M is for Money

Ah debt, my friend, my foe. I know you well, to the point I don’t notice your shackles around my legs. But right now, I want you gone.

A few months ago Mr. M and I combined our finances. For years I held off on taking this next step in our relationship because Mr. M had debt that I didn’t want to inherit. Eventually I realized that this burden was too much for him to handle on his own and after all, I’m a seasoned veteran of the debt wars. Combining finances was the best way to get that debt paid off. But I was seriously lacking one thing – motivation.

I didn’t feel very motivated to pay off a debt that wasn’t mine, my plan was to make payments as we could. Maybe it would get paid off in a year or two, I wasn’t about to give up my savings goals in the meantime. But lately my thinking has changed. This debt is holding us back, both of us. Our money could go into savings or be invested to grow for the future, instead each month a portion must go to the credit card company. This situation will continue until the debt is paid in full. The sooner the debt is paid, the sooner our cash-flow situation improves.

Also, in today’s low investment return environment paying off a debt at 10% interest makes financial sense. Our savings are only earning 1.5% right now, so paying off higher interest debt will give us a better return on our money.

The starting balance was around $8500, the current total is $6250. My goal is to eliminate the rest of it before the year is over. I also have the Care Credit balance to pay off, which is zero percent interest, but still counts as debt. That amounts to over $8000 in 6 months – it shouldn’t be a problem. Now that I’m determined to pay this debt off, nothing will stop me.


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