Murphy 

Murphy said:
Down $30k from last year, almost done!

 That's amazing progress! I'm looking forward to you knocking out the rest of those student loans (yay for inspiration)! :)

Hi Phone Drone !

How'd you come up with your total payoff amount for the year? Are you putting more towards credit cards because of high interest rates, or is there another reason you chose that amount? We have a guide on how to make a debt plan that may help! It's okay to be ambitious, but you don't want to stretch yourself so thin that you aren't saving for future expenses. :)

Faness I pretty much just looked at what I was able to do in YNAB for January and multiplied by 12! Yes, some of the credit cards are very high interest, so I'm trying to knock those out.

Phone Drone If you haven't already, playing around with those balances in undebt.it might help you come up with alternatives or best approach to save on interest.

Slate Gray Screwdiver Welcome! 🎉

Dawn D The best day to start is today! Folks join year round. You'll tackle the debt, and start saving for your future home in no time. Glad you've joined us!

Pink Tape That stretch goal is great. You've got this! :)

Turquoise T-Rex Welcome! I love your forum name. 🙌  🦖Congratulations on demolishing the credit card debt. The student loans were a scary one for me too (and thought I'd be paying on them forever). You have a solid plan, and you'll get there!

Nicole Thank you so much! Because of this forum I just discovered undebt.it and am even more excited about getting our debt under control!!!

Turquoise T-Rex I am currently making my way out of the "Student loans are too much to think about right now" mind frame. This is my first year tackling them and I'm hoping to take a sizable chunk out of them. Good luck with your snowball! :)

Faness Thank you! It's been such a struggle for me to break out of that frame of mind! Good luck with yours as well!

Update to numbers above. I did some more numbers crunching and hammered down some exact amounts. I already put $673.67 towards debt in January, and am attempting to boost that monthly amount to $923.67/mo starting in Feb., so that should bring my debt paydown goal for 2020 to 10,834.04. undebt.it was super helpful in seeing the bigger picture.

Turquoise T-Rex You're in great company with a lot of us taking on student loans this year. So interesting how they longer for so many of us, be it feeling insurmountable in your description, and a "price to do what I want to do" in mine. Glad we're all in this together here to take them down!

Spider Plant Me too! The support here is really wonderful and I love being able to celebrate other people's progress as well as my own!

Turquoise T-Rex Huge numbers like that definitely need chunking. Perhaps working on a debt colouring sheet as you knock it down. Many available for free online. And of course many people trying to make a profit! I made my own. :)

woolmonkey This challenge is a great place for motivation. Glad you found us! 

Forest Green Gazelle Welcome - I'm glad you're joining us! :)

Off-topic question, but what was the deciding factor for new windows? I've been thinking about it, but also telling myself they can wait.

Faness we’re just replacing two right now so I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to replace them with yet. I’m meeting with a contractor later in the week to discuss my options in my price range! 

Forest Green Gazelle Ooo, good luck with the contractor! This gives a new meaning to the term window shopping. 😆

Faness you might want to research the tax credits for replacing windows - I saw a comment recently that there are some incentives out there. Might be worth it to check into :)

farfromtheusual Our windows are currently functional, I just wish they were prettier, but a tax incentive definitely helps spell out motivation. I'm putting this on my summer to do list!

Faness if they're not that old then I don't know if there would be a credit available. Ours are so leaky that the plastic we put over them moves every time the wind blows.... researching new windows is also on our to do list. I adore our house, but the list of projects is so long that it's difficult to pick one to focus on (and sometimes the projects themselves decide what's most important... aka the air conditioner 2 years ago!)

farfromtheusual My want for windows made me quickly forget that both our AC and furnace need to be replaced in the coming year. They've essentially been rigged to last the current season, but we know it's coming (and have been budgeting for them). I'll have to see if we can somehow get all three tackled in some kind of bundle but, if not, the windows would be the thing put off until later. (Though, if they start leaking, all bets are off.)

Ruth Elizabeth 11% interest on a student loan seems very high, but yay for tackling it head on this year! August can't get here soon enough. :)

Faness It is very high for a student loan. Due to health reasons I missed a semester of my undergrad and lost scholarships and grants because of it. When I came back to school I needed to take summer classes to make up time and the only option was a private loan. Seven years later, I'm dealing with the consequences!

