Today I just remembered something that I've literally forgotten. I have approximately $2,000 coming to me.

While I was overseas I had the option of putting my money into an Savings Deposit Plan (SDP). So for nine months I put in $250/month into this account which stops when you come back from overseas.

As of my last paycheck I have $2,345.34 in this account. So it's earned at approximately $95 in interest at this time.

So at this point I'm not exactly sure what to do with the money. I could put it in a Roth IRA, CDs or just deposit it into my savings account to help boost my emergency fund.

I'm just upset with myself that I actually forgot about that much money. It was coming out of my account automatically so I didn't have to think about it but that's the flip side. You may truly forget about it and not even realize you have it especially if you have beneficiaries.

I've finally input everything into YNAB except I need verify three account balances, but I won't be able to do that until Monday. Goodness me, it's so disheartening to actually see the amount that I still owe. But I have to keep in mind how much I've paid off even though my net worth is in the negatives.

Of course everyone's goal is to have a net worth that is in the black! But for those that haven't achieved that, some people are closer than others, not even I.

I literally have VERY close to $50K in debt. I have VERY few assets. But this just wants makes me want to be debt free all the more. It's really the student loans that are killing me. I'm hoping that I can make a large dent in the before I get my degree.

Overall I do like the look and feel of YNAB. Although I wouldn't mind a few changes to the app. Such as being able to change the budget directly from the app. But the app is FREE so that's a nice change!.

But it'll just take discipline and hard work. I'll get there, especially with the support of friends, family and the people here on SavingAdvice.com.

For the past 18 months my parents, mainly my father, has been taking care of my finances. I had joined the military about 19 months ago and have been in training and deployment during that time.

I have become detached from my finances in the meantime.

Shame on me.

So I'm turning to social media. I have to tweeter accounts:

couponing: https://twitter.com/coupon2live

debt reduction: https://twitter.com/siansmoney

At this point I've almost completely put in all my finances into YNAB (You Need a Budget).

I'm hoping that I haven't missed anything but in the long run I'm hoping this will jump start my involvement to debt free.

I know that I've done things here and there to help my budget but it's not really the financial involvement that I believe that I should be doing.

But I'm now looking forward to this because my objective is to make if fun because I like games and numbers. The objective is to have a lot of treasure in the end (my money).

So we'll see how it goes!

Today I did something to that I've been wanting to do for at LEAST 6 months.

I went to my bank to see if I could refinance my vehicle...

My loan info:

current balance: $8,461.02
interest rate: 11.5%
months financed for: 63

My goals:

1. lower rate
2. lower payment
3. get parents removed as co-signers

So I went with both my parents because:

1. I can't drive since I've just had surgery
2. I may have to have them co-sign on my loan again if I can refinance.

So in we walked and I met up with one of the bankers. He asked me if I knew my credit score an I stated about 660-ish (I know that it's come up a lot in the past 10 months).

So he stated off-hand that if that's what the credit report pulled then I'm looking at a 9.5% interest rate. Well that's a LOT better than what I had so I went ahead with it.

He pulls my report and it says 675!

So he starts writing up the paperwork as I'm watching the computer screen.

He says my interest rate is 7.1%! WHOOHOO goal 1 accomplished!

He says my payment is down to $202.91! WHOOHOO goal 2 accomplished!

Then I sign all the paperwork and he says that's it... I asked "My parents don't need to co-sign?" "Nope", he says.

GOAL 3 ACCOMPLISHED!

So these are the great points I accomplished with the refinance:

I refinanced for 48 months. I had 50 months left on my original loan so no matter what I'll be paying off this loan 2 months earlier than planned.

I've already paid approximately $1,100 in interest so far but with the refinancing I will pay approximately $1,200 in interest over the life of the new loan.

I had gap insurance before which I decline to get this time around. I didn't know that when I did this, I get a pro-rated amount back which they'll deposit automatically in my savings account for me.

So all in all I'll be saving approximately $2,100 over the life of this loan compared to the original loan! And the only thing I did was just refinance...

So this time next year I'll be back in there again when my credit is even better and I can get an even lower rate then as well.

