SiruhTheSantas Hooray! Congrats on your win and the part-time position. 😄 Goals and priorities change, especially when "life happens". Adjusting is the way to go!

Move Light Sound Life Also, if you shoot for a bigger goal and don't achieve all of it, you may still do better than if you shoot for a smaller goal and get it.

Move Light Sound Life Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. I've always loved that quote and I think it fits perfectly here! Either way, you're moving in the right direction, so you can't go wrong! :)

TC Jackie I feel the same way about 0% loans - I want you gone, but you shouldn't be the priority. You've come a long way towards that goal and the last 21.76% will be gone before you know it! :)

TC Jackie YES! If someone is loaning you the money for free there is no reason to pay it off any sooner than you have to. Good for you to putting the money where it can be helpful. I agree, it's tempting, but the money will do you more good sitting in a place where it's earning even a fraction of interest for you rather than in the creditor's pocket!

rushiec 

Wow, so close!  

DogTog That is amazing!!!! 🎉🎉

DogTog Congratulations! I'm down to under $500 on my oldest card, which I've had for 10 years or so and carried a balance on that entire time. It feels great, doesn't it?!

DogTog Congratulations! I hope you celebrated after ending a relationship that long! ;)

DogTog CONGRATULATIONS!!! That's AHMAZING!

DogTog WAHOO!!!!! Congrats!!!

Trish B It just means an even bigger number in September!

Trish B 

I employed the same strategy.  It only slowed me down by one month, the first month, but after that it gave so much more peace of mind to be able to see a bigger picture when budgeting.  The bummer feeling will only last a month, and from that point on, you will be killing it.

Violet Drill The numbers are going down! Paying off your credit cards are a huge accomplishment, and nothing to sneeze at. Think about how great sending that last payment will feel!

Gold Song If you can pay the same for the next 3 months will you hit your stretch goal or will the interest push it just past being achievable?  So close! It looks really doable right now. That's fantastic.

Gold Song So close!!!! 🎉

Bearours Congrats on your progress! Priorities can shift from month to month, and you're planning ahead. 🙂

WairereRose I'm sorry to hear it's been a discouraging month! $351.00 reduction is pretty great in my book. 🙂

Hot Pink Admiral We just went through that 2 years ago. It was TOTALLY worth it. Having lived through that entirely unexpected and unplanned purchase, we learned a few things. Firstly, every county has a housing department, and they have people who have worked in the real estate industry for many years that are paid for by your tax dollars that are free to talk to :) It's worth a call, because you never know what kind of resources you could end up with, including grants that will pay for portions of closing costs and down payments. We got a grant for 4% and it paid almost $10k, which meant we barely paid anything out of pocket for our house.
The other thing that we learned is that they like to see low minimum payments with whatever debt you do have. So if you can find any options to do debt consolidation with a low monthly payment the banks like to see that. Basically, they are looking at how much you have available every month after you pay your other debts. So if you have any opportunities to get outstanding debt rolled together into a lower loan payment or a zero percent balance transfer, take those opportunities, too. According to our experience, especially if your income isn't all that strong, it is best to pay down the debt rather than save up for a down payment. You can get grants and other support for the down payment, but if your debt to income ratio is too high, then you can't get a loan at all. 
Best of luck, I hope you have as good of an experience as we did!

farfromtheusual thanks for the tips! And I'm so glad to hear you had a positive experience :)

Loves Mountains That's worth a happy dance!

Loves Mountains That is an amazing year! So happy for you!

Magenta Panther Powering through the rougher months to get to the better months is a huge part of winning the war (and not necessarily the battle). Great job sticking with it! :)

Faness thanks! Two steps forward, one step back is still a step forward. 

Keith New homes are tough! Congrats, and kudos for keeping the budget as tight as you have! That's a big deal with a new house!

farfromtheusual Thanks! I will hold my breath for September I will imagine the numbers will be smaller but we will see! 

Slate Blue Vacuum 

Ouch!  Take care of you.  It's always tempting to skip the e-fund for the bigger goal of debt smackdown, and I learned that lesson the hard way too.  

internettie Don’t be discouraged by the spending, it happens. I had to use my credit card for the past 2 months with unexpected spending. I think I spent too much time focusing on the paying down of debt that I let my true expenses slide a bit and that cost me. It’s more so me being impatient though and want a win now but I realize I need to be patient and let the debt go down at a stable pace and not neglect my other categories. As long as you put even 1 dollar more than the minimum balance each month then your already winning!   

