The Official 2020 Debt Smackdown
Welcome to the Official* 2020 Debt Smackdown!
Happy new year everyone!
That's right, we're back for 2020. Last year we saw about 310 of us brutally destroy about $3 million in debt. Wow. Right. Massive achievement. Can anyone say 'YNAB blog post'?
But there are plenty of us with still some debt to go. And as much as I hate debt, I do love a good spreadsheet, so here we go. A few of us have come into 2020 with some debt remaining. Maybe over spent at Christmas. Either way, this challenge is open to anyone who wants to eradicate that debt from your life.
So what's this about? If you are holding onto some debt as you enter 2020 - 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 2019, we collectively paid down over $2,800,000 in debt! An increase of OVER $1,300,000 than in 2018!
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.
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 2020 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 2020 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 $2,800,000. Let's smash that number again in 2020!
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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Line 345 a few changes:
Total debt I'm trying to pay is correct at $32,556.79
I forgot to list an amount for Travel Debt (although I had already added in total) at $1800.00
I made a $1100 dent in that Travel Debt in January and added it for total of $4375.00 smacked DOWN in January ;)
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With my very tight budget, I'll be stuck on minimums this month which I've made already (although I am expecting a cheque for $200 which is earmarked for my CC repayment), so I'm now down to
Personal loan $945 (finally cracked that $1k mark! YES!)
CC $310.27 - I wonder if I can find 27cents somewhere this month...
This month's payment puts me at 3.15% of my goal for the year. We are going to need some miracles to make the big number happen. 😐
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Diving in! $29,088 total credit card debt. I plan to pay down the balance and monthly interest on each with a total of $1,075 per month, to hit $12,902 by December 2020. Notes: Have been trying to pay off credit card debt for as long as I can remember--since undergrad years. Basically used it to finance my life during a great career that paid very little--and it worked! Now I'm retired--time to bust free.
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January check-in:
Here are the totals from January's money. We put $4550 extra towards the HELOC. Everything else is normal payment schedule. HELOC payment made yesterday. We're refinancing our primary into a 15 year, and rolling the HELOC into that. Supposed to close this month. I'm not sure how to account for that, but with that change in plan, we're going to pay off the Venture this year, and then start throwing money at the new mortgage. But probably not as aggressively, since we'll be out of 'bad' debt by then.
Malibu $6,400.81 401k $30,250.26 HELOC $63,709.51 Venture $27,288.00 -
I realised I have no idea how a spreadsheet works, so rather than messing the darn thing up, I decided not to enter my payments, just report them each month
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Sea Green Griffin If you'd like, we can enter those updates for you! Just let us know and we can update the spreadsheet with your numbers. :)
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Faness thank you! In January I paid off $291 off my only credit card
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Sea Green Griffin I see you're on line 89 and it's been updated! Looking forward to your next post! :)
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February Update:
$1287.67 paid toward debt.
Took some money out of the emergency fund to wipe out the medical debt. It was zero interest, so I probably should have focused on other debts first, but it feels better to have it out of the way. It was the smallest balance, so it is in keeping w the snowball method.
I am still debating snowball (more emotionally encouraging) vs. avalanche (most logical, less interest paid). But the next debt on the list is both the next biggest balance and the highest interest so I don't really have to decide right away. 🙂
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Turquoise T-Rex That feeling of accomplishment is important - it's a real motivator when you feel good about what you're doing. My student loans with the lowest balances have the highest interest rates, so they decided for me (for now). Once you pay off that next balance, tackle the debt that feels right. :)
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I had big plans to stick with spending over $1400 a month on SL, car and mortgage debt but with some medical bills coming in from appointments last fall that plan is going to have to pivot.
The bills were way more than I had anticipated but thankfully I'm able to make it work. I've finally aged my money long enough to roll with the punches. I'm suppose to have another appointment in May for a follow up so I'll have to put aside some money for that too.
As of February I have paid down $2366 on my $17000 goal. I'm almost 14% there!
