I fell off the wagon again.

Here is where things stand now:

Student Loan #1 - $2669.01
Student Loan #2 - $32,498.04
Credit Card #1 - $9,292.18
Credit Card #2 - $1,398
IRS Bill - $7,605.98 (I consolidated 2012 and 2011 together)
State Tax Bill - $0
Total (3/26/13) - $53,463.21

There has been some reduction, but overall a fail because I began eating out regularly and lost my laser focus on debt paydown. I had a very rough year job wise and being hit with another IRS bill didn't make things any easy. The good news is I have not accumulated any new debt. The bad news is...well look above and weep.

Yes, I've been absent and I've been bad so I've been honing my avoidance skills. Let's see the damage:

Student Loan #1 - $3,025.06
Student Loan #2 - $33,388.18
Credit Card #1 - $9,530.29
Credit Card #2 - $3,165.68
IRS Bill - $4,618.65
State Tax Bill - $86.70
Total (3/26/13) - $53,814.56

Emergency Savings is a laughable $200.

I'm going to have to shape up.

This was what the start of the month looked like:
Student Loan #1 - $3,250.22
Student Loan #2 - $33,939.51
Credit Card #1 - $9,587.76
Credit Card #2 - $3,505.83
IRS Bill - $4,618.65
State Tax Bill - $897.00
Total (11/1/12) - $55,798.97

Here is what I paid down in a month:
Student Loan #1 - $3,204.46
Student Loan #2 - $33,739.51
Credit Card #1 - $9,356.03
Credit Card #2 - $2,954.29
IRS Bill - $4,408.65
State Tax Bill - $756.34
Total (11/30/12) - $54,419.28

Down by $1,379.69

Basically I used about 40% of my income and paid down debt.

My back of the envelope calculations tell me it will take me 39 months to pay down the debt at this rate. Hope to step it up so that I can hit the goal of being debt free in 27 months!

I received my online pin from the IRS to make a payment.

My first IRS payment was horribly late. So I made two payments. However, while I wrote the right figure, I spelled the wrong amount. So what was cashed was just the spelled out amount.

Today I logged into my account and manually entered the correct amount that was not deducted (payment #2)

Since I am throwing most of the payments at the highest interest rate credit card, the IRS payments will be low for a while.

In about a week I can post the progress of my first month. It's been a slog...not the part about not spending money (I cut up the credit cards), but about my impatience about wanting the debt gone. But it took a while to get here and I suppose it will take a while to go away. Not too long I hope!

Well, I thought I'd at least get to a swimming start for a few weeks before I hit some setbacks but that was not to be.

I had to travel for work and I had some unexpected expenses pop up and so I overspent my budget. Because of the travel, my cooking suffered and so I had some microwaved meals which were quite pricey (it was expensive microwaved meals or an expensive meal at a restaurant and microwavable meal is cheaper). I also have overshot my grocery budget by $65 and it is only half way through the month! Plus we've got the biggie holidays coming up next week.

I signed up for online pay with the IRS and my state government to pay down those tax bills. But I am having trouble logging in to pay, but I have set the money aside (and a reminder so I do not forget!).

But with today's paycheck I paid over $1,000 to all the debts. I'll update the figure on the side when they all get posted.

One of the reasons my tax bills are so high is because I filed my taxes late. And then since I owed some money the interest was tacked on. Next time, I am planning on filing on time. Because seriously...this is ridiculous.

Looking at my schedule for the next two weeks (before next payday and for month end), I am not anticipating big surprises...but we'll see how that pans out. I do have a wedding to attend, there is a holiday coming up, a few business meetings that could result in me having to make some snap judgments. This could mean trouble on the financial front since that's apparently how these things turn out.

Thank you for all the positive comments. Really love it.

Student Loan #1 - $3,250.22
Student Loan #2 - $33,939.51
Credit Card #1 - $9,587.76
Credit Card #2 - $3,505.83
IRS Bill - $4,618.65
State Tax Bill - $897.00
Total (11/1/12) - $55,798.97

Budget: Live on 60% of income
Debt: Pay 40% of income toward debt (approximately $1,250.00)