
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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Woohoo! First paychecks in January and I've already paid a total of $938.79 towards our debt this month including paying off Macy's which is card number one! Two more debt payments will come out of our next paychecks in 2 weeks.
I'm going out of town for about a week and put aside a good chunk this pay for some spending money which made me happy because that means once this trip is over, I should be able to have that money moving forward for debt payoff and some additional sinking fund payoff.
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I claim line 88.
This should be fun! BritishMuseum , the spreadsheet is awesome!This year, I would like to smack down $20,000 in debt.
Listing all of your debt. I can pay off my cc by February and PL by December. By year end, I should have slashed my auto loan in 1/2.
2. List the amount you'd like to smack down in 2019:
Debt Paid Amount By When 2019 paid off CC $2,500 Feb 28, 2019 yes PL $8,520 Dec 31, 2019 yes Auto $14,616 Dec 21, 2019 No -
Hi guys, I've been a YNAB user on and off for around 3.5 years, started off great and then fell off the wagon, and had a few false starts in between.
2019 is the year to make a dent. At most it will take me 4 years to be debt free, but hoping to make that more like 3.
I've claimed line 96, total owed is around £25,300, hoping to kill at least £8,200 this year, but will do my best to smash the £10k mark.
First time poster, and was directed here by a fellow YNABer, we are both taking part in this challenge for the first time.
Excellent idea, excellent spreadsheet, let's do this 😄
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Count me in! I just paid off my student loan to end 2018, and I'm down to 2 lines of debt. I'm 38 and turn 39 in late April. My goal is DEBT FREE BY 40!!! 🙂 (I don't have a car, mortgage or any other types of loans.)
CURRENT DEBT:
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card: $13,500
IRS back taxes: $7,250 (on an auto debit $250/mo. payment plan)
2019 DEBT GOAL: Get debt UNDER $10K + NO NEW DEBT
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card: $5,000
IRS back taxes: $4,000
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I claimed my line! This is my first year on the smackdown. This is a huge stretch goal for me but I need to get rid of the debt in order to live life better. My goal is $30,000 which is about half my debt not including my mortgage. And I'm going to sell my house and buy a smaller one this year so I need my credit score to be better as well. I'm already cleaning out my current house and selling what I can to put toward the debt. I'll also be looking at a side hustle to generate more income. Then any surprise money that might come my way will also be put toward it.
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Claimed my line!! Even though I've had YNAB for a bit, I'm determined this year to do more than just manage were my money goes.. I have close to $35,000 in debt from credit cards, student and car loans, but I'm pretty set on paying off $25,000 this year which will be a bit of a challenge considering I have a wedding to plan and finishing school this year 😥 I've seen so many inspiring stories in this forum which makes me hopeful that I can stay on track and reach my goal!! Good luck to everyone !!
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My line has been claimed for another year! This year's goal is to knock $10,000 off my mortgage.
- Starting Balance (January 2019): $69,112.11
- Current Balance: $68,092.49
- Paid Off this Year: $1,019.62
Also, want to start doing overall pay down. It amazes me that I'm not even a year in and I've paid off over $6,000 of my mortgage!
- Starting Balance (April 2018): $74,400.00
- Total Paid Off: $6,307.51
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First timer claiming line 109. My goals this year are to use YNAB everyday and to pay cash only starting March 2019 (I have a trip booked from 2 years ago that may involve about $250 in debt). I recently separated and started a new household. My daughter turned 19 and is working so I have no excuses anymore.
#1 Credit Card - $4740
#2 Credit Card - $2900
#3 LOC - $9874
Total: $17515
Goal is to pay off $10000 of that debt. I could likely do more, but I think I have made the mistake in the past of tackling debt too aggressively and not budgeting for my True Expenses. So I am aiming for balance this time. I may get a large tax refund and an even larger divorce settlement, but for now, I am pretending that neither of those things are going to happen so I can put those toward savings and future goals instead of debt. Good luck! This is me looking forward and not looking back.
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I claimed line 111. I'm looking to pay off $7000 of $9500 consolidation loan. I joined ynab late year to help me focus more on debt repayment. I paid off a whopping $10,000 last year, which for me felt awesome.
I ended up with a unexpected $1100 car repair half way through December. I've only been using YNAB since October, but it saved me at that moment. I knew exactly what my financial picture was. I also lost my funding for school for this year, so it put a stop to my aggressive payback on my debt I was hoping to knock off to $0 this year.
Let's see what I can do! I feel the $7000 is attainable even with full tuition payments. I just need to tighten up the boot straps of my extra spending, which I'm pretty great at now that I see where I'm taking money from and what it's going to.
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I'm in! Goal is to pay off $25,000 (mix of credit cards, personal loans, and my car). This would be all of my personal consumer debt. Undebt.It says I will be debt-free in 2 years---I'm going to try to do it in 1!!! I will still have a joint debt with my husband for our truck. He is responsible for those payments so I am not including it for this year.
[Line 113 for reference]
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Let's see how reliable I am at updating this year.