I'm so ecstatic! Even my parents are happy! Although they weren't worried about co-signing it because they know that I pay my bills, but is was just one less thing that I wanted them off of. Hopefully this means that I'll never have to have them co-sign on anything else again!

YAY ME! =D

So I did it, I bought a motorcycle!

I paid for it fully up front so the only thing I'll have to pay is maintenance and insurance. Of course I need to pay for the initial registration/titling but that's to be expected.

I currently have it in storage. FOR FREE. A friend of mine is storing it in his garage for me as long as I let him use it for the motorcycle safety course that, as military, we are REQUIRED to take.

I don't need to purchase a helmet since the person I purchase the bike from included that. I do need to purchase safety gear which would only be a motorcycle jacket, which can cost me as little as $60 but as much as $300 but I technically have everything else. As long as it has armor and keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter, I'll go for the $60. (as long as it's NOT pink...)

I did find out that the motorcycle safety course is free for me so I'm even golden there.

The bike gets about 50 miles to the gallon and it only costs $12 to fill up the tank. So I can actually visit my brother for less than $24 a trip! $24 would only fill up about half my tank in the SUV...

I also do need to purchase a motorcycle permit which will later turn into a motorcycle endorsement on my license. But again that was expected.

My residential state doesn't have vehicle state inspections so that's not an expense that I have either.

I do need new tires but I knew that when I looked at the bike.

Also my auto insurance had gone down earlier about $30/month. With the motorcycle it went back up $30/month. So that is a wash.

But overall I'm happy! I'll save money overall on gas going to and from work and sometimes it will save me some cash on trips to certain places also!

I bought a new cell phone today, for my parents that is.

I've actually been wanting to do this for years but have never had the means to do so. But today I purchased a new phone so that not only will they have their first smartphone but they'll be on my account.

I like the fact that now I will be able to get in touch with my parents whenever I actually need to at anytime.

They will only pay me either what they were paying before on their previous bill or whatever they want. They didn't have texting on their cell but now they will. So this is something that they'll need to get used to but I know they will. My mom is really excited about it.

I'm so proud of my parents going from flip phone to smartphone. It's a very large step for them but I'm very proud that they have made it.

My parents rock!

P.S.:

It only adds an extra $20 per month to my account so it's not really a big deal either. And that's with an increase in the data package!

Well a funny thing happened to me yesterday....

I had to get a new hard drive last month because mine was dying. So in it went.

I had to also re-install my genealogy software. Genealogy is more a passion than a hobby.

But when I first purchased this software 2 years ago, it came with a 6-month free subscription to Ancestry.com which I used. And this is why I purchased it anyways. Now I would need to purchase it for an annual amount of $155 or semi-annual of $77 which is what I was going to do anyways.

Well when I re-installed it yesterday it asked me to register. Which I dutifully did. Right when I registered it stated that I have received the 6-month free membership.

HUH?! But! UM! UGH! I can't tell it that I have already done this so NOW I get another subscription for free.... So I just saved myself $77 without even trying. LOL

OH well, this allows me to save up for when the subscription renews. =P

Last night I learned some good news for me personally.

When I received my leases the manager had stated that the first lease will end July 31st because all the leases in the community do. When it renews it will renew at the lower rate for the next term. So I was expecting $809 for five (5) months and then $779 for the subsequent months. It's only a $30/month difference but that's an extra $30 that I can put elsewhere. I've decided that I will be splitting it between my Wallet Fun Money and Debt repayment. The majority going towards debt repayment. (I put this in detail in my previous posting).

So imagine my surprise when I received both leases stating that my rent amount would be $779!! This amount was handwritten on both leases so I knew it couldn't have been a mistake. I'm really excited because now I can put that amount immediately towards my debt instead of waiting five (5) months to do it! YAY ME!

This could be the difference of paying off Sallie Mae in three (3) years instead of four (4) years. I'm planning to write down what I currently owe and seeing how long it'll take me to pay it all off completely. My plan is five (5) years but we'll see.

