We got our tax return on Friday. We also got my bonus on Thursday. Our state return will be here on Tuesday, and my second bonus will be here in two weeks. My husband's employer has started paying monthly performance based bonuses, which means an average of an extra $100 a month, and I will find out on Tuesday what my raise will be for this year. It is a very happy time in our household, even though we have nothing fun or exciting planned for this money. Well, I guess it depends on your definition of fun and exciting.
Friday, I dropped our entire tax return and my bonus onto my credit card with our Credit Union. It cut the balance in half. Why would I do this, you may ask, when our Target card has more than double the interest rate. Well, my credit union is currently offering 2% cash back on balance transfers. Now that I've paid down half of the balance on that card, my credit union will be initiating a balance transfer on the two credit cards that we will be paying off. In addition to paying off two credit cards, I will be getting $100 cash back, deposited into a high interest (10% +) savings account.
In addition to eliminating a quarter of our credit card debt, my husband and I finally sat down and had a conversation about our financial goals. This is the first time I feel like we are working together, instead of against each other.
I decided to create a pie chart of our current debt so that we have a visual representation of the distribution of our debt. I based it off of the chart I've been using since last June to keep track of our debt amount.
I think it might be good for both my husband and I to be able to visually see our debt decrease. When we start accumulating savings, I'll add that too, so we can see our debt decrease and our savings increase.
I actually feel good about where we're headed, and I feel positive about the future.
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