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Just got paid today with the deduction from the first day of striking. Yikes. It's going to be very tight for the next few months. I hope negotiations will happen sooner than later but it looks bleak. I'm covering my bills but I am being uber-frugal for any spending. I am building up a buffer in my debt snowball line for a short-term emergency. I really want to be able to brave the storm and not touch my EF or investments. February will be minimum payments to my HELOC. But getting through this will make me stronger! I have all year to build up the additional $7500 lump sum to my debt. Surviving the very real reality now is the goal.
Oh and I sold a necklace and my old skis for $190 yesterday which I added to my snowball EF. :)
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Purple Foal Hoping negotiations go better than expected and that the strike is over sooner than you know it! It's great that you're still able to put funds aside in the meantime but, you're right - today's reality comes first. It'll get better! :)
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Faness Thanks for the positivity! I'm going to have to raid my True Expenses for groceries. :)
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hi all. I'm happy to report that although life got in the way and I didn't fill in the final few months of the 2019 smackdown, I did, in fact, smash my debt and came into the new decade debt free other than my (term installment) car loan and our mortgage (which is now significantly more, as we bought a new house).
I wish you all the best with your debt goals on this year's challenge!
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Purple Hail That's great! Belated congratulations on your successful Smackdown! :)
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Purple Hail Congratulations on knocking out those balances last year! Are you planning to join us this year? I know you mentioned the mortgage is new, but we'd still love to have you! :)
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February progress report on my battle against the student loan beast.
As of January 31, 2020: $216,970.75
As of February 6, 2020: $214,965.28
Notes: Regular monthly payment resulted in principal reduction of $1,205.47. Made extra principal payment of $800.00. Total reduction of principal in February: $2,005.47.
Year-end goal is to get the balance down $44,934.56 (from $224,934.56 starting place on January 1, 2020) to $180,000.00. With a $9,969.28 reduction so far this year, I'm now about 22.19% there.
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So I just realized I never actually posted my update in January...oops.
It looks like I will need to readjust my goals already. My car loan was slightly off and it looks like I'll be able to keep up the extra mortgage payment I have been doing each month. So, time to raise the bar.
- Car Loan: $1,946.82/$7,313.03
- Mortgage: $1,328.06/$7,200.00
- Total: $3,274.88/$14,513.03
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Oh man, this is exciting! I just did the math between last month and where my credit cards stand today and since my last check-in, I have paid $508.17 towards our overall debt!!! Yeah-boi!
Well, that glee will be short-lived since we're buying new tires today. 🤦♀️Back to square 2! The best news is that really our debt hasn't increased this month. I have been really strict about eating out and buying as little groceries as possible. Shopping from our pantry as it were and doing a lot of repeat dinners. I'm accepting that there is nothing wrong with eating the same meal over and over again if we all like it. It takes a lot of pressure off me not to be creative and fancy with my cooking. Also, turns out my recipes make exactly the right amount so there aren't ever leftovers to be wasted. We aren't fans of leftovers. Weird, I know. "It's the same thing!" No, it's not, it doesn't taste the same.
The only thing I'm bummed about is really admitting that we don't have any money for other categories like gifts, Christmas and vacation funds, fun and entertainment money. I'll budget for them, but inevitably have to move money when we've made other purchases. For example, I know Valentine's Day is coming up so I set aside $100 as a large buffer because I suspect my husband will be buying me flowers or something and I don't want him to have to ask if he can buy me something. I am worried though that that money will get moved when some expense I've forgotten about or overspending somewhere hits us. Sometimes, after funding all our set bills, I'll just move the rest to my "Forgot to Budget for" category because I genuinely don't know how to prioritize the rest of the money. What method do you have for this?
