Monday, February 18, 2013

Look at those numbers!

I have been trying to update my side bar every two weeks.  Since that is the cycle that I pay the bills, it makes sense.  Way back when I started this blog, I used to update them daily!  I got frustrated with that, and over time, the bi-weekly system started.

This update is actually 3 weeks in the making.  I had a bunch of stuff that was going to be paid, so I wanted to showcase it all.

Let's take a quick tour:

Retirement Loan - We pay $380.xx every two weeks, which is automatically taken from G-man's paycheck.  This loan is the epitome of "set it and forget it."  If we never looked at it again, it would just do its thing.  One more payment, and we are out of the $30,000's.  This loan originated April 2012, and unless we speed up the process (which we will), it will be paid off in April/May 2017.  We are shooting for December 2016 though.

Student Loan - We pay $229/month.  This loan is mostly my graduate school loans, which included one semester of living expenses when I student taught.  I would love to speed this one up, but for now it is what it is.  Doing nothing at all, it will be paid off in 2024....ugh.  That is not acceptable.  I PROMISE...this loan won't be around that long.

Car - We are under $10,000!  Isn't it purty???  This is a 5 year loan, and it too is autodebit from the credit union account.  At the current rate, it will be paid off December 2016.  (anyone guessing the master plan yet????)

CC - This one just makes me sad.  For the most part, this one is going to hover.  Yes, we pay interest, and I am debating on doing a balance transfer. 

Dentist - This one just will bounce a bit.  G-man had a cleaning, and we paid that when we got the FSA money.  This is just the remainder of my root canal and crown from last summer.

Bossy's Supplies - WEEEEEEE!!!!  We applied for a hardship waiver (the company took ours away when they outsourced billing, and things have changed again).  While we don't qualify for a full waiver, they are discounting everything 60%....including the balance...which is why this one went down almost $1700!!!!  We are using way less supplies as Bossy is on the path to getting his "tubey" out, so this will all help.  We will continue to pay $50 a month, but now that the monthly bill will be closer to $90....we are only going in the hole $40 a month, instead of $200.

Other medical - This is the balance left from my surgery last summer.  Almost done, and then over $100 a month will be able to go elsewhere.  In the interest of honesty....we have about $300 in bills that we just got from the kids' dentist and eye doctor.  But those will be paid for out of our tax refund, so I am not counting them right now.

In total, the decrease in debt since the last update is $2,914.87!!  That is 3.8% in 3 weeks!  I did some quick calculations, and we should be down $10,000 total in May, which is when we did the big reset after we got the retirement loan.  Granted, if we didn't run up the CC, or have the dental emergency...we would be much better off.  But we are at least making progress for the first time in a few years!

And further down the side bar....

G-man's OT - Still shooting for 100 hrs for the year.  Last year we got to 101, although a billing error paid the last 14 hrs in January 2013.  But it should have been on the last paycheck of Dec 2012.  This one is up to overtime availability.  No control over this one.

EF - We withdrew $600 last year ($300 to fix the washer, $300 as part of the disaster trip to Mom and Dad's).  We are about $200 away from paying all that back, and continuing on to the larger goal of $2000.

*happy dancing*  My prediction is that by the end of the calendar year, we will be back to our all time low debt total since I started the blog.  It is about freakin' time!!!



20 comments:

  1. Well done on getting your debt down. Fair play to you!

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    1. Thanks! And welcome to my corner of the internet. :)

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  2. Woo hoo! Those numbers sound great all around. Glad to hear that waiver for Bossy worked out, even if it's for 60% (beats 0%!). That's fantastic they're applying it to existing balance too. Also, congrats on getting the car under $10k! It's all downhill for that loan from now on.

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    1. I will take 60% over nothing.

      The car still has a ways to go...and once my car loan is gone, it will be time for G-man to get a new car (his is an '04, so by then it will be 13 yrs old!) But we will be in a much different place by then. :)

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    1. Thanks! Not quite the feat you did...but I am trying.

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  4. Very Nice!! Congrats! Question on the retirement loan, does that mean all your hubby puts on the ret / 401K? goes to the loan balance? or can you set aside part of it to continue retirement savings? Or if he gets a match does that go to retirement savings? I doubt the match goes to pay off the loan but that would be nice...

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    1. Right now we are not contributing to his retirement. This goes back to the financial planner mess...

      Anyway, if we were, it has nothing to do with the loan. The loan amount would continue to come out, as would any retirement contribution. They both would go to the same "pot" but they are independent from one another.

      Match...I think it is 5%. Again, nothing to do with the loan.

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  5. You're doing a great job with those debts. I knew the 401K loan would be a good idea. It's your money! You didn't really take a loan; you just accessed money in one of your accounts, and you're replacing it over time. And it has a nice, high balance, (if I remember correctly), so that was a good use of that money.

    The car loan is looking good; I bet you can do a balance transfer for the credit card and find 0% if the interest is high enough to bother you.

    Nice going!

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    1. Thanks! I know you were one of the only ones who thought the loan was a good idea. :) Right now, even with the loan....we have about 75k in the account.

      I am debating on the balance transfer. The card we have a balance offer on has a higher interest rate than the one that has the current balance. So once the 0% runs out, we would have to transfer again. Once you add in all the transfer fees, not sure we would really save anything.

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    2. That's true; I forgot about the fee. I have used BTs with a fee if the fee is low enough to make it worthwhile. But most often I've gotten BTs with no fee (those are not everywhere, though, but sweet when you find them.)

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    3. I haven't seen a BT with no fee in a very long time. *sigh*

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  6. Nice work! Always so exciting to see progress. Congrats & keep up the good work!

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  7. Too bad balance transfers aren't what they used to be. The best one I ever had was 1.9% interest until the balance was paid off. The sad part though it just make it easy for me to justify taking longer to paying it off. Maybe it is better for you not to transfer the balance to "force" you to pay it off soon.. If you have the money available for that.

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    1. I would love a BT that has a set low rate for the life of the balance. I would do that in a heart beat.

      I pay over the minimum each month, but the interest just takes away the "extra." If I was able to do a 0%, and still paid what I am paying now, at least it would all be principal.

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  8. Keep at it!! You got this grrrrrl

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    1. I needed this boost. I am so sick of this.....

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  9. I am so happy for you. I feel your pain as I went backwards last year. Much of it was not my fault but the aftermath of feeling sorry for myself caused a huge CC bill. I am so weak.

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    1. Woman, you KNOW I have gone backward. Back to start...and behind the starting line. So now I am finally getting to go to the next square on the CandyLand board. Gumdrop Mountain, here I come!

      And you are NOT weak. You are strong. You need to believe.

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