
The Official 2019 Debt Smackdown
Welcome to the Official* 2019 Debt Smackdown!
Happy new year everyone!
I know a few of use have been chomping at the bit to get going with 2019's debt - so with out further ado, I present this years spreadsheet! First of all, quick thanks to everyone on here who supported this last year, and helped make sure the Google Sheet remained in tip top shape.
So what's this about? If you are holding onto some debt as you enter 2019 - and would like to get rid of it - this challenge is for you.
To the participants from last year, welcome back! For some of us, our total debts are too large to smack down completely in one calendar year, so if you're here from last year, congratulations on your progress and let's keep on doing this! In 2018, we collectively paid down over $1,500,000 in debt! An increase of OVER $600,000 than in 2017!
For all new participants, we are happy to have you join in this year! New blood is always welcome. Let's all motivate each other to pay off those debts and continue moving forward to financial freedom.
Per last year, this is a shared one between the two forums/communities. Hopefully, that won't bring any problems! (Link to the Forum post [soon])
How it works:
1. List the amount of total debt that you owe.
This step is to give you an awareness of your current debt situation. Feel free to share, this forum is a safe and nonjudgmental place. You can also decide to keep this information private, you don't have to post your total here if you are not comfortable doing so.
2. Post in this thread the total amount of debt you would like to pay off during the 2019 calendar year. (This part is required.)
Feel free to break down the amounts by credit card/type of debt. Also, if you have a specific plan or some ideas on how you plan to pay down the debt, you can post that too. Maybe your plan will spark some ideas for others on how to tackle their own debts!
3. Check in monthly in this thread and report on how your debt smackdown is going. (This part is required.)
4. Post monthly on the 2019 Google Sheet to track your progress. (This part is required.)
Claim a line on the spreadsheet, and post your total debt to be paid off, and the monthly amount that you send off towards it. Some people track their total payments and don't account for interest, some people account for principal only. The method you choose is up to you!
If you come across this challenge later in the year, no worries, you can still jump right in. Just put zeroes in the months where you had not joined the challenge yet, and start in the month you join in.
Last year, we collectively paid off $1,500,000. Let's smash that number again in 2019!
Please let me know any issues with the sheet - sometimes things are a bit wonky when making new ones!
*Official in the sense that there's a spreadsheet. Not official in the sense that it's made by YNAB. I'm just following naming conventions here :)
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Hi all! Hope everyone had a great June.
It's been crazy busy here with the EOFY, hoping to get some tax back to boost the pay down.
Until I entered this months figures, and looked at my progress in the spreadsheet, I was feeling quite down, it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, doubts started creeping in over the month, and I was beating myself up for getting in this situation in the first place. I paid $2732 off the debts for June bringing it to a total of 37.87% paid down in 3 months! This challenge and community really helps to keep things in perspective and positive, thank you ✨
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Finally added in my numbers from June and July! We did not make the kind of progress we need to in order to hit our goals, and now I am thinking our goals are not going to happen at all, but that being said, we've paid off almost $7000 this year so far, so I can't complain. However, some of that came from minor windfalls, and we won't have any more of those as far as I can see, and I quit my job so the extra income is really not gonna be there.
We've been in the credit card float for quite a while. It is my nemesis. I end up in it over and over and over again. We'll pay it off, and I'll fall off the wagon and before I know it, we're in the float again. However, last month was pretty much unmanageable. I had to drain some categories I had been saving for in order to make the full statement payment because we spent too much the month before. It was rough. This month, hopefully our statement will be manageable, and we should be putting an additional $1000 or so toward the payment, so we should see the float become a lot easier to manage as we chip away at it bit by bit.
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As of today, I am going backward on paying off debt. I started out with $8,203.71 in debt. I now have $8,281.30 in debt. That's $77.59 more in debt than when I started. I paid $3,278.55 in debt but spent more than that in the last 6 months. I know it could have been worse. It's my fault for spending impulsively. The long term goals that I have obviously have not been more important than the immediate satisfaction of spending money that is not budgeted. I take responsibility for what I have done and will work at doing better going forward. That's the best I can do right now.