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PeculiarBella For VD in particular, I set aside $10/mo so that come Feb I have at least $100 to spend on my wife and girls. Here's a tip. Not sure you're in the US, but if you are - Dollar Tree sells heart-shaped balloons. For VD I get my wife balloons, chocolate and some flowers from Trader Joe's. It never costs more than $10
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xgirlmama I am in the US. We LOVE Dollar Tree! Sometimes too much. My husband and I joke that our joint hobby is shopping. Thrift stores, Ross, Dollar Tree. We love a good bargain. This year he's getting a large box of those sugar cookies you get at the grocery store. I think they're disgusting, but he absolutely loves them. 🤷♀️ Me, I'd be happy with a bouquet of flowers and a really sappy card. lol.
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xgirlmama Reminds me of a meme I saw last year. Was the gecko from Geiko saying, "I saved so much money this Valentine's Day by switching to single." 😂 That's me, and one benefit of being single. lol :)
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Purple Foal Same! No ex-fiance to buy for (and pick up the dinner tab - oof) or all the things I had to buy for his family throughout the year. I definitely count it as a win. This year's V-Day will consist of a card for my mom, a cute but not expensive card. 😄
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Peripherie That is a win!! I had a bf who was heavily in debt, but also a sponge. He had no problem ordering the most expensive things on the menu & 3 courses when he knew I'd pickup the tab, begrudgingly. My fam/friends usually just order an entree & wine of course. So it was pure cheek. Better off without those dead weights!! :)
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Hey Guys,
First one of this year, Goal is to pay off 10K for this year and get these balances right down!
January Check in
Starting balance | Ending balance
€2,542.74 Credit Card €2377.04 (165.70)
€12214.34 Bank Personal Loan €11735.53 (478.81)
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January check-in:
Debt one: paid off completely (technically this should not have been included as it’s a credit card I pay off every month, but I was so cranky at myself for overspending in December, that I included the amount of overspending.
Debt two: $431.55
Debt three: $8611.90
Total debt: $9043.45
These figures are after the monthly fee on the second debt ($4.95) and the interest on the third debt ($133.31)
I lowered the amount I’m throwing at my debt slightly as I want to build up more of a buffer. I’m moving across the country in June and although I have budgeted funds for this, I want to make sure that I’m covered for any unexpected expenses that may occur. Along with this, I will be paying less to debt for February and March and more to my buffer. This makes me feel less panicked towards life.
Total debt paid for January: $1375.28
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Scarlett Less panic is a budgeting win! Being properly prepared for that big move prevents debts later and preventing more debt goes hand in hand with paying off existing debt and becoming debt-free. :)
Good luck with your cross-country move!
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So you guys - I was approved for vacation for the week of my kids' March break. I have 8 days off and no savings to take them anywhere. What an opportunity missed 😢 Never again! This is the year things change.
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GroceryAddict Kids need your time, not necessarily a big trip. Research cheap/free things to do in your area. Carve out a small budget and do fun things! Might even be something like baking & decorating a cake/cupcakes that you wouldn't normally have time for. Puzzles, games, geo-catching, nature walks, library events, matinees (cheap tix online), playdates, ... Don't let the money crush your creativity. Post a comment on social media looking for recommendations. Not going into debt can bring out your creativity! :)
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Purple Foal GroceryAddict I agree with Purple Foal. Those ideas are all awesome for a great staycation. :) ❤️
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GroceryAddict Another idea, not sure of the ages of your kids, is a scavenger hunt! I sent a bunch of 11-13 year old boys at a home bday party off in 2 teams to find items in the neighbourhood for each letter of the alphabet. They had to take photographic evidence. They got creative! Some of them went through people's recycling, another asked a man if he had a quarter, took a picture of it, and said thanks & gave it back! lol You could also do it in a mall if the weather is bad (send them off in pairs & with the stick together rule!).
You have time to plan (or keep bending my ear as I have too many ideas) and enlist help/share time with your friends/neighbours. Maybe a bunch of you could go to a museum or something on the same day. Scour for deals on admissions. Have a potluck lunch with your friends & kids. Do a house-crawl: different activity & potluck lunch at each house each day. My boys, 15 & 12, are very content having friends over down the basement, aka mancave, and playing video games predominately, but also boardgames, hide & seek in the dark, and if I give them treats, which is rare, then the time together comes to a whole different level.
