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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Line claimed - it even came with fun font
The debt and the thought of it is beating me down. I see some of your numbers and think "mine's not that bad" but I know I need a cheerleader.
I have about $16,000 left on my student loans. That's my only debt. Right now I'm paying $250 on it every month at 5.5%. With a raise at work, I'm going to bump it up to $300 which is $3600 over the next year. With these payments my budget is maxed. I have been working at my age of money for a few years and have fought my way up to 23 days and $250 in an emergency fund. This is not okay and way too stressful. On top of that, my car is getting old, very old, 2002 old, and it's going to need to be replaced at some point in the not too distant future. I don't want to be in a position where I can't replace it without taking on debt that I can't afford.
My goal
$5000 against the principal (plus the associated interest - $5970 in total) while saving up enough to replace the car with another beater when needed and bumping my emergency fund up to $1000.
My plan
Continue payments off of my current job at $300/month
Pick up a part time job (skip the dishes or similarly flexible) and make as much as I can. Put $220 towards the debt and the rest towards my savings goals. To make them all my extra income would need to be over $600/month but we'll know in a while what is more realistic.
I'm scared that I'm being too ambitious. Yikes. How much can I reasonably work. There's nothing left to cut. What do people think? Save up the car and then bust down the debt? Or debt and then put my hope in my car? Or is there a more balanced approach and more reasonable number?
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Hi everyone! New to YNAB here. I have a lot of debt but I'm hoping this is the first step to eradicating it.
Government student loans (OSAP): $31,000
Student line of credit: $27,087.71
CC1: $4600
CC2: $5800
Total: $68, 487
I'm hoping to knock down at least $15,000. Going to tackle the credit card debts and just continue making minimum payments on student loans for now.
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Khaki Yearling Welcome to YNAB, and to the forum, and the Debt Smackdown! ;)
I'm glad you're joining us this year! You're definitely not alone in the types of debt you're tackling. Here's to knocking out those numbers this year!
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Khaki Yearling It looks like our spreadsheet had some trouble yesterday and I'm not seeing your name on the spreadsheet. If you use the search option and find your number, let me know which one it is! If you don't see your line, would you mind adding it again so you're set for the year?
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Veronica Hi Veronica - I did enter mine yesterday but it's gone. I'm now #288! :) Thanks.
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Been using YNAB religiously since January 2018 and I'm excited to get in on the 2020 Debt Smackdown! My goal for 2020 is to pay off the remaining balance of my student loans, which started the year at right about $18,000. It's going to be quite a squeeze since my monthly payments will have to be around 40% of each paycheck!
- January Payment: $1,900.00
- January Loans Remaining: $16,100.00
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Jonathan
Aggressive goals somehow seem easier to hit when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'll be cheering you on.
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Jonathan It looks like our spreadsheet had some trouble yesterday and I'm not seeing your name on the spreadsheet. If you use the search option and find your number, let me know which one it is! If you don't see your line, would you mind adding it again so you're set for the year?
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Veronica Yeah, looks like I was wiped out in the crossfire. I'm back in business now! Line 315 (or ID 308)!
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Attention: The Google Sheet isn't working. Many many lines are missing and don't see mine.
January Checkin:
HELOC Payments: $495/$6436
HELOC Snowball: 0/$7500
I had increased my mortgage payment to save interest and just reduced it after listening to a podcast to get rid of debt before attacking your mortgage. So now I've "found" $200/month which I am parking until my job situation is past the union strike.
http://www.diymoney.org/2019/05/10/dave-ramseys-debt-snowball-yea-or-nay/
I also finished reading "Meet the Frugalwoods" and signed up for the 31 Uber Frugal Challenge to not spend money. I want my buffer built to be a month ahead.
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Purple Foal I think we're mostly back up and running - how do things look on your line? 86, I believe!
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Veronica All good! :)
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Purple Foal Changed my 2020 goal to $13,936 ($6436 payments + $7500 allowed lump sum). That is 3.55% done already. That would mean I would owe approx $14,000 (plus interest) for 2021. That would be ahead of my Sept 2022 renewal date. I'm going to push myself this year. :)
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Hi all! I'm excited to jump in with you all on our debt paydown journeys! It's so motivational to read about your plans and progress! We are determined to pay down our debts by $12,000 this year. Our focus this year is paying off our car loan and a chunk of credit card debt. We owe about $3,900 on our car, and we have about $30,000 in credit card debt (yikes!). I'll post the list of accounts when I post my first update (I'll start posting in February). Cheering everyone on!