I ended 2018 with $15,616.09 in debt. That's total of CC (0%, being paid off rapidly), personal loan (0%, being paid off more slowly), and money that was spent on CCs that are paid off each month. I got myself into CC debt in 2017 and got a 0% balance transfer middle of 2018. The personal loan was a family member helping me out after my car was totaled early 2018 and I needed a new vehicle, but didn't have the cash on hand (even after the settlement) to pay for a new vehicle.
The 0% CC will be paid by November (or I have to pay interest, so it'd better be done by then). I have $5500 left on that and am paying $500/month, I'll throw my (small) bonus and extra (May) paycheck at it (or that's the plan). Those two extra payments + the regular monthly payments should have this paid off in June if this money is available as planned.
The personal loan has $7300 left on it, I throw $200 from every paycheck at that. It may be paid off this year, we will see. $600/month is needed for that, but I'm only putting in $400/month on average so it'll be paid off early 2020. Paying off the CC debt is more critical. December is my "nice to have" goal, but April 2020 is more likely.
The remaining debt is on two credit cards that I pay off each month. I'm including them here to remind myself that CCs really are debt, even if I pay them off each month. All the money spent on them is budgeted, no float. The balances are higher due to car repairs (vehicle broken into last month) and moving expenses.
I'm paying cash for everything else I can. I'll also be getting married in May, which will increase my expenses (she won't have a job for a while, moving countries), but also increase my take home (married tax brackets are a lot better than single tax brackets).
DEC18 CC 1125.75 CC 1690.34 CC 5500.00 PL 7300.00 =========== 15616.09
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Hey everyone!
I have just claimed line 120. I have around £13,000 of credit card and overdraft debt that I want to try and get cleared this year. This is split over 3 cards.
I'll be attacking my debt in three ways, working overtime at work as much as possible.
Pausing my pension contributions for a year.
Trying to make a little extra money as a photographer on the side (this won't get me a lot and may not contribute to the debt but will help to keep my day to day spending money topped up meaning the debt savings are safe).
Next year I want to be saving for a house so I need this gone!
Good luck everyone,
Mark
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Hello!
I am a bit tardy for the party, but I claimed line 121. I have $46,061 total to pay off, and I want to knock off $15,000 this year. My debt consists of credit cards and student loans currently as I paid my car loan off this morning! I plan to use the snowball method as psychologically, I think it will help me stick to my plan. I need the small wins. I added a category to YNAB for snowball and I add little bits to it as I move throughout the month. At the end of the month, I plan to make a lump sum to smallest balance which should bring it close to 90% paid off, and then rinse and repeat for next month.
Good luck!
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Well, I'm gonna set the goal at $7,500. That's actually only about $1000 above our minimum payments on our time share and car loan, but with a kiddo in daycare, there isn't as much wiggle room available to make massive debt payments. (Daycare is more than $1,000 per month!) I'm hoping to pump that up to $10,000, but that depends largely on how much of our tax refund we put towards debts vs. emergency funds. Here we go!
For what it's worth, we're starting with a total debt of $25,584.00, not counting DW's student loan that I have no idea how to access. Here's hoping for a good year!
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I have returned in shame and despair, to lower my pay-off goal for the year. My very unstable income just stabilized, which is great, but I vastly over-estimated how much I could pay off before knowing what my total monthly income would be. Now that I know what I'll be making reliably, and it's less than I was anticipating/hoping/wishfully thinking for, I really just need to revise my goal. I beat myself up plenty about "you should be able to do this" after looking at other people's payoff goals, but the truth is I have NO idea what percentage of their income that constitutes, or what other bills they have to contend with.
My new payoff goal is only a more modest 9% of my pre-tax annual income, instead of an ambitious 15%. And it respects the fact that I need a whole heck of a lot of healthcare this year, which is non-negotiable, and MAY have to switch health insurance plans mid-year because America sucks sometimes (sorry not sorry if that offends you). Sadly, I had to cancel my original payment of $600 before it hit the bank, and resend the new, lower, more comfortable amount of $400. But I'll still be debt free by May of next year, and I only pay about $100 more in interest for all the relief the lower payments allow me.
So, for REAL this time - my debt pay down goal is....$3,825!
January payment made. February's is already set aside. Income is now reliable. The future is clearer, if not brighter :)
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So happy to be a part of this. I've been needing a community to keep inspired. I'm on line 130.
My total debt is $20, 828.14 USD. Of that, credit cards are $15,958.63 spread across 4 cards and my car loan is $4,869.51.
I was able to put $8,378 towards my debt in 2018. A feat I'm immensely proud of since I only started working full time from March of 2018.
This year, I am pushing extra hard to make an immense dent. I am probably overreaching but I would like to pay off $14,000 of my credit card debt. My monthly payments are working out to be $1,330 based on the tight budget I've made for myself and I've already scheduled my payments for January. I want to give this a try for 4 months and then reevaluate how this is working for me.
My plan is to work, work, work and if possible work even more. I work a weekday job and a weekend job in the hopes of paying off my debts by 2020. I'm also planning to move out of my current apartment, to something a bit cheaper mid year. I have a google spread sheet that I use to track my daily expenses and keep on target (it helped me a lot in 2018 and is how I was able to analyze what I could trim and expand for 2019).Will be rooting and cheering of everyone. This is no easy feat so may persistence, perseverance, and patience keep us going.