There's lots of things to do - just change your mindset. Just heading to an all-inclusive is a cop-out, and let's face it, all those people that will inevitably post a bunch of pictures while on vacation are 1) probably using credit/in debt, and 2) not living in the moment of enjoying their family/time away, and 3) advertising to the masses that their house is empty. Cringe.
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GroceryAddict I'm not sure what things are like in Canada, but near me in the UK a lot of country parks put on activities for kids for free. (Obviously they want you to spend money in the coffee shop, as these activities tend to be a ruse to get parents to visit)
I've taken my daughter to a few and they've been great fun, and gets her outdoors (which isn't a problem, she loves being outdoors). They did things like insect hunting, den building, craft with sticks and leaves... I just took a flask of coffee and some sandwiches for a cheap morning/afternoon out.
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Purple Foal Thanks for continuing to think of me.....I do know there's lots of things we can do and we will definitely make the best of it. The thing is - I haven't been on a real vacation in 16 years and I have never taken my kids on an 'all inclusive' type vacation and haven't travelled- it's something I really hope to do someday soon. I was just annoyed (at myself really) that this, once again, isn't going to be the year. We have a busy life, it's full of planning and running around, I've been a single mom since my youngest was 7 months, sometimes I just really need a break from being the one who plans and organizes everything.
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Turquoise Major I will pipe in and say that at least in the suburban Toronto area, it is not that simple to find free events. We went to Montreal and there was a bunch. Here it seems they charge admission to everything. Plus the cost of getting there.
That said, there are some deals going on due to the teachers rotating strikes.
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Purple Foal said:
I hope negotiations will happen sooner than later but it looks bleak.This upcoming week looks brutal too. 2 days this week.
Then PA day and then Family day. At least you get paid for those, right?
This is why it is so important not to live at the edge where one day of pay can ruin your life. I am sure there are many of your colleagues that are going to come out of this worse for wear.
BTW, what happens with EAs etc during the strike days? Do they still get paid?
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MXMOM I feel like I am at the edge despite my bank accounts being ok. It's looking at my categories & how I was on the path for debt repayment & saving my TEs. I don't want to touch my EF & investments & live on less, so I am really feeling it. But it's ok. I'm happy & content that I don't need to spend money.
I'm just on the fence about my yoga studio. I buy classes 10/$180 with tax and that was fine since if I don't go, I'm not wasting money. But recently I have been going 2x a week and loving it. Really feeling a difference in my body, that I'd even go 3x. I need to buy more classes & have been weighing the option of classes vs monthly unlimited $100 with tax. If I go 6 times, then the monthly is paid for. But I just can't justify having a $100 bill every month when I have been chopping so much. I might just go once a week and do other workouts at home (cardio/weights dvds, plank app) and even do my old yoga dvd. I like the hot class though and it's great at emptying out my mind & detoxifying my body. My neighbours go & we have been good about reaching out about who is going, kind of a motivator although we haven't been travelling together, just seeing each other there. As much as I enjoy going 2x, I might just buy the classes, and hopefully get through the strike hump, then I can re-evaluate the monthly cost if I'm going a lot.
In my board, we get an annual salary that is divided into 26 payments with 3.87% for the year, 3.06% for the summer months, and 6.07% before Xmas, or whatever the % actually are. The kicker is that when we take an unpaid day, or have one taken for us, they deduct the day based on the calculation salary/194 school days, so the actually day is considerably higher than the 1/10 of our paycheque. It sucks, but it's utterly necessary considering how deep the cuts the government are proposing will affect all the students and the future of education. #cutshurtkids #can'tdomorewithless
The EAs are still at school even-though it's closed to teachers & students. We have amazing ones that are doing a lot of the organizing & preparation projects that there isn't time to do. They get paid.
