Goals

I realised that as yet I haven't outlined my goals in terms of my debt apart from saying "I want to pay it off".

One thing I learnt in my old job was all about SMART goals. That is: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. (Check out http://www.topachievement.com/smart.html for some more info on each on the letters).

SMART goals can be applied to basically anything. A non-monetary example would be losing weight ... it is all well and good to say "I want to lose weight" (which by the way, I do!) but if you put it in smart terms (eg: I will lose 7kg by the end of March 2009), it becomes much clearer what you need to do and how you are progressing.

I have 2 main debt goals:
1) To have my credit card debt down to $10,000 by the end of 2009.
2) To have my credit card debt paid off by the end of 2010.

The new job I took (and moved interstate for) is a one year contract. There is a strong possibility of an extension, but obviously funding (I now work at a uni) is going to come into play, so I am concerned with the impact the failing economy will have. Having said that, considering the industry I was previously in, there is every likelihood that my old firm will start making people redundant if the economy doesn't improve.