Ups (and downs) in our debt reduction

**Hoosier Momma** · 04-13-2008, 10:52 PM

Well, we sat down this evening and paid off:

*Sam's
*Wal-Mart (and cut up the last plastic we owned)
*GE Money Bank (in over 6 years with this account, we only paid off $600 of $3600, so you can imagine how good this one felt to get rid of)
*All medical bills related to Michael's birth
*Amazon credit account (our smallest debt, but still nice to get rid of)
*Our minivan (the last car payment we'll EVER make!)
*$700 that dh's parents fronted us several months ago

That took our monthly payments on debt from over $560/month to $92/month. All we have left is our two student loans (hence the $92/mo) and our mortgage.

We still have over $4500 coming in--my life insurance cashout and the stimulus rebate--plus another small refund from Indiana ($185). We were going to pay down dh's student loan as much as possible with that and then attack mine because his balance is much larger and has a higher interest rate.

HOWEVER--we are changing our plans for different reasons:

*We had a bunch of hail damage from the storm this past Wednesday. Two windows are going to have to be replaced and our 6 month old roof is damaged pretty badly (dh went up yesterday and noticed it). The gutters are damaged too. :surprise: Fortunately our cars were under the carport and were untouched by the storm. So it's a call to our insurance agent in the morning.

*Our home is badly insulated. We need to blow in a good amount into the attic (dh estimates a cost of $350). That would pay off in lower utilities.

*We are still trying to determine the different things we need to budget for, especially with two children in private school; so we are trying to shake down the numbers and see where we stand.

So, we are going to see how things play out before we hit those student loans too hard. We are going to the bank tomorrow to open our EF (which will be fully funded at $1000 with $ from tax refunds--then we will be putting more in every payday).

We made enough from the yard sale this weekend to pay for ds #2's high chair, five pairs of new shoes for the kids (2 each for the girls and one for ds#1), a fireproof safe for our important papers, and some summer sleepwear for ds #2. All the leftover stuff is going to the crisis pregnancy center and to an organization that our dc's school does volunteer work with quite often.

The good news: lots of debt gone!!!!!!!!

The bad news: going to have those student loans around a little longer than anticipated--but we'll get there!

**StartingOver** · 04-13-2008, 11:06 PM

Congratulations on paying off those loans, it's gotta feel good.

Keep plugging away at those student loans and one day you will be posting that "they are finally gone."

**Marie78** · 04-13-2008, 11:09 PM

That's an amazing amount of debt that's paid off. Good for you

. I just paid my student loan and car loan off this last fall and it felt really good. It will feel even better to pay off the rest of the CC debt this next year

. Good luck with your home improvements and congratulations on your debt reduction!

**Holly** · 04-14-2008, 06:51 AM

Congradulations.
Sorry about your roof and windows but seems so that would be covered by insurance. Fully insulated may help your insurance rate also go down.
By April of next year we will really be seeing th elight at the end of the tunnel
(knock on wood )
I am so happy for you.

**TheRootedNomad** · 04-14-2008, 06:55 AM

WHOO HOO!!!!

It's gotta feel great to get that much paid off in one fell swoop!

**PrairieRose** · 04-14-2008, 08:23 AM

Way to GO!

Have you considered snowballing those student loans with payments you were already making? You'd knock em out in no time doing that. That's how we paid off most of our debt. It's a lot of fun watching the balances go down so quickly too.

**happimommi** · 04-14-2008, 08:26 AM

It must feel so good to get rid of all the debt. Way to go!

**kcsmom76** · 04-14-2008, 08:31 AM

Way to go!! :cheer2

**Loganberry** · 04-14-2008, 08:39 AM

That's awesome, way to go!!!!

**MirandaK** · 04-14-2008, 08:39 AM

Nice work!!

**FrugalMomof3** · 04-14-2008, 08:49 AM

I personally feel that getting anything paid off is a great feeling of relief, as much as you can get paid off the better. Congrats on such a great plan!