Almost There!

Although we currently owe a combined total of $16,950 on our credit cards, we're almost to a big milestone! By the end of this month, I will have paid off all of my credit card debt, leaving only Hubby's debt left!

My current credit card debt is $2858, while Hubby's is $14,092.

Of mine, $482 is for work-related expenses that I will be getting reimbursed for. I've already paid my regular bills this month (student loans, car loan, etc.), so I can use everything that's left in my bank account to pay towards this debt... and I can pay it off completely!!!

Updated Progress Bars

I updated all of our debts today, including the progress bars on the right side of the page.

Car Loans: $10,725

Credit Cards: $17,671

Student Loans: $49,575

Mortgage: $164,077

That means we paid off $2053 in debt principal (including $171 on the mortgage) during the month of April... which doesn't seem too bad.

It's hard to imagine having that much extra money in our bank account each month, if we didn't have to make nearly $800 in car payments, $300+ in student loan payments, etc.

Status Report, as of 4/30

We made a small dent in credit cards this month:

His: $13,634

Hers: $3,899

TOTAL: $17,533

We're waiting on a few refund checks to come - our state income taxes (just over $400), and a refund of overpayment to our mortgage escrow account ($1375). Those will be put straight towards credit cards, and we don't have any major expenses this month - so by early June, we will probably be able to knock out my credit card completely, and have Hubby's paid down to around $12,500!

I went on Kelly Blue Book this week to find out how much our cars are worth. One is worth about $6k, the other is around $9k. We currently owe $3k & $8k - so we actually have a tiny bit of equity in each car! We have absolutely no plans to sell either car anytime soon, but it's nice to know that we could get rid of either one and still come out ahead.

Debt Status, as of 12/20/09

STUDENT LOANS ($49,742):

#1 - $ 0

#2 - $ 995

#3 - $ 24,160

#4 - $ 24,587

AUTO LOANS ($14,003):

#1 - $ 4,334

#2 - $ 9,669

CREDIT CARDS ($20,270):

#1 - $ 0 (I pay this card in full each month)

#2 - $ 755 (Planning to pay $150 at end of month)

#2b - $1021

#3 - $ 5,000 (Planning to pay $2500 at end of month)

#4 - $ 13,494

Debt Status, as of 10/23/09

STUDENT LOANS ($50,048):  

#1 -  $ 0 

#2 - $ 1106

#3 -  $ 24,355

#4 - $ 24,587

AUTO LOANS ($15,464): 

#1 - $ 5,195

#2 -  $ 10,269

 

CREDIT CARDS ($21,733): 

#1 -  $ 47 (I pay this card in full each month)

#2 -  $ 870

#3 -  $ 6,000

#4 -  $ 14,816

Baby Step #2

I don't adhere to the Dave Ramsey plan, as I've mentioned before. I'm too much of a numbers girl, and the thought of paying off smaller debts without taking into consideration interest rates just bothers me too much. For many of the credit card debts, the lowest balances were the highest interest rates (due to several sizable balance transfers with low fixed rate offers). I understand his rationale, that it's more a psychological thing, and that if you're paying off debt quickly the difference in interest is nominal... but if you have a lot of debt, even a nominal difference in interest can make a big difference. 

So far I've really only focused on paying off credit card debt. In July 2008, we hit our highest outstanding balance - a total of $48,749.15.   Today, a little over a year later, we're down to owing $22,926.12.

But Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps program calls for paying off more than just credit cards. He recommends in Baby Step #2, which comes after building a small $1000 emergency fund, listing and paying off debts smallest to largest (except for the mortgage). While I'm not following this plan, I'd ultimately like to get to the same end point and be debt-free. Here's what we would have to pay to get there: 

1. Student Loan #1: $   1,101
2. Student Loan #2: $  1,328
3. Car Loan #1:  $  6,054
   
4. Credit Card #1: $  6,500
5. Car Loan #2:  $10,852
   
6. Credit Card #2:   $16,288
7. Student Loan #4: $24,548
8. Student Loan #3: $24,587
   
9. 2nd Mortgage:  $26,428  (DR says to include it if it's less than 1/2 your annual income)

TOTAL, not counting 1st Mortgage:  $117,686

That's a big number, and makes the amount we've paid off so far seem so measly. I guess, to be fair, we've also paid off quite a bit on each of those other items that isn't included in the total (on the two vehicles we're paying off about $8500/yr in principal, and we're paying about $3000/year in principal on the student loans). 

July Recap

July was a good month overall, because we had so much extra income coming in, but we also fell way short of our goals. 

I had hoped to finish out the month with $8000 in savings ($2000 for tuition, and $1000 for the upcoming home repair). The actual amount is only $7,615.75. 

We owe about $400 more on the credit cards than I'd planned on, pretty much all from the last-minute vacation. I had projected that the outstanding balance would be $25,600 and the actual amount is $26,028.49. 

Mid-Month Budget Status: $850 short

I had projected that we would pay down the credit cards down by about $6200, and beef up the savings to $8000 (adding roughly $3000 to cover upcoming short-term expenses, while keeping the rest for an emergency fund). 

According to my current projects, the actual debt repaid during the month of July will be $5575, over $600 less than originally expected. I also won't be able to reach my goal of $3000 extra in savings, it'll end up being closer to $2750. 

With the extra paycheck and self-employment money, July is still a great month financially, and we'll make a huge dent. It's just frustrating that, only two weeks into the month, we're already $850 short of where I thought we would be. And I can't account for it all...!  

Auto expenses, $60. 

Textbooks, $80. 

Medical copays, $60.

Entertainment (4th of July), $75. 

Lunches at work, $40. 

Home Repairs, $65

TOTAL, $380. 

Since I never wrote down the July budget, because it was such a crazy month, I can't figure out how I set the debt/savings goals in the first place. I'm guessing that I perhaps overestimated the income coming in (we've been working fewer hours than anticipated, which means no overtime pay), and didn't include the items listed above. 

Debt Tracking

I've been actively tracking progress on our credit card debt for over two years, since February 2007. At that time, we had $41,755 in personal credit card debt, plus an additional $4738 in business debt (that business has since "failed", and we have assumed that debt).

Two years and three months later, the total credit card debt is down to $33,203. In over two years of this, we've only paid off about $13k! But I guess, to be fair, we've also charged a LOT during that same time frame (as evidenced by several distinct spikes in the chart!).

• The first spike was when we assumed the bad business debt, in January 2008.
• The big spike, in July 2008, was when we spent roughly $7000 for some electronics.
• There are a few smaller spikes, for the purchase of new computers and for a couple of vacations.

During the first seven months of tracking, the total debt didn't really change - despite making monthly minimum payments of nearly $1000/mo! We were paying off only about $200/mo in principal, a rate that would have taken us almost 20 years to pay the credit cards off.

Debt Status, as of 6/10/09

As of today, here's where we stand:

$33,200.    - credit card balance (APRs ranging from 5.7 - 19.99%)

$51,940.     - student loans (APRs ranging from 3.125 - 5%)

$11,425.      - auto loan (APR at 5.94%)

$ 7,340.      - auto loan (APR at 2.99%)

$165,760.   - mortgage 

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$269,665.   - TOTAL debt