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Purple Foal I say figure out how to keep the yoga. It sounds like it’s very valuable in your life. To me since I hate exercise and yoga, it would be an easy cut. In your case it sounds as important as putting gas in your car so you can get to work. Would you start chopping gas for the car and thinking about walking to work or taking the bus. Or would you use the emergency fund to cover the shortfall? emergency funds are there to be used. And while this strike is not a level 10 catastrophe, it is still an unexpected event that is causing financial strain. Which to me warrants touching the emergency fund to supplement the difference.
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MXMOM Thanks for the input. I'm going to buy the 10 classes & then reconsider a monthly plan once they are done. I'm rationing my money now since I don't know how long this strike will continue. But yoga will keep me healthy, especially since I feel great this year considering I had 3 infections last winter and pneumonia the year before.
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Purple Foal as I sometimes mention you can pay the doctor, or you can eat better food... I think yoga falls into the same category. If it's keeping you well, and sane, especially through the stress, then it's worth figuring out how to squeeze it in the budget. I hope the strike is over soon!!!
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farfromtheusual That's a great way of putting it!! Thanks for the positivity. :)
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Purple Foal You're welcome!!! You've got lots of people here rooting for you!
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farfromtheusual I absolutely feel that way about this forum as I'm sure we all do. We don't often get cheerleaders in real life so in tune to our goals. It's so great to find people on the same page, often in the same boat, and who can offer objective advice (to not end with another cliche). I won't feel guilty going to yoga tomorrow. It's a prescription for success. :)
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Purple Foal Go enjoy your yoga!!! I could use it today, but I won't be able to make it to class until Friday.
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February Check-In: Paid $2383 toward debt. That's $83 extra and, if I continue that every month this year, I'll be debt-free one month sooner.
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Pay Me To Draw Way to go! That's a huge amount! Is this payment plan sustainable or are you on a sprint to crush it? How long until you'll be debt-free? :)
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Re: spreadsheet - Does anyone know why all users (ie; myself) don't show up in the second tab called 'debt payoff thermometer?"
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GroceryAddict No idea what you're talking about! lol
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GroceryAddict There's a drop down list for you to select from. If you click on the user listed, you can then scroll down to select yourself (or any other user). :)
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Faness The drop-down menu on the debt thermometer tab only has the first 30 or so users, it doesn't have the full list. The other tab, the YTD Debt Progress Chart has the first 180 or so. Neither has everyone.
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Ruth Elizabeth I just noticed those lists cut off.
BritishMuseum I hate to be a bother, but is this something we can take a look at?
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Faness Will have a nose now :)
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Faness Ruth Elizabeth GroceryAddict
Fixed it! For some reason the formula that were driving that bit cut off at row 40 and row 180 in respective sheets!
It should now work for 1000 users :)
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BritishMuseum You are magical! Thank you!!
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BritishMuseum Thanks for doing that! Looking forward to filling that bar up :)
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BritishMuseum Thank you!
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Here we go again! I joined last year, but wasn't able to hang around very long... once my free trial of YNAB ran out, I really wasn't in a financially steady place, and couldn't afford the subscription. Anxiety about money had a stranglehold on me, which only got worse after I finished school and couldn't find a job for months... long story long, I didn't come back to this challenge - I'm sorry about that. This year, I've gotten a lot better about being good to myself and finding the flexibility to come back from setbacks, and I'm ready to try this again!
I have the following debt:
School: $65
Medical: $245
CC1: $1030
CC2: $1080I know I can't pay it all down this year. But I need to eliminate that school and medical debt ASAP, and I'd like to make a dent in the credit cards. I think getting each card down to about $500 is manageable - or, at least, just $1000 total. So, in total, I'd like to pay $1420 of my debt off. That is... a lot of money. But I know I can do it if I stay focused and stay calm! I claimed line 352 on the spreadsheet. Here's to a happy, healthy, slightly-closer-to-debt-free 2020!
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EP You got this. Just one small bite at a time. Welcome back!
