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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£799.52 paid this month. Ugh, the end seems a looooong way off!
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Blue Sander but it's a closer long ways off rather than a father long ways off 😂
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Blue Sander But you're making steps in the right direction and that's what matters! We're all working towards that end and we'll get there! :)
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An update to this! I just got reimbursed for some work expenses, so was able to pay off my smallest debt. Total paid for February is £912.42. Phew!
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February check in - didn't pay as much as I had hoped but I did not go into further debt on my credit cards so that was a win for this month.
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Orchid Cup Winning!
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Orchid Cup That is a win!!!
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Hi everyone! Just checking in for February. I paid $3213.20 toward my debt this month. That puts me at $5863.20 of my $40k goal. I'm hoping to build some better momentum in March. I've been hesitant to pay much more than minimum payments with the hubby still on workers comp pay. It's hard to get into this too much when I'm not confident how much he will be paid right now. Hoping to see him go back to work at least light duty by end of March. Everyone PLEASE keep your fingers crossed! Then we can get this party started!! Keep up the good work everyone 😎
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Sea Green Vacuum It looks like you are doing a great job at the party so far!! I'm crossing 🤞fingers he is able to get back to light duty healthy and ready for it!
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February Check In
I paid 1014.01 to debt, bringing my total percentage paid up to 17.70%.
$700 to personal loan 1.
$84.78 to the first credit card I will pay off.
Minimum payments to other two credit cards.
Personal loan should be paid off in April, and credit card one should be paid off by June. After that I'm not entirely sure the rate at which the next two will be paid off, because I'll need to switch most of the personal loan payments to funding a sinking fund for my college tuition.
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I actually signed up for YNAB to achieve this goal.
I have $19465.31 debt across 1 credit card, 1 personal loan and 1 car loan. As a grad student I don't think I'll be able to get rid of all of it this year but want to have it all gone by the time I finish my masters. I set my 2020 goal to $11465.40
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April Update:
So I didn't update in March as I was still getting my head around the software. Unfortunately in March, with my gym being closed down I had to add a little bit to the CC to get myself some weights and a step to continue with my fitness goals. These goals are equally as important as my financial goals due to several health issues I am managing and I absolutely could not go for however long we are in lockdown without resistance training. Luckily this spending was offset slightly by the gym holding membership payments until they can reopen and the step getting lost in transit and the amount being refunded. It means I cannot do everything I planned but can still get some training in to maintain my other goals. All of my other payments continued as normal.
April has definitely had some good news financially. Firstly, I was approved for a small carer's allowance for looking after my nan and between that and some stimulus money I received has meant that I now have all of my May immediate expenses (bills and discretionary spending like groceries) covered. Now I don't have enough for the May payments on my debts, and also I have a bit of a mental block on buffering debt payments as isn't it better to pay that money onto the debts straight away, but I am functionally buffered for May. I will also work on buffering my car loan payments over the next 2 months.
Secondly, I have way underspent in several categories for April which accelerates my debt plan. For March and April I had met my goals for my inflexible True Expenses (Car Rego and maintenance, YNAB subscription for next year etc) from leftover money at each pay check, but have left a couple of more flexible ones until I have better control over my budget (e.g. 12 months prepayment on my gym membership). I also plan to build an eFund this year. I am planning on using the leftover money from April to fill in the essential TE on the 1st of May and from there I have 2 options. I can either add what is left to my eFund or I can pool it until I have enough to finish paying off the personal loan in full. I have been paying more than I need to on this loan as it is due to be fully paid this year and so it seemed better for me to go with a modified snowball approach to my debt. If I get this loan paid off early I plan to find a 0% balance transfer for my CC debt. Then half the amount I currently pay on the loan plus what I currently pay on my CC (slightly above minimum + interest accrued) would be enough to pay the remaining balance during the 15months 0%. The remainder of the current payment would then go to my eFund. If May spending is similar to April I should be able to pay off the remaining ~$1600 on that loan by the end of June.
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Trainee Researcher That's all great news and great strategy!
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farfromtheusual Thanks for the encouragement. Sometimes I feel like I need it.
