Sky Blue Wizard WAHOOO!! CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!

Sky Blue Wizard Congratulations! 🎉 You've got this.

Sky Blue Wizard Congrats

Sky Blue Wizard That is an amazing milestone!! How are you tracking it? There are amazing visual colouring sheets online to watch your debt disappear! :)

Purple Foal Great Idea.  I keep a chart in Excel but this one is more exciting.  Thanks a million.

Sky Blue Wizard I just printed out one each of these for my student loan, car loan, and credit card! Purple Foal Thanks for the great idea! 😊

Violet Rain  Great, share them with us.

Sky Blue Wizard Once I have a chance to fill them in with the updated amounts, I totally will! I love having a visual (and pretty) representation of my efforts!

Sky Blue Wizard - Also, congratulations on all of your hard work! Onward and upward! 🙂

Purple Foal I’ve seen these but wasn’t sure if they were the my kind of thing. But I know I’m itching to do something more - another 9 days until my rental income comes in, although I might get a client invoice paid on Tuesday. So I think I’ll have a go. 

Sky Blue Wizard Adorable!! I love colouring mine! I have my debt set up as a tracking account and love reconciling it every week when I pay it. Especially after making a lump sum payment. It's great to see the reconciliation amount increase each week, even if by pennies since that means more of my payment is going towards the debt as it decreases. I'll post mine too. :)

Violet Rain Amazing! Post them! Will become a debt crushing art gallery on here! :)

Sky Blue Wizard

I made it before Xmas so the Advent theme resonated with me. I wrote about it in my journal if you are interested. :)

   As promised, here are mine! The student loan one is kinda depressing, but I've already taken 2 bites out of that elephant! I was thinking that I'd be done paying off the credit card first since it has the lowest balance of the three, but it looks like I'm on track to pay off the car loan first! Then I can snowball that payment into the CC and then take a shotgun blast to the student loans! These charts will definitely help keep me motivated. 😊

Purple Foal I have to figure out how a tracking account works and try this out.

Violet Rain This is awesome.  You are doing really well on 3 debts.  Impressive.

Purple Foal How creative.  You are counting down backward.  I never thought of that. You only have 23 more payments.  Super Kool!

Violet Rain Love these!! :)

Sky Blue Wizard 

Sky Blue Wizard said:
You are counting down backward

 It just seemed like I am slaying the beast when I count down to crush it! :)

Sky Blue Wizard Super easy! Add your account, but click "tracking". It shows up in the left with all your accounts, but in a section below.  When I login to my bank account, I just highlight the amount (I do this for my investments too), then in YNAB, in the tracking account I click Reconcile & paste the amount. Easier than typing those long digits... I started doing this weekly on my HELOC since I pay it weekly. I'm starting to get excited about the small amounts that increase towards the debt as the debt decreases, meaning of the $123.77 that I pay each week, slowly more is going towards the principal and less to interest. :)

Sky Blue Wizard  awesome job! Congrats on the milestone :)

ISuckatMaths I've always rolled my debt into another 0% balance transfer again. The BF has been working on his debt now for a couple years, and we just keep moving it around from one balance transfer to another. He hates that he has the debt, but I'd rather chip away at it and keep it from costing us anything in the long run.

farfromtheusual yah debt sucks, but paying interest sucks more. At least your BF is only paying the principle. How do you get more than one 0% balance transfer card? or how have you been able to move it from one 0% balance transfer to another?

ISuckatMaths Well, what he's paying now is probably interest on his old debt, but yeah, it's at least a zero percent debt right now, so that helps.
We simply roll them back and forth between accounts, or open a new account if there aren't any other promotions going on at the time. I know our bank has one with a visa card that the offer expires at the end of December, so if we can't find somewhere to move it on an account that's already open, then we'll put it there. You just have to find the offers, there's almost always someone with a zero percent balance transfer offer.

farfromtheusual ISuckatMaths

farfromtheusual said:
We simply roll them back and forth between accounts, or open a new account if there aren't any other promotions going on at the time.

 This is what we do too.  Technically they’re not 0% because they have a transfer fee ranging from 1 to 3% but still way better than any of our other unsecured accounts. The 0% deals have all seem to have dried up. We have been working at getting on with CIBC but it’s been a nightmare process. 

