Red and Cream, with Bonus Financial Reverie

Sheila has all of our engines in neutral, as she pursues her 30 for 30 challenge for June in shades of mushroom, ivory, taupe, black, gray and cream. I pay homage to her today with this:

Talbot's sweater and linen pants, Kohl's zany necklace, fancy red Spring Step sandals:

REVERIE: Every year, around my birthday, I send for my annual free credit report (and the attendant $7.95 credit score). In recent years it has not been in the way of a birthday present, if you get my meaning. But this year, I opened it up and found my score had gone up 75 points! From crappy to marginally OK! (Those might not be the official terms.) Shortly after seeing this, I got the first credit card application that I've gotten in AGES in the mail: I'm credit-worthy. My hope is that next year I'll have gone up another 50 points, though I discovered that there are different "scorecards" for different levels, and I may slide back a bit before I go up again, or not improve at the previous rate. I also did not know that insurance companies consider your credit score when giving you a quote - and many companies won't even give you mortgage insurance if you are under 660.

That being said, I'm still very pleased at seeing a turnaround. I feel near the tipping point, where I will see individual smaller debts disappear, and those payments then applied to other accounts, which then shrink more quickly, until in two years I am debt free. I also have some breathing room now, so I can pay all of my bills and still go out to lunch once in a while, or at least without checking my bank account nervously. The two year goal is barring any major expense (illness, family emergency) of course, but I'm still better situated for that event than I have been in several years.

I wonder if I can do without a car for another two years?