Ruth Elizabeth Oof! I had a private loan for my first semester with a similar rate. It was the first one I targeted! It will feel great to send that last payment in August. 🙂

Tilda Lou I like that you're aiming for a change in principal! Interest can rack up quickly, so getting through that to make a change just to principal is a great goal! 

In January paid debt down by 1297.00

February saw another $1054.94 paid off

Debt total is now $99,286.06

Target goal of $10,000. paid off in 2020 is nearly 24% met.

Tilda Lou Reaching below the $100k mark is a milestone - congratulations on your progress! 🎉

Took a long hard look at the debt situation and how long it would take to pay it down and decided to sell RV.

With that sold will update goal for the year and also amount paid down in February

February total debt gone is now $38,858.23

Remaining debt total is $61,482.77

Our goal for total debt pay down for the year will now be $45,000.00

Tilda Lou 

Used more of the equity from the sale of the RV to pay off some small c.c.'s.  February's total debt blasted now stands at $45122.02

Tilda Lou That is an impressive total, especially only two month's into the year! Are you planning to change your goal for the year or are you satisfied with that amount? Either way, great job! :)

Faness Increased the goal to $50,000.00 for the year.   Updated it on the spreadsheet but forgot to post it here. 

Tilda Lou 

March total debt paid $617.97🙂

Tilda Lou Paid off the final credit card.  The 0% interest was about to end and rather than move it to a new 0% credit card decided to pay it off.  Makes things a little tight but then the relief is worth it.

Total debt eliminated this year $61937.00

Thanks YNAB for a budget that put things in perspective. 

Tilda Lou Wahoo! Congrats!!

Tilda Lou wow!

Orchid Device I'm glad you're joining us! The Debt Smackdown is a great way to stay accountable for the amounts you're aiming to wipe out this year. :)

I faced the facts about interest this year thanks to Spider Plant . It's an ugly truth, but I think seeing those numbers are a real motivation factor because you're right - there are so many other places that money could be going.

Orchid Device I look at my debt the same way and have been reflecting on my spending last year and previous years. Just mindless spending. Now I'm laser focused to live well beneath my means within a spending freeze. Want my buffer and snowballs. That's more exciting than shopping. I just keep thinking of how I could be investing money later on & saving for goals when I don't have debt. :)

Slate Blue Pilot Way to come out the gate running! You're almost 20% of the way to your goal, less than a 12th of the way through the year! 

Slate Blue Pilot That's amazing!! Keep going. :)

Welcome Rebecca ! Setting goals a little outside your comfort zone can be a great motivator. We tend to surprise ourselves! You've got this. 😄

Sea Green Vacuum I'm sorry to hear that! Thank goodness for advance notice, so you two can adjust the game plan. You've got determination! One of my favorite quotes is:

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I'm on row 184.

Little Green Ghoul Woohoo! Yes, progress is progress and each payment gets you closer to reaching your goal. 😄 

Little Green Ghoul Keep attacking the principal with the chunks. You can do this for 2020. It will be painful and it will take sacrifice. But it's one year and imagine how you feel when you conquer the beast! There are many personal finance blogs & books written about people's journeys attacking debt in a year or few. Keep reading to keep you focused! :)

Purple Foal Thank you for the support.  Reading similar stories of debt payoff is the one major thing that keeps me motivated.

Little Green Ghoul The Debt Smackdown takes place every year, so if you ever need more than just this thread, you can check out last year's thread, too! :)

I just transferred my smaller student loan from 9% to my chase card for 0% interest for a year.  With that change in mind i've added that debt($1800) to this year's payoff in the spreadsheet so I can push to pay that off before the promotion runs out.  So now my goal is set to $17187.  Still very attainable if I stay motivated.

Little Green Ghoul Is your goal to pay off the Chase card in the year with the 0% interest? How much will the interest rate go up to if you don't? :)

Purple Foal It will go up to 25% interest in a year.  All my CC have a zero balance and i'm not using them for every day spending so I think its manageable. And, I'm getting really frustrated seeing only 20% of my payments go to the principal with that student loan every month.

