My Financial Mess...

A few years ago, I made some dumb financial decisions. I was young and stupid, and though that is no excuse, I have learned from them and vowed not to repeat them again.

-- Credit cards -- Fresh out of high school and entering college for the first time, I had tons of credit card offers sent my way and I applied for several of them, promptly maxing out their puny $200 credit limits and paying the minimum each month for more than a year.

-- Fancy Car -- Of course, driving around in the family Camry was not high on my list of desires. So I went down to the local bank and was approved for a $10,000 loan and drove 400 miles to purchase the used sports car of my dreams. Of course, it was 6 years old, had nearly 100,000 miles on it and I didn't even get it checked by a mechanic - genius!

-- Bad budgeting -- I moved in with a friend of mine a few months after I bought the car. Of course, at this time I was barely making $6.00 an hour and working approximately 25-30 hours a week. How does one afford to split rent, utilities, cable, cell phone bill, car note, car insurance and credit card bills on that small on an income? There's a simple answer for that. You don't.

Oh, how I wish I knew then what I know now. After a few months, things started falling behind. Both my friend and I were unable to keep up with our expenses, and eventually had to move out of our apartment. I spent a couple months after moving back home making up the past due balance on the utility and phone bills.

Those credit cards that I was making the minimum payment on kept piling up with balances, and every time I'd make a minimum payment, I would find something else to charge up on it.

The sports car? I still have it, with 8 payments left to go before it is paid off. Though it is still a struggle to make the $275/month payment, I take pride in knowing that it will be paid for soon and that I will not have to worry about a car payment again for a long time.

The budgeting problem? That has been solved! I've worked at a bank for a little more than a year now, and seeing people day in and day out with financial issues worse than mine made me determined to turn myself around. All of my bills are set up on auto-pay to pay at least the minimum on the due date, allowing me to allocate more towards them as I am able. It will be a while before everything is paid off, but I am determined to be debt free before I finish school in 2 years.

Here is a breakdown of my monthly budget:

Rent - 425 (considering getting a roommate to help defray costs)
Utility - 150
Cable - 40
Cell Phone - 55
Car Note - 272
Car Insurance - 170

Then there's the credit cards...
$4,800 total debt - Total minimum $165.00

My goal is to put at least $300 toward the debt every month, as well as any found money, tax refunds, etc.

I've also taken on a few new credit accounts in order to get more positive history under my name, thanks to those at CreditBoards. I've seen my credit score rise by more than 50 points on all three bureaus in the last five months just thanks to lower overall utilization - I've learned the important lesson of not charging it unless you can pay it back when the statement cuts.

I want to know if any of you have any more suggestions on how to get this debt paid down faster -- any ideas?