I mentioned freezing my credit card in my last update. Well, it had gotten to be bad–there was that time in February where things got out of whack, what with the huge taxes I owed, and moving, and the trip to the Gulf Coast…
Because I had wiped out my emergency fund/savings account to pay for the taxes while still paying off as much debt as I could, I found myself “temporarily” charging things on my credit card. After I had worked so hard to pay off that $13k in credit card debt over a year ago.
Well, it got bad. Pretty bad. At first I was charging things in New Orleans like one of the hotel rooms, some restaurants. Then it became groceries here and there, running shoes. Several running race entries. Before I knew it, I made an almost $700 payment on the card early this month…and after it went through, I still had another $700 balance on it! WTF?!
I charged another hotel room on Priceline a couple weekends ago and had such an appalling experience–the front desk guy swore there was no reservation and they were booked so we ended up trekking to Mr. Bacon’s dad’s house. Lo and behold, two days later I get an email from Priceline saying we never showed up and would be charged the $73 for the price of the room as the cancellation fee. Excuse me?! After calling both Priceline and then my credit card company, Capital One suggested freezing the card indefinitely as I hadn’t been charged yet.
Priceline later got back to me saying we wouldn’t get charged, and in the meantime, I have no intention to unfreeze the credit card. It gets me in trouble and I shouldn’t use it as an emergency fund.
So that’s the scoop. I’ll pay off he rest of it as soon as I get paid this Friday and will get refocused on the student loans again. I’ve learned my lesson now!!
The Great Bacon Payoff 
the way I avoid high credit card debt is by making the payment as soon as i get in front of the computer. so like on monday, i pay off everything we spent on the weekend. We like to use our cards for everything for the points. But you have to be diligent about it. maybe you’re just no t there yet?
thanks! I’m definitely not there yet…would LIKE to be able to play the points game, but I think I need to learn some more discipline first 🙂
Don’t get discouraged, just pick a plan that works best for you and stick to it. I no longer make purchase on my card that I can’t pay off the next payday in full. You can do….I have faith in you.
Thanks DF Martini! I was true to my word and paid off the remaining $700 immediately, so won’t get to make as much of a payment to Sallie Mae this month, BUT the credit card debt is back to zero. yaaaay! In the meantime, the credit card is still frozen 🙂
That’s a load of crap from Priceline, but I’m glad that it got resolved. I went a little crazy with wedding expenses, too, but thankfully it became manageable and rectified quickly. Good call about freezing the cc!
Thanks Anna! We’re trying to keep the wedding expenses under control too, and are scaling down some of the original plans…like going from a wedding and two big parties to just focusing on the one wedding!