Doing the Debt Shuffle.

Rich people shuffle money to make more of it. Poor people shuffle money to pay less.

With my new job, we'll have a lot more money coming into our lives. Enough money to actually start paying down our debts - not just paying the minimums. It's really exciting for us, because we're both determined to have most of my debt paid off before we start a family, and if my debt is gone, my credit will be good enough to purchase a house (which is also a personal requirement before kiddos).

Sean gets plenty of extra money to shuffle debt around - we're paying off his student loan and my loans with it. The idea is to get all of the student loans compounded together. His law loans don't accrue interest while he's in school, so we're actually saving money. By paying off my loans, we're eliminating all of our interest until he's out of school. My new income will go towards my car payment. Sean's car is paid off (and only has 70,000 miles on it - it will definitely last a good 6+ years longer), and we'll be able to pay my car off hopefully by the end of next summer (and it'll only be 3 years old!). Plus, of course, we'll be able to eat better and I'll be able to join a gym.

We're staying in our crappy apartment for now though. We're going to save all the money we can here, so we'll be able to buy a house right away in 2 years (um, have I mentioned that I'm married to a 2L now?!).

Guys, my paychecks are almost going to double. Double.