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BlueSkies It looks like our spreadsheet had some trouble yesterday and I'm not seeing your name on the spreadsheet. If you use the search option and find your number, let me know which one it is! If you don't see your line, would you mind adding it again so you're set for the year?
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Veronica Thanks for checking! I went to add myself to the spreadsheet but noticed there was a problem so I had not yet added myself. I will now though. Thanks!
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Hey Everyone! Veronica and others who tagged me - thanks for the flag the sheet is broken.
I've gone in and restored the last good version - which was January 27 at 6:50 PM, (GMT). Not sure what happened, but it looks like most of the rows got deleted.
In any case, if you made an update in the last 24 hours, please double check it, it may be lost!
Thanks!
:)
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BritishMuseum Thank you for taking a look at this! We truly appreciate your efforts in keeping the Smackdown going! :)
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BritishMuseum Looks much better. Line reclaimed.
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Glad this is back again! I started last year's challenge, but because of family reasons I didn't keep logging (I was still paying down my debts an using YNAB though!)
Aiming to clear as much off my Credit Cards for the year - According to my paydown plan, I could actually clear all my CC debt by December, however I know life will get in the way, so 80% of that is a target I'll be happy with, which would be £17K and put me well into the 4-figures owing mark :)
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Good morning! It looks like the Google sheet is still having some issues. My entry from yesterday is still there (line 383) but I noticed that from line 236 through 350 most of the lines are blank. There's one line about halfway through that batch with an entry.
Yesterday I started looking at how my husband and I can pare back on our variable expenses. We spend WAY too much money on food and booze (we are admittedly beer snobs). We're really good about meal planning and cooking at home. We don't eat out much, but we buy expensive ingredients and craft beer. There are some areas where I won't compromise, but I have loads of stuff in the freezer and cupboards that we can work around for meals. I also realized that as much as I love to support my neighborhood grocer, I'm probably losing up to $30/week compared to shopping at the basic Giant Eagle. (I always hit Aldi first, regardless, for whatever I can get there.)
So this week we're doing an experiment. We don't need a ton of stuff, but it is my husband's birthday so there are costs for ice cream, cake ingredients, etc. I am doing curbside pickup from the Giant Eagle, which is helpful because I can see the total for my shopping cart as I add items to it, and then hitting the local grocer afterward for the things I couldn't get at Giant Eagle (my favorite local coffee, lettuce from a local supplier who's never had a recall, free-range eggs, etc). I think I'm going to save about $40 compared to what it would be if I JUST went to the local grocer. That's a substantial savings, and I'm planning to put it toward debt.
I also make a little extra money writing on the side for Medium, and am hoping I can funnel that into debt as well (as opposed to using it to make it through to the end of the pay period).
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Cyan Koala Happy birthday to your husband! :)
Food and groceries can be such a slippery slope in the budget, because there are always so many alternatives. Different grocery stores, different brands of ingredients, different recipes, different options - and each choice leads to a more or less expensive outcome. Good luck trimming this category! Reigning in our Dining Out category, and better utilizing our Groceries category, was a turning point in our budget.
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Cyan Koala We're working on resolving the blank spaces and should be set soon!
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Veronica Thank you! :-)
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Cyan Koala I was drinking expensive wine that a gf got me hooked on. Now I've switched to a great Argentina red which is 1/2 the price. I'm also trying to only drink on weekend. I have a line for wine that I count the bottles I'm "allowing" myself per month and budgeting. Better for the waistline too, but that's another story... Definitely chopped eating out, take out to zero, and grocery budget trial is the $100 per person/month suggestion. I pushed to $350 for Jan. My boys are only here 1/2 but teenagers so it doesn't make a difference! I'm meal planning, filling up the pantries, & freezers when stuff is on sale, and not letting food go to waste. I use the app FLIPP to price match which always finds me savings. Don't stop eating / drinking what you love, just ration it and eat less. :)
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So Happy I found this challenge! I love tracking and spreadsheets.
This is the year I am finally going to get serious about paying down my debt. My husband and I have cut our living expenses dramatically and putting all extra money towards our smallest debt first then, we will roll that payment over to the next smallest debt. I have 5 debts in all, two are personal debt and three are from our business.
