
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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Sigh.... just opened the mail from yesterday. One of our credit cards just went off it’s 0% interest promo and the payment on the card doubled. It’s our largest card so the last that’s going to get paid off so that just stinks. We can cover it but it’s going to affect some of the money I was trying to build our buffer and fill sinking funds with. Two steps forward, one step back...
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20K debt payoff for 2019 was the goal but with this continued government shutdown (in the US) and me working for a government contractor, I am nervous! So a change of plan is in order. Instead of paying off 20k in debt, I will be saving 20k instead to act as a 6 month EF. Only the minimums on debt will be paid until then. *Le sigh*
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January update: I'm on a set payment schedule with the consolidation loan, so it's easy to budget for even if interest rates go up, like they did *AGAIN*. Sigh. In Canada we saw the interest rate rise three times in the last year, by the BOC. This time it was the institution that raised it, 0.75%. Interest raises like this make it only take longer to pay back as my min payment is not affected by it, thanks to the agreement I have.
I was balancing out the benefits of making payments to my TFSA vs. putting the money on the loan. I decided to keep a good solid balance in the TFSA and transfer extra funds on to the loan to help a faster paydown, but without the detriment of creating a situation where I do not have any fallback money if something goes sideways.
Tuition is going to kill me though. HAHAHA.
I'm happy to be taking part in the challenge and am amazed at how much people have been able to pay back already! It's really motivating!
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i'm in, at line 146. total debt starting at end of month: $23319 USD, a mix of student loan (paid off this month!), CC, and a car loan. we've paid just under $3500 so far. good luck to everyone!
ps- i'm new to ynab, and hoping that by march i understand it all and start doing a better job at setting up the budget...
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This isn't included in my debt paydown plan because it's my partners debt from before our relationship, but today I paid off his remaining $600 in consumer debt using a profit distribution from our company. I was SO pleased because this is extra money - money we've set aside as profit from EVERY job he's taken on for the last 2 months before paying expenses (shout out to Profit First, y'all!) and is extra on top of our salaries so it kind of feels like free money (it's not).
He still has 7k on a HELOC and I'm not going to ask how much left on his truck payments, but the consumer debt has just seemed to stick around for EVER (thanks a lot, 26% interest rate) and having it gone gives him an extra $150 a month towards the others.
Totally doesn't effect MY payoff plan but I'm pretty happy about it none the less.
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I'm a little late to the game because I needed to add everything up. After January's payments, I owe: 12,387.99 in credit card debt and would like to pay it off this year. My total debt is 101,214.77. Car: 9,781.66. Student Loans: $78,646.58. I am in the public service loan forgiveness program, so I am on track to have my loans forgiven in 8 years, so I am not focusing on paying anything extra on them.
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Alright, here's my January update!
When I adjust for the interest that was added to the card, my payment was only $44.29. I'm still waiting on the extra payment that should be coming from the bank for spending on the credit card in Dec. I'll probably apply almost all of that to the card as an extra payment. It's not much right now, but hopefully I will continue to be able to add to it. I'm staying close to what I can bear because my budget is really lean, and February is a short month as well.So here's the official update:
Original Bal Pmt Interest Final Balance
Mastercard: $1363.28 $70.00 $25.71 $1318.99
Visa: $355.42 $355.42
TOTAL: $1718.70 $1674.41
Chipping away at it!
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We have a stretch goal of $10,000, which looks like it may be more possible than I expected, so I'm declaring an additional super-stretch goal of $12,500.
January check-in:
Car loan: 361.57
Citi Card: 211.69
Total Paid: 573.26
Goal Amount: 625 / 833.33 / 1041.67
Over/Under: -51.74 / -260.07 / -468.41
There's a chance we'll actually put another $840 on the Citi card if the 2018 Dependent Care FSA claim I just submitted comes in before the end of the month. If we also put my fitness reimbursement from work, half of our rather large tax refund, and a major chunk of my 3rd paycheck in May, we'll actually get it cleared before the 0% expires, and then we can concentrate on the auto loan and focus it down next year.This plan is why I've created the super-stretch goal of $12,500, because that would get us to our initial stretch goal.
Happy debt smacking, everyone!
