get out of debt

DH and I were chatting last night on our walk about the remainder of my last student loan to pay off. With $2000 coming in tax refunds and combined with the $2000 we would have paid to the loans over the period of waiting for the refunds (we are kind of just holding on to everything in our checking and then will send a payment all at once) that is ALMOST THE WHOLE BALANCE OF THE LOAN!!!! We might just kill it!! I am so excited! It will be almost 4 years to the day I set this goal that we will have the last of our non-mortgage debt PAID OFF!

I have recently really gotten into a blog called The Simple Dollar, which would have been amazing to know about when I started this debt journey! Hope you will check it out.

And last pay period I sent $300. Down to $4900! If taxes come back good, it will be before April!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!

We get paid early in December, so I knew if I did not schedule it now, it would be spent up. I really want to stick fast to our payment plan and we will be done sooooooooo soon.

December was a spendy month for us. We went a little hog wild on gifts, at least for us. Next year I would like us to set a limit for each other – that’s where we spent the most. We also spent a lot on his parents’ gift, but that was a show and lunch, and we also got to enjoy it, something we haven’t done too much of, so it was like a gift to ourselves as well. I think it just kind of comes with the territory of December but we could definitely have trimmed in a few areas. Oh well, in Jan. we will tighten the belt. But knowing what the CC bill is going to be in Jan. (we always pay off in full every month) I also knew I had to commit this $900 to the student loan now or it would have been siphoned off to the CC bill, even though we have other funds to pay that.

I am more at ease – well, not exactly at ease, but less worried – with running our accounts down more. DH likes much more of a cushion, but appreciates that an accelerated payment schedule will empower us a lot more in the end. So we forge ahead and I try to really push and be dedicated to the payments now that there is money to really make big ones! We are very lucky right now to be able to do this.

Down to $7200 out of an original $30K. Will be paid off by April if all goes according to plan . . . yeah! We will keep truckin’ along . . .

sent off to my last student loan. I am $8300 from being debt free! Another $100 goes automatically in a week, and then another $1000 a week after that. YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEE

It’s so funny how being able to make an entry here makes me so motivated! :)

In the beginning of my work on “get out of debt,” an important part for me was to reduce expenses. Now DH and I are reaping the benefits of past Christmases as we have gotten our families (not singlehandedly, but we had a part) to just doing stockings for a few people (his side) or drawing names with a $30 limit (my side). However, before we were doing this, I really had to think about my gifts. Plus, I’m a crafter so I like making things for people. I wanted to share some of the sites I discovered along the way. If you’re not a crafter, read on. There are lots of non-crafty ideas in these lists, too.

As a quick piece of advice, one important thing I’ve learned is that gifts of time, like a coupon for babysitting or a homecooked meal, are best accompanied by the date it would happen. That way both parties are clear that the gift WILL be redeemed and there are no hard feelings or awkwardness about actually redeeming it!

Lots of ideas: http://thecitycradle.com/homemadediy-christmas-present-list

Homemade convenience foods. Package them beautifully in jars for affordable gifts: http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadeconveniencefoods.htm

Cut wrapping costs: http://www.stretcher.com/stories/06/06nov13d.cfm

Tons of ideas for gifts of time as well as meaningful DIY gifts: http://www.rethinkingchristmas.com/

Enjoy and happy holiday debt reduction!!

I sent $500 to my next loan. Down to $9300.

Reminds me that I was right to be obsessive about sending in my extra payments immediately upon being paid. This time I had to split my $1000 because I paid off a balance smaller than $1000 on my other loan and then had to put the remainder to this one – but since I didn’t do it right away, I only ended up paying $800 total this time. Not the worst thing ever but I want to maintain discipline. The end is so close – March, we’re hoping.

YEAH!!

Now I am down to my graduate loan. It is the only remaining loan out of three student loans, car loan and credit card balance that I had when starting this goal. Unfortunately, it is also the largest, but this is where the snowball is gonna get pretty. I am down from approx. $30K total to $9800. YEAH!

My progress so far: http://www.listsofbests.com/list/21681

Another $1000 to my smallest student loan, down from approx. $5000 2 months ago. Next paycheck I will pay off the remaining $250 or so and move on to Big Momma, my last loan!!!!!!!!!