The Official 2021 Debt Smackdown
Welcome to YNAB's 2021 Debt Smackdown!
Happy New Year! 2021 is going to be a good one, I can just tell - or we can will it to happen 😉
With over 500 participants and more than $4.2 million in debt payoff, 2020 was absolutely incredible for the debt smackdown group! I know some of us are still left with debt to knock out in the new year or you're joining in for the very first time. Either way, you've come to the right place. We'll use this group for accountability and support as we crush some (or all!) of our debt in 2021!
First, a quick shoutout to BritishMuseum - they have hosted our debt smackdown for the last few years and became DEBT FREE at the beginning of 2020! What an impact their work has made on this community!
If you want to pay off some debt this year, here's 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 2021 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. Post monthly on the 2021 Debt Smackdown Sheet to track your progress. (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!
4. Check in monthly in this thread and report on how your debt smackdown is going. (required)
We'll be testing out some reminders this year when the month rolls over because we want to hear everyone's progress! Bookmark this thread and sheet so you can find it quickly at the beginning of the month!
If you come across this challenge later in the year, no worries, you can always 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.
Pro-tip: You can use ctrl+F (or command+F on a Mac) to search the spreadsheet for your name when the sheet gets filled up.
Last year, we paid off over $4million! Let's make 2021 even stronger!
In the event you have any issues with the sheet - please tag or DM Veronica or Faness
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Steel Blue Tugboat on line 90: Really excited to see what I can do this year! I've only had YNAB since June 2020 and am down to credit card float on one card (was 5 last year). Main goals are to stop the float on the last card, and pay off the two remaining credit cards I have.
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Line 92. I have one credit card and one car loan that I'm trying to pay off. 2021 is the year to finish off the last 12K!
Credit Card: 8802.29
Car: 3952.19
I will hit my savings goal in July, and that will roll into my credit card, and then my car will be paid off in October, which will allow me to roll that into the credit card as well. Current math stands that I will have 3.59 left in December, which I'm pretty sure I'll be able to squeeze out of other categories then!
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We are claiming Line #93. We participated last year but got lost toward the end of the year and stopped updating. I'm hoping to set a more realistic goal this year but also a stretch goal. I am in the process of starting a business that will be part-time (for the moment) but could become full-time in July. If necessary, I will continue with part-time and use the extra income to pay off more debt.
Realistic Goal for Debt Payoff: $14,759.61
- Window Loan: $2,002.41
- Credit Card: $4722.64
- Student Loan: $8,034.20
Our other debts are larger which includes a consolidation loan of all of our other debt, car loan, and mortgage.
Stretch goal for Debt Payoff: $29-36k
- Pay >2 full extra mortgage payments: $3k
- New HVAC system or roof: $11k /$18k
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Line 2 My goal is to pay off $8,000. That will cover SBA loan, cc and 21% off another card.
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Hi, I've claimed line 95 and my goal of €17,843.16:
- Overdraft: balance €800 - PIF in 2021
- Bank Loan: balance €4,593.20 -> goal of €4,900 including estimated interest (I'll update the goal when I know the actual interest) - €260.33 monthly minimum so I'll need to make extra payments to meet my goal of having it PIF by the end of 2021
- Private Loan: balance €24,000: €500 monthly for a 2021 goal of €6,000
- Mortgage: balance €133,436.50: €511.93 monthly for a 2021 goal of €6,143.16
My credit cards (2) also remain paid in full and off the float so this also has to be maintained. I will probably cancel the 2nd card sometime this year as it has a monthly fee and I've had a credit increase on my main card.
My main goal this year is to pay off my overdraft and bank loan while still providing for true expenses. For the bank loan I'm considering calling the bank to ask them to restructure the loan for a December 2021 pay off date - this would mean I'd have to find the funds each month and any extra I set aside couldn't be WAM'ed elsewhere instead. Has anyone else done this and found it a helpful strategy? Or really regretted it?
Good luck to everyone for 2021!🌞
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Claiming line 96 (woohoo birth year!)
The following are my current debts:
Car Lease (ends March 15th): $455.28
Family Loan: $23,013.95
Federal Loans: $21,964.48
Total = $45,433.71
For 2021 my goal is to pay off my entire car lease ($455.28), $600 towards my family loan, and $2,850 of my federal loans. Not a lot this year, but my main focus is some savings goals I have in order to avoid accruing even more debt.
Good luck everyone!
