Money, money, money.

We got a long-overdue raise at work last month — more than a 10 percent increase in our government salary. When I received my first new paycheck, I saw that it contained several hundred dollars more than I’d been expecting, even taking the raise into account. It turned out that the raise was retroactive to September. Woohoo! So today I used some of the retroactive money to finish paying off my credit card. I have no more credit card debt. Double woohoo! (My balance actually reached zero a year ago, but then I used the card to buy a new computer in March.)

So now my only remaining debt is $49,000 in student loans. Yay.

I’ve barely made a dent in my student debt — after four years of making payments it’s only about $1,000 less than it was when I started. I’ve been on the 25-year plan, with monthly payments that barely dig into the principal after paying the interest. (Pesky interest.) But now that I’ve got extra money — an increased salary, as well as the money that used to go to credit card payments — I think I’m going to put much of it toward my student loans. It would be a big psychological boost if I could pay off my loans at 40 instead of at 51. (I’ve been having fun with a loan payment calculator.)

I still have no savings, and it would be nice to have some sort of rainy-day fund, so I think I might put a little of the extra money aside each month, too. Depending on the choices I make (or depending on what happens to me), my yearly income could decrease in the future. I don’t know whether it makes more sense to pay off as much interest-accruing debt as possible or to set some money aside — which is better for the long term? — so I guess I’ll do both.

It’s kind of fun figuring out what to do with extra cash.