It's time to get serious about that debt. For anyone who knows me they know that I'm mad about debt. I want others to have the freedom to do they things they've dreamt of doing, to have the freedom to do live without worrying about how they are going to make their next payment.
So everyone, I want you to get serious this year. I'm going to be cheering you on, giving encouragement and pushing you to work harder and harder. It can be done, we are living proof of it. It took us 6 long, hard and sacrificial years, however we are debt free.
So, who is serious about getting rid of debt?
How much would you like to get rid of debt?
Are you willing to make sacrifices to see that debt gone?
I just have some medical debt that I need to finish paying off. My goal is to use my paycheck and any overtime my dh may have for three things. They would be savings, my dd's college expense account, and snowball account. I am trying to cut back on groceries expenses, cutting utilities and such to save even more. I want to get to the point where I am paying bills as soon as they come in the door and not wait for the due dates....mine aren't late now, but they aren't early either. So, I would like to join this challenge to help me get this medical stuff done and to help me stay focused.
I concentrating on lowering our debt this year too. I'm going into full-on frugal mode to make sure it happens too. DH's job is iffy right now, but I know we can get some of it completely paid off no matter what happens, and if things go well on the job front and I remain steadfast in keeping my eye on the outgoing money, it is possible we could be debt free other than the mortgage by the end of the year!!! So, I'm all in!
I am game for this! We've had a few small debts and gotten them paid off, and only have one big debt left, about 14k in student loans. The interest rates aren't bad, and we're already making about 30% additional payment each month. Having just gotten married and still learning what our actual costs look like (as opposed to our supposed costs when first writing the budget, before the wedding), things will definitely be pushed around in January, and now that the holidays are over, things will hopefully begin to proceed as "normal."
We just began repayment on the student loans in October, and Sallie Mae is ignoring our extra payments. We don't have a payment due until March! :csign: We'll be keeping that 2-month buffer in case anything ever happens, but in the mean time, we're trying to figure out how to put more of the budget toward the debt each month. Our current projected finish date is sometime in the summer of 2016 :sigh: This date isn't that bad, it is 2 years short of Sallie Mae's plan. But I'd love to do it quicker. 14k doesn't seem like that much.
Anyway, I hereby join this challenge! As things get ironed out with the budget, every extra buck will be applied, and we'll see how much beyond the minimum payment we can go.
$13,637.45 outstanding principal
Minimum payment: $158.73/mo
Current payment: $200/mo
We're taking FPU beginning in January, and I could not be more excited! Here's to massive debt reduction in 2009!
I'm with ya baby! My siggy shows the debt I will be working on this year. Besides this debt I do have a student loan debt as well as a mortgage but those are easily managed, so I want my energy to be focused on: Getting rid of the cc debt
(3,600), at least half of the van, a good chunk of the truck, and $10,000 in my EF (I am not counting the savings I do for the kids that is automatic). I am rebuilding my food storage and I'm going to be taking a class on how to do that for $5 a week. I will also be continuing on the great house selling venture and I want to do all of the projects around here WITHOUT the cc so I have written out a plan for that. So get your pom-poms out I'm gonna need 'em!
I'm in. What I really want us to pay off is our mortgage. We don't actually have other debt. All our vehicles are paid for. We do use our CCs but we pay them in full each month. Of course we do have our regular monthly bills. But, I would like to pay extra on our mortgage and get it down.
We are adding to our debt...well not really. We are adding to what we are going to payoff. We have been paying our dd's car payment (since we insisted on a new car due to her being so far from home). My dh asked last night if we could pay it off this year, and honestly with a little more work it could be done. So instead of our extra money being split three ways (savings, dd's college fund and medical payoff) we are splitting it into four groups which will equal an extra car payment a month. We also talked about adding any bonuses and such to the car payoff. I can't wait to see how this works out.
Over the next 52 weeks, I'll be giving little extra challenges so that you'll be putting even more towards your debt. I'll add them to this thread so that they don't get lost. Watch for them starting January 1st and then each Monday for the next year.
This is one of the main reasons I found FV..reducing my debt. We are floating along but barely. I have several cc and other bills but the ones that I have listed is what I want to focus for the time. I figure baby steps lead to bigger and better payments. Later I will focus on the other credit cards, the house and the other loans..one step at a time.
I have several Dr/hospital bills listed. Both of my children had to have emergency surgery 6 months apart..one in Sept and the other in Feb, needless to say we now owe.
I did put my daughters hospital bill that I just paid off in the list. It feels so good and I want to keep focused that I can pay off bills if I just put my mind to it!!
I'm so in! Our MasterCard got horribly out of hand in the last 3 months. When we get back from our trip I'll post the totals and goals. As of 1/1 it will not be used until payed off.
