Compund Interest is amazing....part 2: $6286 later

So I finished going through my old files and I haven't put it through a spreadsheet yet to make sure my figures are correct but, it looks like that since 1999 - when I first got into debt. I have paid credit card companies nearly

$6,286 in interest alone!


I think I might be off a couple dollars or so because I rounded up for $0.50 and up, and rounded down for $0.49 and below but, still that's kind of impressive. I also am missing a few bills from 1999-2003 so it's likely that the total interest I've paid over the years is closer to $7,000!

If I had held off on these impulse buys I would probably have a pretty nice savings right now.

What I think is most odd though is the fact that I owed/paid the most interest after I moved back from Chicago, I would've thought it would have been the other way around.

I moved back to Ohio at the end of 2003 and according to what records I have, I paid $801 in interest alone that year.

In 2005, when I was well aware of the fact that I had a debt problem but, hadn't yet made up my mind how I was going to get out - I paid $1,579 in interest alone. I guess it didn't help that shortly after moving back all of my credit card companies decided to increase my interest rates.

I will try and upload interest-only debt to spreadsheet if I have time later this week. I'm glad I'm on the 'good side' of compound interest now instead of the bad side. 'Cause as it turns out, the bad side is expensive...

Compund interest is amazing...

I'm going through my records here and there and it looks like the first couple years that I decided not to to pay off my balance on my card monthly, it came to about $1,000 in interest and late charges(never over 30 days late though) so far - some of my old bills are missing though.

I think I'll try and add up all the interest paid over the next couple of days to see how much I've paid the credit card companies for being 'cool'.

In other news: My girlfriend just got done whining to me about how she does not have any money. I was not quite the sympathetic ear to lean on though. She was previously living with her adopted parents rent-free and saving probably half of her income, spending the other half.

Now she spends about 70-80% of her income on regular expenses. One of my requirements for getting a certain piece of jewelry for her was for her to move out of the parent's house. She's been on her own for the first time for a few months now. I'm proud of her, but every time she can't buy some 'frill' or get her nails done as often as she wants - she gets angry with me and calls me to let me know her displeasure.

In the end I believe this will be fore her benefit though. She is learning who she is as a person and learning how to budget (she has an envelope system) assuming we get married this will make her dealing with a family/household budget a lot easier. Otherwise I can see her and I having conflict on why we can't just buy whatever she wants - whenever she wants. Hopefully, it'll all work out for the best.

It's about time Gary Coleman endorsed usury...

Borrowed from Get Rich Slowly - a great blog by the way.




If you missed the fine print there, there is 99.5% Interest rate on loans made from this company. SO basically your paying just about two dollars for every dollar you borrow? Who in the world would think this is a good interest rate? I guess I must continue to read the small print because they will get you otherwise.

In other news I just got a call from the 2nd job: they are cutting hours this week. I don't think this will completely throw off my goals. If they cut hours weeks on end it might be an issue though...

I am planning on doing laundry and grocery shopping tonight. Hopefully, it will be cost effective