It feels great to be in control. In control of my career, in control of my emotions, in control of my finances. I feel like many many weights have been lifted off of my shoulders.

TD Student Line of Credit - $14,428.43 now at $14,278.43
Mastercard - $10,056.06 now at $9,258.14
OSAP - $6,378.08

And I'm sitting with over $500 in the bank. I still have some bills to pay, but there are groceries in the kitchen and a roof over my head.

And I had a wonderful weekend. Even though I was not feeling that great, I still feel happy from the inside out.

Happy 200th post to me!

Well Momma comes through again. With a generous donation to the poor Kelly fund, my Mom has brought my Mastercard debt down to $9,908.14!

Stay tuned on Friday when I finally get paid and will be able to pay this debt off even more.

Anticipated income this month:
Pay Cheque: 1,064.66 times 2 = $2129.32
Reimbursements for benefits: $97 + $40 + $87 = $224
Income Tax Refund: $1339.28
May rent from Jenna: $500
Tom Repayment: $100

Which all equals... drum roll please....
$4292.60

Minus out rent for May ($950) =$3342.60
Minus out MetroPass ($110) = $3232.60
Minus out food budget ($250) = $2982.60
Minus out entertainment (cause I'd like to treat my hunny to a movie/dinner. $100) = $2882.60
Minus out gas for my car ($60) = $2822.60

So all in all, I will have around $2822.60 to go towards my debt repayment this month, which is pretty sweet! I defiantly need to take advantage of this increase this month, however, with the extra money I am receiving I will be spending more on food to stock up my shelves/freezer while I have the cash so if I have another slim month, I'll at least be able to eat.

Since I've been writing all of this down, I'm feeling really good about it. Even though my debt is over $30,000, I can see an ending in sight. It is shocking me to see that even an extra $11 a month can cut off one full year of payments.

Plus, I'm lined up to get a raise this month which will be back dated to April 1. So even though it will only be a little amount I'll be getting at once, I'm going to use that money to treat myself to something nice.

There was one set back this month. I now owe my Mom money as well. $700 for the cottage for a week and York University has come after us for unpaid parking tickets. Even though its been over a year since I went there. Anyways, it is over $1000 so once I get that final sum, I can add it to my debt. yay....

I'm going to turn this into a game. Lets see if I can 'beat the bank' and pay down my loans faster than they said I could. Lets see if I can save myself hundreds in interest.

Here's how I'm going to do it.

Tax refund - $1339.28
$1000 is going onto my credit card. If I continue to pay my monthly payments of $200 after that, it will take me around 4.5 years to pay off my debt. That is taking 3.5 years off of my debt repayment.
$339.28 is going on my TD line of Credit. This brings my total down to $14089.15. If I continue to pay $150 a month after that, it will take me just under 8 years to pay off. Not as spectacular but it does knock a couple months off.

OSAP- Current monthly payment - $88.15
If I pay $11.85 more a month, I take my loan repayment down from 86 months (7.16 years) to 74 months (6.16 years) and save myself $163.44 in interest.

So all in all, this plan is going to take roughly 4.1 years off of my total repayment which sounds pretty sweet to me.

Next step... get a raise/better paying job/second job and throw that money on my credit card to get it down to a more reasonable level.

I need a change. I feel trapped. I need to feel free again.

TD Student Line of Credit - $14,428.43
Current payment -$150 a month
Interest rate - 3.25% (roughly $44.03 a month)
Started at $15,000. $571.57 paid down since November
Will take around 8 years to pay off with current payments.

Mastercard - $10,056.06
Current payment - Whatever I can spare. Usually around $200 a month
Interest rate - 19% (Roughly $172.94 a month)
Will take around 8 years to pay off with current payments

OSAP - $6,378.08
Current payment - $88.15 a month
Interest rate - $4.75% ($25.73 a month)
Started at $6683.88. $305.80 paid down since November
Will take around 6 years to pay off with current payments

This means I'm paying $438.15 a month in debt repayment. With $242.70 a month in interest payments. I'm paying only $195.45 a month directly to my debt, the rest is interest payments. How can I get ahead with that?
I need to pay these down in order to feel in control. This means I need to up my payments. The more I pay down, the less my interest payments will be.

How can I do this? I'm living dollar to dollar now. Soon I'll be without a car and will have to pay for transportation. How can I do this?

I need a change. And fast.

There's something comfortable about the thought. Something scary. Something happy and something worrying.

There are many things that need to happen first.

1. Get a job in the Kitchener area
2. Have him ask me
3. Decide that it is the right time to move in
4. Talk with my parents about it
5. Talk with his parents about it
6. Discuss where to live
7. Finalize furniture placement/sell unneeded furniture

If he wants me to move into his current house, this needs to happen:

1. Discuss changing the house to suit us.
2. Find the money to make those changes
3. Discuss the current/future roommate situation

I'm actually excited about the prospect of moving. I think I'd be more excited about going and looking at places for us to live together. His house might work for us for a little while but we would not be happy there for a long while. I can see us in a three story house with a modernized flair. A large bedroom with an en suite bathroom - stand up shower AND a soaker tub. A walk in closet. At least one extra bedroom, if not two. A backyard with grass and a deck, maybe a little garden that I can plant flowers in. An open concept kitchen with an island. A basement with a bathroom.

Ah to dream, right?

Concern #1, prep the parents so that IF I get a job there and IF he asks me to move in and IF we decide that it is the right time, there will be less stress/questions. Cause we all know I don't deal with change well when everything is going right in my life, I can only imagine how upset I'll be if I don't have peace in other aspects of my life.