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The 12/12/12 project!

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58K views 809 replies 76 participants last post by  Ponderer 
#1 ·
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery...

so The 12/12/12 project is officially up and running!!!

As of now my goal is to have all of my consumer credit and debt paid off by 12/12/12.

For me this translates into paying off what currently stands at $13,401.85 of debt, from 2 credit cards and 2 loans.

I am hoping for some company along the way so to one and all (whatever your goal may be)....jump on in and let's do this together!!!!

:welcome:
 
#58 ·
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

I am cooking a ham dinner today and my son and I are putting up Christmas lights.

Tomorrow I will head out in the morning to get cheap wreaths and believe it or not...kielbasa sausage from Safeway. LOL I was in the meat dept. the other day and they had 3 packs of the 1 pound links for $14.99 which I would never pay but the guy behind the meat counter told me they were going to be one of the $5.00 Friday items. Now that is a good deal and I will buy at least 3 packs. They can go in the freezer and I also have 2 butterball turkeys at about 15 pounds each that I got on a screaming deal.

Truth be told....tomorrow is my big bill paying day and that is what I am looking forward to the most. I know that sounds crazy, but I am so looking forward to my first filling in of the debt thermometer. :)
 
#59 ·
I want to join in. I've had a couple of really horrible years finance wise. While I'm still in a pickle, I think I can see a small light.
I'm not going to count anything but my credit card. I have two. Bank of America was billing me to death so I transferred everything to my new Citi Simplicity card. No interest until 2013. I do have to put Christmas on this card, so I will spend what I have to before the end of the year and then concentrate on paying it off.
My payments are more dribbles compared to a lot of you as my income is ~18000 a year gross living alone in a house with a mortgage and a car loan. With utilities, I'm living paycheck to paycheck. But I do think with creativity and discipline in spending, I will pay it off by 12/12/12 (sooner I hope).
I have issues with impulse buying (thinking I have to have things now) and the convenience of the work cafeteria (it's a shame the money I throw away there). I've openly boycotted the cafeteria last week. I have a new planner that is 2 page a day so I figure I have plenty of room to track daily expenses. I may make an Excel file too (I luv Excel!)
I have never had an EF so when the CC is paid off, I want to keep on with the EF.
 
#60 ·
Hello to one and all!

Jacqueline...welcome, it is nice to have you here!

I paid bills today and my total for November was $1,540.35, which was comprised of $990.35 of minimum payments and $550.00 of extra snowflakes added to my snowball. I am happy with this months accomplishment.

I am looking forward to next month. I am going to be able to throw at least an extra $2000 at debt, and that is a conservative estimate.

I had the beginnings of a cold Tuesday night and since late Wednesday night I have been really sick with a stuffed up head, deep chest cough and at times a touch of a sore throat. I am just taking it easy on this long weekend. I wish I felt better because I really wanted to do more decorating and cooking with 4 days off....but at least I do not have to miss work and fall behind at the office. Just trying to see the silver lining I guess.

I hope you are all enjoying time with friends and/or family or doing some things that make you happy. :)
 
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#61 ·
I had the beginnings of a cold Tuesday night and since late Wednesday night I have been really sick with a stuffed up head, deep chest cough and at times a touch of a sore throat.
thanks for the welcome. me too! i woke up with a sore throat yesterday morning so i'm being a couch potato eating vitamin c, watching lifetime movie network :)
i'm glad i have the weekend to recuperate :ache:
if i make it to the end of the year i will have perfect attendance at work.
i hope you feel better soon ponderer :hugz:
 
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#62 ·
Jacqueline, I hate to be the one to say it, but you are going to charge Christmas?? Have you read Dave Ramsey's book, The Total Money Makeover?
 
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#63 ·
fortunately i don't have many people to buy for and everyone knows my financial state. i plan to pay Christmas off with my income tax return. i know it doesn't sound very smart but with my situation, it's something i feel is necessary. also a recurring bill i have is going to be reduced next year.
i appreciate you pointing it out:hugz: - but i did think about it a lot before deciding to do this.
 
