September.

All in all, if I stay strict about it, and focus, I calculated out that I'll

have the entire thing payed off by the middle of next year at the latest, since

the lease that I've signed has three free months built into it (meaning an extra

$640 a month to include as payment into the credit card for each of those three

months), as well as a tax return that's looking to be over $1,500, which will

also go to the payment.

This also leads me to a semi-related question. Have any of you also had

difficulty with your money management skills, or conversely, are there any of

you out there who are gurus when it comes to money management?

" The truth is, I never fooled anyone about who I really am. People did a good

enough job of that on their own. They would create a character of me in their

minds, and be thoroughly disappointed when I failed to live up to that. " -

Marilyn Monroe

Debogorski

elcap1999@...