So, who is serious about getting rid of debt? Dh and I are serious about being done with our debt in 2009. 2009 is going to be our year for non-mortgage debt payoff, and saving for things we have been neglecting and needing for the last five years of non-mortgage debt payoff.
How much would you like to get rid of debt? We want to get rid of $4,609.78 in debt. We have been working on this for going on 5 years.
Are you willing to make sacrifices to see that debt gone? Dh and I are willing to make sacrifices to pay it off and save money for a new roof $3000.00, a new computer $1000.00, a trip to Disney $4000.00, and have $3,000.00 extra in savings by the end of the year. I have been working on our budget for the whole year for 2009 the last couple of days. I am going to make up charts to show our progress so we can stay motivated.
I am also going to have to really watch how much I spend at the grocery store and not go out to eat much. Making a menu and making a grocery list from that will really help.
I've been doing the frugal thing since May, and with the year coming to a close next week, I decided to devise a great plan to kill debt in 2009!
I did a lot of thinking about frugality and happiness over the last seven days. It was about all I could do without my computer with me to work on my book or otherwise be distracted by other things. I wanted 2009 to be the year that we killed off debt, but at the same time, felt like we were living above our means. I thought of doing strictly tight frugality with debt repayments, but then I thought about how happy we would be with that. I don't want to feel "poor" all the time while paying off the debt, and I certainly don't want to put us in a spot to be dipping into overdraft. So this is what I came up with:
Goal #1: Pay off all smaller debts immediately.
We have one debt that has less than $800 on it (that being the MDG debt). I want to kill that off as fast as I can with any extra cash. We get two forms of extra cash in January alone that tallies about $550. We were going to put the extra cash into the emergency fund, however I'd rather get rid of that smaller debt first. It's been a debt to us for the last five years and that's just way too long in my book.
Goal #2: Replenish the emergency fund.
I haven't looked at the checking account since before Christmas (partly because DH told me not to look because he bought Christmas gifts out of the checking account) but before we left, we took all of our emergency fund and put it into the checking account to pay for Christmas this year. We had decided that we'd replenish the EF afterwards, so that's my next goal. However this time is different: we're going to put just the emergency fund into DH's savings account. My savings account will be used for Goal #3...
Goal #3: Fill my savings account with slush fund cash.
I will be contributing $100 per month into the slush fund. I receive income in my checking account twice per month (my pension and the kids' tax credits) and we'll be losing $100 per month as of July 1st due to a tax credit stipulation. Nevertheless, I'd like to put $100 per month into my savings account and not touch it.
Goal #4: Snowball $200 per month into the debt repayment plan.
I had wanted to put every single extra cent into the debt repayment plan but then again, I also wanted to be comfortable with what I was doing. I didn't want to stretch us too thin. Therefore, the $200 is good because it gives us the flexibility to pay off debts via interest-first. Once we pay off the smallest debt, we'll have $253 to pay off the other debts. If we can crack into the Mastercard bill by the end of the year, I'd be happy. As it stands right now, we have about $2100 to pay through before we hit the Mastercard. The Mastercard is at about $4100 now, which will be further reduced thanks to some reimbursements for two pairs of eyeglasses and a reimbursement through DH's boss for a KVM switch he got (it's considered a work-related expense).
Goal #5: Keep decreasing regular bills and put that to use with the stockpile.
I need to replenish the stockpile this year and now that I got a water-bath canner, I may end up using that extra cash to purchase jars and lids and other items. I'd like to have a full winter stockpile for Fall 2009, so that's part of my plan. I also got some items to help us not eat out this coming year, and all of that extra cash will be helpful. If I can get a three month stockpile by Fall 2009, then we can more easily fund Christmas 2009.
I'm hoping that this coming year proves that we can keep smacking down debt and get rid of a big chunk before the end of the year.
I have no mortgage, but I do have 1 credit card, my car and my student loans (I think thats all...I WAS going to get this all together on my Christmas vacation but with the furnace blowing and the basement flooding, I'm working on another project). Take care and God bless.
I'm in as well. I'll have one credit card paid off in February! Then I just need to work on the last one, it's a biggie though about $15,000. It's at a very low interest rate and I'm sending in extra money now, I can see the balance go down, I like that feeling, I want to keep it up.
The biggest thing affecting my budget is my RV. It's in storage right now, but when I get it out in April, I'm going to list it for sale. I'm upside down on it, but once it's sold I won't have the insurance and upkeep and such on it. The payment for this is KILLING my budget. It leaves me no wiggle room. I really love my RV, but it needs to be gone ASAP.
I'm in too. I need to get my rear in gear. My goals are in my signature.
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