#64 ·
I am in - I was in 11/11/11, but because of some priority changes, some of the debt got moved around.

Since there is only $1628 keeping us from being totally debt-free, I am going to include the 3 month EF, since it would KEEP us debt free

$6128 in total :ack::fight: :lolpoint::furious:

 
#126 ·
$6128 in total :ack::fight: :lolpoint::furious:
okay... I have less than a year to get this done :fence:

$1408.47 paid
$4719.53 to go!
 
#65 ·
Wow! Lady V you are almost there! I can't wait until we get there.

Have paid all the minimums for this month and ut everything extra away for the furnace, we have $1000 put away so far.

I have been focusing on using up what we have here instead of going out and picking something up. So far all I have needed to buy from the grocery budget has been fresh fruit, milk, eggs and cat food.
 
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#66 ·
Without boring you with too many details it looks as if I will have met my quota for 4th quarter on 12/1 so I will most likely be getting my $2000 commission check ($1500 after taxes) on my 12/10 payday. This means I will be able to pay off my BofA Visa and move on to the next item on my list. The Visa card balance is under $1300 so I am really looking forward to getting this one off of the list and then putting on my big girl panties and calling and canceling the card all together.

I will basically have an additional $200 left to put towards the next item on the list along with my snowball of $540. Wow...this is going really really well for me so far!!

I also have a sneaking suspicion that my boss is going to throw another commission check at me before the end of the year because my goal was 80 and so far I have 103....he is very very happy with me right now. :)
 
#67 ·
Transferred the money to cover the rest of a smaller student loan today.

So now we are down to just two debts total and will start snowballing the next as soon as we receive our final checks for November. Super excited!
 
#68 ·
I'm in! :)

I've been away for a while now but I'm back and ready to get busy! We have our very last FPU class tonight, I've learned a lot and fingers crossed we can make what we learned work for us so we can meet the goal for 12/12/12!
We are selling our RV, hoping to get enough to pay it completely off. We are also going to sell one of the cars, both are paid for and in good shape. Dh gets to use a company vehicle so we will put enough away to pick up an "around town" kind of car if our situation changes.
With tax return and a small bonus in the Spring we should have about 10K in consumer debt to pay off.

Good Luck to us all!! :)
 
#69 ·
Trying to stay strong and not get guilted into buying more Christmas gifts for my kids and others on our gift lists!! I gave the Mister the budgeted amount of ca$h for his Dad and his brother's exchange gift. Also gave him $xx for our DS19. Hope it makes him more likely to stay within the budget!

Am looking forward to December 15 - the middle of the month is when I can calculate the full snowball amount and make extra payments. I'm so excited to knock this all out.... have never in my life felt so motivated or on track with a budget. Sad but true.
 
#70 ·
Haven't checked in for a while. I need to visit here often, love the motivation and encouragement. I have made a list of meals to cover most of this month. Have a small snag to my goal. DH put 277 on a 6 months same a cash card for the girls Christmas. He had almost enough cash to pay for it but instead of going back he put it on the card. The good news is I will set aside the amount of cash he had for that planned purchase and will just have to add some to it. It WILL be paid off when the first statement comes in. There was a zero balance on that card and that is the way I want it to stay! I plugged #'s into a debt calculator and even with this added, I hope, hope hope I can meet my goal for 12/12/12!!! I just need to check in here more often! You don't realize how much you all keep me motivated! Thanks!!
 
#71 ·
Hi 12/12/12'ers!!! You can feel the energy and determination when you read through the posts and it really is just so great to see!!! Well done everyone!!! Am really looking forward to following everyone's progress in 2012.

Have made my second last debt payment and should be joining you here soon to start building the emergency fund, can't wait!
 
