get out of debt

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!!!!!!!!!

extra pmt. to pay tuition but back on track with that on the 15th.

Well, the end of my second-to-last loan :)

Just sent $1,000. By mid-October this one will be done, and then time to hit the last third of my debt. By March we will be OUT OF DEBT!!!

I am already thinking about the next certificate program I want to do, but am delaying gratification until this is done ;)

Another $1000 to my small student loan . . . down to about $12,500 in debt from $30,000 four years ago, plus paid cash for four big trips and our wedding in there . . . of course, if I hadn’t gone on four big trips, I’d probably be out of debt by now!! But no looking back, only looking forward . . . by March we will be debt free!!!!!!! The light is at the end of the tunnel.

to my smallest student loan. Down to $3500 balance on that one . . . will have it done by October if all goes according to plan. And March should be my debt free date . . . $30,000 worth of debt from the time I started working on this goal! Won’t that feel great?!

The snowball is working full time now and has been for a few months, just that it’s been rolling into our wedding fund and not into this goal. But today, having been on our honeymoon and back and crunching numbers, I knocked out one of my student loans! Awesome! The two that are left are about $4500 and $10K each. But since we came out of the wedding with no debt, now I can start kicking heinie on my remaining DEBT!!!!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Since I created the below chart 14 months ago, I have put approximately $20K toward debt or our wedding or other savings goals. Amazing. That’s why I love tracking stuff so much ;) After this one is done we plan to make one for our mortgage . . .