I'll do whatever I can to make it five (5) years instead of more. For some odd reason I'm thinking that I can have everything paid off in seven (7) years. I'm not sure why that number keeps popping into my head. I haven't even done any of the math yet. But we'll see!

DEBT FREE HERE I COME!!!

When I get back I know pretty much what my expenses are going to be but I'm not sure if they'll change...:

Ex's Student Loan 1: $110
Insurance: about $150
Netflix: 8.55
Time share: 132.80
Car Loan: 213.55
Cell w/insurance: 82.49
Food/Gas: 400
Coupon Inserts: 55
Rent: 809 (this includes water/trash/sewer/electricity/high speed internet/furniture) - upon renewal lease will decrease to $779 (technically this is more than the original place that I looked at ($705) but that didn't include water/electricity)

(I do have a credit card but I will pay that off when I get back with my savings)

The other student loans are on deferrment/forebearance:

Sallie Mae: 190.01 - forebearance til Nov 2013
Direct Loans: deferred til Sep 2013
ACS: 75.96 - deferred til July 2013

I'm not worried about the Direct or ACS loans because as long as I'm in school I can defer them. But that stupid Sallie Mae loan is what I really hate.

My net will be about $2,305.77 (according to calculations)
Bills: -$1962.82
Which equals $342.95 left until Aug which will then be $372.95 left. Then in Nov because I'll have to start paying the Sallie Mae again. Then that'll leave only $182.94.

I'll contribute the leftover as such at first:

Roth IRA: $25
DebtL 230 (and whatever else comes my way)
Wallet: 50 (fun money to do with whatever I want with)
Savings: 50

in Aug it'll change to:

Roth IRA: $25
Debt: $250
Wallet: $50
Savings: $50

in Nov it'll change to:

Roth IRA: $25
Debt: $60
Wallet: $50
Savings: $50

Now the thing is this. I can pay something down about $2,400 before Nov but I won't be paying anything off with it. So I've decided to actually start my debt repayment by paying off the Sallie Mae loan. That way I can continuously pay $250/mo to it. I know that it only has 6% interest and my car loan has 11.5% interest.

So it would seem to make sense to pay off the higher interest loan first but after Nov I would only be able to contribute $60/mo to it. But I think it makes more sense to keeping paying on the Sallie Mae and that way it'll only take me about three (3) years to pay it off

Your opinions and suggestions are appreciated if you have any.

Well another day another dollar. But in my case it's an extra $175.03 per month gross.

I've been looking at the military pay raise charts. I knew about the 1.7% pay raise to the basic pay but found out less than a week ago about the raises that would affect Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) and Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH).

This is great! This means that I can possibly either put more towards debt, savings or whatnot! I'm not sure how much this equals to after taxes but this is way better than any employer that I've worked for.

I have received two raises in the past year and I haven't even been promoted yet! (currently an E-3). Now I have to really look at things and figure out how to work it into my budget.

In the past my very small raises went into my pocket and seemed to have never existed. Now I want to respond appropriately. This will take some time for me to decide. What I really want to do is start contributing to my retirement. I already know that I want to put it in a Roth IRA although I'm not sure if I want it to be a TSP Roth IRA or one held with a bank.

There are also other things that I want to do such as participate in the 70.3 Half IronMan in 2014 (I need to purchase a bicycle for this because I no longer have one), go to the 2016 Olympics, do the Kona IronMan in 2015 or 2016 and purchase or build a home.

I could start my savings plans now for all of that as well as the things that are on my 2013 goals list (I'm thinking of adding these to my 2013 lists so that they can start getting funded). Or start contributing to my retirement earlier instead of waiting til I get home or both...

I will more than likely wait til I get back home to actually contribute to my IRA.

I've been thinking lately about credit cards. Not in the "why" of having them but in HOW MANY should a person have?

I currently have two cards. I will be cancelling one (it has an annual fee) and opening a new one (a cashback card with my credit union). So I will have two cards.

One main card (rewards card) and the other card which will hopefully have a 6% APR by the time I get back to the states. It currently has a $2k credit limit on it. I'm keeping this one because I feel safer having it if I need to in case of emergency even though I have an emergency fund. That's just how I am. It's basically my "stays at home" card.