May Update:
The money for my regular debt debits is sitting in the account ready for next week. I paid less on the credit card this month as my bank dropped the minimum payments for the current covid situation.
The best news is that I will definitely have the personal loan paid off next month. This is 4 months earlier than it was supposed to be paid off so yay.
I also already have most of my total car repayments for July set aside and will finish buffering that and my credit card payments in June. So by the end of next month I will officially be 1 month buffered for all regular expenses.
Unfortunately I will have to make a $2000 compulsory repayment on my student debt this year. Due to a lump sum payment I will be over the threshold for taxable income and there hasn't been regular deductions from my pay check like will happen when I actually earn above the threshold in the future. Unfortunately I also have to put aside money for my car rego that I usually pay on my tax return that I won't be getting this year. This is causing me a bit of stress as the amount I have to put aside is well outside of what my budget will allow. Fingers crossed I get a scholarship for my work this semester otherwise I will have to organise a payment plan on it.
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February Update:
paid 1690.56
also had to add 2500 back to the debt pile because I 'forgot' to include it in the initial post. which puts us at 28.98% of the way.
plan is still to have all that paid off by the end of the year! -
We are slogging through. My IDR for student loans got recalculated. It's $763 more per month. This is going to slow things down even more. Grateful for the little things though. I did get a career out of it. Just keep swimming. This month has been pretty bad, we made $0 progress towards debt paydown and have spent it hunkered down to recover from last month's move. We will be living on one income indefinitely at this point, so I'm going to be turtling my way through these next few months. Our goal is to decrease debt, but primarily not to add any in this season! Happy Black History Month (USA)!!
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Slate Blue Vacuum Even turtles make progress. Hang in there, it won't always be this way. Not adding any more new debt will make you happier in the long run than paying down numbers on the debt but only adding to it again. Be patient, you'll get there!
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Line claimed. Total debt owed: a scary €14,186.
I paid off Credit Card 1 in 2019. 🎉
Credit Card 2 is owed €7147. I have arranged for the balance to be transferred to a new card that is interest-free for 12 months, so I will take advantage of that window and pay it off ASAP.
I also have a general loan that I used to get a second-hand car and some dental work I needed. I've paid off almost 4k on that thus far. The current balance is approx €7039 (though that figure jumps around depending on interest.) I pay €282 on this a month and am happy to continue doing this until the credit card is paid off.
All this to make me as attractive as possible to banks when I apply for a mortgage later in 2020.
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February check-in: this month was a lot of unexpected or one-time expenses (over $1000 in medical costs, paying fees for my licensing exam, travel, etc. ) According to undebt.it I paid $6000+ towards my debt, but I also took on almost $3000 in new debt towards the end of the month, though most of it is reimbursable by insurance or work. Feeling down about how out-of-control things felt when my kids got sick while we were on vacation, really hard to keep focus on my budget when so much else was going on. That's a skill I'm still learning.
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Sparkleworker It takes practice, and learning to not judge yourself or be critical when it feels like you're back sliding. It's just part of life. Eventually, with YNAB's help, those back slides won't happen as much, and they'll get smaller and smaller. Just be patient and compassionate with yourself right now. You didn't get into the hole over night, and you won't get out of the hole overnight, but at least now you've got a light in the darkness to keep you focused.
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February was definitely tighter than January but I managed to stay on track. March will also be a challenge because of some compromises I made for February, but I think I will be able to stay on track just fine. Onwards and upwards!
- January Payment: $1,900.00
- January Loans Remaining: $16,100.00
- February Payment: $1,650.00
- February Loans Remaining: $14,450.00
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I had my kickoff and January update already posted but I guess it was also deleted in the "big sweep"!
Here's what we have so far through February:
- CC debt from home renovations (0%) - paid $840.43/$2,935.87
- Car payment - $951.62 / $5,771.87
- Student loans - $1,542.42 / $9,235.67
- House - $1,458.92 / $8,873.10
It's bonus time at work so it will be split towards paying off the credit card (I know, it's at 0%, but I just want to get those house renovations behind me!) and building our Roth IRAs and emergency fund! Woohoo!!