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June Check In: Paid $4,934.83 down on my car loan and student loans (mostly car). I'm anxious to (hopefully) get the car loan paid in full during the month of July. Then I'll be back on track with the original debt. In June I took on a side hustle delivering groceries for Instacart. I haven't been able to pick up many hours in the past couple of weeks because of other commitments but I'm hoping to earn a little extra to throw at the car this month.
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Partial Check-in for July. I've paid the minimum for the month on the Balance Transfer card that holds the bulk of my debt, so that's $84 into the pot. I'm still around 1.2k more in debt than I was in January, which isn't ideal, but overall I'm technically still in less debt than I was in November, when I started budgeting...I think. I kind of messed up my accounts along the way 😅
So this, with any luck, is going to be the month where I start paying more than the minimums on my debts! Thanks everyone for sharing your stories - successes and failures. Successes give me inspiration, and the failures make me feel like I'm not alone on the struggle bus.
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Late to the party, but just come across YNAB and this forum. Looking to cull some credit card debt, amongst others and just generally get on a better platform for me and my partner.
We have ave around £13,000 outstanding and already been working through adjustments to our budget. Watched quite a few Dave Ramsey Youtube vids and he talks a lot of sense.
Going in pretty conservative, but hoping to get £2,500 paid off by the end of the year.
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Alright, I am a latecomer to the challenge but wanted to jump in. I began using YNAB last month after 6 months of living pay-to-pay after financial separation from my ex-wife, and getting absolutely nowhere paying off debt (on the contrary creating more!) or planning for things that are needed. Debt has piled up over the last 2 years and it was time to get a handle on it.
Anyway, long story short is that I am planning to pay off AUD$10,593.10 by year's end comprised of half my credit card debt and an amount I owe my dad.
It's a not inconsiderable amount in a reasonably short space of time, but after on 24 days using YNAB, I am feeling good about being on a better track.
June: $650 (it's a start).
July aim: ≥$1,300
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This week, I sold my car and with the proceeds I am paying off my school loan ($17k), credit cards ($4k) and large payment to my 2nd mortgage ($5k payment).
So total YTD debt reduction is $17k (Jan - April) + 22k (July) = $39k debt paydown! i am finally free of the student loans after 18 years of paying
Up NEXT:
(1) Take over a short term car lease of 18 months with monthly payment amount of $500. During these 18 months, I will also save so that at end of the car lease, i have at least $15k for downpayment.
(2) re-focus on our 2nd Mortgage balance of $10k - i will pay an extra $400 per month towards principal
(3) September: I anticipate about a 10k bonus and this will go in savings for property taxes and federal taxes
(4) October: I anticipate about a 5k bonus . I will put this towards savings or towards the 2nd mortgage or will use it for our October vacation.
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I guess I skipped June's update, but here's the scoop for now.
Original Bal Pmt Final Balance
Mastercard: $1144.46 $61.00 $1083.46
Visa: $355.42 $674.41
TOTAL: $1718.70 $1757.87
So I've made the $61.00 payment for the past two months. I am really hopeful I'll have a couple of fat pay checks that will help me pay off the additional debt on the visa. I'll be getting my contacts again in about a month, and that usually gives me a $200 rebate in the form of a visa. I think I might use that for mundane stuff and put the additional on my credit card instead, or do half and half depending on what my income is looking like. I'm so ready to be done with this debt!
I did notice that my net work is in the positive at the moment. I don't think it will stay that way, but at least it's hanging around the line again instead of way below it. Next month will put me REALLY close to almost being below $1000 on the balance on the mastercard, which would be amazing!I just have to keep chipping away and keep looking for ways to increase my income so I can stay out of the float and keep the number going down!
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Coming late to the party -- first post on a YNAB forum.