The cashback card I will use daily but pay off the balances as well (it also doesn't have an annual fee and also has low APR).

But really, how many cards should a person have? I think two should be the limit. Now have much should the limit be on the cards? That's up to the individuals ability to handle. If you can only handle $500 limit then only get that. If you can handle more then get that instead. I've actually figured out that I can handle more so I may get a higher limit just to help out my credit score.

But again, how many credit cards do YOU think a person should have?

So my goals for the new year are:

*Pay off last credit card
*Close Capital One card (this is not my oldest account)
*Open new credit card (cashback card) (yes I will pay off balances when I use it)
*Refinance car loan
*Go over budget with parents
*Come up with do-able 5 year debt free plan
*Emergency fund amount to $6,000
*Saving fund to $2,000
*Start putting money in Roth IRA again
*Pay SUV down an extra $1,000 before refinancing
*Start Christmas fund ($350)
*Clean/Organize items for Ebay/yard sale
*Donate items not for sale
*Lose 46.7lbs and lose 12.6% bodyfat
*Get store coupon cards for all the stores in my area
*Sign up for newspaper and coupon insert delivery
*Donate to humane society
*Donate to retirement home/shelter
*Help kids out with their needs

That's all I can think of for now...

(26 dec updated weight loss goal after finding out that i'm at 24.6% bodyfat. if i lose 62lbs i'd have to lose 30lbs of lean muscle mass...)

I had decided to look at all the stuff that I have and see what my net worth is currently.

-$30,000 approximately

Pretty sad I'd say...

My current debts equal $50,000 and my assets equal $18,000 approximately.

What I want is to be debt free by May 2018. It seems impossible right now, but I know that I'll at least be able to pay approximately $30,000 towards debt by then. That means that there is a difference of about $20,000. I'd have to make up about $4,000/yr to be able to payoff everything by that timeline. So hopefully I'll get promoted in a timely manner, or get a really good bonus when i re-enlist.

But that is my projected goal of debt free.

May 2018 here I come!

So I have a timeshare that I don't want. I have approximately $7,000 left to pay on it and I would love to sell it.

It is a 1 bdrm/ 1 bthrm Woodstone at Casa de Campo at Massanutten Resort that's for week 40-something (sometime in October) and I believe that I have a floating week with it also. Here's the link:

http://www.massresort.com/v.php?pg=128

It's a mountain resort in and of itself that can be used year 'round. From horseback riding to skiing (even has a ski school). (I'm a gold card member also)

I believe that I can pay it off in a little over a year if I truly needed to. I can't remember a lot of stuff about it since for the pass year I haven't even been home except for about a total of a month.

If I sell it I gather that I have several choices. I could sell it through a real estate agent, ebay, craigslist or word of mouth when I get back. I'm not looking to make a profit, but paying for the amount I have left on the loan would be great. But if I had to go a little lower than the lown that would be fine since I have the money for it.

I would really like to sell it so that I don't have to pay for the rest of it.

Does anyone have any other ideas for getting rid of a timeshare?

If I don't get rid of it then I'll end up keeping it.. oh well...

For the last few years I've been keeping up with my credit score.

Normally I use www.creditkarma.com because it's free and it doesn't impact my credit report. It uses Transunion to give you a score. I also use Experian every now-and-again because I've noticed that it will give you the lowest score out of the three major companies.

The lowest score that I've had (due to financial issues to which I'm no longer married to) was a Transunion score of 517 on March 2009.

Currently my scores are:

Experian: 617 - 1 Dec 2012
CreditKarma: 655 - 1 Dec 2012

*i've paid off a credit card since i received my experian score so it could actually be higher

This just verifies for me that I'm doing the right thing. Not only is my family noticing the stress that I no longer have about finances but through my efforts of paying off bills, companies have noticed as well.

I've had an overall increase of 138!

