Right Side up

This month marks a big achievement for me. My savings balance is now larger than my debt! Now it's only about $800 more than my debt but it's a step in the right direction. I don't include my mortgage when talking about debt and you may think that should be included, but I don't and I'll tell you why. First, my mortgage is good debt, it has an associated asset and I bought my place in a short sale a little over a year ago and I now have equity in my home. Second, I live in Washington DC and I live in a 2 bedroom condo that I own for about $30 more a month (that includes mortgage+condo fee+real estate taxes) than my rent was for a 450 square foot 1 bedroom apartment.

I have been obsessed about paying off my debt, I am constantly reviewing my spreadsheets seeing if there is a way to pay it all off a little faster. This week I decided to take $1500 from my savings account since I have more savings than debt and pay off a chunk of debt. So after that payment clears the bank I will have $5000 in savings and I will have $4200 left in debt payments. I'll be done by June 2011 and that will be a huge relief.