The Debt Creeps Down

Time for an update on the state of the debt.

With recent interest charges added in and payments made, our credit card debt now stands at $22,229.68, nearly $1000 dollars below what it was when I started this blog on February 11, 2003. But danger approaches: it looks like we're going to owe a couple thousand dollars in income tax with nowhere to turn for the money but credit cards. It seems absurd to owe so much given our relatively low income, but there it is. Most of the tax debt is due to the fact that my wife's income comes from self-employment, meaning we have to set aside between 25% and 30% of her earnings to cover income and social security taxes. Tough to do, and though we managed to set aside more than half of the necessary tax money over the past year, in the end we fell short.

If we do have to borrow, I've got plenty of options for getting the money from a credit card at 6% or less interest, but still...it means the debt goes up, the monthly minimum payment goes up, and the end seems further away than ever. The struggle continues to tame the beast, to get the debt down without life coming along and knocking it back up.