GSDdad I'm readying the confetti, you just tell me when it's time! 😄

flyonthewall You've got this! 💥

Cyan Yeti Yes, pick the ones you want to focus on this year to name for the challenge. Many of us have been here for more than one year as we pick off our debts slowly. Any step forward is a step in the right direction.

Cyan Yeti Welcome! You set your target and goals. There is no right or wrong!

Cinged Paying off new charges and preventing new debt is still a win! Preventing new debt gives you room to eventually tackle the old debt. Don't be too hard on yourself - you're moving in the right direction!

Checking in for March. Taxes came in, woot! Used majority of it to pay half of daycare cost, $5k. paid off one credit card $456.99. Continuing to pay rest of debts as scheduled, of course, $260 (minus interest means really paid off $177.29) to car payment and $35 to student loans. I discussed daycare bill, with my new work schedule we opted to change from full time to part time care, so that reduces my monthly bill by roughly half; however recertifying my student loan repayment may end up tripling that bill. I have been thinking of getting a super part time job, like 6-10 hours a week to help bring in my income, so we'll see how that goes.  $5669.28 paid off this month so far. :D

Cinged Love those tax return windfalls!

Cinged Checking in for April. Received the stimulus deposit. I budgeted majority of it to my highest interest CC, but then sat on it for a while before actually making the payment. I ended up pulling a little bit from it, some entertainment and food, but I think it was worth it. Mario Maker 2 has some Cooperative features, so my kids and I can work together to build things while we're in the stay home order. Overall put $977 to said CC, and while I haven't been to the daycare for a long while due to all these crazy COVID changes, I have put some away to pay it when we return. I'll add that money it's actually been paid. $177 went to the principle on car loan, $35 to student loans and $25 min payment to another CC. Overall $1214 more went to debt payoff. Woot.

Faness I just realized I never said thank you for that.  No new debt is a win for sure!

Cinged No worries! Glad you're chugging along! It sounds like you put your stimulus check to good use (I'm excited to see what masterpieces come out of Mario Maker 2)! :)

Cinged Checking in for May, just a couple days late. So for my auto loan, they make you do recurring payment, not the normal auto pay, so the payments aren't linked to the bill I receive. Apparently, I learned yesterday, that recurring payment that was set up had ended in April. So even though I still have a loan and a due date, the payment never came out on time. I don't think I'll get any fees, I was notified only a couple weeks later and I made a payment, but you'd think they'd send an email reminder or something stating it was going to end!  I talked to a rep as well, and she had me make a payment for March's bill in addition to me re-setting up the recurring payment. She said the new recurring payment won't come out until the due date on the 15th, but I now have two pending transactions for the same amount. So yay for misinformation! Other than that I splurged on a new gaming chair (back started to hurt with old chair and I work 10hr shifts from home). I DID tell amazon to have it paid in payments, but apparently it didn't get the memo and took the whole thing out at once. Either that or it can't do two different transactions on a payment basis, since I bought new amazon fire tablets for the kids on payment schedule. So while that was only $152 more than I was expecting, my plan is allocate an extra $25-30/m x6 months to that CC to pay it off plus a little extra. I'm also trying hard to not just go and splurge on roller skates for myself and the kids, about $30-60 each. And I also found out that due to CARES I have no student loans for the next few months too. So while I gave some money to CC, it was to prevent new debt (which is great but it's not paying anything down). So I feel like just increased my debt by that $150 in May, and didn't really get anything paid down. Some months are like that, I guess!

Cinged Some months are like that. I have found that sometimes when I try to do something nice for myself, I end up with a little extra, so it's a double stretch to make it work. I'm getting better about it, but it still happens. The longer you work with the system the less those glitches are an issue. It just takes a while.

Cinged Apparently I missed more than one month. Woops! Had a few months of less bills while services were stopped for COVID; my insurance premium renewed and went from $115 to $33/monthly payment (WOW!!), received a new "free, inexpensive" bearded dragon from a friend who didn't want him anymore (after accepting him on their words, then doing research, that was $1000 in getting correct setup [But he's so much happier!]), sold some stock to pay off that $1000 and a little extra, so now that CC only has a balance that is covered in the budget, and will be paid off every month; even put it on auto pay to pay the statement balance. 😉 That leaves two cards down, two to go. Adjusted my YNAB goal to shift the extra payment amount from the paid off card to the next one, so $30 extra to that one every month. Yay snowball! That's pretty much the monetary highlights from the last couple of months. I learned that just because my age of money was about 30 days, that I should still budget ahead, so I'm starting to work on that. I had 3 paychecks in July, so budgeted my last one into august, and going to the do the same going forward, so I'm a couple weeks ahead now. Goal is to keep getting more than a month ahead and paying off the rest of the CC (then car, then student loans, get a new car, pay it off, home, pay it off, etc, etc!). 