CC1 $2,700
CC2 $3,500
CC3 $4,000
RV $11,500
Truck $27,700
Total Debt: $49,400 Woah!
All minimum payments = $1,225/mo if I only pay the minimums it will take 3 years and 3 months to pay it all off. Not Fast enough...so in January YNAB has helped me budget an extra $925 towards the debt! so Excited to see how fast I can pay it all off!
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Hi all, joining for the first time, been using YNAB since September 2019. 2020 is going to be crazy for us. First baby on the way, joining the business I've been working at for 1.5 years as a partner and expanding the same business at the same time. We have two debts, one a small personal loan without interest, the other are taxes.... from the past :/
Personal goal is to have tax bills done before the baby arrives at around the end of May and the personal loan shortly thereafter.
Thing is, in order to grow our business I'll be taking on another 'bigger' personal loan so once that kicks in it'll be smackdown time for that.
In January I've already put aside around CHF800 towards the tax-payoff.I'm really glad I found YNAB and its community! Really changed the way we handle our finances, especially after I got the wife on board a couple months in :) cheers
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I am considering on joining, since technically I am doing this in a big way this year, (and started last month when we paid off our home).
Not sure if it would be "Fair" or not since we are kind of going all "Dave Ramsey" over our debt these last couple months. By the way, I am an old YNAB 3, turned YNAB 4 user, who also tried the Soft Launch of YNAB Online, but decided it wasn't for me, user.
Since we just paid off the house last month, and due to a forced Employer job change, (our division sold to a competitor), we decided that it is time to do what Dave Ramsey has prodded us to do. What that means is that since I am forced to sell company matched Stocks, and also instead of rolling over my 401K, I am going to cash it out (I am 60, so tax hit is 10% less).
As such, I expect both Distributions this week, and so I decided to try a "fresh start" on this online version due to my paying off the last of our Credit Cards, loans and such in the coming week or so. To be honest, I am having a very hard time moving from YNAB 4 where it is so much easier to see months ahead, versus the YNAB Online way, so I'll be doing both for a while yet. Mostly due to the huge problem with SFTF (Stealing From The Future) issue this version has, and apparently the developer refuses to address, even though they are saying they are still working on it. (After 3+ years of knowing about it?).
But since I work Graveyard and had the time, I really "boned up" on how the Online version works by reading and watching a lot of videos, I understand more fully now. I am going to try very hard to fully implement the 4 rules, and live the Online YNAB way of budgeting. I would jump in both feet if the SFTF wasn't a "feature", but since it is not fixed yet, I'll still use both YNAB versions as my safety net because the Online version is untrustworthy still.
Regardless of all that, If you all consider it fair that I join your Goal Group, I'll give it a try, add my current, as of today debt, which will drastically drop in a few days, but I will still have about 50K of Car debt that is left that I will be paying off over the course of the next 18 months.
Is that fair? should I join?
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Hebrews12v2 it sounds like you're still going to have debt even after your big checks clear, so you've still got something to work towards! So of course you can be here!
As far as switching from classic to the new version, I would really recommend that you just cut the ties and use the new version. The way the two versions "think" about things is really different, so I think it might cause you more angst than actually help in the long run. I tried to do the same thing when I switched 2 years ago, and it made a big mess for a while, until I finally just went with the online version and worked through it. Feel free to message me if you want to about questions or ways to set things up in the newer version, I'm happy to try to help. -
farfromtheusual I appreciate your offer. As I stated, I am basically just using YNAB 4 as a backup. I actually budget 60+ days into the future, with the focus on moving that out to 90+ days by the end of this week. So I think I can do this pretty well, unlike less fortunate folks who haven't been able to get there yet and are more affected by the SFTF "feature". I think I'll be ok, But only because I have been using YNAB for over 8 years and have been blessed to get where the bills I think about paying for today, won't happen for 3 months out. The only reason I have car payments is because I Bought my wife one for her new job that requires a lot of driving, then in September, my 2006 Ranger required an engine replacement, and it made more sense to buy a new one. Otherwise, I would have been debt free this week!
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Hebrews12v2 I think all's fair when it comes to the Debt Smackdown. I hope you'll join us and track, not only the payments from this month, but the ones you plan to make over the next 18 months, as well. :)
We've beta tested a few different features to address SFTF, but none of them did exactly what we were looking for. I know this has been a long standing occurrence, but it's still on our radar. I hope you'll give YNAB a full spin despite that.
