Some Goals for 2009

If you noticed over the past hour or so, I've been updating the Strudel Trackers with some actual numbers and goals. For 2009 the goals are all about debt of some form or another.

I have four sources of debt right now. Credit Card, Student Loan, CitiLoan, and my 2008 Taxes.

Basically, the student loan is inconsequential in the long run. It's a huge loan (more on this in the coming days), and my monthly payment is only $105.66. As long as I pay it each month... no problem.

Credit Cards: A topic to be discussed in more detail in future "History of My World" posts, since it is a prevailing theme in the horrors of my financial past. Currently, I'm down to only two credit cards only one of which I can actually use. The Mastercard is closed and being automatically paid every month. The CitiCard used to be that way until a while ago when my "good payment history" allowed them to open it again. As of January 2008 statements I owed a total of $10,394.74. WAY down from past highs (again, more later), but still high. Upon looking at what I typically pay each month, I've set the goal to pay a total of just under $4,400 in 2009 to get the total debt down to $6,000. After paying the June bills, my total balance is now $9,694.69. So, I've paid $700.05 so far in 2009, and for the first time in a long time, my total balance is down to four digits! Go me!

The CitiLoan: The reason behind this loan is ridiculous and worth of more discussion in future posts, but the short version is at the end of 2007, I took out a $7,500 personal loan from Citibank. At the end of 2008, I restructured the loan to get roughly another $1000 from Citibank. I can't find a current statement, so I don't know what the total balance is right now. But this loan seriously damaged my finances. So, a goal for 2009 is to pay this down. I hate that I had to take out this loan, but there were no other options at the time. My minimum monthly payment is $217.19, so the goal for 2009 is to keep that up and pay off roughly $2,700 of this loan. Since I've paid for six months, I'm half way there.

My 2008 Taxes: This is another horrible situation that I've found myself in. Okay that's putting myself in a passive position, which isn't the case. We'll talk a lot about the taxes and the horrors of being blessed with an NIH fellowship. But for now, just accept that I owe roughly $5,000 in taxes to both Federal and the state of Connecticut. The goal for 2009 is to pay my taxes, which for the most part is going to involve frugality and throwing every spare dollar and penny I get into my savings account in hopes of getting it all taken care of by the December 31 deadline. In the grand scheme of tax evasion, I'm small potatoes, but the idea of prison does not sound good to me at all. Basically, my savings account is what I paid into it on Sunday, so there's a long way to go on this one. The goal for 2009 is to get $6,000 to pay the taxes and start rebuilding the savings account for what it's actually for--saving money.

There's one more goal. It's not entirely financial, but it does involve money. I need to quit smoking (again). Another thread throughout my history, and there definitely will be more on this later. But smoking is gross, addictive, expensive, and can kill me, so it's got to go. I'm going to start this month, so I'm hoping to get this kicked over the summer. Part of this blog will be about that as well.

So, there you have it. My 2009 goals: pay down debt, quit smoking, and don't go to prison.