I’ve been blogging about my debt and life in general since February 19, 2008. Now I’m going to give an update, the good, the bad and the ugly, you are going to see it all.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t updated my Credit Card debt for over a month. There’s an a reason for it, as I’m sure some of you have guessed.

Last month I came up short. Yep, I even bounced a few checks (the bank honored them). I ended up using two credit card checks. $1,500 for my property taxes and $1,500 to bring my checking account back into balance. I’m totally embarrassed to admit this, as I’m sure you can imagine. The total of $3,000 is locked in at 3.9% until the balance is paid off.

Today my total credit card debt stands at $41,501. That’s a $901 increase from when I started tracking it back in February. I’m not happy at all with myself, I know I can do better. Other than using the two convenience checks I haven’t charged a single thing.

Now for the good news. I paid off my state taxes as of February the balance was $9,276. I also paid off my husband’s truck. Back in Feb the balance was $4,459.

All together I’ve paid down $12,834 since February.

If I can’t be truthful here, then really what’s the point of even blogging about my pathetic financial condition? So here goes it.

I didn’t have enough money to pay the second half of my property taxes so I ended up using a check from my Chase credit card for $1,500 plus a personal check for $106. The $1,500 check is locked in at 3.99% until the balance is paid off. Geez, I feel bad about doing this but I really had no choice. Having said that, isn’t that same sort of philiosophy that got me into this mess to begin with? I didn’t have a choice, it was on sale, it was a great deal, I really needed it, the kids needed it, blah, blah, blah. When will my excuses end?

Now I need to go crawl under a rock and hide.

I have officially paid off $1,731 of my debt! That’s a whopping 4%!

I know I still have such a long ways to go but for the first time in YEARS I’m actually making some progress. I can’t tell you how great I feel about getting out of debt. I feel so full of hope. I’m sure it’s bound to affect other area’s of my life in positive ways, it just has too.

A month or so ago I signed up at mint.com. It’s a really cool FREE secure site that tracts all your credit card accounts and transactions in one place. You can also categorize all your transactions so you can see exactly where your money is going. You can also set it up to send you text message alerts if you have a payment coming up, unusual spending on any of your credit cards, or any large purchases. I love the site and can’t say enough good things about it.

According to mint.com I’m doing really well with my interest rates on my credit cards. Since January I haven’t charged any gasoline, hence the “?”. Here’s a snapshot:

Here’s what my credit card spending trends show for the month of March. The only activity on my cards has been financial charges. I’m so proud of myself!

For the last week or so, I’ve been checking out my credit cards online. A friend of mine gave me the gentle pushing I needed to pay my credit cards online versus paying the $14.95 that I was paying on each card to make the payment by phone (I’ve learned the hard way not pay by check via the mail).

I noticed that my new American Express Blue card had my transfer $8,500 and an additional $99 transfer fee. I thought there wasn’t a transfer fee, I called AE Blue and they told me there was a fee - minimum of $5 and maximum of $99 or 3%. Great so now I’m over my limit and in danger of losing my great transfer (until the balance is paid off) rate of 4.99%. Again, my friend “D” pushed me into calling American Express to find out what was going on. They told me that I was over my limit and that I COULD NOT make a payment by phone or online. My closing date is March 28th, and as long as I get $135 (the $99 transfer fee and the estimated interest) to them in the mail, by March 28th, I should be fine.

Gosh, here I was thinking I was doing so good. I came so close to blowing it and causing my interest rate to go up…. again. I have the payment all ready to go and will be putting it in the mail this afternoon.

Thanks “D” for reminding me make that call!!!!