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Faness I am, and did. Paid for the next year (out of my budget of course), and am committed to giving this a full wholehearted try, especially since I now have a strong (not full) understanding of how it works. The Videos and Blogs really helped, just had to spend the time to watch, read and listen to get to where I am now.....
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After being encouraged to do so, I'll grab line 234 and add mine.
- Credit Cards, misc credit at about $33000.00
- 2 car loans at about $44564.00
There would be more added to this, but I instead am moving items to be paid my by forthcoming Distributions directly into my budget, so they will not ever hit the debt category, just future budgeted items that I'll save the money for out of the Distributions i am getting. So by end of this month or early February, I'll drop off the 33K and be working on the other 45K over the next 18 months or less.
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Hebrews12v2 Just knocked out the easy 33K of Credit debt today. Now I am on the slog of paying off the two car loans from this point forward.
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Hebrews12v2 Congratulations! I'm sure that feels like a weight off your shoulders!
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internettie said:
the more money I have the more trouble I seem to get in. LOL I am better when I have guidelines and limits.How did you get inside my head already? LOL
Seriously, though, Thank you so much for your kind words. They give me a bit of hope. Once this current depressive episode is over, i will probably want to pick your brain more!
Also, bless you for fostering. It's not easy but so very necessary in rescue. I "fail" fostering LOL These are my 2 (the rottie was a gift from a breeder friend, the black dog is my latest "fail"
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Rottie Lvr they're adorable!!!!! 😍
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Rottie Lvr there needs to be a LOVE button to click when dog photos are posted! Your pups are beauties! Age, sex, name? (of the pups lol) My sister had a Rottie named Cheyenne. She got cancer, had a leg amputated, and then passed away not too long after that. She is still greatly missed a decade later.
I'm glad you could relate to what I posted to you. I'm glad they gave you some hope. You didn't get here overnight, so you won't get out of it overnight either. It takes time and it always should be on your schedule. You are the one who has to be ready. Just know that people are here to help and support you. I'm always around just waiting for my brain to be picked! lol
Addie was my last foster. I said goodbye to her almost 3 years ago now. She is doing great with her forever family and is 4 1/2 years old. My year with her was, up to that point, the best year of my life. I was living in Maine when I had Addie (long story) and wanted to come back home to Colorado and was actually packing to do that when I saw her on the local Humane Society's Facebook page. She was supposed to be a 2-3 week foster that turned into a year. I changed my entire life to stay to care for Addie. If she could have moved to Colorado with me I would have taken her, but even though her open heart surgery was successful, she could not live at altitude. Her trainers cousin and her family adopted her. She had her own little girl and is well loved. I still miss her. When I got back to Colorado I stayed with my best friend for 6 months. I bonded completely with her then 11 1/2 year old mini-Poodle, Woody, I had known Woody all his life, but never really connected to him prior to living with him. He became my best friend, my buddy. I spent more time with him in the 2 years I was first back in Colorado, than I did with anyone else. I was with him a lot and when I wasn't with him, I was thinking about the next time I would be with him. On September 27th, by a stroke of luck, I spent 12 hours with him. He and I played our typical game of chase in the house and just chilled with each other. He was his happy go lucky self. He and I spent the whole day just enjoying each other's company. It was lovely. That weekend he got sick, ended up in the ER Sunday night, and on Monday, September 30th, we had to say goodbye to him.
I feel like I lost a part of myself when Woody left. It's been almost 4 months now without him and I still feel completely lost. He was my whole world. I honestly still don't know how to live my life without him. I know I will figure it out eventually, just like I did when I had to say goodbye to Addie, but this goodbye being more permanent, is much harder. I think about him every single day. I am not anywhere close to even thinking about being friends with another dog right now. Fostering wouldn't work where I live and I tried volunteering at the Humane Society (it was too much physically for me). I don't even want to pet another dog because I feel like it betrays my friendship with Woody. I know that's not true, but for right now, I have to listen to my heart. Despite losing Woody, I am still finding the best in each day and finding my way to my new normal, without him, once again. I've been quite sick since mid-August, with a blood clot in my lung being the latest development, but I'm not impulse spending to the tune of hundreds or thousands of dollars or throwing the budget out the window due to grief and all the other emotions I'm having. I'm taking it one day at a time, one thought of spending money at a time, and one dollar at a time. All I can do is my best.
