Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Milestones


Paying off debt stinks.  Heck, this whole thing is taking WAY longer than I thought due to a number of issues and missteps along the way.  I would have to go back to the early days of the blog, but if I remember correctly....2013 was going to be the pay off year.  Now it is 2017 (but shooting for December 2016!).  Basically, that is TWICE as long as I originally thought.  That is sad.

So to keep things in perspective, I like to look at the little pieces and remember that there IS progress.  I love hitting little milestones.  A certain percentage.....a certain number, whether it is in dollars or months......a certain date.  They help me feel like we are making progress.  The big number is going down, but since it isn't dropping by thousands and thousands at a time, it is easy to feel discouraged.

Here are some little milestones that I will be looking forward to, and their anticipated (I may be off a little, and some of this won't be reported until the 1st of the month after it happens) date of celebration:

June 2014
  • The medical/dental bill will be ZERO.  We have owed SOMETHING to SOMEONE in this area forever and a day.
  • $20,000 of retirement loan paid (equates to 52%)

August 2014
  • FIVE years of blogging!!
  • Total Debt Below $60,000 (this will be the first time in the history of this blog that this number will be in the 50's!)

October 2014

  • 25% of THIS Student loan is paid off (This loan was a consolidation of some smaller loans and I have already paid off 2 larger loans equaling almost 25K with interest)
  • One year that since we bought G-man's car (and we *should* be about 55% paid off)

November 2014

  •  Mysti's car is 50% paid off 

I will continue to be excited each time a number rolls back another thousand (which is starting to happen more frequently!!!).  I will continue to work on the big picture, and try not to beat myself (too much!) for the mis-steps.  I don't know what is around the corner (even though I am the one crouched with a mirror, trying to look ahead!), so I can only deal with what I have infront of me.

The credit card...once G-man's car is paid off, that is the next debt on the list.  There is a *small* chance that it could be paid off by the end of the year....but that requires so many things to fall into place that it is unlikely.  It will probably be closer to late winter 2015.  So in the meantime, we will continue to fight the battle......



8 comments:

  1. Woot, early 5 year congrats! And wow, that's a lot of awesome milestones. 55% paid off in a car you got a year ago? Fantastic. Keep fighting the good fight!

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  2. Mysti, I am right there with you. It takes so long, but I just watch the #'s go down and pray that nothing big happens. We are all in this together,

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  3. I blogged about this recently. Definitely important to not discount any positive milestone, no matter how "small."

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  4. Hey, that's not bad at all. Life's expensive, and you had to buy a car along the way, so any progress made is good progress.

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  5. Slow progress is better than no progress. Good job!

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  6. I think you're doing great I just hope nothing derails your plan like an auto transmission going out or a major appliance like AC dying at home etc.

    HS

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