Staying motivated on this path is a hard one.
One thing that I find helps is just taking another look at the numbers. It might not work forever, but seeing the numbers go down, down, down every month is great. Of course, I wish they were going down faster, but as long as they're not going up, I'll be ok with that!
One thing that makes me sad is that I'm not growing my savings really aggressively at this point. I realize the importance of saving, and starting young! But when you think about it, channeling the money I would have put in savings towards eradicating my debt will have the same effect on my net worth.
Right now I am trying to put $20 a week into my emergency fund. This does not happen in tight weeks. This month is a killer with car reigstration, car inspection, having to get a tire mended, going to the dentist and eye doctor, and the emergency room besides! My pockets are empty.
I also, without fail, put $500 into a CD every 6 months. I know this is not the most aggressive tactic, but I think I will be a lot more aggressive when II have my dispoable income back. I wish I had a bigger emergency fund, but I can break my CDs (with a small penalty on the interest) if something catastrophic happened.
Since I am paid once a month, when I get paid, I actually put some of the money into my savings account, and take it out after two weeks. It's another little thing to keep track of, which can be tricky, but it makes it seem like I get paid twice a month, and my money is earning a bit of interest in the meantime.
You know my motto: every bit counts. My boyfriend thought I was crazy when I stopped to pick up a shiny penny on the sidewalk last week. I told him I thought it was a dime, and that helped my case a tiny bit, but just a tiny bit, really.
