I started this blog on May 16th 2011

My goal is to eliminate my student debt and increase my savings.  I hope to do so by reducing my overall spending and increasing my side income. Since I am planning on purchasing a house in the next 3 years as well, I want to make sure that I didn’t have student debt holding me down.

I started with $30,000 of debt in total consisting of student and credit card debt.

Create a short and long budget term.

Short term  (12 months)

  1. Eliminate the lowest credit card with the lowest amount, while continuing to make payments on the other two outstanding debts.
  2. Reduce usage of credit cards and rely solely on cash. If I do use credit cards, make sure the balances are cleared at the end of the month.
  3. Establish a two fold savings plan consisting of an Emergency Fund, and an investment plan.
  4. Take a 3 week trip to South America.
  5. Make an extra $10,000 to snowball debt.
  • Long Term (24-36 months)

  1. Clear all student debt.
  2. Save for a down payment for a house.
  3. Save for a new car.
  4. Actively manage my portfolio.

My goals for 2012 are:

  • Reduce debt by $10,000 overall
  • Build a better stock portfolio (In progress)
  • Run the half Marathon by the end of October.
  • Get a part-time job or find a new way to make an extra $15,000 this year.

This list will most likely keep getting updated as I think of new goals to add.