Interest Paid on a Credit Card - GRR!!!

If you're read some of our prior posts, you know we have some credit card debt.  No matter how we attack it, a balance always seems to stubbornly remain on our American Express credit card.  Anytime we knock it down close to zero, some new bizarre expense comes flying down from the stratosphere to land painfully on our heads.

My guess is that we're not alone, that this tends to happen to most of the rest of you too.  I guess the powers-that-be consider dealing with financial troubles good for your soul.  ("Hey, that one's getting a little uppity.  Let's zap his car!")

Be that as it may, the net result is we pay interest to American Express for the ability to spend money we don't have, (yet).  Here is how much we've spent in credit card interest last year, and so far this year:

Total Interest Paid in 2014:   $239.76

Interest already paid in 2015:  $66.16

At the risk of being rude, let me just state right now that THIS IS F@(KING STUPID!!

Maybe $240/year doesn't seem outrageous to you, but it should.  It is money WASTED!  It is money paid to American Express for the privilege of being financially irresponsible!

And if $240 doesn't ruffle your feathers, how about more than $400, which if we don't clean up our act is what we are on target for paying out this year?

So ..... our #1 goal of the year is to get our American Express credit card completely paid off, then not carry a balance on it again.  EVER!!

Granted, sometimes life will interfere, (sh!t happens, ya know), and we will get slapped with a true emergency.  But then our goal will revert to paying off this money-sucking leech as quickly as possible.

Oh yeah ..... what about the "emergency fund"?  Ha, ha, ha!  That poor thing gets sucked dry as soon as we fund it.

It's a nice thought, this "emergency fund", and maybe someday if we don't have so many unfinanced obligations and unforeseen expenses it will be useful to have one.  But for right now it is just a daydream.