Keith I'm just trying to pay more toward debt than my interest payments are right now. I'm able to do that. Barely, but I'm doing it. I also am putting $240/month into savings for my long term sinking funds. I could put it toward debt, but I'm sick of not having anything set aside for things that will probably come up. I do cover my bills and short term, low cost sinking funds every month. I'm saving and paying some on debt, just going much slower than I hoped. It's actually somewhat amazing that I'm not spending on stupid stuff instead of spending more on groceries and eating out and transportation. I have to have more easy to make meals which cost more, and I can't take the bus right now at all because I'm having such difficulty walking so I'm using Uber/Lyft sometimes (I try to use my free zTrip rides whenever I can but I only have 2 per week). So it's not like I'm just buying clothes or stuff for the house (neither of which I need!). So, I will acknowledge that. I'm just frustrated being in so much pain and having the debt payment be so slow. I have wanted to order food in and get groceries delivered, but held off on both since I do have some food here (it's painful to prep, cook, and wash dishes, but I'm doing it when I can) and I hate spending the $8 on a delivery fee when I have homecare provided (though it has been 5 days since I had her here). I guess I'm not doing as badly as I'd like to think. Thanks for the support and encouragement and giving me the push to look at the big picture. I appreciate that!

internettie Paying more than your interest might not sound like much, but those tiny steps will add up to something bigger in the long term. Hang in there - you didn't get in this much debt overnight, and you won't get out of it overnight either, but you have tools now that you are learning to use and use well - that will get you there as you keep persevering, and you have a team of supporters right here. You are working well within the constraints you have, and finding ways to work around your hardest problems. Again, these steps will help you come forward. Once the momentum picks up in this battle, you will be amazed how quickly you defeat your debt monster.

WairereRose thanks for the encouragement! I need to remind myself that I am at least moving in the right direction overall. I certainly didn't happen overnight so I have to be in this for the long haul. I am rolling with the punches! I look forward to conquering my debt one day soon!

internettie If you haven't been using YNAB for all that long, even if it has been since January, it takes a LONG time to really get into the routine of knowing what your real expenses are going to be. Don't beat yourself up about the transportation costs - that's just the cost of living for yourself right now. But once you've got a few months under your belt, you can begin to go back and look at the trends. That reporting feature is SO helpful. That lets you know how much on average you need to put towards any given thing, and then you can really begin to plan better. I'm only now getting to a point where I can look at that and get useful information out of it, and I've been on nYNAB for about a year and a half now. I had to get through a solid year of being in our new home before I could really start to look at trends of how we were handling money and how much was going towards what every month. It takes that long to really get a true picture. So use that feature and be patient with yourself. Sometimes the cost of delivery is worth it if you can save in the long run on things that would cost you more (like eating out).
You've got this, even if it takes longer than you think it "should." (I try to remove that word from my vocabulary because it rarely results in me feeling good about anything, or making the kind or progress that I desire).

internettie Hi, you have a tough situation because you only have to be accountable to you. I at least have to "advise" my husband that I am planning on spending more on something we didn't plan for.

Are you doing your budget in advance of the spending? Are you setting an unrealistic budget amount (that's always my biggie)? Are you making a conscious decision to spend more than you planned? If so, did you think about where to move that money from?

You may not be at a place right now where debt paydown should be a goal. You have a lot on your plate. Making a "no new debt" goal sounds like a good plan for you.

And you're breaking my heart with the super cute Woody pic!

farfromtheusual I have been using YNAB for about 10 YEARS!!! LOL I didn't start using it as a budgeting tool though until about a year ago. I had mostly been using it as a tracker. I was in a bad relationship until 2015 and then spent 3 years climbing out of that emotional hole. Now I'm working on climbing out of the financial hole. Everything that you said applies though. Thanks for reminding me that this is a process. 

MXMOM for me,  in some ways, it's actually easier since I am accountable to only myself. I am doing my budget before the month begins and using the zero based budget. I think that I'm setting realistic budget goals. I have made some adjustments and continue to make them as I figure out what is realistic and doable. Sometimes I make a conscious decision to spend over budget but there are also times that I don't. I do WAM the money. I cover all of my minimum payments and make sure all my bills are paid. I mostly take away from the extra I would pay on a bill. Not great, but at least I'm getting the bills paid every month and saving some money. I never thought about having a "no new debt" goal! Thank you for that suggestion.

Woody breaks my heart every time I see him! I love him so much. I got to see him Friday and again on Saturday and he just brings me so much joy!

ecr250 Woot Woot! Happy Dance with you!

ecr250 That was a great goal and you knocked it out a whole 4 months early (I'm including September here)! Congratulations! :)

ecr250 Congrats! Way to be ahead of schedule!

 Thanks everyone!

ecr250 Congratulations! 

just_zoshin just_zoshin Way to go!  You've got a plan and that's important.  I'm in the same place.  I'd like it all to be gone, but it's going to take a little more time.  The important thing is to keep plugging away at it - at least that's what I keep telling myself!

TC Jackie Right?!  I'm so anxious for it to get paid but I need to remember that in this case slow and steady wins the race.