MXMOM Yes, technically, there is a fee, but generally the fee is way lower than the interest that would be paid, so I don't worry too much about "backsliding" that little bit. I know my bank has a 0% offer that is available until the end of the year, so we'll see what else is out there. I have also found that if you leave a card unused for a while they will often send a 0% offer, too.

farfromtheusual thanks for that info. I think that's what I'll have to do - open a cc that has an offer because right now none of my cc are offering 0%😨

ISuckatMaths Ultimately, if you can get the card, I don't think it's a horrible thing, you're really just adding available credit, not taking anything away as long as you don't close the other accounts. Over time of doing this my credit score has only gone up, slowly but surely, and each time I've asked for an amount (the new card usually asks how much you want to transfer in the application that I've seen), I've gotten what I wanted, or more, so that has been really helpful. Just as long as you check the payment amount (apparently it's usually a percentage of the total balance) to make sure it's manageable, and you know all the fine print you're good!

Slate Blue Network WAHOO!!! Congrats!!! (of course losing the job isn't good, but you've got 5 months to prepare, so that's amazing!)

Slate Blue Network what a great feeling that must be!!!!  Congrats!  (sorry about the job though!)

Whiskey Mama *hugs* I hope it turns out much better than you fear. It seems that there is a lot of upheaval in family situations right now. This is a challenging time for everyone, so be gentle with yourself!

farfromtheusual thank you.  No doubt this pandemic has added to the stress and depression many feel.  Thanks for the kind words and the hug - I needed that!

Whiskey Mama you've still made progress and nothing wrong with socking away money for this situation!  So many things we just don't have control over...I know that feeling of frustration, but go easy on yourself!

92to0 congrats! That's a big accomplishment!

Sea Green Cornet welcome to the party! It's never too late to start!

Yes I can welcome to the party! It sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on what is going on, and that's the first step. Patience wins this race every time.

farfromtheusual thanks. I have had a habit of sticking my head in the sand and ignoring my finances so it’s surprising okay to face them head on. I just need to work out how to stick with it.....

Yes I can YES!!! My BF was in your shoes, and while he doesn't pay as much attention as I'd like, the little bit that he does makes a big different. Being an ostrich isn't helpful, and only prolongs the suffering and struggle.

I've collected the data for a Debt Smackdown colouring chart, inspired by the efforts of others in this thread.   

Sadly, the total paydown for June / July is only $4,356, which is $1300 less than above as it turns out I paid that $1,300 in May, before I started back using YNAB.    But, I'm not unhappy with $4,356 in two months - which is net after the interest on the credit card!   And as the chart shows this is almost 12% of the debt to be paid!

Below is the chart hanging on the pin board of my home office.   

The August credit card payments which should include a bit extra and probably $200 towards the arrears on the body corporate (property taxes) are still to paid.  I'm surprised how much I'm looking forward to colouring them in.    

I've also just got an extra piece of work from a former client, which is likely to be at least double the few hundred I'd estimated.  I suspect I might split three ways between true expenses, unfunded true expenses (buffer) and extra to the nasty bank credit card debt.   There is also three fortnights of business subsidy due in early September, so might do the same three way split with that too, but perhaps to the smaller arrears on body corporate (property taxes) as they could then be PIF in September.

Yes I can - Awesome! Fantastic progress so far. Can't wait to see your progress as you smash your debt and fill in all those blocks! 😎

Yes I can Every bit counts!! There is now reason why you can't have other charts for your other expectations. I'm a visual person so seeing something helps me. Like, in my 8x11.5 calendar, I have been labelling & colouring in my workouts. Check out bullet journals & finances/budget/debt in Pinterest for ideas! :)

AUGUST DEBT SMACKDOWN UPDATE 

So here I am three months in.  I've realised that my debt payments and net worth fluctuate a bit during the month with income, interest and mortgage payments, so am going to aim for the 1st of the month

So my numbers as at the 1st September

• Net worth is -$25,726 (excluding mortgages x 2 properties, assets and retirement accounts)
• Net worth has increased by $3,2XX or 11.1% on 1st June, but down a few hundred dollars on July 

Debt totals as follows on 9th August:

•  Credit card 1 (the nice bank) =-$14,810 or $406 down on 1st June and 1st August.  This card has been frozen due to a COVID-19 offer, and I've now made two payments including interest.  It is also STILL under the limit.   I can't change the interest rate here until the end of a six month 'watch' now its off freeze. 
• Credit card 2 (the nasty bank) =-$13,149 down $1,074 from 1st June and $286 down since 1st August.  It was UNDER THE LIMIT in August but a $213 interest charge has pushed it over!!!   I've reduced the interest rate in August (now its not over the limit) from 20.74% to 13.74%.  Still far too high but down by at least $75 a month. 
  I didn't fund the interest from my budget in August as I was going to focus on the other card.  However, the alert from YNAB bugged me too much, so I'll keep funding it from the minimum payment. 
• Arrears on mortgage with nasty bank not on freeze =-$4,324 down $866 from 1st July and $262 from 1st August.   I've got an agreement with the bank to pay $265-ish a month here, so am not going to pay more down for the moment.  
• Arrears on body corp (?co-op fees) x 2 properties = $1.014 down $2,700 from 1st June. No extra paid in August, due to an extra expense or two and no  
• Arrears on council rates (?property taxes x 2 properties = $0k, down from $1.6k PIF  

