
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 :)
-
Hey Everyone!
Since the sheet is so huge now I wanted to share a top tip to quickly find your row - if you bookmark the link somewhere in your browser, you can add a cell reference to the sheet to quickly focus on your own row.
By adding "&range=[yourRow]" you can jump straight to your line in the sheet.
E.g, I am on Row 6 - so my link is this.
Would take me straight to my cell. If you change the number for whatever Row you are on (that's the google row number) it will always take you there :)
You can then bookmark that and you're good to go.
-
Glad to be joining this year!
Currently, I have 3 non-mortgage debts - 2 credit cards and a personal loan to my parents. Originally the loan was to help me get out of credit card debt for good last summer. And it did for about a month. As I wasn't budgeting then and continued the habits that got me into debt in the first place, I quickly fell back into charging and spending more than I made.
I am not going to try and pay back the totality of the loan to my parents this year. I have a monthly automatic transfer that will help me with that over the next few years. My main goal this year is to pay off the debt on the two credit cards I have AND not accumulate any more. I think paying off my current debt will be the easy part. (I'm also going to work on using YNAB consistently this year and aging my money. I hope those two habits will help me battle the urge to charge!)
CC1 - $660.00
CC2 - $1165.00
Total Amount to Pay Off (and keep off): $1825.00
Here goes!
-
Line Claimed. 馃嵎
This year with the car loan looming over my head its time to nuke that from orbit. Goal is to have it gone in 8 months. I'm going to tone down my Mortgage payoff goal a tad, due to the funneling of funds to the car loan.
- Car Loan: $0.00/$7,349.19
- Mortgage: $0.00/$3,000.00
- Total: $0.00/$10,349.19
-
Line claimed!
We 'only' have mortgage and one auto loan. In 2020 I'm looking to match and exceed our 2019 debt payment of $13,836. We are also planning on approximately another $20k of budgeted spending in 2020 on top of normal spending: several home improvement projects, a big vacation 4 years in the making, and orthodontia for one of the kids, all without adding to the debt. When I started YNAB a year ago, I couldn't have imagined making these kinds of plans without huge amounts of trepidation and angst, and certainly not all in one year.
-
Did last years (2019) challenge and loved seeing if I could get to my goal. I have the following debt:
Student Line of Credit: $50,096.95
Amex Loan: $7,816.44
Mortgage: $75,620.07
I am hoping to pay off $12,000 in my Amex Loan and Student Line of Credit. I wouldn't be able to pay off anything completely, but knowing I am paying down my debt is a great feeling. I am hoping that by the time my mortgage is up for renewal (July 2024), that both my debts are paid off, leaving only my mortgage (though I know I have to buy a car before then as mine is 13yrs old this year).
-
I'm back again this year to smack down more of my debt with you all. I've claimed line 7 and my monthly debt payment goal is $1,250 (includes both P&I). The goal feels like a stretch now that I understand more what my true expenses are (including vet visits, medical expenses, car maintenance, holiday spending, etc.) and also striving to save up funds to bring my Age of Money to 30 days +. Happy New Year everyone!
-
I decided not to join last year because I was still in the denial phase of telling myself my student loans weren't Really debt - yes, of Course they are, saying that just made me feel (toxically) better 馃槹. I've paid off the interest every year, but want to take a chunk out of the principal this year.
Line 8 claimed.
-
Super excited about the new thread. Nerd alert! haha
I still have over $53,000 to go, so yes, I'm back at it again this year. All of my debt is credit cards except for about $6,000 in a student loan. (I'm saving the loan for last.) I've been at this for a bit now. I actually originally had almost $75,000 in debt, so progress is happening. But this year I'm ready to kick it in high gear. My goal is $17,000 which isn't a crazy amount for me, but I'll have to stay very focused. (I'll also be simultaneously saving up a one-month buffer.)
Good luck to everyone! I look forward to sharing my journey and cheering you all on!
