Since I’ve stopped doing the monthly debt updates, I wanted to do a quick check-in as I have been paying off my debt pretty rapidly. As of today, my remaining debt is:

Remaining Debt: $10,892

I know what you’re thinking: she’s almost not a loser anymore! I know! I feel the same way. In fact, I checked my credit score yesterday and it had jumped up to 770 since I’ve reduced my debt by so much. Considering that my bank said I need a 740 to qualify for their best mortgage rate, it’s a step in the right direction. So here’s my plan for getting rid of the rest of the debt: pay it all off by July 1, 2013. All of it. Every red cent. No more interest. No more payments.

Is that doable? Good question. July 1 is just under 4 months away, and according to my calculations (which I calculate obsessively, recheck and adjust daily), as long as I am extremely frugal until July 1, I can do it. There’s a tiny bit of magical thinking involved too, but I have found that that always works out. Seriously. I’ve never been late on a payment and have always come up with whatever money was needed when I needed it. Things generally tend to work out. I know that sounds vague, but I have set the date for a 100% debt pay-off for July 1 and it’s going to happen. It won’t be close. It will be done.

Vote to Change the National Anthem to R. Kelly’s Ignition (Remix)

My friend and future sister-in-law (sort of, her sister is married to Ryan’s brother, but you know, we’re basically family) told me that one of her old college friends decided to make an official White House Petition to change the national anthem to R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)”. If it gets 100,000 signatures by April  2, it has to be addressed by Congress. It started out as a joke, but now it’s gotten tons of national coverage and has over 9,000 signatures. Go ahead, sign it.

Good Reads

It felt like the internet was full of flame wars this past month. Most relevant was that Financial Uproar took the time to expose many, many, instances of Finance Fox being a dirty plagiarizer. As I commented on the post, it looks like we have a Carlos Mencia on our hands. And in true “Menstealia” fashion, Finance Fox is blaming the whole thing on a ghost writer, which I gave my two cents on in DQYDJ’s excellent piece On Shortcuts, Originality…and Casablanca.

Philadelphia Magazine decided to publish Being White in Philly. I’m undecided about this article. I get what the author was trying to do, I respect the intent and yet…it still makes me kind of uncomfortable. Read it and tell me what you think.

Mr. Money Mustache (what no moustache?!) interviewed Ryan Carson, CEO of Treehouse. This was an excellent interview, and I love that education is becoming accessible and self-directed. We are the masters of our destiny! Captains of our own ship! We can do this. We can learn. We can build. And we don’t need to accrue crazy amounts of debt to do it.

Blonde on a Budget is almost debt-free too (and won’t be blogging personal finance once she’s there). She started blogging at just the same time I did, and has pretty much killed it turning around her financial situation. I hope she’ll share her new blog with us when it comes time to say goodbye to Blonde on a Budget, as I love posts like this one about her mom as role model.

Money Mamba reviewed the most successful investing strategies.

I laughed out loud at Budget and the Beach’s Budgeters Anonymous video.

Finally, I just want to send a general blog shout-out to Michelle at Making Sense of Cents. She is one of the most productive bloggers out there, hustles hard in her real life and is just all-around independent and successful. For only 23, that’s really impressive. And she’s making as much in side income these days as many people make at good day jobs. She motivates me to work harder!

Vote for me so I can feel good about myself

Can you do me a 10 second favor and go vote for me at Free Money Finance? Just leave a comment with the word “Reasons” in it and you’re done. I’d really like to make it past Round 1 this year!

Reggaeton Video of the Week

The answer is no: I never get tired of listening to Daddy Yankee. Las que juegan se quedan solas!