------------------POSTSCRIPT------------------

I signed up for www.creditsesame.com which I got from creditcardfree (THANKS BY THE WAY!!) and it's free. It uses Experian as the reporting agency. So I've updated the score from Experian above from 567 that was reported on 14 Nov 2012.

I normally get my credit score from www.Creditkarma.com because it's free and doesn't do anything to your score. I've used it for a few years and there hasn't been any negative impact. If it even shows up, it'll be under requests by you. So it's never as a request by a creditor.

I also occasionally get my credit score from Experian. Not because they're the most reliable, but because most of the companies out there use Experian. I've actually found that sometimes they'll give out the lowest score of all three major companies.

Because of financial issues in the past my score had gone down drastically and now it's slowly but surely creeping it's way back up.

The lowest my score has ever been was with Transunion on 17 Mar 2009 at 517.

Now my scores are:

CreditKarma: 655 (1 Dec 2012)
Experian: 567 (14 Nov 2012)

*since 14 Nov I've paid off a credit card so Experian might actually be higher now

I've been diligent about building up my credit. It will take a while. My goal short-term goal is to have a 650 all across the board so that I may purchase a house in the next five years or so.

At least with Transunion I may have succeeded, but I want the same for all three.

This is just one more way for me to have verified that I'm doing the right thing when it comes to my credit.

Are you getting ready to file your taxes? I am, in fact I've already filled out almost everything for filing my federal taxes. That state taxes will have to wait since the information for that isn't out yet. I don't know how single people without dependents are able to get $2,000 - $3,000 back every year. I can barely do $1,500!

I'm not filing taxes til about March/April 2013. Since by then I should have all my financial info so that I can file them correctly.

Yes I like to work my paycheck so that I get a refund every year. To me, it comes in handy when I want to pay something off or put it in savings. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I may put it in my savings account until I'm ready to pay something off.

What's really got me is that when the military is deployed, then our income isn't taxable. So it's a bit weird about filing taxes... The government actually lets the IRS know that we're deployed but it's still an unusual way to file taxes...

My becoming debt free has me looking at a couple of things that I didn't consider in the past.

Money and relationships.

I come from being a spender and married to a spender and living paycheck to paycheck. It's not a way of life that I am going to continue in my future. If I could CHOOSE the person that I would have a relationship with, it would be a saver. That way I know that we'll have money in the bank.

I know I'm a spender but I believe that I have frugal tendencies. What I mean is this for example:

I want a TV. A NICE TV. I want it to be flatscreen Sony HDTV Plasma WIFI Smart 3D (without the glasses) and at least 65" if not more. This is what I want. That is the spender in me.

The frugal in me says this:

Yes for flatscreen because it saves space. No for size, you get a 50" or more. No for Sony because you're paying mainly for the name. No for plasma, get LED because moving companies will not insure that and the quality isn't that much from plasma as long as it's 120hz. Yes, to WIFI because you use Netflix and that can be hooked up to the tv directly. Yes to HD because that's pretty much what is sold now-a-days. Yes to smart tv because that's wifi enable, you can use the netflix with it. Maybe to 3D and if you can't find one without glasses then either settle for one with glasses or don't get 3D at all.

So pretty much the frugal in me says:

flatscreen HDTV LED WIFI Smart 50" tv with or without 3D. that's what you get.

Also the frugal in me says the best time to purchase a tv will be in January just before the SuperBowl. (this means I will shop online and have it sent to family in the states since i'm deployed).

I want a saver because the saver will make sure that we save for it instead of just buying it the same day we decide to get one. This will also allow me time to make sure what are the best options for us based on needs/wants.

I also don't want a person that is in debt and NOT trying to get out of it. I want someone who is either debt free or on their way to being debt free. I don't want anymore financial stress in my life or relationships.

Finances can break a relationship and I prefer my relationships to be broken on something other than finances, although I'd prefer them not to be broken at all.

My ex is still financially crippled. It has been 2 1/2 years and it looks as if I'm the only one that has learned from there past mistakes. But he's older than me significantly and should have already learned these lessons a long time ago. Maybe one day he will and will be at peace financially. I wish him much luck and happiness.

