End of January Check-in.

Made minimum payments on all debt, plus $65 of snowball to my new focus debt. Transferred my discover cc over to a 0% balance transfer card (18 months to pay it off) This is the new focus debt as I want to make sure I pay it off before the 18 months so I don't get charged the extra interest. So far, on track to meet my goal for the year!  

February and March Check-in:

    February - spent extra (unbudgeted) on my CC so had to use more of a windfall to cover it to get back to     "zero" than I would have liked. But...i'm rolling with it since I made the choice to spend! 

    March - was able to put an extra $500 towards debt with my tax return. This was the first year ever I've     felt comfortable not sending the whole tax return to debt and actually upped my butter month category! I     have a full paycheck saved now for 'emergencies'! (along with other TE saved too!)

I also redid what to do with windfalls and extra cash. I looked into what each paycheck does: 

• IO/Month ahead - 50%
• Debt - 35%
• TE - 15%

While i'd like the numbers to look different on the debt side, I've decided that i'm going to follow this breakdown and send 35% to debt and then 65% to TE and getting a month ahead

Steel Blue Tugboat I know it is a typo but it is hilarious to read "butter month category" That is a ton of baking!! LOL. What a great giggle this morning.

Navy Blue Pegasus hahaha I didn't notice that! Glad it made you laugh...I think I'll leave it as is! :)

January
I made a bunch of changes to my plan for 2021, which y'all can read about in my journal if you're interested.

Credit Card 1: 3062.06 (pay off May/June)

Credit Card 2 (BT from CC1): 5794.78 (pay off October/November)

Car: 3952.19 (November) - no change because I had already made my January payment before joining the challenge.

No longer aggressively targeting savings. Making debt payoff my #1 2021 goal.

 February

Due to some HVAC surprises, I've had to pivot yet again, all detailed in my journal as well :) Dates reflected to show the changes below.

Credit Card 1: 1973.28 (May)

Credit Card 2: 5626.00 (June 2022)

Car: 3530.12 (July)

Great progress this month, thanks to it being a Quarterly Bonus month!

SewPurple Thank goodness for quarterly bonus month coming so that the surprises don't happen during the month with no extra!

March

Credit Card 1: PAID OFF!

Credit Card 2: 5539.00 (June 2022)

Car: 3106.27 (Now targeting June instead of July, hoping for May)

Awesome progress again! WOOT!

SewPurple 💃💃💃

SewPurple 🎉 🎉 🎉

April

Credit Card 1

Credit Card 2: 5452.00 (June 2022)

Car: 2069.49 (Now targeting June instead of July, hoping for May)

Zoë 

January Update:

Balances (1st Jan -> 31st January):

• 2 Credit Cards remain PIF
• Overdraft: €800 -> €750: Jan €50
• Bank Loan - to be PIF in 2021: €4,593.20 -> €4,632.22: Jan €0 (+ Interest €39.02)
• Private Loan: €24,000 -> €23,500 (no interest) - target for the year €6k: Jan €500
• Mortgage: target paydown for 2021: €4,095.44 - YTD: €511.93: Jan €511.93

I was taking part in the 34-day reset challenge this month so it was a very low spend month!  But after having to WAM so much at the end of last year I'm focusing those wins on building up my true expenses.  Ireland has been in level 5 (highest level) lockdown for all of January and it's now set to continue until at least 5th March so I'm going to continue only spending on essentials (no take aways!) for February but give myself a little more leeway.  I've been staying away from browsing online shopping so going to try to continue to avoid that as well.

I went ahead and restructured my bank loan to be finished in Dec-21 with no change to the interest rate.  I know I could have just made extra payments to achieve this but now I'm committed and the money can't "accidentally" be used for anything else.  With the timing of this I ended up with an interest charge this month but no direct debit taken.  But this is the debt I hate the most so I'm really glad to have a plan locked in that means it will be gone by the end of the year.

Mortgage payments are ticking along nicely.  My balance is finally permanently under the value of my original drawdown (€133k) so I'm very happy about that.  I knew when I took a 6 month deferred start on payments that it would take until now but it has been awful to look at the balance while it was higher than the original loan value.

I got into a bad habit last year with my overdraft payoffs of not putting anything towards it if I couldn't budget at least €100.  So this year if I can locate even a spare €20 in my budget it's going there.  This month I found €50.  Hopefully I can get this paid off by the end of 2021 as well but this year is going to be tight.

Overall, I think it's been a good start to the year and hopefully I can stick to my plan and achieve my goals.  Good luck everyone!

Zoë 

February Update:

Balances (1st Jan -> 28th February):

• Credit Card remains PIF
• Overdraft: €800 -> €500: Feb €250
• Bank Loan - to be PIF in 2021: €4,593.20 -> €4,190.35: Feb €441.87
• Private Loan: €24,000 -> €23,000 (no interest) - target for the year €6k - YTD €1k: Feb €500
• Mortgage: target paydown for 2021: €4,095.44 - YTD €1,023.86: Feb €511.93
• Total debt payoff Feb: €1,703.80

I bit the bullet this month and cancelled my 2nd credit card.  I'd been holding on to it as a safety net but given the monthly and annual fees I realised this was a waste.