Cinged I started working on the numbers, and apparently I didn't "pay off" as much as I thought. I tried to designate all spending for the bearded dragon on a certain CC, then I had focused on paying that all off. Apparently some of the charges were put on another card as well. So while I payed off one CC (it had just shy of $300 before the lizard spending), I had added almost $300 to another card 😂. 

Cinged Congrats on making sure your new addition has the setup he needs. He has found his way to a good home. As a side note, the phrase "lizard spending" just makes me laugh:)

Cinged Hooray for lower premiums and debt snowballs! I hope your Beardie is happy and healthy in his new environment. 🦎

Cinged Aww, kudos to you for taking care of your new bearded dragon! And yeah, sometimes numbers are sneaky!

Yes!  auntdar ,  Violet Rain , farfromtheusual , the Beardie (aka Combo Panda) is much happier in his new home. He still puffs up a little when trying to be picked up, but it's been less than a month since all these changes, so I'm hoping he'll warm up to us more when he's ready. 

I finally crunched the numbers, and with CC and auto loans, I paid off 593.18 in June, added 1110.04 in July, and paid off 1266.54 in August. I also made one manual payment for student loans even though they were in COVID forebearance, 35.25, which brings an overall payoff of 784.62 over the last 3 months. So not too shabby, I'd say. 

Cinged Aww, a month isn't a very long time, I'm sure he'll continue to settle in and get friendlier, too!

That's great news! Sometimes we get really worried, and then when we actually look at the numbers it's not so bad! Just another reason to always keep up with the numbers!

Checking in for September. That insurance bill that went to $33/mo? Apparently the company decided to give back with all their money that wasn't being spent on claims during no-driving-Covid, so that was just for the one month, as a "thank you" to choosing their company; my actual bill is about $95ish/mo. So still down $20/mo from when I started with them and about what I was expecting, but not as exciting as $33/mo, lol. Other than that just trying not to overspend! I added my mom onto my cell phone plan to help her out and got her a new phone, which will up that bill a bit, however going to stop some other subscriptions to balance that out. Oh, and I just got a notification that my CC with the highest balance just raised my credit limit, so that will look great on paper and lower my overall debt ratio, so that's exciting (if you can't lower the debt, raise the total overall credit limit! bahaha 🤣)
CC: Red: Pd $74.84 off
CC: Discover: no change, continuing to prevent debt by covering my spending on it (but the rewards are starting to add up!)
Auto Loan: $166.38 to principle
Student Loans: $0

Total = $241.22 paid off in September. 

And update with Combo Panda, he is starting to puff up less when I pet him and pick him up, so overall a total win. 🦎

Cinged all good news! I love it when they increase the credit limit! It feels like such a win even though I didn't do anything!

Glad to hear you're feeling more in control of your money, Stephy T !

Turquoise Wildebeest  Each step brings you more breathing room. The debt (likely) didn't accumulate overnight, so don't be too hard on yourself for that slow & steady pace. I think you might find farfromtheusual 's journal really inspiring for showing that progress over time!

Nicole aww, thanks Nicole!

Blue Sander It's never too late to join the Debt Smackdown - we're happy to have you here! :)

Debt can be a silent enemy - but now that you've created a plan to get rid of it, you're already a step ahead!

Rhei I don't like loaning the government money interest free... but in my mind a refund is better than having to come up with the money from somewhere!

Rhei We had an unexpected change in our tax situation, so instead of being close to $0 (I was proud of being within $100) we're getting a rather large refund this year. All the better to pay debt with - is what I keep telling myself. 😅

farfromtheusual YAAAAAYYY! I said yay in your journal too, but feel like congratulations are in order here as well! It is an incredible feeling to have a card that you've carried balances on finally be at zero, right? I was worried that I would slip back into old habits with mine, but honestly, I'm still getting just as big a kick out of seeing that $0.00 balance as I did when it first happened back in December, and that feeling is a great motivator. Great job!!

farfromtheusual Yes!!! 🎉 Congratulations! You've worked so hard for this.

Violet Drill Nicole  Thank you both so much!!

I've also been in a no spend month. I've tracked the things that I have been tempted by and the couple of things I did buy. A new bujo cost me $30 (mine is almost full so this is something that I "needed") and a shampoo/conditioner bars sample cost me $10 (I have been looking for one for a long time but these ones were also not to my liking). What I haven't spent adds up to $70 so far this month and it's only the 18th. I am going to continue tracking this next month because not being impulsive is a challenge and it feels good to see the pitfalls I've avoided.