My future is brighter after it being so dark because I can see the light at the opening of the cave. The walls are no longer closed in on me. I am no longer dragging myself on the rocks and dirt of the cave floor. I am now walking crouched over, making small steps towards the opening that I can tell is not that far ahead of me. I can't wait to get there because I know it'll be such a beautiful place to be in. And waiting there is someone that I want to spend the rest of my life with that has the same goals.

My pay got fixed!!! So now I have approximately more than $3,000 coming to me in my next paycheck. My BAS (basic allowance for subsistence) has been messed up for a year. They fixed it pretty quickly, which surprised me.

I'll pay off my fourth credit card this month instead of next month. Also I've asked my parents to call the medical collection and make a settlement with them. So by the beginning of 2013 I'll have ALL of my medical collections paid off and 4 out of 5 credit cards paid off. I'll pretty much have loans left to pay.

Depending on my living situation I'll either pay off the last card by the end of March or August. I'll at least be putting $135/month towards it in March.

My credit report can start recovering and then my score can go up as well. I'm wanting to buy a house in about seven years and the collections were the last negative things on it.

YAY ME!!!

Well I'm trying to come up with ideas now so that I can have extra income later. I'm more than willing to sell some of my items. I'm not sure how I'll sell them yet.

My ultimate goal is buy a tv. After talking with some people the best idea is to buy the tv that i actually want NOW instead of upgrading from time to time. I'll save more money that way.

That's why I'm doing little things here to have enough cash to pay for half of it. That's my goal. Whatever money I earn here will be the 50% that I'll need to pay for the tv. So if I earn $500 then I can get a $1000 tv max. Unfortunately the ones that I've been looking at are about $800-$1500. But that only means that I'll either have enough to pay for it cash
(I can actually do that right now) or pay half of it upfront.

BTW, I do NOT have a television. AT. ALL. I want a 3D Smart LCD TV with WIFI. I'm not sure how big. I'm thinkin 50" though. That way whenever I upgrade where I live (such as moving to a house) I won't feel the need to get a bigger tv. Also I'm a gamer (no I don't have any systems right now) so when I save the money to buy a system I won't feel the need to get a bigger tv.

All and all I just want to buy a tv once and be DONE with it for a few years at LEAST.

I need to get both my tablets fixed (yes, I have two. one stopped working while overseas so i bought another.) So I'm going to get both fixed (one just has a cracked screen) and sell the smaller one. I only used it for three days before it stopped working.

That'll help some with of my savings for things that I want. My new "thing" is to save money for whatever item that I want.

So first thing is a sweet tv. Approximately $1500. I'll count up my monies saved here in about a week or two so that I can have a middle point. If I save more than I need then I'll just put that towards the next thing.

I do need to have a christmas fund. I'd like to have enough to give my two older daughters, my son-in-law, my granddaughter and my new grandchild that'll be here in May 2013-ish. Also I'd like to get my parents and my youngest brother and my sister-in-law presents also. I just want to get my grandchild a present for christmas this year. So I'll be shopping online for her and my kids. I plan on buying them something soon so that it'll get there before the middle of december.

Well I've been looking for a personal finance software that would allow me to budget for the present and the future. I use to have Microsoft Money but I didn't really like the way it would try to get you out of debt although I did like the look of the interface that was used with it.

Well after much searching I've found what I'm looking for because when I get home I'll need a budget that will get me out of debt as well as plan for the future: youneedabudget.com otherwise known as ynab.com

I'll have to purchase it just before I get home so that it's waiting for me and ready to use. It's one of the reasons that I can't wait to get home because I'll start a new chapter that is about getting me out of debt, saving money, and buying/building my own home.

I want to be an independent woman and proud of where I am financially. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud that I have four less collections to worry about. I'm proud that I've paid off three credit cards and I'm proud that I'm going to continue to pay off other bills while saving money.

I'm especially proud of the fact that I've saved about $3,000 and counting.

But I wouldn't be able to do all of this without my parents. I've only been able to do this since I've been in the military which has been one year now. My parents have basically been solely taking care of my finances.