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Emma Catherine Excellent idea to get rid of that lease payment! Now start saving some money for your next car (True expense) so that you can buy your next one in cash and not have to waste money on a depreciating asset. I'm saving to buy out my car in Aug 2022 then I will keep it for many years and have the cash ready to replace it. :)
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Purple Foal I’ve actually been saving for a year (since I started budgeting and YNAB) and I’m very proud of myself for sticking with it and I have over $10k towards my next car.
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Emma Catherine Impressive & you're 24!! I wish I knew now what you are learning... :)
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Emma Catherine wow, thats awesome!
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Hi! I claimed line 102.
My goal is to pay off my car loan and be debt free except for my mortgage!
The amount remaining on my loan is about $4,990.
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January Update
Paid $317 and change, so amount remaining is $4,673!
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Claiming Line 103
My goal this year is to pay off at least $2500 in credit card debt. I am also going to really work on keeping myself more accountable on adding debt to those cards and only spending on them what I've already budgeted.
Let's get this challenge started, WOOT! 😁
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Happy 2021 Everyone!
I've been so excited to start this for 2021! I've been using YNAB for a few years now, but just to help with budgeting (staying afloat). It's only been the past year that I've been actually working to improve my financial situation.
Last year I was able to pay off $16,780.91, so my goal this year is to pay off more than I did last year. If I do, I will hopefully get rid of my credit cards and car loan!
Total Debt - $98,433.81
- Chase Credit Card - $751.65
- CitiBank Credit Card - $1,714.90
- Car Loan - $13,328.09
- Private Student Loan - $51,478.01
- Federal Student Loan - $31,160.16
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All debt I owe :
Personal Loan #1 : 17,348.11
Personal Loan #2 : 19,529.81
Car Loan : 39,031.07
Student Loan : 41,767.19And technically have $1200 on CC but I will have that paid off this week so I'm not considering it in this debt breakdown. Unless I start floating the balance....
I'd like to pay off personal loan #1 - so goal is $17348.11 (which is a stretch goal - ideally I at least get it down to under 10k) while paying the minimum on the rest.
Minimum payments across the 4 loans is ~$2266. I feel like I'm drowning a little already on minimums from bad life choices but I'm going to do what I can to squirrel away anything remotely extra to the personal loan #1 payment.
I'm using Qoins to automate some extra money to it each month. I have it set up to take out money on a regular interval as well as try and take 10% of any incoming money over $100. I've been cancelling the 10% one lately so I'm trying to stick to allowing that + the smaller regular deductions for Qoins to help move this forward. It will really help if I can do the 10% extra payments but the smaller intervals are usually about $100 extra a month.
My personal loans are with SoFi and in my path to try and get debt free, I opened a SoFi CC recently because they have a rewards program which you can use to put extra payments to loans. So all my bills have been moved to that card and I'm logging into the app every day for free reward points to try and accumulate as much extra/free money to the payment as possible. It's nice because you get like a point per dollar spent (and 10 points whenever you log into the app after a 4 day streak) - each point translates to a cent and it's doubled when you use it to pay off debt (so like 1300 points = $26 free dollars).
I've also been using Undebt.It for tracking potential payofff dates. It's been motivating and un-motivating at the same time. It's nice to see an end in sight but it's difficult to see how much extra one needs to pay to really get ahead of it all.
Depending on what my tax refund might be, I'm hoping to have a bigger waterfall of money to direct to the loan. My company cancelled the bonus program during 2020 so I cannot relay on those like I used to. I also got a pay cut middle of last year so I'm hoping I get a raise next month during reviews and whatever extra between current paycheck and new paycheck I want to immediately regulate to the loan.
I claimed line 105 - I'm only going to be tracking the principal amount of personal loan #1 and the progress I make on that specific debt during this challenge. I'm trying to keep in mind just how much better my finances will be if I have $2600 extra to do with what I want instead of immediately being obligated to my past life choices.
I tried to be a part of this last year and fizzled out halfway through when I moved + got a paycut, and incurred a major amount of debt because of it. I felt too ashamed to come back since I added debt instead of tackling it in the end. I hope sincerely this year I do nothing but take it down.
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Green Cleric
Green Cleric said:
I felt too ashamed to come back since I added debt instead of tackling it in the end. I hope sincerely this year I do nothing but take it down.I don't know exactly why, maybe it's because I've felt this same feeling of shame so often when looking at my own debts, but it made me feel so happy to see that you're tackling this again. Best of luck with it!
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Coral Network thank you!! Best of luck to us all! I know the feeling of being out will be worth it.