Between my savings from the 34-day reset challenge and a small tax refund I managed to put €250 towards my overdraft.  This is such a great boost as my overdraft was originally €1,000 so now I'm 50% of the way there!  It's become a bit of a personal challenge now to see how long I can go without getting a takeaway (we're on level 5 (Ireland's highest level) lockdown until at least 5th April so eating out isn't an option) so between that and being more mindful with groceries I'm hoping I'll be able to knock out the remainder of this well ahead of my end of the year goal.

 Everything else is as normal so just really concentrating on building up true expenses for the 1st half of the year so I don't spend the 2nd half of the year WAM-ing like I did last year.

Hope everyone's feeling well 🌞

Zoë 

March Update:

Balances (1st Jan -> 31st March):

• Credit Card remains PIF
• Overdraft: €800 -> €250: Mar €250
• Bank Loan - to be PIF in 2021: €4,593.20 -> €3,807.38: Mar €441.87 (+ Int €58.90)
• Private Loan: €24,000 -> €22,500 (0% int) - target for 2021 €6k - YTD €1.5k: Mar €500
• Mortgage: target paydown for 2021: €4,095.44 - YTD €1,535.79: Mar €511.93 (+ Int €933.39)
• Total debt payoff Mar: €1,703.80
• YTD: €4,469.53 / €17,803.73: 25.1%

I had some unexpectedly high bills this month and was trying to adjust my debt paydown plan when I got an unexpected salary increase!  So I was able to put another €250 towards my overdraft.  I'm hoping to keep up the momentum for at least one more month and get it fully paid off.

Last year I kept feeling like every time I got 2 steps forward something happened to pull me back a step so feeling very positive this year that I've been making steady progress while still funding true expenses.

Take-aways / eating out 2021 YTD: 0!

Sending everyone some positivity 🌈

Zoë Congrats on the 0 takeaways! That's impressive!!!

Zoë yay for steady progress!! Keep on keeping on!

Violet Yeti Thanks! This year I made a change when allocating my income - I fill in what I need/want to put to debt first - minimums and any snowball/extra payments.  Last year other than minimums I was doing it last on the theory I could put anything left over to extra payments.  But it's very easy to have nothing left over that way!  Maybe this was obvious to everyone else but this shift in mindset & process has been a gamechanger for me so far this year.  

Zoë 

April Update:

Balances (1st Jan -> 30th April):

• Credit Card remains PIF
• Overdraft: €800 -> €250: Apr €0
• Bank Loan - to be PIF in 2021: €4,593.20 -> €3,365.51: Apr €441.87
• Private Loan: €24,000 -> €22,000 (0% int) - target for 2021 €6k - YTD €2k: Apr €500
• Mortgage: target paydown for 2021: €4,095.44 - YTD €2,047.72: Mar €511.93
• Total debt payoff Apr: €1,453.80
• YTD: €5,923.33 / €17,803.73: 33.3%

Everything normal this month except that I wasn't able to put anything to my overdraft.  This is mainly because I bought a sofabed that was still €200 away from being fully funded. 😱  Some online shopping crept back in as well so that didn't help either.

I also broke my no take-aways / eating out in 2021 YTD with pizza delivery. 🍕 It was worth it but I'm going to try to stick to only once a month and it has to come out of my grocery money so hopefully that will keep me in check.

I am now really glad I restructured my bank loan to shorten the term so that it will be definitely gone by the end of the year.  April would definitely have been a month when I'd have convinced myself not to make an extra payment but now I've no choice because the higher amount is on direct debit!

Hope everyone stays safe as the world opens back up 🌞

Zoë if you can stick with once a month that would be awesome! That's sort of my goal for us as well. It's SO tempting to be lazy and just order out when we are busy!

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. :)

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.

Emma Catherine Impressive & you're 24!! I wish I knew now what you are learning... :)

Emma Catherine wow, thats awesome!

Emma Catherine For January I paid off $277.64 of my debt. And for February I've paid $502.64!

Emma Catherine In March I paid off $275 towards towards student loans. And in April I begin paying off my new car loan

January Update

Paid $317 and change, so amount remaining is $4,673!

February Update

Paid $917 this month, so amount remaining is $3,756!

March Update

Paid $3,756! ALL DONE! PAID OFF ALL MY DEBT! YEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Krys GET IT GIRL!!! Way to go... I bet that feels awesome!

Krys Woo! Oh man congrats!

Krys Fantastic!! 🎉

Krys Amazing news! Congrats! 🎉

Krys CONGRATS!!!!!

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!

Coral Network thank you!! Best of luck to us all! I know the feeling of being out will be worth it. 