Purple Henry Those extra bits really add up! And you're balancing that, with your True Expenses and some fun too, which is great so you don't burned out. Do you have something in mind for the summer holiday?

Nicole I'm thinking a week long drive through BC. I've done it before and it is so relaxing. There's also a flyball (dog sport) tournament in Regina. What I get to do will depend on my tax return. 

Purple Henry I'm also a BuJo person - have been using books from the local stationery warehouse, but they no longer sell the ones I want, and I can't find them online. I've been toying with using an online publisher to design my own now that I have some kind of format (I'm on my 8th book now, so beginning to see what works really well for me) and don't have to spend so much time drawing lines - my budget doesn't stretch to the 'official' version with the squares. For the shampoo bars, we have a few local companies that sell kits to make your own (https://www.gonative.co.nz/shop/DIY+Kits/Hair+Kits+%26+Packs.html) - perhaps you can find something similar near you that may be cheaper than having someone else make them.

WairereRose Who are you looking at to make your bujo? The one I purchased is a leather cover that is refillable.  I went with this one (https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/0.html?spm=a2g0s.9042647.0.0.ee094c4dXt2MJ7&orderId=8010450119274920&productId=1000005608214) because it's slightly cheaper than the similar product on amazon. I'm hoping that the quality is similar. My theory is that it's cheaper than the Scribbles That Matter book (what I'm using currently) so if I hate it, I can switch back once I fill it up. 

Purple Henry I believe LuLu and places like that do self-publishing. I have no idea what the quality would be like, or whether they'll do the elastic strap to hold my pen in (LOL). I am using basically the same format now with roughly the same number of pages, my habit trackers I keep at the back (since the habits I track change I'd still have to write those in, but the boxes could be pre-printed for me), and my daily journal I would have to fill in the date/month, monthly would have to fill in the month/year - but they can be pre-named for those events. I'm getting around 7 months in each one consistently, so a few blank pages in case there are any odd-ball things, but otherwise set up for my usual habits. I haven't got that far down the project yet, since I'm still fighting with Publisher to let me put squares on my page...

WairereRose That is very cool. I don't know if it would work for me. My favourite part of the bujo idea is that I can turn to the next page and do a brain dump or write down what I need to remember from a meeting or detailed phone call. I also like changing the colours every week. I'm just starting to experiment with the ideas of weekly spreads so I'm not sure which one I like the most yet but I've decided that I like them better than just starting with a blank page every day. 

Purple Henry yeah, definitely keep experimenting and drawing. I have - NO - artistic talent, and such a heavy commitment load at the moment that drawing even for relaxation (which I used to do and enjoy) isn't even on the table right now. My BuJo just keeps me sane one day at a time for now. Perhaps one day in the future I'll go - you know what? I need a 'just draw something' page in here once in a while - or maybe I'll put it on a line in the daily and do it somewhere else. Probably not this year, but you never know.

WairereRose That's a fantastic idea! Keep us posted. I'm a creative person, but the time investment of having to draw my own layout was the #1 detractor to bullet journaling. 😂 I use a planner to organize my day, but have other crafty hobbies.

Purple Henry YAY! Those are all huge wins, even the $3.33 (looks lucky to have all those 3's!)

WairereRose I understand the crazy busy thing. I squeeze my layouts into spare moments at work -  I need something to do on my breaks that lets my mind relax. That said, I'm not super artistic so my journal is colourful but very minimal. Straight lines for charts are about as far as I get although I am trying my hand at fonts.

Nicole I have tried every planner that I could find but they never have enough space in the right spot and too much space in a spot that I don't need and no random extra room for a thing that I want to track or that note that I can't lose. A minimalist journal doesn't take much time to keep running but lets me make sure I have the right amount of space in the right spot to help me be effective.

farfromtheusual Thanks. I'm still celebrating it even as I'm waiting for my paycheck to be able to go grocery shopping.

Nicole I'll do my best to remember when I finally get round to it. Could be a couple of months as it hasn't hit my "urgent" filter yet and there's a lot on right now.

Purple Henry I have some pens I can write very untidy calligraphy - that and the lines for my habit tracker are about as fancy as I get. Even that takes more time than I have at present - but I can type fast and would only need to copy/paste once I figure out the program.

Green Cleric Woohoo! I like to think of the "big" months as getting ahead. There is no such thing as normal month. Some payments might be more or less, but you're getting closer to that goal!

Nicole Thanks! Yeah, need to keep that mindset in mind. Everything helps!