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Green Cleric
I definitely know that feeling of paying for past choices. We've been in debt payoff separately and married for almost 5 years. We had to take some time off to get house repairs done, and we still desperately need new windows, our fence looks awful, etc. We have a few years to go. Sometimes when we have a chunk of $ that goes to the student loan debt, it feels really good to accomplish a piece of a monumental task. Other times, I just think about all of those things we need today that are being put off b/c of the loan :(
Overall, it feels good to address this debt and know that soon all of that money will be ours and we'll be able to move forward quickly because of our stellar financial habits!
Paying off debt is certainly a complex mix of feelings. Congratulations on getting re-started on your journey!!
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Orchid Guitar Thank you! I'm glad to be back at it, but like you said, very mixed emotions with a financial journey around debt. I think being part of this and the community will really help. Thank you for the encouragement! It really makes a difference when you know you're not alone in it.
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Green Cleric I have had years like that, too. When I raked up pretty much the exact same amount that I was trying to smack down it sucked. But then I actually checked my income vs spending, and found that I was pretty much AT budget, which made it really hard to get ahead and pay off debt. If you're in the same boat you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. I know, that's easy to say from the outside. But really, if you are running that close to the wire every month then it's going to be tough to not add any debt on. I'm SURE you were not alone in struggling to keep ends met last year, let alone pay down any debt. So just hop back on the wagon, again, and keep on chugging. Those life decisions didn't get you into that amount of debt overnight, and so you won't get out of it overnight, either. Be patient with yourself, and with the current climate, and keep chipping away.
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farfromtheusual thank you! I really appreciate the encouragement. It's so hard not to add debt when you're already at the edge. I'm trying to work on my perspective and get my mindset right for the long-haul it's going to take. Patience with myself, I really love that attitude. 2020 was a special year for everyone too, I just started it with such good intentions and to not only fall short but to make it worse was tough. But you're so right.
Here's to 2021!
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Green Cleric One of the things that I did when I was that close to the wire was fund my essentials first. Then when I spent money on something not in those categories (like going out to lunch with a friend) I KNEW I was sliding backwards, and was (mostly) ok with that. It helped that I had the awareness of what I did have covered, and what I didn't. If I was able to not spend everything needed in a category, like groceries, then it could help cover the lunch bill.
You have to do what you have to do, and it's also important to do things for your own mental well being, and sometimes that means spending what you don't have. Doing so with awareness helped me to get through it, and since I was still keeping up with my budget, I was able to take advantage of windfalls when they came.Sounds like you've got a good handle on it and are moving forward again! Onward and upward from here!
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farfromtheusual Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement! It's finding a balance for me. I need to I think know where I'm okay with a little back sliding for my mental space and when I'm just allowing myself to make excuses to spend. I'm going to stick to the essentials first mentality though. Make sure the important things are covered will have to have an impact on my stress levels.
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Green Cleric True, knowing the difference is important. If you can't tell the difference then you're mostly at the mercy of the spending, still, and that's not a good place to be.
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Line 99: I knocked out over $15k in debt last year between April and December. This year, I have a second job and the divorce settlement refi payment on my house ($48k!) is going to come through within the next couple weeks. Some of that payment will go into retirement accounts and buffing up to a 6 month emergency fund, but the bulk of it will knock out a huge portion of my debt. I have no doubts I will clear the full $77k in 2021.
I am starting with $77,796.73:
- Credit cards: $10, 492.42
- RV loan: $33,118.63 @ 4.3%
- Truck loan: $34,184.68 @ 3.6%
The bulk of that CC debt is on an interest deferred balance transfer card that doesn't come ripe until May, so I am not paying any interest on that as long as I get it paid down in the next four months. I live in my RV traveling around to national parks so when the loans are cleared, I will own my home outright and have zero debts to my name.
I track my debt progress at https://www.instagram.com/92to0/
Excited to be here with you all!
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92to0 AWESOME. Can't wait to watch your progress!
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Fizzled out last year with paying off debt...maybe a bit of COVID depression? Anyway, I am excited to be part of this group this year and am confident we can pay off our consumer debt! We were able to refinance our mortgage in 2020 and save $600 or so a month in mortgage payments just by reducing the interest and extending the payoff period a bit!
