To Travel or Pay Off Debt??

That is the question on the brain today as I look ahead to the almost-here school year and how the "cost of living" raise (read: throw the poor graduate students a bone) will improve my bottom line and either help me get out of the red or fly away to some exotic locale (not houston) next summer and find myself. Well, of course I want the answer to this question to be "both" -- pay off my credit card AND travel. Whether or not that is going to be possible, or if it's even plausible to have my cake and eat it too, I have no idea. Enter my savings goal of $5000. If...IF I can manage to save that amount by April 30, 2009, I can reward myself with a vacation. It may not be a trip across the pond, but it will be a trip that takes me beyond the un-metropolitan confines of the state of Washington. "They" say the best way to accomplish a goal is to shout it out to everyone you know who's willing to pay attention to what you have to say for five minutes. Consider this me putting my goal out there. Now, if you run into me on the street, or on campus, or in the mall, just ask me whether or not that $4 coffee I'm probably holding in my hand is helping me meet my goal, because seriously, finding a way to manage my caffeine habit could mean ultimate success or failure.