Nicole thanks, Nicole: I have done this several times; it's not showing up and I think my YNAB line name has been overwritten by someone else. Whom should I contact to restore my line and data? Thanks

Lavender Snow Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. There was some funny business at the end of January with the spreadsheet. Can you please send Veronica  your numbers, and we'll see about getting you re-added. Thank you!

Nicole  Just an FYI I do this every month and it doesn't find my name in the comments, just the top right corner. The last couple months after having the page open it automagically find it eventually, but this month it's still not finding my previous comments.

Cinged Are you searching on this thread, or the Debt Smackdown spreadsheet? The thread does get long as time goes by, and everything might not be loaded in your browser yet. I've seen the same thing!

You can click your name in the top right, then on View profile. On the My Posts tab, it may be easier to locate those. Let me know how it goes!

Nicole  I forgot about that option! And I'll probably forget next month too, there's just been so much going on. Thanks for the reminder, that does work!

Ruth Elizabeth 
I'm threading my updates so they're easier to find in the future. We have all our March payments budgeted but haven't made any yet. It looks like we may need to reduce the size of payment we make in April and May, but we should still be able to meet our goal by December.
 

January check-in:

We paid $1,190.56 on three different student loans, $600 towards the highest priority loan with the largest interest rate. We should have that one paid off by August. It has an 11% interest rate, so we're pretty eager to have that one finished.

Current balances:

Husband's loans are $2397.85

My private loan is $3408.48 (11% interest)

My federal loans are $118,644.47 (I am enrolled in Public Service Forgiveness Program, we'll see what happens with that program in the future)

Ruth Elizabeth 
This check-in is a little late since we wanted to make sure everything was stable with jobs before we sent extra payments towards debt.
March check-in:

We paid $1,190.56 on our three student loans. Our federal loans are in forbearance, due to the CARE act. We're planning on continuing to make payments as long as we are able. We want to pay off my husband's loans before the end of the year and I want to continue to add to the number of qualifying payments I've made towards my federal loan. 

$600 towards the private student loan which now has an interest rate of 10.42% due to the fed lowering rates. Balance is $2,132.68.

$372.99 towards my large federal loan that currently has an interest rate of zero. I'm hoping we'll catch up on some of the outstanding interest during this time so we can actually pay down on the principle. Balance is $118,794.84. Notice how we've paid $1,118.97 towards this loan since the beginning of the year and we now owe $150.37 more. Sigh.

$217.57 towards my husband's federal loans which also have a zero interest rate right now. Balance is $2,129.64.

If we are able to continue at this rate my private loan and my husband's loans should be paid off by October.  

Ruth Elizabeth 

We made some changes to our payment plan since my federal loan is in forbearance and not accruing interest right now. Also, this time still counts towards payments made for federal loan forgiveness, even if we aren't making payments. So, we're using that money and making extra payments towards the other loans. 

April check-in:
We paid $1,190.56 on two of our student loans. 

$972.99 towards the private loan. The interest rate has fallen to 9.94%, so that's exciting. Actually, what's exciting is how close we are to paying it off completely! Balance is $1,316.99.

$217.57 towards my husband's federal loans. Balance $1,979.64.

Federal Loan balance is still $118,794.83. 
 

Ruth Elizabeth 
During May we used the payment we would have made for my federal loans towards my private loan again, which means we were able to make an extra payment of $372.99. That puts our balance at only $354.21, which means it will be completely paid off in June and we can then make an extra payment towards my husband's student loans! We're hoping to get his paid off in July. 

May check-in:

We paid $1,190.56 on two of our student loans.

$972.99 towards the private loan, balance of $354.21. Yay!

$217.57 towards my husband's federal loans. Balance is $1,591.42.

Federal loan balance is still $118,794.83.

Ruth Elizabeth 

July update:

Private loan and husband's federal loans both paid in full!

Still making payments towards my federal loan that is in the PSLF program. 

Ruth Elizabeth WAHOO!

Final repayment for February will be made on Thursday which is the regular weekly amount so I'll post my update now. Due to DH's tax refund and extra payments we have made good progress this month. Sadly won't be this good again this year.

February 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$10,358.32 paid off principal

$1,515.57 paid in interest

$626,794.68 balance owing

Thought I'd post this photo of the roos in our campsite on our last camping trip a few weeks ago so I can easily find my posts as this thread is getting looonnnggg 🦘 

Aussie Beachlife ahhhh so super cute!!!!!

Aussie Beachlife Between these kangaroos and the sea turtle in your profile picture the animal lover in me is ecstatic!

Final repayment for March will be made tomorrow. Nothing extraordinary happened this month to our finances fortunately given current world crisis!!! We are still employed (DH is emergency services and I'm essential services) so we continue plodding along. Stay safe everyone!