Three credits cards ($14,825, $4,097, $2,356) and one store card ($1,913) will bite the dust this year.-
Orchid Cup You were lucky to be able to refinance your mortgage! I looked into it but the online calculators said it wasn't worth it with the penalties. If you can, snowball that $600 directly off your debt. :)
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Purple Foal Luckily our mortgage was up for renewal in the fall anyway so we didn't have any penalties! And yes! That is my plan - snowball it on the debt :)
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Orchid Cup Amazing!! Mine is up in 2024 & I'm going with a mortgage broker after listening to podcasts. :)
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Orchid Cup awesome on the refi!! We are exploring that right now, just started the process last night. I am really hopeful that it will bring our payment down so we can take advantage of the extra cash, too!
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farfromtheusual Yes! It feels so freeing. I hope it goes well for you!
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Hi! I've claimed line 108. I'm not new to YNAB, but have never participated in the Debt Smackdown so far.
2020 has been desastrous for my finances, so I'm happy to be able to pay back some of my debt this year. :) The amount I want to pay back during the year is:
- student loan: €1,440
- money borrowed from family: €1,270
--> Total debt payoff target: €2,710
That doesn't seem to be much, but for me it is a huge step forward. 😅 My remaining student loan is higher than €1,440 (in total €8,740 left to pay off), but this is the amount that I'll have to pay back this year. [My kind of student loan (I'm from Germany) luckily is interest free up to a certain amount and for a certain repayment period.]
Concerning the money I borrowed from my family, €1,270 is the total I owe them, so I want to pay back everything this year.
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Beige Nomad debt is all relative, I've been battling small chunks like this for years. When you don't have much coming in even a small amount seems like a lot to deal with, so I feel your pain! Here's to knocking it out of the park!
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I am excited to be on board again. The impact YNAB has had on my family since we began using the product in November of 2018 is hard to measure. After years of barely being able to keep up, my wife and I were forced to make a change to our spending habits when we sent our second child off to college in August of 2019. We were going in the wrong direction, and the stress was beginning to negatively effect our lives.
For 2021, my goal is to pay off the last of our consumer debt. We began 2019 with just under $20K on the last credit card after paying off two other smaller accounts. We now have $8100 left to pay. My goal is to pay off this remaining amount during the first half of the year. With a little luck, we should be able to make that happen.
Good luck to everyone!
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For January, we are able to pay $2200. This includes $1000 for our budgeted amount plus our $1200 stimulus payment. Just as it has been for the last year, we haven't added any new credit card debt. This is 27% of the goal for the year. :)
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R Bro
I love it! Hittin' that debt hard right away! What a great feeling 😄
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R Bro wahoo!!!!
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We're working hard on getting rid of our mortgage! 🎉 We've been at it in earnest for the past 1.5 years and we're looking at another 2.5 years to go if all goes according to plan.
Total owed at the beginning of 2021: $71,040
Payoff target for 2021: At least $28,000
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BenB
We have just about the same amount owed on our mortgage. Unfortunately, we are currently focused on student loan debt. I'll live vicariously through you until we get to the mortgage payoff phase :)
Way to go!!
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Hi, I'm claiming line #112. This year I have just the mortgage and the Home Depot credit card (0%) interest left.
Mortgage: $126,100
CC: $230Payoff target $28,200 (hoping to get the mortgage below $100,000!)
What do people think? The credit card is 0% and I'll have that paid off in June but I'm tired of paying it. I was thinking of putting my $600 stimulus into my debt but should I just put it all towards the mortgage or kill the CC and put the balance towards the mortgage? I'd snowball the CC payment in Feb ($46).
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Grey Tux personally I would pay off the $230 just to get it out of my hair
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Grey Tux we had a Care Credit card with 0% APR. When it reached that threshold ($200-300 range), it was easier to just pay it off than to make small monthly payments. Do what's best for your peace of mind.
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Ivory Tiger I agree. When it is that small, and you have the means to pay it off, I would do it and then you can focus on the mortgage. Paying $46 per month to get it done would drive me up the wall. I would definitely be trying to figure out how to just get rid of it at that point.
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Grey Tux I honestly don't mind the little payments like that. You could always set it to autopay and ignore it until it's gone. I figure the pennies in my account are worth more than sending them to their account when they aren't charging me to hold the loan. Totally up to you - as others have said, I'd go with whatever gives you the biggest peace of mind.
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farfromtheusual I like the idea of autopay. Didn't even cross my mind! LOL! That would kind of be the best of both worlds, you don't have to think about it and it just goes away on it's own! And you get to keep the pennies. :)
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Grey Tux Yay! Glad I could help! I'm always in favor of not hanging money to someone when it's not costing me any money to do so!
