testing my discipline

Today is Payday!! Whoohoo! You have no idea how good it feels to be in the positives.. hahaha... jk (kinda). I'm more excited because I'll be using a good portion of my paycheck to pay off my credit card balance and I'll be continuing to do so till the end of February. If all goes well, in 2 months I'll be debt free! For the past couple months I've been on this track to pay off my debt so that I can just be debt free and SAVE. That's the ultimate goal -- to save. I've created this excel spreadsheet to keep track of what my first paycheck (of the month) is used for (what bills) and what my 2nd paycheck is used for, like how much of it goes towards mortgage, towards bills, towards savings, and towards my debt. So far its been working. I just keep it right next to my desk as a daily reminder of how much spending money I really have and how much longer it will take me to clear my debt.

Test #1 -- to see if I can really clear my debt in the time frame that I had planned (end of Feb).
Test #2 -- to remain debt free after end of Feb.
Test #3 -- to see if I can stick to my Savings Plan once I become debt free.

The good thing is while I'm not saving money for myself, Jason and I are sort of saving money together through our savings account. It's really little... LIKE REALLY LITTLE.. But it's okay. It's better than nothing! And another good thing is that I'm totally disciplining myself when it comes to shopping. I have my regulator (Lot) to tell me I don't need my 15th pair of sunglasses or that I don't need 2 colors of the same exact shoe... hahaha... I do admit that I have bought a few things for myself during these past couple of months, but it does not compare to my past spending habits, especially during Christmas time... I think within the past 3 months, I've only bought 1 jacket ($20), socks ($4) a top ($10) and accessories ($26) for myself...And 2 of those items were because I had gift cards and went over the gift card amount. If you knew my shopping skills you would consider that a MAJOR improvement!!!

So yeah, as far as clearing my debt.... I'm almost there!! When I started this Plan to pay off my debt, it felt so far away and it discouraged me.... but NOW I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Just 3 more paychecks to go!!