TOTAL DEBT 1st June = $38,610 (excludes mortgages)
TOTAL DEBT 1st August = $34,254 (excludes mortgages)

Total payoff 1st August from 1st September = $955.
Total payoff from 1st June = $5,311

TOTAL DEBT 1st September = $33.299 (excludes mortgages)

August was a much more 'normal' month  as I had some 'windfalls' in June and July were a bit unusual in terms of windfalls, one off withdrawal from retirement account and extra income. 

I've realised during August that I want to focus on building my true expenses and an 'emergency fund' which is really unfunded true expenses. So have decided to keep paying about this amount, maybe a little more to reduce the arrears on co-op fees.     So this will be a slow and steady for a while.  

SEPTEMBER DEBT SMACKDOWN UPDATE 

What a difference a month makes – my fourth full month on YNAB was a good money wise for me! Two windfalls – an extra fortnight on the COVID subsidy I’m receiving as a small business owner (its calculated fortnightly but paid monthly in arrears) and an unexpected client project from August paid during the month.  Plus we're still in lockdown so expenses are low. 

I used all of this money for true expenses not debt.  But that is actually good news as it means I’m entering October with money put aside for two non-monthly bills due in October and a couple of sinking funds. 

I also use some of the extra funds to pay back the funds I ‘borrowed’ from my Income Replacement Fund to cover a shortfall in early September and put a little bit back into my emergency fund (ie. unfunded true expenses.)

So here are my 1st October numbers:

• Net worth is -$23,664.40 (excluding mortgages x 2 properties, assets and retirement accounts)
• Net worth has increased by $5,277.06 or 18.2% on 1st June, and $2,071.90 or 8.1% on the 31st August

Debt totals as follows on 1st October:

• Credit card 1 (the nice bank) =-4,737 – Net reduction Sept $72 ($478 from 1st June.)  Would love to pay more here. The interest rate is really high hence the low actual reduction to the principal. Its frozen for 3 more months at this rate, due to interest freeze earlier in the year.  
• Credit card 2 (the nasty bank) =-$12,948, Net reduction Sept $201 ($1,275 from 1st June.) This is the first month of lower interest rate (down from 21% to 13.4%). I budgeted an extra payment in Sept to cover the interest so the timing will align and keep it back to under limit (interest comes due on 28th previous month and payment on 21st next month)
• Arrears on mortgage with nasty bank not on freeze =-$4,033, Net reduction Sept $291.64 ($1.157.65 down from $1st June).  On a payment plan with the bank.
• Arrears on body corp (?co-op fees) x 2 properties = $881, Net reduction Sept $133 (down $2833 from 1st June).  Paid $400 in September, but added $267 for the October bill for one property (Long story but I’m happy to keep this rolling slowly)  
• Arrears on council rates (?property taxes x 2 properties = $0k, down from $1.6k PIF  

TOTAL DEBT 1st June = $38,610 (excludes mortgages)
TOTAL DEBT 1st October = $32,600 (excludes mortgages)

Net payoff September = $698 ($965 less $267 of new debt)
Net payoff from 1st June = 6,009

I know no month is normal, but I'd like more like September, please. 

Sweet Tangerine That sounds like a really sound plan!

I'm realizing my monthly updates may come across as repetitive since I use the same format over and over. Well, I should give a personal note today given the circumstances. Unfortunately, my company announced a pay cut that has recently gone into effect due to the pandemic. Plus, we did not get our usual summer bonus, and, though we typically have a performance review and pay raise in September, it is pretty much understood that this will not happen this year.  All of this has me down, but I count myself fortunate to have a job and be able to pay my bills.

Because I fund everything a month ahead on YNAB, I was able to make my "extra" student loan payment this month, but it will be the last for a while. I have to remind myself that this is truly "extra" and that I'll need to roll with the punches for a while.

All of this is happening in the middle of a move to a different apartment. Even though my housing costs should remain about the same, moving is expensive! So many little one-time costs come up.

Fortunately, my partner's income hasn't been affected during the pandemic. Even though we haven't completely merged finances, we are talking about using some bonus money he expects to receive later this year - that would normally be saved/invested by him - as a way to help me "catch up" on some of the "extra" loan payments I was planning to make. But, I don't want to assume anything and we will go step by step once that money actually arrives. 

