Struggling to be debt free

I plan to prepare and file my taxes on Monday.  I should receive my W-2 on Friday when I receive my paycheck.  I already have received the tax documents from my mortgage company and my student loan companies.  I believe I have everything I need in hand in order to prepare my taxes.  This will be an interesting year because this is the first time that I will file my taxes and be able to claim the mortgage interest deduction, etc.  I purchased my home last May and I made the first mortgage payment in July of 2013.  I have done a little research online to determine what deductions I will be able to take as a result of purchasing a home.  I also did a few of the free online tax return estimators.  It appears that at most I will receive about $100 back.  I ran the calculations out for future years and it appears that in 2015 I will receive approximately $1,200 back if nothing changes.

This is my second time drafting this post.  I accidentally deleted my first attempt, geez! Well hold on to your hats cause this is a long one! I have been a mess, financially, for quite some time.  I got my first job as an attorney in mid-2005, working as an attorney for the State of Florida.  I had a salary of approximately $46,000 a year.  Definitely, not my dream job or salary.  However, I was 23 years old and did not have a clue about money management and I decided since I was an attorney I needed to spend like one.  Let's just say it didn't go well, I made all of my minimum payments on my credit cards and student loans.  I also charged what I felt like charging on my credit card.  By 2010 I decided that I needed to get my finances in order.  I had been paying on my student loans for almost five years and there was no end in sight.  The first thing I did was take stock of my situation, I realized I had a lot of debt and too little ...

I get paid on Friday so I will do a rundown of the debt payments sometime this weekend or early next week and also give a status on where I stand financially.   I found a job that I am interested in applying for in the same city where I now live, unfortunately I don't have any experience in the area of practice.  I don't know that I am super ready to leave the firm I am with now, but I guess that's a decision that I will let a higher power decide.  I don't like the way that I feel when I go to or think about work.  I would really like to stick things out though and find a place to ground myself.  Good things have happened for me since I started worked there, but I just don't think I'm happy.  The thought of finding a new place to work excites me.  How much should I ask for salary wise?  Is there an opportunity to increase the speed of my debt payoff.  In all likelihood I won't ever get an interview, but sometimes it's nice to dream, ...

I've been practicing law for almost 9 years now.  It's a tough job, it's a lot of stress and you take a lot of abuse from other lawyers, judges, clients and, of course, your boss.    I've been at this particular law firm for 2 years and 9 months and at first I loved the firm.  The people were nice, the pay was great and the work was interesting.  However, as with all jobs, true colors have started to show through.  My boss is extremely lazy and barely shows up in the office. This does not particularly bother me, however, he retains all decision making power so it slows up (and sometimes makes it impossible) to get any work done.  However, this leaves me with no help in preparing all documents (motions, pleadings, discovery responses and correspondence).  I also, take on a significant portion of all hearings and depositions scheduled by the office.  He fosters a bad environment by barely coming into the office and failing to enforce any r...

Well hello out there world wide internet.  Welcome to my little corner of the web where I hope to blog a little bit about my struggle to be debt free. So, let me introduce myself.  I am a 31 year old female residing in northern Florida where I earn my living as an attorney.  I currently earn $77,000 a year at a small law firm in the area.   For the last three (3) years I have received a Christmas bonus equating to approximately two (2) weeks pay (last year 2013 it was $3208-gross and approximately $2414-net).  Also, last year, we received a Labor Day bonus netting $500.  I have the following debts: $28,350 student loan $1,121 credit debt (I decided to assist my sister with her debt-more on that later-this represents the remainder I have to pay off.  It should be paid off in February of 2014). $800 credit card (This is the balance from my eye appointment and contacts earlier this year as well as my car registration.  This is 0% credit card unt...