-
Claimed Line 14! So for 2020 my goal is to pay $25K to debt. This will incorporate the remainder of my Credit Cards which are at 0% interest, as well as my just under $18K auto loan. I will also be paying minimums on my student loans, however the ultimate goal is to part with the CC and auto loans FOREVER!
-
Good morning and happy New Year! I discovered YNAB last year and since that time, I've been playing with the software. A few weeks ago I finally realized that while it's been fun playing, it's now time to use it as a serious tool. Learning to use YNAB has helped me become more aware of my debt and even helped me payoff a car loan 4 months early. This led to me to do some serious soul searching about where I am with my finances and what I actually wanted vs what I thought was possible. Debt doesn't have to be a fact of life for me. It will take some discipline and following my budget. It sounds so easy but can be oh so difficult at times.
So, I'm in. I look forward to participating in this community and chatting with you all. Line 9 claimed.
-
Line 15 claimed! Last year my goal was 15k. I hit 71.69% of it with $10,753.41 paid off. The end of 2018 to mid-October 2019 was a hell of a financial mess. Job losses and a horribly bad roommate situation just about destroyed us.
I'm taking our finances back over for 2020 tho!! We only have 3300 left on our car payments and hoping to definitely get that one knocked out in the first quarter [possibly with our tax refund]. My goal for this year again is 15k. Hubby and I both have stable, well paying jobs and we're hoping to finish playing catch-up with somethings that the roommates left us with.
We're hovering around 54k with all debts.
Car loan $3300 - will free up $300 a month
Tires Plus $143 no interest for 6 months - will free up $27 a month
Hubbys Chase card $460 - will free up $35 a month
I'm going to start with these three and hopefully be able to add more once we can start knocking stuff out.
BritishMuseum even tho I dropped down to USD, when I try to enter money for January, it turns it into pounds.
-
It's only January 1st and I think this might be my favorite thread already. There's so much hope and motivation here!
I was only planning on joining the 2020 savings challenge this year, but I took a closer look at my interest rate on one of our car loans and I'd rather get rid of it. We made so much progress in last year's debt smackdown and I think we can just get rid of this payment, freeing up ~$300 per month in our budget.
I claimed line 16, and we're tackling $6,415.09 - one entire car loan.
Our whole debt picture is a brand new mortgage and one more car loan. Part of me wants to be the person who pays off a mortgage super early, but our priorities just aren't there in this stage of life and the interest is low enough to be okay. We're aggressively saving for now!
-
I've claimed line 18! I joined this last year, and then life went kerplooie, I lost track on here, and my total debt actually went UP. So I'm back this year with a drive to send that number back down and contribute to this group and to our individual/collective success.
I've got nearly $51K in total debt. There is about $6K in student loans, and the rest is a combination of credit cards and unsecured/personal loans. This stuff HAS to go. My conservative goal is to pay off a little more than 20% of the total -- $12,500.
Let's do this!
-
Claimed line 19.
Below are the current consumer debt amounts that we owe:
- Credit card # 1 = $2,900.00 (0% promotional APR for balance transfer ending July 2020). This is the last of our random spending from years ago.
- Credit card # 2 = $1,028.94 (0% promotional APR for balance transfer ending June 2021). This card enabled our dog to get surgery he needed.
- Credit card # 3 = $18,533.00 (0% promotional APR for balance transfer ending December 2021). This card enabled us to move forward with a home improvement project that we could no longer put off for safety reasons.
- Auto loan = $17,298.90 (3.24% APR).
In 2020 our target goal is to pay off credit cards # 1 and 2 in full ($3,928.94), roll that debt snowball into paying off a chunk of credit card # 3 ($8,100.00), and make regular payments to our auto loan ($4,616.64). That makes our 2020 debt payoff goal = $16,645.58.
We got this!!