Little Green Ghoul Sorry misread your previous post. Yes you plan to pay it off. Smart move!! Use their promotions to your gain, and loss of that debt! :)

Little Green Ghoul Seeing 20% more of each payment go towards that principal should help knock that debt out! Yay for saving on interest (9% is high for a student loan in my experience). 

Faness Yes, it's going to feel so good to see it going to that principal.  It's a private student loan from grad school, thats why the interest is so high...

Purple Foal No worries! I'm just trying to take every advantage I can!

MicroSpice Yes! I love that mindset. Celebrate all wins, big and small—even if the goal needs to change. Life happens!

R Bro Thank you for sharing with us, and welcome to the challenge. I'm thrilled that the two of you have found what works for you, and are seeing things turn around. 🎉

R Bro 

January update:

We were able to pay $715 toward the CC goal. From this point forward, we will be paying $1320 monthly at a minimum. The lower amount for January was a result of paying off a line of credit. Since we began just before the first of November, we've paid off an $1100 credit card and a $1500 line of credit in full, all while not charging anything new on any credit card (and we won't be doing it either moving forward). We were also able to budget money for our son's $1700 tuition bill for college and pay for a $300 plus auto repair bill without charging any of it. That is more exciting to me than paying off the credit card. We are making progress toward paying the debt, but not adding any additionally. 

R Bro 

Positioning yourself to not be vulnerable and having to resort to more debt (while paying off other debt) is a massive win!  Nice job.  

R Bro 

February update:

We are able to pay $1402 this month ($1320 plus an $82 charge from earlier this month one of our kids paid for). Our 2 month total is $2,117.57, which is 14% of our goal. If we can keep paying at least $1320 per month, we should make our goal.

For March, we were able to pay $1320 once again. Slow and steady wins the race. 

R Bro Truth to that!

For April, we paid $1320 once again, with no new CC charges, while our bank account balance is increasing exponentially. Our CC balance and bank account balance are headed in different directions. . .in a good way! Totally different trend than just 6 months ago.

R Bro That feels so good doesn't it! I love watching that net worth line on the reports go UP!

May has thrown us a few curve balls.

First of all, my wife's car needed new tires. $775 we had been preparing for since February.

Next, this past school year, we had two children off at college (this being what led us to YNAB 6 months ago). Our daughter, who is our oldest, graduated with her BS in 3 years earlier this month. However, this means she wants to enter a Master's program, and needs to take a series of classes over the next year to eventually apply to a program in Speech Pathology We originally thought she would start in the fall, but had an opportunity to begin this month, which we agreed to. She has moved back home, but the 8 classes she will take will cost around $14K in tuition between now and next January. One year ago, this would have been impossible. Now, it's tough, but we have actually figured out a way to pay for all of it without charging anything, which is quite remarkable. We are paying $6100 for the summer semester, and about $4K each for the fall and spring semester of next school year. By rolling with the punches and re-evaluating our priorities, we are able to make it work. On top of that, the school charges a 2.3% fee for credit card payments, which will save us around $300 in extra charges during this time (every dollar helps at this point).

We are able to do this in part by reducing our credit card payment each month. For May, with the $6K tuition bill, we only paid the $475 minimum. Beginning in June, we will see a reduction between $300 and $500 per month on our credit card payment, which will probably mean we do not reach our goal for the year. However, we will still be paying a minimum of $820 per month (we have been paying $1320) and even $1000 a few of the months between now and the end of the year. 

We are paying this tuition, making consistent reductions in our final credit card balance each month, and sending our son back to college in August and are able to budget and pay for all of his expenses as well. All while continuing to save for a new vehicle for my wife and planning a small vacation (very small) hopefully around the holidays among all of the other expenses.

Having said all of this, I could not be happier. To be able to pay all that is occurring without adding any new debt is more than I ever thought we could have done just 6 months ago. Not reaching our debt reduction goal will not bother me at all. I will still try to get as close as I can, but just working toward the goal means we are making steady progress.

R Bro Those are really big wins!! Congrats!!