Thanks for all of the motivation here. It's great to see everyone do his/her best each month.
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February check-in: Our overall debt was reduced by $1,986.02 from last month, thanks to the debt snowball/snowflake, plus in January I received an extra paycheck, which generally just adds to the snowflake. Got my (very small) income tax refund, which will go towards the March payments. Still haven't gotten our windfall from the child support. We do know that DHS got "some money", but he is appealing the decision, so his accounts are still frozen until March. Again, this could be up to around $33,000, we just don't know yet. Could also be more like $33, lol.
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February Check-in: My debt increased by $1880 dollars to a total of $51,754 credit card debt. I knew this was going to happen though, because I had already scheduled and paid for most of a conference I attended, supporting my business. This shouldn't happen again, because I'll save money for such expenses in the future. Next few months hopefully will see a steady decrease in my debt.
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Magenta Horn if it's for your business, then it's deductible, though, which is the good news (as is any interest accrued from the debt!). That's the up side that I hang onto when I notice I'm back sliding in my business (like I probably will this month/into March!)
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farfromtheusual farfromtheusual Thanks for the support
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February Update:
I was about to pay 799.63 towards my CC debt bringing my total down to 860.00.
But I also started to look at my total debt picture a little different. Originally I was only planning on focusing on my credit card debt. But I have come to see (or really look at clearly for the first time) my overall debt picture.
I bought my phone with an installment plan. I pay $32.00 a month on top of my phone bill for it and currently still over $379 overall. After I have crushed my CCs I am going to work on getting rid of that.
Next, I have a personal loan from my family of which I owe $13,030 on. There is no interest or rush and I have a dedicated payment of $260 a month going to them but I want to start to chip away at it. Once the CCs and phone are gone I am going to use the snowballed money to up my payment to $400 or $500 a month which will pay it off faster.
And then there is my mortgage which I still owe $91,705.96 on. I thankfully don't have PMI anymore but after all this other debt is a bit more manageable I would like to throw more towards my principal.
So, overall, I have done well in February but my desired total of debt paid has also gone up as my 'view' has widened. It sucks to take a realistic picture of where I am versus just saying 'I only have two CCs' but it also feels freeing to have a true understanding of what I am capable of tackling now and in the future.
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Peripherie I know how you feel! About to do my first monthly check in and this exercise has made me realise that I have more 'debts' than I thought I did. A very valuable mental shift though for the future :)
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So I have two main debts my line of credit $$16,327 and my mortgage $57,328. I have started a side gig in 2020. Once I get my vacation funded my extra funds from my side gig will be going towards my line of credit. In May I normally get a raise so instead of just absorbing my raise I am going to increase my mortgage payment by 10% to help pay it off sooner. My boyfriend is also moving in with me in June. I will have some funds freed up because he will be contributing towards some of the bills that I currently cover at a 100%. Those funds will be going to wards my line of credit. So far I have paid $1,410 towards my debt this year.
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TLW March updated:
LOC $200 paid: $41.13 interest pad, $158.87 on principal. Balance $15,790.24
Mortgage $364.24 paid: $114.11 interest paid, $60.12 property tax paid, $13.04 insurance paid, $177.07 on principal. Balance $56,710.43.
Hope everyone is staying safe out there. I am fortunate enough that I have a job that I can do from home. The current economic downturn due to the Covid-19 outbreak is hurting my RRSPs some but I am finding some positives amongst the chaos. I'm saving on gas where I'm not driving back and forth to the office every day. Gas prices are at an all time low since 2009 (even though I can't go anywhere lol) and it only cost me $26 to put in 2/3 of a tank in my Rav 4. I haven't gone grocery shopping since March 12th and I haven't really put a dent in my freezer yet. My goal is to try to go a whole month without going to the grocery store. I have a good portion of April already funded and my AOM is 26 days an all time best for me since I started to use YNAB back in July of 2017. Hoping to improve my AOM to 30+ days in April.
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TLW there certainly are some silver linings to the situation!
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TLW This feels incredibly positive and motivational! GO YOU!