I hope everyone is holding up well throughout this pandemic!

Slate Blue Pilot YNAB is such a life saver. My BF's hours got cut down to a standard 40, when he normally gets 10-15 hours of over time every week, and that hurt us as well. But, much like you, I wasn't panicking, it sucked, but we got through it all because of YNAB. I knew how to stick with the plan we had, how much we were spending on every little thing, and what could get cut. We have come through it better than I expected, and have STILL managed to keep the credit card spending paid off every month. It sucks, but it's doable! Hang in there!!

TheTabby Win some and you lose some, and it all works out in the wash. Looks like you're on track to still meet the goals, even if you had to adjust them a bit.

TheTabby I have to say, If you paid off 10K last year AND are looking at paying 60% more this year (of all years) you are doing pretty well.  While adding 16K of debt hurts, I have 3 cars in the driveway and only one is reliable and that is after putting $2K worth of work into it this year and it still needs a muffler :)  Peace of mind when commuting has a definite value both for you and your wife individually, but also as a couple.  Added stresses like that are tough.  We will be spending money later this year to get an 6 year old but reliable vehicle that my parents (recently retired) are getting rid of.  Luckily that means I get a discount and they get more than selling to a dealer and don't deal with private party sales.

Peace of mind can be worth a lot of money.  Really, most of us are in this smackdown for peace of mind on our future, but peace of mind in the present needs to be in that balance.  While the $ amount may be a bit high, like you said, it's done.  If you pay off 16K this year you can think of it as not making much progress on your debt, but hopefully transferred $16K to lower or similar interest AND GOT A FREE CAR!  :)

WhiskeyThief why do they always STILL need a muffler??? 😂

farfromtheusual In this case, because the Exhaust manifold leak caused it to run too rich dumping raw fuel in the muffler.  Now it is all bulged and discolored from burning fuel in the muffler.  And it was replaced only 2 years ago, but that was 60K miles ago so...  But there is always one more thing.

WhiskeyThief That sounds like a pretty darn good plan.  If you don't expect to have everything paid off before the intro 0% is done, or you want a bit of extra breathing space for that matter I would recommend going with the US Bank card for the extra two months.  Once things are paid off you can start picking cards based on rewards, but for now, I would concentrate on the longest term 0% you can get.  Can't really say what your odds of getting approved for any of them are, I haven't paid enough attention to know minimum required scored.

WhiskeyThief Go for it if you can get it. Then keep chasing the 0% cards until all your debt is gone.  Then you can chase the rewards as stated. The banks always win no matter how you play the game. You only win when you have zero balance. :)

WhiskeyThief those are some REALLY sweet deals! I might have to look up the US Bank deal, the BF has a card with them already (we did one balance transfer to them, and then moved to discover, and then are going to move it somewhere else again in Dec when the 12 months is up).

TheTabby Purple Foal farfromtheusual  Thanks all.   I am going to apply for the US Bank one.  I've never applied for a card with the intention of a balance transfer.  I travel a lot for work(not 2020 :)) so I did get a Marriott card a few years ago for work travel and those rewards have been worth it for family travel. 

The offers above are from Credit Karma and since I have been paying down debt and gotten everything under control my credit score has gone from 687 to 720 on average.  It was at 740 at one point several months ago but when I did a balance transfer of only $5K from a 24% card to a 8.25% card that I had paid off it tanked.  Funny because the total debt didn't change. but it is back up to 720 from 700.  I don't plan on any major loans in the near future so I think I am willing to risk the minor hit to my credit with a new card if it gets me done faster.  I should be able to pay off all of my debt (not just CC) in about 20 months and getting this card will get it done a month sooner and save me $2,200. 

It will change my payoff order a little depending on what limit they approve for the card.  I want to transfer $15K but will really take anything at $5000 or more.  I really only want this for the interest free loan.

WhiskeyThief I hate the hit to the credit score, but it's worth it in the long run to be done faster, and paying out less money (which means it should bounce back faster, too).

I am a firm believer that the credit score system here in the US is only designed to keep you trapped in credit. Why else would they penalize you when you drop below a certain percentage of "credit utilization"? My BF had that problem when he crossed below 10% credit usage. They actually dinged his credit score for 6 points! I was like WTH!?

I've opened several accounts for the sole purpose of zero percent balance transfers - they're worth it if you work the system right. And I've decided that's the only way to play the game anyway...

I'm glad that it's going to save you so much and allow you to bump up your END date! That's good news!

WhiskeyThief it sounds like a good idea to me!  For what it's worth, I'd choose the card that looks best AFTER the promotional period has ended...which one has a better interest rate or rewards that work for you, etc?  