R Bro - I would rather aim for the moon and hit a barn then aim at the barn and hit a puddle.  And if we aim at nothing at all - we will hit it.  Congrats!!  😁

Our June payment toward the CC is $1000. Without rehashing what I said before, we've had to roll with the punches a bit, which means we may not meet our goal for the year, but we will be close. These changes mean we are able to pay all related expenses for both of our children in college without adding any CC debt. That is an absolute victory in itself.

We are also in the process of refinancing our home, which means we will shave 9.5 years off of our mortgage.  Our payment will go up approximately $250/month, but we are more than able to do that now. It will save us tens of thousands of dollars in interest in the end. 

:)

R Bro That's all good news, even if you aren't going to meet your goal this year. There's still 6 months left in the year, so there's plenty of time. But those changes will matter more long term than just hitting your goal will.

Paid another $1000 for July. Zero new debt. :)

$1410 for August. No new debt once again. Even funded a small vacation at the end of July for the family. If we can continue to pay this much each month, we could make our goal by the end of the year. :)

To correct my post from August, we actually paid $1385. A small amount of difference, but I wanted my entries here to match the spreadsheet.

For September we are able to pay $1350. We have paid over 10K so far this year, and  will most likely come up short on our $15K goal, but not by much. The progress is still unbelievable.

R Bro That is still quite amazing! Congrats to you!!

Paid $1000.00 for October.

Year to date: We've paid 11,149.57 toward our $15K goal. 74.33%. We now owe less than 10K on our last credit card, which we hope to pay off by mid 2021.

R Bro CONGRATS!!

November update:

Paid $1000.00 once again. We've made 81% of our $15K goal for the year. We are down to $8K  balance on our last credit card. In November of 2019 we owed about $23K on three separate accounts. I'm proud of where we are at the moment. Hope to have this last card paid off by mid 2021.

R Bro That's amazing progress!!

December update:

We were able to pay another $1000.00 toward our debt. Our total paid for the year is $13,149.57 which is 87.66% of our goal. We now owe around $8k (I said 8K last month erroneously) on our final CC, which should be paid off by mid 2021. I am ecstatic, even though we won't make our goal. I have to remind myself that we are doing all of this with two kids in college, and have not added any new debt whatsoever this entire year. At times it still doesn't seem possible considering our family just started using YNAB in November of 2019 and how dire our situation seemed at that time.

In reflecting on this past year, the impact YNAB has made on our lives cannot be measured by CC balances and checking accounts. The substantial reduction of money related stress and the peace of mind YNAB has given us cannot be measured.

R Bro AWESOME! Congrats!!!!

ISuckatMaths Good luck with your stretch goal for February! You can definitely knock that balance out come September! :)

Tishy Wishy I think budgeting for something you want while tackling debt is a great reminder that budgets stretch your possibilities. You don't have to solely focus on one thing - you can multitask so that you're getting rid of the balances you don't want and preventing balances for the things you do want (like vacations). 

I hope you have a great time! :)

Faness Thank you!

Madkat-Z Slow and steady wins the race! :)

Are you Team Sword or Team Shield? I've only gotten three badges in because I can't tear myself away from the wild area. 😅

Faness I have Shield. My fiance has Sword though, so we got our bases completely covered. I am working on the battle tower and I'm really bad at it. 😵

Madkat-Z My husband and I do the same thing (he has Sword and I have Shield). The battle tower in Soul Silver was my weakness - I had almost a thousand hours in that game because of it. I'm hoping the new battle tower is just as fun - if I ever make it there. 😂

Mama Sho Nicely done!! Knocking out all that debt in two years is impressive! I'm looking forward to your debt-free post at the end of the year! :)

Faness You will! You give so much positive support to others. Take what you give for yourself and your goals. :)

Yellow Pufferfish It sounds like the last few years have been pretty exciting! Good luck with picking back up those debt payments this year! :)

joebobstevedave 

Welcome (to you and your wife) to YNAB! :)

I'm glad YNAB has given you both the space to budget together. Being a united force against debt cushions any hard decisions that have to be made and makes the victories that much sweeter.

We're rooting for you two! :)