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TLW There are some silver linings to staying home! I'm so stocked up as well, which was a budget thing I did before COVID to get things on sale & stock up. It will be getting depleted & then I'll have to start over. But it feels good to be on track. Keep going! :)
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Updating my February to March check-in. I stayed the course and didn't spend on any of my credit cards (barring the interest payments, but I can't quite help that). I made my $1200 of payments, I didn't use my credit cards to make any purchases, and I got my tax return a few days ago to help me stay off the paycheck to paycheck cycle. My next major objective is to raise my AoM to keep myself feeling safe.
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January & February Check in! Paid $2603.55 last month and $2271.56 toward debt this month. Looking forward to being done with this by the end of the year!
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I managed to pay off $307 off my cc debt, bringing the total down to $4452 in February
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Doing my check-in for Feb a little late. Found out I will get a good raise this year and also that I overpaid taxes in my first year as a new business owner, so not only will I get a good refund, but I'll be able to bring home more of my income this year since I have correct tax figures. Hoping to exceed my goal for this debt smack down with this new information.
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Slate Blue Storm wahoo!!
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I've been dreading my February check in for a while now, as it was a particularly expensive month for me. $160 on a 6 month supply of Flea/Tick/Heartworm for my dog, a $200 trip with my friend that I'd had planned for a couple months but hadn't properly budgeted for, and $100 for my dog's neuter at 1 year. I also had a ~$40 HelloFresh charge for a box I accidentally forgot to skip. I've since just cancelled the entire account so this doesn't happen again. So February, at best, was a wash. Overall, I backslid ~$200, which was my fault. However, I still have high hopes for March! at the very least I should have a small bit of tax refund coming my way.
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SiruhTheSantas I'm sorry it was a rough month, but you have a good attitude and that's huge. One of my biggest problems is staying motivated when things don't exactly go according to plan, and if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that things won't always go according to plan! Hang in there!
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SiruhTheSantas back sliding happens, just make note of it, adjust the numbers, and keep going with renewed focus. The more you do it, the better you'll get at it.
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SiruhTheSantas Been there on the HelloFresh skip miss! There's a number of things I've had to cancel as I realised I skip them so much it's not worth the risk. So now the problem is solved :)
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SiruhTheSantas A few years ago there was a delivery service like HelloFresh, but for smoothies. They mailed you fresh fruits and additives to make different smoothies each week. I went out of town one week, didn't cancel the delivery, and came home to a box of fully molded over produce on the porch. 😖 I cancelled then, too.
Things happen, but the important part is you aren't letting them keep you down. Onward, to March! :)
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I'm a little late for the February check-in as well. We had a bit of a rough moment when I learned my company wouldn't be paying out management bonuses this year. (No apparent reason other than that they preferred to pay the shareholders rather than their management team. I was bitter, to say the least, considering I've taken on substantial additional work over the past three years with no real financial incentive to do so, and basically got repaid with a pay cut this year. We'll get a measly cost of living increase in August that will be eaten up by the increase in insurance contributions in January. And so it goes.) Normally I would put some of my bonus toward debt, so that's an extra payment I WON'T be making. We also had to make a $4000 escrow-only payment in advance of our upcoming escrow analysis to make sure our mortgage payment wouldn't go up, but we had planned for that. In spite of the setbacks, we've paid off 15% of our goal in the first two months (around $4600), so that's good. I'd like to stay a little bit ahead of the game. We'll also get our tax return this month. We're going to wait to see how our escrow analysis plays out before making any decisions about how much of THAT to put toward debt though. We live in an area with ridiculously high property taxes. We moved here assuming we'd be able to deduct the taxes on our federal tax return, but when the new plan capped that deduction at $10K, it no longer made sense for us to itemize, and there we are.
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Cyan Koala Ouch, that does sting :( I'm sorry! I hope that something shifts and you get a windfall soon.
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Paid off 1402.49 in February.
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In addition to all the debt payoff, I'm working on adjusting when I pay my bills to save myself some interest. Based on my payment dates already for March I've saved myself $2.43 in interest that would normally compound as well! Baaaby steps.
~PinkAndroid
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So totals are in, my retirement account took a severe beating 😢 and I paid down a bit less than $1000 last month. Hoping to pay down two smaller debts in March!
