Another New Project

I've had a project in mind for a while now.

Working in theatre, a lot of crazy crazy stuff tends to happen. So I've always wanted to write down the insane stories that I have.

And so, Backstage Diaries was born. I'll be posting my insane stories here, and maybe stories from other people too!

Backstage Diaries

All Gone!

So today I made the very last payment on the last little bit of my credit card debt. I am now officially out of consumer debt. The only money I owe is my student loan that is not interest bearing (I owe it to my parents).

This is huge for me. My finances are under control. I'm starting on a new budget on October first that will skyrocket my savings, which will allow me to finally not panic when bad things happen, and hopefully I'll be able to travel home next year. I can also start paying down my student loan significantly. I'm also upping my spending money a little too, because, well I think I've earned it!

I'm still working extra jobs and trying to make some extra money because I like being busy, and because I need to keep building my technical theatre resume. That means working nights and weekends and keeping my regular 9-5 job too. I'm not out of the woods yet, because I'm not out of debt yet, and $25,000 is a huge sum of money that I still have to pay off. But I have three and a half years to do it, I'm not paying interest, and I make enough money that I don't have to struggle with my bills. So here is what really made the difference for me:

I got a roommate. Monthly savings : $480

I cut my grocery bill as low as I could. Monthly Savings : $200

I stopped buying things that I couldn't afford. Monthly savings : $300

I snowballed my debt. This allowed me to pay off thousands of dollars in just over a year.
I purged assets I wasn't using, like my camera, books, clothes. I stopped eating out and drinking out.

I worked my ass off to get where I am and I have to say, I'm really proud. Right now, I'll be out of debt sometime around February 2013 and I plan on making it sooner than that if I can. I'm still going to be blogging about my money stuff and my financial goals. So with that, here are my current savings goals that I'm working on:

Emergency Fund to $3000 (Currently at $235)

Travel Fund to $3600 (Currently at $109)

Medical and Dental Fund to $1000 (Currently at $1)

Car Maintenance Fund to $1000 (Currently at $1)

2009 Roth IRA to $1500 (Currently at $195)

I'm certainly not done yet with my goals, but it feels good to have interest coming in, not going out for a change! Yay me!