As soon as some of the pending payments clear, we'll be under $10k in outstanding balance on the credit cards! And I know that seems like a lot, but it's nothing compared to the nearly $50k that we once owed a few years ago. We're lucky in that we never quite got to the point that we were desperate, we were always able to pay our bills and the minimum payments - but we also started paying off back when minimum payments were only 1-2% of the balance (so on $50k debt, we were only paying like $600/mo), and our interest rates were mostly fixed rate balance transfers of 0-3% APR. If we'd waited a couple years to start paying it off more aggressively (and stop buying more stuff on credit!), we would have been in a rough situation. It seems like those great balance transfer offers all but disappeared, and minimum payments increased to 5% of the balance - so our monthly payments with interest would have been easily $3000/mo! When all that hit, we still had to absorb payments of half that, which was tough but fortunately still possible for us.
One of the cars is completely paid off, so we're down to a single car loan! I wish we could make the paid-off car last a few more years, and use the would-be car payment to pay off more debts and to save up for a new car, but it's my husband's car and he wants to get a new one next year... so I'm just hoping the credit cards will be paid off completely before the new car (loan) comes.
You've done amazing to bring your credit card debt down so much, in only a few years. The journey from then to now is a great lesson learned. Sometimes we focus so much on what "debt" we still have ahead of us, that we forget to give ourselves a pat on the back for all the hard work/sacrifices/change of living that we did, to get to this point. Bravo!
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