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Line Claimed!
Miranda here.
I really struggle with spending on credit cards with that whole line of thinking, "what's $20, I'll have that paid off" about 10 times a month and then I can't pay it off pushing myself farther into debt. I tried to consolidate my debt by getting a personal loan, however I failed to then stop spending on those same cards when I had available credit again...FAIL. So I'm looking to pay off this year all of my current card balances..AND KEEP THEM DOWN. Also I would like to kill another $1000 off my student loan this year.
Does anyone have any tips on how to get out of that spending mindset? Love any and all advice.
$1613.88 first card
$5382.98 second card
$6553.23 personal loan to consolidate credit card debt
$18,123.41 student loans
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Green Song The best way I've gotten off of that spending mindset is to use YNAB. Instead of looking at my checking account balance (or my credit card available limit - been there, done that), I look at what's available in my YNAB categories. Then, if I really, really want something and it's not budgeted for, I know I have to pilfer another category to get what I want. That has typically reined me in quite a bit.
There's a good blog post about just this issue on the YNAB blog, too: https://www.youneedabudget.com/confessions-of-a-recreational-shopper/
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MicroSpice stick to YNAB! If you're budgeting and really figuring out what you need for your expenses, then you'll know if you can spend that "extra $20" easily. It FEELS good to know those kinds of things, and if you REALLY want it, but know that the money isn't there, you'll know that and can deal with it. Once you've used YNAB enough you can look at your averages and that will help you properly fund your categories each month for the basics that tend to fluctuate, which helped me tremendously with both not needing to WAM money all the time and also with feeling good about how much I was budgeting because I knew what the averages are.
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Green Song we did cash envelopes when we started being mindful. Yes YNAB is good but seeing the actual money in an envelope makes it real quick. Bonus though - entering in YNAB is easy. One entry. We did that for groceries, clothes, Christmas, hair (cuts, colour, nails, etc.), and restaurants. Good way to do a credit card cleanse. We ultimately are back to using credit cards to get the cash back but because of YNAB, we always know how much we've spent on the card and have the money set aside to pay it.
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MXMOM Yeah, I definitely have YNAB down and I do stick to my budget with my debit card. My problem is when I see I don't have enough in my budget, I charge it to my card with the intent of "I'll pay that off, it's only $20." I don't keep track of my credit card charges in YNAB. You're right and I think my next move should be to start tracking those expenses in my budget. For me I was blind to my credit card, only after a few weeks would I realize how much I actually spent. I used it as "free money" and I think that's my main fault with the mindset. Thanks for the help!
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Green Song When I make payments on my credit card in YNAB, I split the transaction into all of the categories that I'm spending from. It helps me to stay in budget, and now when I use my credit card it's either because I have the funds allocated in the budget already and can just pay, or I am using it for a necessity (eg. groceries) and have the conscious knowledge that I'm spending money I don't have yet. And I do not like doing the second one. I'd rather mess around with the budget and find the funds or not spend them at all. I used to be the exact same way, and even this month, I knew I was getting a big tax return so I was spending a lot more frivolously than I normally would. This ended up being a $277 credit card payment! It all adds up.
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Green Song Freeze your credit cards in a block of ice in the freezer. 😂
"My problem is when I see I don't have enough in my budget, I charge it to my card with the intent of "I'll pay that off, it's only $20.""
THIS. This is a habit change that is needed. YNAB can't prevent this. Just think about the financial freedom and debt progress you could make if you decided this one habit you have needs to GO. When I think about this for myself, I know that I would have to make a drastic decision to stop this behavior for good. Freeze the cards, stop using them, cut them up. Something like that. Hugs!
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Wiecked haha I’m working on it! Although I didn’t physically freeze them, I did freeze the accounts so they’ll decline if I try to use them. Although I could easily unfreeze them by the touch of a button, it makes me take a moment to think if I really need to make the purchase. Most of the times it’s no. I haven’t spent on a card for 1.5 weeks so far, progress!
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Green Song huge progress!! the more days you go without using them the better it will get! you so got this!
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