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!!

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. 

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.

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!

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!

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. 

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.

92to0 AWESOME. Can't wait to watch your progress!

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. :)

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 :)

Orchid Cup Amazing!! Mine is up in 2024 & I'm going with a mortgage broker after listening to podcasts. :)

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!

farfromtheusual Yes!  It feels so freeing.  I hope it goes well for you!

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!

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. :)

R Bro 

I love it! Hittin' that debt hard right away! What a great feeling 😄

R Bro wahoo!!!!

For February, we are paying $1250. This brings us over 40% of our goal. On our way to reaching our goal by mid year. 

For March, we were able to pay $1250 once again. We are now at 58% of our goal for the year. Hopefully will be able to pay off this last credit card by May.

R Bro WOW! Awesome, way to go!

April: $1250.00 again.

We are now at 73% of our goal paid. Trying to move resources around and hopefully double up the payment and take care of the remaining balance in May. With a little bit of planning we may be able to do it. Regardless, the remaining balance of the last CC will be paid in June at the latest.

R Bro You're so close!!!

For May we paid $2527.95. We are now at 100% of our goal for the year.

This includes the approximately $2100 to reach our goal plus another charge from this previous month.

This means we now have no credit card debt.

My wife and I were discussing it, and we are now 100% credit card debt free for the first time since we can remember, and we've been married almost 25 years. In November of 2019 when we started using YNAB, we had two credit cards and a line of credit which totalled just under $24k in debt. By January of 2020, we owed just under 20k on the last card, and have paid that off in 16 months while having two kids in college. Prior to using YNAB, we were accumulating debt each month with no hope of making any real progress.

It is still hard to believe we've made this much progress, and it makes me happy to come here and see dozens of others get to experience the same joy we have.

With all this being said, this is only the beginning.  As we approach our retirements within the next 10-15 years, it is now our responsibility to build for the future of our family including our college-aged kids and their future families. I am happy to say that I am going to spend the remainder of the year trying to reach my new goal in the savings challenge.

Best of luck to everyone!

R Bro Awesome! Congrats to you both!!

R Bro Congratulations!! That is wonderful news! And a fantastic way to celebrate is in the savings challenge. I'm so happy for you!

R Bro Congratulations! 🎉That's amazing!

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!!

Grey Tux personally I would pay off the $230 just to get it out of my hair 

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.

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. 

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.

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.  :)

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!

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!!

Forest Green Gazelle wow 3 years early is amazing! Way to go!

Orchid Trombone Here's our journal if anyone would like to play along: https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/g9ht5ds/diary-of-an-impulse-spender

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! 

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!

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!

January Check In now that all the wage incomes have arrived - £1,235.85 Paid off this month.

I have cleared the smallest card balance completely! Good feeling to get one squared away, even if it was just a little one! 

Debt Tally

CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 PAID 🎉
CC2 - £350 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £170 / £1168.17
Loan - £353.51 / £11461.70

Grand Total: £20007.41

Total Paid off so far in 2021: £1,235.85

Wyvern wahoo!!

Small amendment to January check in - I bit the bullet and threw £6000 savings at the debt to ensure we get it gone ASAP. This still leaves us a nice buffer just in case, but has taken a 3rd off the starting balance!

Debt Tally

CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 PAID 🎉
CC2 - £350 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £170 / £1168.17
Loan - £6353.51 / £11461.70

Grand Total: £20007.41

Total Paid off so far in 2021: £7,235.85

Wyvern WOW! Way to go! That's huge!!

Wyvern So Februarys payment all made. May manage a few more pennies at the end of the month, we will see how the month pans out.

Another £1,128.71 gone!  🎉

Debt Tally

CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 - PAID OFF 🎉
CC2 - £955.20 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £340 / £1168.17
Loan - £6707.02 / £11461.70

Grand Total: £20007.41

Total Paid off so far in 2021: £8,364.56

Still to Go: £11,642.85

End of February tidy up complete and managed to gather another £500 after covering next months expenses. So let's get that over to the debt!

Total Debt cleared in February  - £1,628.71 gone!  🎉

Debt Tally

CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 - PAID OFF🎉
CC2 - £955.20 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £340 / £1168.17
Loan - £7157.92 / £11461.70

Grand Total: £20007.41

Total Paid off so far in 2021: £8,815.46

Still to Go: £11,191.95

End of March Checkin  - Managed to Snowball another £650 on top of normal debt payments this month - Not quite as good as last month, but had a few more commitments this month to cover.

Total Debt cleared in March  - £1,234.11 gone!  🎉

Debt Tally

CC1 - £362.34 / £362.34 - PAID OFF🎉
CC2 - £1015.80 / £7015.20
Catalogue - £510 / £1168.17
Loan - £8161.43 / £11461.70

Grand Total: £20007.41

Total Paid off so far in 2021: £10,098.67

Still to Go: £9,908.74