Budgeting Aviator Not too late! Welcome to the debt-smashing party! Looks like you've already got a good plan in place. Claim a line number on the spreadsheet and join in on the fun!

Budgeting Aviator Welcome to the party! It's never too late!

Budgeting Aviator September Checkin:

The check finally came in for my wife's old car. We were able to pay off the Accord! We used the rest to shore up some true expenses, and make a payment on the Citibank card. While it would've been nice to pay down the credit card more, I know that making sure our true expenses are healthy and correct is more important.

How it stands currently:

Mortgage: 96.8k

Student Loans: 14.2k

Odyssey: 34.7k

Citibank: 5.0k

Accord: 0

I'm looking forward to finishing the year strong. October looks to be a big earning month for me. I'll receive a raise for becoming an instructor and a week of vacation will allow me to credit about 50% more than I would during a normal month. 

Budgeting Aviator wahoo!! Congrats on the raise! Sounds like you're moving in the right direction!!
Are you a flight instructor?? My BF is just starting to work on his pilot's license, and he'd really like to make a career out of it.

farfromtheusual I work for a regional airline as a line check airman. I teach and introduce pilots to flying revenue flights after they finish their initial training. 

That's awesome about your BF! I highly recommend it as a career for anyone passionate about aviation. If he has any questions, feel free to PM me. 

Budgeting Aviator Final Check in for the year after forgetting to check in for October and November 😬

Mortgage: 96.5k

Student Loans: 14.2k

Odyssey: 32.9k

Citibank: 0

Accord: 0

We paid off the Citi card at the end of October! We ended up making a pivot and put a pause on targeting debt for the rest of the year. We have baby #2 due in March and are saving up for me to be able to take at least a month of FMLA for baby bonding. 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the dent we made in our debt. If we weren't saving up for FMLA, we would've made a HUGE dent in my student loans and would've had to set a new goal. Oh well! We're looking forward to participating in our first full year of Debt Smackdown in 2021.

See everyone next year and Merry Christmas!

Budgeting Aviator Awesome! Thank you!!

Budgeting Aviator Congratulations on baby #2! ❤️

Duke and Duchess Great job!! Work out the least amount you can possibly live on for a month. Then use the difference to attack your debt, especially while the interest is 0%!!! Attack that principal ASAP!! Also make as many payments as possible. 

 I was reading today actually in Money Rules, by Gail Vaz-Oxlade (recommended!) about student debt and how much you should take out according to the net income you will make in a year. In a nutshell, the longer you stretch out paying back the loan, the greater the amount of interest. $40,000 over 9.5 years will cost $21,000 in interest (example). So you might want to really rethink your lifestyles and make sacrifices now for a few years to really crush that debt. Work out how much interest you will be paying over the different time frames and then consider what you could do with the money. For me, I did not want my HELOC to still be $22k in 3 years after paying over $2k in interest, or a trip to Whistler!! So I am crushing that debt so it is gone way before the renewal date. :)

Purple Foal I worked full-time while my husband was in grad school in Chicago, and then we moved to a much less expensive city.  After we moved for a new job for him, it took a while for me to find something, and I went through a stretch of some health issues that made it more difficult.  

Since we became dual-income, we live off of just 50% (and sometimes even less).  We have a basic emergency fund, so while we give some, most of the remainder goes toward paying down debt, which is how we are finally doing well at knocking it out.  We share a car.  We live in a small house that is just enough for us with no frills.  Our first house was a multi-family where we lived in one unit and rented the other two, and now we will be renting the third unit to bring in additional income.

We don’t have credit card debt, a HELOC, or anything with a high interest rate.  Our mortgage is under 4%, and we went 10 years of marriage without having a credit card at all before getting one to take advantage of cash back.

We are fully aware of how burdensome student debt can be and that the sooner we pay it off, the more flexibility we will have.

But I hope my journey helps encourage others that a lot of debt from previous choices doesn’t mean you will either never pay off your debt or will definitely have to give up absolutely everything until you do.  If coronavirus has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t know what tomorrow holds.  I’m not worried about living my absolute most frugal life now.  YNAB has helped us be a lot better about recognizing where our finances are and where we can make changes.  And for me, better is enough.

Michael Mulcahy That is amazing!! So many people live way beyond their means. :)

It was a great few weeks, the payoffs of true expense planning and being a month ahead really let us make big progress recently. We were able to issue the last payment on the car note (YAY!), and made good headway on the 401k  loan ($10,579.94 remaining) and mortgage ($143,230.23 remaining). That brings us to $14,552 of our $20k in 2020 goal! #73% there! :) Thanks all for the support and encouragement!