I started using YNAB in January to help with debt reduction / improved savings. I started with over $44,000 in debt. I've paid down close to $15,000. I'll have another credit card paid off by the end of July. My goal is to be out of debt by the end of 2019.
With YNAB, I've been able to save one month ahead. I've never had that before; I'm in my mid-50s. I've not gone without anything while paying debt. This entire experience has been wonderful. I spend a lot of time now dreaming about my life without any debt (I've been in debt almost my entire adult life).
The other wonderful thing is that the more cards I pay off, the less anxiety I feel about "did I miss a payment?" "when is the next one due?" and constantly juggling things. I feel really good.
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Checking in for July: $882
So, better than the last couple of months, but I should still be putting way more towards debt based on my income. Although, my freelance side hustle has been very slow lately so that's not helping things. I need to work on getting some new clients. I asked for a raise at my main job... so hoping that comes through.
Lately I've been great about the little things like not spending too much eating/drinking out, sticking to my budget with clothes & beauty. But I've had a couple vet issues lately so those ate up a bigger chunk than I had saved in the vet category. But honestly travel is my big problem currently. Why can't I just say no to trips? While I do allow myself one big trip each year even while paying off debt, these little long weekend ones are killing me. I'm way too good at rationalizing "experiences" in my head. So I'm definitely going to need to up my side-hustle game/ get that raise.... and say no to my friends/parents next time they ask me to go to Palm Springs/Italy/Aruba/Miami.
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July Check In - Paid $1372.49 across all my cards. Did a balance transfer from my two (2) visa cards to my Discover with 0% APR for 12 months. Now all my credit card debt is on 1 card (yay!) and I can simply make one payment a month, instead of scheduling payments across all my cards.
This month I paid off my balance on my Amazon store card!
I am two months away from paying off Paypal Credit.
I am four months away from paying off my Mastercard balance (also on my Discover card from a balance transfer earlier this year).Writing this made me realise that I've made really great progress this year so far.
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I don't check in on this thread very often, but I do on the spreadsheet (b/c spreadsheets are amazing). To date I'm 74.09% complete. Seems like if I just keep on keeping on, I will reach my 2019 goal in December, which imo is pretty badass and incredible. I've been using ynab for years and am just starting to really try to stick to things, or at least to paying things off. I will have about the same amount I'll need to pay for the next 1-2 years to be completely debt free, but still exciting.
- Original 2019 goal: $8,753.91
- Paid off to date this year: $6,485.50
- Left to pay in 2019: $2,268.41
Keep on keeping on friends 🤘🤙
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I added an extra $10 to my payment for July. I hope I don't slide backwards, but I had it, so I figured I should probably go ahead and apply it. That may not seem like much, but to my tiny budget that's digging my way out from under debt it's extra, and that's a good thing! So here's my numbers:
Original Bal Pmt Final Balance
Mastercard: $1144.46 $61.00 $1083.46
Visa: $674.41 $10.00 $664.41
TOTAL: $1718.70 $1747.87
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July progress report on my battle against the student loan beast.
As of March 31, 2019: $251,414.81. This is my starting balance after joining YNAB in mid-March, 2019.
As of today, July 18, 2019: $239,872.78
July notes: Regular monthly payment resulted in principal reduction of $1,106.54. Got a mid-year bonus at work and used the bulk of it to make an extra principal payment of $5,000.00. Total reduction of principal in July: $6,106.54!
Year-end goal is to get the balance down $31,414.81 (from the March 31, 2019 starting number) to $220,000.00. With an $11,542.03 reduction since I've started making these progress reports, I'm now about 36.74% there.
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July's check in. Nyah. Extra payment of $163.32. Things are just... not going according to plan this year. It feels like I've had to change the game plan every single month that rolls, and frankly, I'm doing good just to send a tiny extra payment. I wanted to do so much more. I'm not sure I'll hit my snow-ball goal. Money comes free for the snowball next month. But things have changed radically since January, and now that money might get diverted. I guess that's life. I'll keep moving forward.