-
Hi everyone,
I've got line 21! I'started last year and then kind of petered out, but I am back with a vengeance this year. Working a new two year (and a bit) plan to get me debt free that started today. I've realized that I would like to retire in 10 years and can't do that with debt and no savings, so it's time to get real. It's going to be a very lean two years with little to no frills, but this is an important goal for me.
I managed to knock some of the debt down last year, and am currently sitting at $39,615.89 in total debt on lines of credit.
My goal for this year is 18,314.04, but on the spreadsheet I've made a stretch goal of 20,000.
Looking forward to the journey!
Carla
-
Claimed Line #22
This will be my first time participating in the debt smackdown! I am looking forward to it! I am planning to pay off 10,000 of 26,757.78 in Credit Card Debt... I have been CC free before and then a bunch of mishaps occurred that I had not saved for so here I go again. I feel like joining this challenge will help to keep me accountable, because we are all trying to get rid of debt! It easy to sit around and talk with people about the debt, but if they are not on the same path the talk is cheap! So I will be picking up more hours at work to increase my shovel to get rid of the debt! Good Luck to Everyone! Happy New Year! 馃帀
-
Happy New Year everyone...I'm fairly new to YNAB and this will be my first challenge. We are planning to build a house this year and I need to pay down my debt to make that possible! I am going to pay off $10,000.00 (both my credit cards and start to pay down my student loans). Good luck to everyone!
Claimed line 23!
-
Claimed Line 24.
I'm back again for the Challenge. It was very motivational for me in 2019. I got to 100% of my goal, which was CCs and a car loan - all gone! I've been off the CC float for a while, but yesterday decided to pay all my cards down to $0 just to end the year that way.
This year it's the HELOC on my condo. I have more available to pay down now because of freeing up funds from the above payoffs, but it's still a stretch. I'm also trying to build up some sinking funds so I can stay away from CC debt.
The check-ins here are really great - everybody trying to do their best, with some months being really tough and others more successful. Here's to good health and debt-kicking in 2020!
-
Line 31 claimed!
Current total debt = $164,254.78 (Car and student loans only. We have no mortgage or CC debt. Yay for student loans... 馃あ)
Goal for 2020 debt payoff = $22,000 (my spreadsheet projection is $23,365 but I'm including in some wiggle room for interest calculation errors or changes of priority over the year)
We are getting fairly aggressive with debt payoff beginning these past few months. The overall goal/plan is to pay off the car ($41,441.27 - we super crazy love the car and are so happy with it, but ouch) by Oct/Nov 2022 and all the student loans ($122,813.51) by March 2026. (I love spreadsheets. 馃槃)
Detailed payoff goals and progress breakdown:
Car loan = $0/$17,987
My combined student loans = $0/$4,468
My H's combined student loans = $0/$909
-
Total Debt: 623,708
Mortgage: 538,035
401(K) Loan: 48,597
Personal Loan: 23,537
Personal Loan (2): 4,573
Personal Loan (3): 4,208
0 Int CC: 4,763
Total Debt I want to pay off in 2020: $30,000
- 0 Int CC by March when the interest kicks is goal one.
- Refinancing my mortgage to a lower fixed rate to free up cash is goal two.
-
Hi everyone! I've claimed line 34 and this is my first year participating in the debt smackdown! My goal for 2020 is to pay off the remaining balance on my student loans while still making my normal monthly car payment as these are my only debts. I need to stay extremely focused this year as I also have some savings goals that I want to meet.
Student loans -- $8,988.67
Auto loan -- $17,416.47 (this is the outstanding principal and with my regular payments I anticipate putting about $4500 towards this)Good luck to everyone!
-
I've claimed line 36! This is my first time participating in the challenge, and I'm so stoked about it! I have 3 non-mortgage debts (car loan, interest-free cc balance, and student loans) totaling $56,312. My goal is to contribute $525/month towards debt payoff, for a total of approximately $6,300 for the year. Wish me luck!