Pimp Your Finances

As you may know, one of my goals this year is to pay off all my credit card debt. Once a month, I post my progress. It helps motivate me, and also keeps me honest, too.

After all, it wouldn’t make sense for me to share tips on improving your finances or accomplishing goals, and then not listen to my own advice.

I started off the year with $10,793.86 in credit card (all on 0% balance transfer cards). Here’s how much progress I made in February.

(drum roll please)

I paid off another 23%, bringing my total progress to 32.99% ! 

About the chart

The chart above shows my original debt ($10,793.86), my current debt ($7232.74), and my progress towards paying it all down (32.99%).

The red and green squares are visual reminders of my progress. There are 25 squares total, and each time I pay down 4%, I change a square from red to green. It’s a simple, but extremely powerful movitator.

I strongly recommend this for anyone that needs a boost in achieving their goals. If this is something you’d like to try, keep on reading. I’ll help you do it.

How I did it

February was a good month for me. I got a pretty large federal tax return (which is not a good thing…I need to adjust my W4 to keep this from happening next year).  I put a good portion of the return towards debt, but not all of it. Here’s why.

I am trying to create sustainable changes, and I have some big expenses coming up in the next few months. Instead of using all my money now and then coming up short later, I decided to plan ahead and make sure that I’m setting a budget I can stick to. It won’t do me any good to pay down debt now, then rack it back up later.

Some of the things I’m setting aside money for include:

• Car insurance (lesson learned: I should set aside money from each paycheck so I can cover the six month bill)
• Chainsaw (absolutely need it for yard work…we had two big trees come down last year that we need to cut up)
• Exercise equipment. If you’ve been reading this for a while, you know that I’ll never sign up for a gym membership again. I’m thinking about getting a basic cardio machine (like an elliptical), and eventually some free weights. I know this isn’t something I need, but I’m not going to sacrifice my health to save a few bucks. I feel better mentally and physically with regular exercise.

Want to do this too?

Want a chart of your progress? I’ll make it for you.

All you have to do is comment on this post, or send me an email (at david@pimpyourfinances.com), and let me know the following things.

First, let me know what your goal is. It could be paying down debt, saving $1000 for an emergency fund, saving for a vacation, etc…. It doesn’t even have to be a financial goal.

Second, let me know the starting point for your goal. In my case, I hadn’t paid off any of my $10,793.86 in credit card bills.

Third, let me know where you’re at in achieving your goal. For me, it’s how much I’ve paid down so far.

That’s all there is to it. I’m so confident this will help that I’ll make the chart for you, and will update it for you as often as you’d like. Then you can use the it for whatever you want. Publish it on your site, print it out, etc….

I also believe there is strength in numbers, so if anyone is interested, I’ll make a regular post of everyone’s progress. At least once a month, I’ll post how we’re all doing in accomplishing our goals, and will include a link to your blog, along with some info about you and your site.

Give it a shot…there’s nothing to lose, and it could help you achieve your goals quicker, inspire others, and drive traffic to your site.