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All of my debt payments are made for January, so I'm going to go ahead and update my totals.
Debt Payoff (current owed/original balance 1/1/2019)
Horse vet: $0/$135
Capital One #2: $1,420.26/$1,435.97
Kohl's: $1,051.63/$1,093.64
Chase: $3,015.91/$3,066.19
Capital One #1: $4,777.19/$4,851.90
Personal Loan: $7,963.64/$8,344.37
Truck Loan: $17,897.07/$18,358.81
Student Loans: $22,670.40/$22,740.192019 Debt total (paid/current owed/original owed):
$1,229.26/$58,796.10/$60,026.06
I technically am probably lower on the Personal Loan, but I don't receive that statement until the first week of the next month so I'm going to use the first date of the month to update it for now ... or try to sign up for online access when I get my statement next month. It should be close enough.Reply -
I just found that the bank paid me the $50 bonus for spending on my CC at Christmas way back on the 9th! It went into my savings account, and I don't pay attention to it except to add the quarterly dividend! Oops! At least it sat in my account for a little while earning me interest... So I just put an extra $50 towards the debt, so here's my revised numbers for this month!!
Original Bal Pmt Interest Final Balance
Mastercard: $1363.28 $120.00 $25.71 $1268.99
Visa: $355.42 $355.42
TOTAL: $1718.70 $1624.41
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Claimed Line 155.
I've already succeeded in erasing all our credit debt, so that leaves me with 4 loans to pay off: The mortgage; the Toyota, the student, and one personal loan. I'm starting the year with 167,028.24 in total debts. My stretch goal is $25,000 in total payments for this year. As of the end of the month, I'll be $1,925.57 in. :)
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I jumped in on line 156... Will be *trying hard* to pay off my only debt -- my mortgage! Recently sold my 2400 sq ft townhome and used $50K equity + $10K savings for downpayment on 1400 sq ft home in Aug. 2018. I started in Aug. owing $40,000 on the new mortgage and now down to $30,107.67 as of January 1, 2019.
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Alright, 2nd paycheck of the month means it's time for me to update my debt smackdown! I paid 575.63 towards my cc debt - just a little more than my goal.
I'm a little worried about the coming months, because my boyfriend and I are moving in together in March, but I keep reminding myself that there's no penalties if I don't make my goal, and that once I pay off one card I'll have $300 extra a month for either life expenses or for cutting down my other cc debt early 😬
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I want to pay down all my credit card debt. Two cards: one is 1795, one is 690, total of 2485. I'm working on getting over the anxiety of checking my finances and keeping track of them - I think YNAB will really help me here. I've struggled a lot through grad school, and the stress of poverty and debt is really kind of killing me. I'm really hoping that YNAB can help me find a sense of control over my finances/life in general! I'm line 157 on the spreadsheet.
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So....I thought I would stop in and share my progress so far. Before doing so, I just wanted to say kudos to everyone who is participating at the great gains made this month! Congratulations!!!
Although I've done pretty well with applying some funds directly to debt payoff, I am also balancing expenditures for an unexpected trip in February to help a friend. This has resulted in using some funds that I was saving for a project in the spring, which will have to be replaced. Here's to balancing life's twist and turns in addition to attaining financial goals!
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January update. Minimum payments made. Heartening to see the 401(k) loan go down. Can't wait to pay that off in April.
After January Payments:
Mortgage @ 5.25% - $89,442.37 (-241.72)
Auto Loan @ 4.99% - $27,283.14 (-440.35)
Student Loan(s) @ 1.625% - $4,286.86 (-293.69)
401(k) #3 @ 4.25% - $3,578.06 (-1184.92)
LC #3 @ 5.32% - $1,841.57 (-141.79)
Parental Loan @ 0% - $24,078.06 (-200.00)for a grand total of $150,510.06 (-2502.47) for a total 8.34% of $30k debt payoff.
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January check-in: $1757.92 paid to debt in January. Got one CC under 6k (urilizing my snowball), and the other is hovering over 1200. Minimums paid on everything else. My husband and I will owe between 3-4k for taxes this year so we will be creating a sinking fund for that in addition to a FFEF. Challenges abound but I am going to give it my all!
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