March 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$3,184.43 paid off principal

$1,421.73 paid in interest

$623,610.25 balance owing

Monthly interest was applied today. This will be the last time the monthly interest bill is over $1400 as our interest rate cut kicks in. We still have 2 more regular repayments to be applied for April but I'll check in now. Looking forward to May where we have a 5 x weekly pay month 🤑

And in keeping with the Native animal theme here is a photo of a Koala and her joey in the wild (they are quite common in the area where we live)🐨

April 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$2,946.06 paid off principal

$1,453.94 paid in interest

$620,664.19 balance owing

Aussie Beachlife 😍 So cute!!!

DH got paid for some overtime he worked that we weren't expecting to recieve the payment this month so YAY!😄 I put some towards some annual bills and paid $500 to the mortgage. 

April 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$3,446.06 paid off principal

$1,453.94 paid in interest

$620,164.19 balance owing

May 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$620,164 April opening balance

$2,924 paid off principal

$1,326 paid in interest

$617,240 balance owing

June2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$617,240 May opening balance

$3,527 paid off principal

$1,343 paid in interest ($43.33 per day)

$613,713 balance owing

Mortgage term 30 years (January 2050)

Current projected term remaining 9 years 2 months (February 2029)

July 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$613,713 June opening balance

$7,639 paid off principal

$1,285 paid in interest ($42.83 per day)

$606,074 balance owing

Mortgage term 30 years (January 2050)

Current projected term remaining 8 years 3 months (October 2028)

Aussie Beachlife That's huge!!! I hope you can keep it up!

farfromtheusual It was a 3 pay month so that definitely helped!

August 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$606,074 July opening balance

$5,686 paid off principal

$1,314 paid in interest ($42.39 per day)

$600,388 balance owing

Mortgage term 30 years (January 2050)

Current projected term remaining 8 years 2 months (October 2028)

Aussie Beachlife WOW! That's amazing!

September 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$600,388 August opening balance

$3,697 paid off principal

$1,303 paid in interest ($42.03 per day)

$596,691 balance owing

Mortgage term 30 years (January 2050)

Current projected term remaining 8 years 1 months (October 2028)

Aussie Beachlife WOW! That's amazing!!!

farfromtheusual Thanks! 😀

October 2020 check-in (line ID #370):

$596,691 September opening balance

$4,882 paid off principal

$1,269 paid in interest ($42.30 per day)

$591,809 balance owing

Mortgage term 30 years (January 2050)

Current projected term remaining 8 years 0 months (October 2028)

Salmon Banjo Oh man, what a bummer. I've had that happen where a raise got completely eaten up by taxes :( That's so disappointing when that happens!

Slate Blue Vacuum I feel your pain!!! I've been on an entrepreneurial journey now for the past 7 years, and while I wouldn't trade it, it is HARD. And very few people really understand what it's like. And so often when you tell them you're starting your own business it's met with resistance and repulsion. Kudos to you for sticking it out and really making a go at it. (and yeah, it does require a certain level of narcissism and believe in yourself above all else in order to make a go at having your own business, which is why so many people don't. I'm still finding my unshakable foundation, and some days it feels like it's nothing more than quicksand. And if it makes you feel any better my business budget is separate from my personal budget and it's UGLY. A lot of months it's really, really ugly, with way more orange over spending than green funded categories....)

farfromtheusual Yeah, we can't have the budgets separate anymore because this new business isn't off the ground at all other than having an EIN, name and bank account. There is no capital at all, it's all personal. It's nice to know you're in it too! The first journey was great and, to an extent, it's still going, but it wasn't scaleable, so it made sense to look for something that was in addition to it. Orange would have been a nice start, it's all red now. We've been in this downward cycle trying to save the last business since 2016 and now we're trying to keep the old one on life support while we launch the new one. It's tough, but I wouldn't know where to start without YNAB.

I'm so glad there's someone who gets it! I hope that you get yours funded and rolling too! 

Slate Blue Vacuum Ugh, that's ROUGH! I hope that you get some income flowing in again soon!! Our landlord was a multimillionaire (likely billionaire, who knows) who owned real estate. We once asked him what his best business advice was and he said you've got to to be willing to loose sleep over it. I was like oh dang.

Slate Blue Vacuum Also trying to get a new business off the ground - I hear you there. At least I have that little bit of extra support coming in.

Slate Blue Vacuum Sending so much positive energy your direction. I'm just now recovering after my first business failed 2.5 years ago, and not due to finances, but due to not being able to hack it emotionally. A different sort of being in the red! If you can keep the energy up, you have won a huge battle! Rooting for you!