#72 ·
Paid the condo fees for my parents' Florida place today =$400. After we're debt-free, we're taking the kids to Disney in late April. Parents had to cover the annual maintenance fees and just ask us to reimburse, we have 5 lifetime DW passes each with 3 days left on them already paid-for, so all we'll need to do yet is get the travel figured out (airfare and a rental car) plus plan a budget for food and anything else outside of Disney we plan to do like Seaworld, etc. So excited to be debt-free and able to plan a fairly frugal vacation next year!!
 
#73 ·
Well, I just wrote out a check for $1778 for the heloc/car and another $150 for the cruise...

I'm getting there... slowly... but I'm on my way!
 
#75 ·
I can hardly wait for payday next Friday since I will be able to pay off my Visa. It currently sits at $1,285.49 so this is kind of a big deal for me.

What is the best way to cancel a card? Should I do it over the phone? I need to make sure they get this right as January is the renewal month where I would be charged the annual fee.
 
#76 ·
Not sure the process where you are ponderer. In Australia we just rang up and cancelled it although they gave us the third degree as to why we were wanting to do so!
 
#77 ·
Okay I am in, I have $10,297.00 that is car and credit card that should be paid off in 18 months. But let see how I do this year.

Now once these are paid off I am not debt free but it will free up money to put on my student loan, which there is no way i can pay off in a year...Yet!!!
 
#78 ·
Welcome Steph! That is the beauty of the 12/12/12 project...it can be anything you need it to be. I look forward to hearing about your success and will hope to encourage you along the way!

Happy Saturday to all. I am heading to the grocery store in a bit as I like to go when it is not busy. I will be doing some cleaning, cooking and decorating today. Just going to take it easy and whatever gets done....gets done. :)
 
#80 ·
Ohmigosh! So excited! My Mister just told me he has a $1000 commission check for deposit (they are something I do not count on, sometimes few and far between) - am going to run and deposit today so I can payoff the student loan and recalculate Friday's snowball!!! I have been thinking a lot about how God continues to bless us - as one door closes it always seems another one opens and I keep praying to Him that we are able to provide everything the family needs and still get this debt dissolved. And He continues to provide; we are very blessed.
 
#81 ·
Yahoo!!!!! That is fabulous....thank you for sharing your excitement and giving me a huge smile!!! :hurray:
 
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#82 ·
We've been debt free for several years. I want to share one comment. If you wish to live without going into debt, you need your emergency fund before you begin paying down debt. Otherwise, when you run into a problem you'll be using credit again. I tell my clients (especially single earner households) to use your tax refunds to fund your EF. That is often the only extra income they ever have so is their only opportunity to fund an EF.

Often clients will tell me that their credit card is kept for emergencies. Well, debt is debt whether its for an emergency or not. A credit card ='s debt. An EF is borrowing from yourself to avoid debt.

Another issue is gifts. They can literally ruin your budget. I remember a year when we had a dozen weddings in the family. It was a major problem buying a gift for each, but we did it. Now I know better. If your budget will not stretch to gifts, don't give them. Send a card with best wishes and let it go at that. The same for Christmas. We set a budget and that's all we spend. I try to pick up sale items throughout the year which helps me stick to my limit. It is not fun to still be paying for Christmas so you can't afford a vacation in the summer.
 
#83 ·
Well since this is the Dave Ramsey forum, the baby steps are being followed and our BEF is in place as well as a budget that includes gift-giving - in my case, we're using modified DR baby steps because I am not strictly following smallest-to-largest debt recommendation. We do not have a credit card for emergencies. Of course I can't speak for others.... but check my signature, I can just offer that it is working for our household. And, with that, the FFEF is next on the list for the 12/12/12 project :santasm2:
 
#85 ·
The check was $1075 and I decided to apply it entirely to the van loan since my payday's snowball will take care of the student loan. Also paid $50 toward the roofing materials. Glad I could make you smile, Ponderer! I am excited for our upcoming paydays. Can't wait to see your balance plunge, too!
 
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