Pay off all of my debt

Our outstanding debt is now below $50k…
And decreasing by about $400 a month.

I read another poster who considered himself out of debt as soon as he had more assets than debt—or a positive net worth. I already have a positive net worth, but I still don’t consider myself out of debt… Once all the student loans are gone, this goal will be complete.

Today my husband and I are paying the last dime on the PLUS loans we owe his parents. We have been working on these PLUS loans for a little over two years now, and have paid off about $15 thousand dollars! It feels great!

Sept payment will be early with an additional $200 towards principal than last month.
I can’t wait until I can pay myself that money instead of someone else!

I just read a great article on the advantages of paying half of your debt payment every two weeks, instead of the entire payment once a month. The beauty of paying out every time you get paid is that there is less time for interest to accumulate, since companies charge you interest on a DAILY basis. Plus, if you pay every two weeks, you are actually making a month’s worth of extra payments per year since there are 26 weeks in a 12 month year. (Just another relatively painless way to get ahead…)

Here’s an article on the specifics:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11655626/

That’s quite a statement for whoever that girl is, but it’s a wonderful statement.

It’s nice to think that the ultimate goal for being smart with your money is simply, freedom. That’s a more worthy goal to keep in mind than being rich.

I think it would be great to photoshop this and insert whatever age is your goal age.

One tip for all you credit card debtors out there: negotiate with the credit companies! Ask for a lower rate, threaten them with taking your business elsewhere, they will often lower your rate. If they don’t, call back another day and talk to someone else. If they still don’t, all you lost is time.

Also, you can sometimes negotiate a settlement for deliquent accounts. I’m not going to recommend this or not recommend this, but we did this on two accounts a few years ago. It saved us a bundle, but your credit score takes a big hit. This was easier for us because of a bad credit score to begin with and a history of late or non-existant payments which made it believable that the credit card company should settle, else they may not get paid at all. It takes seven years for deragotory marks on your credit history to completely fall off though, although the effects diminish with time.

A fun financial blog for 20-somethings that I love:
http://youngandbroke.typepad.com/young_and_broke/

I decided today that I will take that $15 sweater back and get a yoga mat that I’ve been needing instead. That would be better, plus I’ll put a few bucks back into my pocket.

I’ve felt very guilty this last week after bringing home more clothes while being on a budget. The yoga mat is less frivolous because it allows me not to borrow one of the gym’s mats with someone else’s germs and smelly feet all over it.

Just applied for a CHASE credit card that would pay 5% cash back on groceries and gas (which is all a girl on a budget should be buying anyway) and 1% cash back on everything else. I really hope I qualify, and I think I will. I won’t find out for up to 30 days however.

The current card I have pays 1% back of everything and then 2% back once I’ve charged $5000 in a year. I’m actually in the 2% bracket right now, so I’ll probably just use both cards until the end of the year, and then switch over entirely.

I don’t recommend applying for additional credit cards for everyone though… It works for us because we can pay off balances every month and don’t have to worry about APR or going deeper into debt. The debt I’m battling is student loans and loans to parents! And extra cash back will help with this.

Paid off another big piece of student loan debt today. This puts us on track to finish off the last PLUS loan before the end of the year! Of course we’ll still have all the consolidated student loans and the rest of the debt to his parents, but we are on a really good track.

Unfortunetly I went in a store today and bought a sweater, although only $15, that I shouldn’t have. I usually do really really good at not going into stores, but I was there buying another present, and that did me in. At least it was tax free weekend.