Update

The more and more I look at my "budget" the more I realize I consistently spend more than I make, which explains my debt! duh! I know that sounds so totally basic, but seriously I didn't really know I was was doing this. I never really wanted to know what was going on with my financials so I really didn't pay attention this is clearly a bad tactic. I went into college with no debt and soon got taken in by the lure of credit cards. I have still not paid off that balance, although I may have paid it off.. I just keep adding to it so it has stayed about the same for 9 years! I am done with this. I have been reading other personal finance blogs and I am motivated to make this work. I am so sick of living paycheck to paycheck and spending so much of my income paying off loans! I think being aware of my problem is the first step to fixing it. So now that I have created a budget (that I am sure will need to be tweaked) and have got a handle on my goals of paying everything off in 2.5 years. The reason I set the 2.5 year goal is because I am then done with my car payments, so it would be nice closure for everything. I am also attempting to save at least 10% of my income into a savings account. I am also notoriously bad at savings! I am so ashamed at my inability to manage money. It has created a lot of problems in my life and hopefully this is the beginning of a new me.

One other thing to note is that I transferred the balances of my higher interest rate cards. Now my interest rate is 4.9% fixed.

I think I am going to focus on paying my Citibank credit card first and then snowball that into my Chase visa.. heehe.. see I am already using PF terms!

Goals
pay at least 880/month down on debt
check out some books from the library on personal finance
resist the urge to go out to dinner with friends
use gym membership or cancel it