12 Month Countdown

Thanks all for your feedback. Of course I'm still thinking things through, with limited success, but that's a whole other battle. So here's a more cheery/cheesy post.

While playing for the 542nd time with my budget spreadsheet (yes, I am registered at Obsessive Spreadsheet'er Anonymous), I made a really interesting change. My original plan had me being debt free by August of 2014. The "delay" is due to me wanting to start saving for my move Jan 1 instead of paying all debt first. I never really questioned why I wanted that, maybe for peace of mind.

Numbers are realigned, and now I am set to be debt free in 12 months, if all remains the same. That is April 2014. I still get to my savings mark, but it just starts later.

Let me say this, though... putting 48% of my FT job's earnings into paying debt is hard. Eating for 2 weeks on $60 sucks. Not being able to buy things I want (within reason), or even things I need, can get tiring pretty quickly. But there are so many people I've learned about in blogs (looking at all of you), that I just couldn't bring myself to give up or go easy. I've learned to pick my battles, and giving up a lot of small things for a bigger thing makes sense. It's not about getting all you want, but making choices (some of which I will reveal later on!).

I am sure a lot of you get told this on a semi regular basis, but I think this blogging community is indeed pretty awesome and quite an inspiration, at least for me. My struggles seem so small and meaningless at times, even if they come with a crushing force. I'll get stronger, just as all of you have learned to do. So I'll keep plugging along with my plan and following others along knowing I'm not the only one. Hey, misery loves company after all, and I have to say the company in this road is pretty alright.