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Line 113 claimed!!
My big goal this year is to pay off half my student loan debt and continue to make regular payments to my Mortgage.
I used the debt smackdown challenge to paydown $17,000 in debt between my mortgage, student loans and my car (which I paid off 3 years early!!) last year! My goal this year is $18,000!
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Forest Green Gazelle
Oh, the feeling of a paid off car is a beautiful thing. And, to pay it off 3 years early...magnificent!! Congratulations!!
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Forest Green Gazelle wow 3 years early is amazing! Way to go!
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Line 114 Reporting in!
I'm starting the year with my only debt being Student Loans and my car loan.Student loans ~ $42,000
Car ~ $11,000Student loans are a complex thing these days. And everything could change come 1/20/21.
Year goal is $6,000 -
Just claimed Line 115. I paid off so much last year that I'm definitely going to keep the momentum going with this year's challenge.
I'm only paying the remainder of my auto loan and my student loan payments are set to continue this year.
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Hey all, I'm Nate. I will be making my monthly Debt Smackdown reports part of my journal. I am on row 71 of the sheet.
This year, I'm targeting my credit cards and a small personal loan. The combined total of these accounts as of December 31, 2020, was $18,331.- Card 1: $4,112, on the float with $2962 of budgeted spending and $1,150 of old debt. The smackdown total includes the card total.
- Card 2: $9412, all of which is on various 0% offers that expire at various times through this year.
- Personal Loan: $4,806, really a stretch goal, but I think it may be feasible to pull off.
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Hi! I'm line 118. I have a truck loan and 2 credit cards I'd like to wipe out this year. Then I can be debt free. I did the smackdown last year and more than met my goal but i had a windfall. Here's hoping I can continue to knock debts out (no windfall on the horizon)? Happy New Year and GOOD LUCK!!!
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Last year was a raging success with the mortgage - we paid off more than $50k. So I'm thrilled to join in again at Line #122. This year we want to knock $50,000 off our mortgage, bringing it to -$90,000. That will feel incredible in this uncertain climate! Our current default expenditure on the mortgage is $39,598 a year, not including interest ($1523 a fortnight) so we want to save another $11,000 onto it, as well as cover approx $4k-$5k in interest.
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Orchid Trombone Here's our journal if anyone would like to play along: https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/g9ht5ds/diary-of-an-impulse-spender
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Hi!
I'm a new YNABer as of December 2020. I'm glad to enter this year educated and motivated to use YNAB to break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt and save more money!
I'm starting this challenge with $16k worth of debt I hope to be done with by the end of year. If I can't make it all go away, I'm hoping to reduce it all down to my student loan which is currently $6.6k and would probably be very close to 0 by the end of this year if it's not entirely paid off. 🤞
I have some smaller loan balances (impulsive purchases of the like I won't be making going forward): a vacuum, kitchenware, 2 credit cards and 1 loan from my brother (thankfully the smallest).This challenge, the software and methodology all give me the extra confidence and accountability I need to get this done once and for all!
Good luck!-
Josh Friese I started in September 2020... and I just have to say that YNAB gave me the tools to exceed my 2020 debt paydown goals - significantly! I wish you the best and know you're going to also exceed your expectations!
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Happy New Year! Line 119 ✌️ Did a full budget refresh to really focus on tackling the debt & building the future - $59,731 in the hole 🤦🏼♀️ All including credit cards and student loans. Excited to see the progress!
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So my first month's pay check is in for 2021, All items budgeted and January's Debt payments made
£1,235.85 of the total smashed! 🎉
But the sad realisation of what I could be doing with that money had I not racked up the debts! 😥
So very much looking forward to 2022 already. With this lot gone, I can't wait for those monthly payments to turn into monthly savings. 🤔
Debt Tally
CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 PAID 🎉
CC2 - £350 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £170 / £1168.17
Loan - £353.51 / £11461.70Grand Total: £20007.41
Total Paid off so far in 2021: £1,235.85
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Wyvern That is a sort of exciting thought for me to think about! There's SO much possibility in knowing that I will be able to use that money for better things in the future! That just gives me more incentive to get rid of the debt now! You're off to an amazing start!
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Wyvern I know what you're saying about "if only". Before I felt in control - I found myself personally offended at my monthly debt payment - with no additional payments. At one point pre-YNAB it was $1500 monthly (approx £1100 I think?).
They way I'm choosing to look at it now - is hot-effing-dog... I'm gonna get a huuuuuuuge raise when I have this sh*t paid off!
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