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EP welcome (back)! You haven’t let a setback cause you to give up, and that’s a win. I’m also working with numbers that look small compared to many others in the challenge, but are huge to me.
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I wanted to share a HUGE relationship win in terms of budgeting/financial planning. I am the primary breadwinner in our family - my husband works part-time from home, is also a freelance artist, is in charge of most of the cleaning, and saves us a TON of money by doing a lot of the renovations on the 110-year-old house we're trying to restore. I do all the budgeting/bill paying.
Something that causes me a lot of stress is knowing we'll be in a better financial position when we pay off our debt, but not wanting to say no to my husband. He doesn't ask for stupid or selfish stuff - a lot of the time it's something he wants to do for the house, which benefits both of us. So I'm over here like "Gotta pay off $30K of debt this year and we'll still have tens of thousands left after that" and he's thinking "Really need to call a mason to rework one of our chimneys and get the electrician in here" and then when he says stuff like that, I freak out because I feel like we're not even remotely on the same page. There is no money for a mason.
Anyway, we sat down Sunday night to make a list of house projects we want to try to prioritize this year. I just wanted to brainstorm and see what we came up with. I was so pleased to realize that almost everything on our list is stuff we can do ourselves at minimal cost (or in some cases we've already purchased supplies, like paint or a new lighting fixture). It made me feel so much better, going into the major renovation season, knowing he doesn't have it in his mind that we can somehow afford to do several $10K projects this year. Once we're out of debt, we'll have so much more room to breathe and be able to pay someone else for the things we can't do ourselves! Yay for communication. We're so much better when we feel like we're actually on the same team. (We've been together for almost 24 years....you'd think we'd have this down by now, but it's a process I suppose.)
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Cyan Koala AWESOME!!!! That is a huge win!!
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Cyan Koala getting him on the same page is a huge win! Congratulations!!
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Cyan Koala I love this! No matter how long a relationship has lasted, there's still room for relationship wins!
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Slammed the balance of our furnace repair bill and 1/3 of my husband's tax bill last week. Felt really good! I had been paying the bare minimum and then after looking at the interest and how long it was taking to pay off (after I joined the challenge - didn't think to look too closely before), I realized how silly it was to stretch it out. Looking forward to this year of eye openings :)
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Congratulations!
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Hi everyone, this is a tremendous idea! I've been playing around on YNAB for years now (!!) but this year I am really going to take it seriously and pay off debt. I started the year with £6,100.25 in credit card/consumer debt and c.$38,000 in student loan debt. I'm going to pay off all of the credit card debt (have £4,810.25 remaining) and aim/hope to pay $16,000 off my student loan. Cannot wait for next payday to smash some more! Good luck everyone, we can do this!
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Forest Green Motherboard Welcome aboard the debt payoff express - I'm happy you're joining us! :)
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I’m really pleased with myself - I paid off one of the small credit cards that had a balance under $400. It was a little under $1,500 three years ago and I was struggling to make even the bare minimum between unemployment and a divorce. And today it’s a $0.00 balance. So I have a win for February!
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Sea Green Saxophone Congratulations on knocking out that credit card! Getting rid of a balance you've carried for years is definitely a reason to celebrate! 🎉
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Faness 🙏🏾 thank you!
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Sea Green Saxophone Wahoo!!!! Way to go!! That feels SO good!!!
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Sea Green Saxophone woohoo!! Well done. 🎉
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Doing the impatient dance over here waiting for my tax return to hit the account so that I can pay off my credit card float card.....
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@farfromtheusual So close! Then a celebration dance once you send the payment off. 💃
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Nicole YESSS I'm obsessively checking my accounts now just to see if it's pending... I can't WAIT to make that payment! This actually means that I'm REALLY close to being able to be debt free personally by the end of the year. (There's LOTS of debt in my business currently, but to be debt free in my personal accounts would be AMAZING, and I honestly don't think that's ever happened in my adult life at this point.)
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farfromtheusual Can't wait until you get there and we can all celebrate with you!
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Violet Drill It can't come fast enough!
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