New favorite calculator

After Mom's passing, I started thinking heavily about getting all of my finances in order so that I don't leave Chris or Baby C with too many loose ends (read: bills).

Suze Orman recommends the CNN Debt Reduction calculator, and I have to confess it's my new favorite thing. You plug in what you owe, the interest tied to what you owe, and the minimum payments. It lets you choose a payoff date (say, 9 months) and tells you how much you will need to pay (and breaks it out for you) to be completely debt-free by that date. Or, you can plug in how much money you can afford to pay each month (more than the minimums, of course), and it will tell you how long it will take to be completely debt-free based on that amount. Or, if you need sobering, it will tell you how long it will take to pay off your debts with just the minimum payments. (Mine came out to 26 years and some months. Ouch.)

It's kind of depressing the first time you do it because you have to look at the numbers (and admit to them), but when you see that it's actually possible to pay off your debts in this lifetime (or even your pet goldfish's lifetime), it's kind of encouraging.

And when you check your credit card statements each month and see the balance and the interest rate dropping (which, of course, warrants a recalculation), it kind of gives you hope!