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Two years ago this June I took a small loan out of my 401k to pay down some bills (like $1300 I think). It felt much easier to pay that back via my paycheck on a schedule I choose than to pay whatever bill it was (I forget what it went towards exactly). The payments I setup were only about $27 per paycheck (every 2 weeks).

It seemed easier this way because that money would never even see my bank account. So I had no way to spend it. Not to mention a 401k loan doesn’t show up on my credit report. And did I mention as I repay the loan, I pay myself (or my 401k) interest? It’s only like 6% or something I think, but I probably make out better than the market this way!

Well I was finally able to pay it off this week (a couple payments early even). Jen helped me a bit with the early repayment but I just wanted to get it done as soon as I could. That extra $50+ per month will come in handy – especially through the summer.

The question I’m asking myself now is, do I take another loan to pay another bill that way? It would be nice to have another credit card paid off – even if I’m paying it through another channel. In reality it should work out slightly better because I’d be paying a little less than what I am now and my credit report would show it as paid – also helping my credit score.

The biggest part holding me back is if I do this, it likely means 3 years of payments (or whatever I choose for it to be). I want to believe I have that kind of job security, but who knows these days, right? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know of anywhere that I’d be going – but you just never know.

So what do you think? Get credit cards paid off through my paycheck (in a round-about way) or just suck it up and keep paying and leave the 401k alone?

No, not the Queen song. Another “one” being another one of my credit accounts.

I have scheduled my final payment of my Chase account. $400-something. Should deduct the day after my taxes are deposited. Can’t wait.

That makes two big things taken off of my monthly budget so far… though the minimum payment for my Chase was only something like $20 anyway. So it doesn’t really make too much matter to my usable income – but it does make quite an impact on my credit and debt to credit and such.

Now to just get to work on the rest of it…

EDIT: 200th POST!

Your tax refund is scheduled to be direct deposited on January 27, 2010.

Woo!

About 1 day shy of last year’s ridiculously fast deposit (unofficially anyway). Though it is possible I may get it sooner – it is just unlikely. I looked up last year’s status and they were dead on for the actual deposit.

Either way, I’d be happy with Wednesday. Then I can actually put the money to use and pay some shit off. Even more shit that is. Collection account being paid is HUGE. This will just give me more of a cushion – which I need. Lots of stuff coming up this year though.

Wedding to go to (and associated bachelor party). Will need new summer tires. Possible car upgrades? Maybe? Maybe a car show or two? Some traveling… I don’t know.

I’m working on the “more money” part. Eventually.

Today I was able to schedule my final collections payment of $500. FINALLY.

It has taken almost 4 years… and about $7000, but I’m officially done. And I now officially will have $250 more per month to pay other things. Specifically most of that will to my other credit cards. Even if I don’t use the full $250 to pay those down, I’ll be able to make a lot more progress than I have been.

It’ll be even better after I pay off my Chase account from my goalsharing money next month. Should only be about $325 or so by the time I actually go to pay it off and the payment is only a min of $21 per month -- but I’ve been paying $100, so it’ll make a difference.

Then a couple other little things will be paid off. Hospital. 401k loan. My fancy seats. All will be paid between taxes and goalsharing. Then I can really get the other credit cards taken care of. This is all in preparation for buying a house of course… some day.

Except when it involves my money.

My revolving debt is up again. Or at least since May. I don’t know what my June numbers looked like, but probably not great. Sad part is I can’t even speak to what exactly the money was spent on. Regardless, the total is going up and it sucks.

On the other side of the seesaw, my other debts are dropping. I only owe about $6200 on my car (yes, I still owe that much). Thankfully it’s worth anywhere from $7k-9k for trade in (depending on what site you ask). My student loan is just above $33k and my collection is account is right around $2k. That will be paid off June of next year… thankfully. Even my car is going down pretty quickly. I’ve been paying about $35 more per month than minimum.

So… progress on one side, but not so much the other. Always just comes to the same issue. I have to watch my spending. Harder than it seems I guess. Patience.

I guess I’m going the wrong way with some of this debt stuff. I’m not 100% sure why… but I believe most of it is from various car needs (not necessarily parts). There was also a new digital camera involved – since BOTH batteries for my old one were bad and the camera is pretty old. No sense paying $50 for a battery when I can just get a new camera. Oh ya, and medical stuff… Wisdom teeth. More dental work. Thankfully that is all completed.

In any case, it looks like I skipped this info for April, so I have no idea what it would have been. It appears I may has well just start from scratch again.

My current revolving balance is $8775.33. So just comparing to my March numbers, I’ve gone up about $400.

I think most of that is dental stuff, but a chunk is also the camera. Oh well. Have to buckle down a little bit. I’ve at least stopped spending so much money at work for lunches. I’ve been trying not to go to the cafeteria at work anymore. I was spending upwards of $10 per day there. Ya, ridiculous, I know.

Lately it has been a few frozen things and some pb&j from home. Working OK so far. I’m still spending $1 or $2 every other day for a couple cans of soda at work though. It’s not bad, but better than $1.50 for ONE bottle of soda.

I just have to be a bit more strict in controlling my own spending. Maybe I’ll wander around the apartment today and see what else I can eBay…

It seems this month was not as good as past months. My decrease in debt is a bit less than previous months but I think that I know why.

Since last month involved paying off my Best Buy card and this month involved not as much money, I stuck to paying minimum payments. I also wasn’t sure yet what I was doing with my goalsharing or taxes. Of course at this point, the extra money is just barely hanging on and I’m still trying to figure out what to do with what is left.

I have about $250 due soon for getting my wisdom teeth out (thankfully insurance is covering about 80% of that)… and thankfully I still have a job to maintain said insurance. I also have to get my summer tires mounted and balanced. I also have a trip to NYC for the auto show coming up.

So… how are things shaping up? Well last month ended with a revolving balance of $8475.80, down $554.43 from January – again, thanks to paying off one of my cards.

Brings us to this month… current revolving balance of $8397.00… making a difference of only $78.80. Like I said, that’s only paying minimums, I think. Lame, I know.

I was playing around with the calculators on the Credit Karma site and found that it is going to take a LONG time to pay some of these things off with minimum payments. I’ll be focusing on the Chase card I have now. That one has a ridiculously high interest rate for some reason and I’d like to get rid of it.

Soon.

Oh, ya… money.

February is a short month… but that doesn’t make it any less excruciating when it comes to financial situations. All of my accounts have cycled through to new statements and payment periods. Yup… time for an update.

So checking back in on last month, I had reduced my revolving debt to $9030.23 for a difference of $187.47 month to month.

This month, I did a little better – mostly because I was able to pay off one (small) account. I paid off my Best Buy, which was roughly $300. So where am I at now?

Current revolving debt: $8475.80
Difference, month to month: $554.43

Ya, that’s a nice drop – but like I said, that’s b/c I was able to pay off one lump item. Which actually brings me to my goalsharing… what am I to do with it?

I think I will be paying off my 401k loan. By the time I actually go to pay it and send the money, it should be somewhere around $875. The payment is about $26 per paycheck, (biweekly) so that should free up a theoretical $52 per month that can then theoretically go towards paying something else off.

In theory, of course.