I didn't have access to them and still really don't while I'm here. When I get back home I'll have to dive into my finances and continue the awesome job that my parents have done.

Because of them I've been able to afford higher rent for my apartment and a new-to-me car. Yes, my rent is higher ($600) but it includes a 24/7 gym, 24/7 computer room, internet for my apartment, wood floors, furniture, my own laundry room and cable (HBO, etc). Water is $10/mo and the electricty is less than $40/mo so far. Renter's insurance is about $15/mo. So I can pay as little as $650/mo for my apartment.

I DID have to buy a new vehicle because my car wouldn't have made it to my duty station much less 5 miles down the road.

My new vehicle is a 2004 Sorento. It already has a tow package and roof rack AND it was in my favorite color!! It only had 75,000 miles on it at the time and I found it. Of course I asked my parents if it was a good by ($10,000 loan approximately) and they agreed especially since it's an SUV compared to the 1995 Altima that I had.

I do pay on it bi-weekly so that I don't pay that much interest. I already have a high rate on it already and I'm looking forward to refinancing it to get a lower rate and my parents off as co-signers ASAP.

My youngest brother (I'm the baby of six kids) has also helped me out whenever he can. I always ask him for advice about men and money and anything else that I think he can help me with.

Without my family I don't know where I'd be. I know not in as good a position of where I'm currently at. I'd be living paycheck to paycheck. But now I don't have to worry about that anymore. There has been a HUGE relief for me.

I love my family! THANK YOU!!!!

Currently I'm deployed in Afghanistan and I'm working on reducing my debt. I currently have approximately $8,000 in medical collections. I've already paid off some medical collections already but I saved the biggest one for last. I know that they'll settle for less than the amount that's owed altogether.

Since my pay has been messed up for a year I will be receiving a sweet little backpay amount. Exactly when I'll receive this, I don't know. But when I do my plan is to pay off the medical account and be done with it.

I haven't looked at my credit report since last year since I've been in the military. Why you ask? Because we don't have access in basic training and there was limited access to the internet when i was in AIT (job training). I then went to my unit and within a month I was deployed (a lot of prep goes on while getting ready to deploy). So I'm working on looking at my reports while I'm here.

But last time I looked at my report, there were only medical collections that reflected negatively. Hopefully I can get the last of it paid off while I'm deployed and by the time I get back home my points will have increased and my report will pretty much look a LOT better.

So far since I've been deployed and since I started on debt reduction over a year ago, I've payed off:

4 medical collections
3 out of 5 credit cards (I closed two of them because they had annual fees)

What I have left is:

1 medical collections
2 credit cards
1 private student loan
approximately $25,000 in student loans and counting (hopefully I have less then 2 years until I get my BS)
1 car loan (HAD to buy a used car because my car literally wouldn't run)
Alimony for ex (I actually have it stipulated in the separation papers that I can "pay it off" early).

I have been saving monies as well as paying things off. I currently have approximately $3,000 in savings and by the end of the deployment I'll have another $2,000 added to it at the least.

I took the opportunity to add monies to a Security Deposit Plan (SDP) which you can only do when you're deployed. It compounds 10% interest with a maximum amount of $10,000 that can be contributed to it. I add $250 each month so I know that I'll have $2,000 in it and whatever interest that it would have earned by then.

I know that I'll have to pay taxes on the interest earned but I'm hoping that I can roll that monies over into a CD or something like that so I won't have to pay taxes on it.

I really don't have any money saved for retirement although I have monies here and there even though I'm older. But my plan is to have those monies when it's time but to also have a little side business goin on so that I have my assets working for me (passive income).

By the end of this year I should either have one more credit card paid off or almost paid off by the end of the year. My last credit card won't be paid off by the time I get back home but I'll have it close to halfway paid off so that'll make my minimum payment lower and therefore I'll be able to put more towards the interest.

By the time I get back home I'll have a better credit score. Which is my ultimate goal so that I can refinance my auto loan (it's currently 11.5%) for a lower interest and eventually get my parents off my loan as co-signers.

My ultimate goal is to be mostly debt free in another 6 years because I want to purchase a house.