I write all this so you will know that life is not easy for me, or anyone else for that matter, but I am still finding ways to succeed with YNAB and my finances. I still have hope. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Best of luck to you and I hope that this depressive episode resolves soon for you.
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Hi guys! Happy to join you from Lisbon, Portugal.
Last year I bought an apartment and made some modifications so I'm in debt to the bank and my mother...
My total amount of debt is 218,340€.
My mother: 10,300€
My savings: 2,157€
The bank: 205,883€.At the end of the year, I want to have finish pay to my mother and my savings account.
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Slate Gray Beat I like the idea of using your savings account as a lender when needed.
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What I owe:
CC1 $817.13
CC2 $1788.53
Credit Line $17701.34
Student Loan1 $16600
Student Loan2 $10234.99
Personal Loan $1269.60
TOTAL$48411.59
What I want to pay off: $15,000
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January check-in: Credit cards are still at $0! (My big accomplishment from 2019. I’m really focused on keeping them at zero going forward, and am hoping that mentioning it in my check-ins will keep me on track). I paid a total of $567.91 towards my personal and car loans, and $40.02 in interest, for a net debt reduction of $527.89. Not as much as I had hoped I could, and not enough to be able to reach my goal if I stay at that amount monthly, but it’s a start and about $200 more than I had been paying. I’m planning to put a chunk of my tax refund towards the payoff, and then will calculate how much extra I would need to pay each month in order to meet my goal, so that I at least have something to aim for. I may not be able to hit it each month, but I can certainly try!
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Violet Drill
Awesome win on the cc balance thing. You are smashing it.
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Violet Drill Just waitin' on those tax refunds to roll in.... I'm looking forward to it, too!!!
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January check-in: We have used YNAB to pay off our credit card debt over the past few years and to budget for upcoming expenses. In 2020 we would like to focus on paying off our car loan of $14,818.00. Thanks YNAB and forum members for your support and encouragement!
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1. My total (not including the mortgage) is $72,911. Holy .....
2. This year I plan to pay off at least $24,600 of it. That will pay off 1 medical bill, 1 loan from a friend (to replace our A/C last year), and 1 large DMV fee; and will contribute to what we owe on 8 credit cards, 1 car loan, and student loans.
3. Since it's already near the end of January, I've paid off $1,788.77 so far, with another $300 going out by the end of the week.
4. Claimed!
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$54k Student Loans
$24k Auto Loans (with some ridiculous interest)
Looking to pay off at least half of my auto loans this year. Shooting for $12k
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Myles It looks like our spreadsheet had some trouble yesterday and I'm not seeing your name on the spreadsheet. If you use the search option and find your number, let me know which one it is! If you don't see your line, would you mind adding it again so you're set for the year?
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Veronica Sorry - changed my username a today so it didn't match the spreadsheet
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Myles No worries! I'm glad it was there for you!
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Honestly, I've had YNAB for a few years now, but I think I haven't actually been properly using the tool, 'cause I never seem to get ahead of this. But the realization came today when I realized I would have over $700 of 'extra' cash per month if I didn't have the interest payments on my all various debts. So, I'm here to be honest and accountable to myself about it.
So, here goes, (Line 242 claimed)Total current debt (not including mortgage)
CC1: $25,491
CC2: $17,029
LoC1: $13,300
LoC2: $14,260
Personal Loan: $4,359
Total (gulp) $74,439My goal is to pay off $7,000 this year. I'm going to use the snowball method, so hopefully, I can pay off that personal loan ASAP and then move on to the others. It's been a lot of frivolous spending that got me here, so I'm going to try to use YNAB and the 4 rules more effectively and get me back on track.
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Lavender Jackal Yes the total is always a gulp and then you feel the remorse for wasting money. Just own it and move forward. Attack that personal loan! Then keep going! Trying a no spending challenge. I'm doing the Uber Frugal Challenge. Change your mindset. :)
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Purple Foal Thanks for the link! That sounds like an interesting challenge, I might take it up in Feb!
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Claimed my line. Hopefully I did it right and it's not too late to jump in.
1. List the amount of total debt that you owe: $9,939.69 all in CC debt. It's not as much as some others here are paying off, but it's nearly $10,000 of lost money just from poor spending habits and that makes me kind of sad. Especially since I have nothing in savings and am constantly stressed out about money. I want to make 2020 the year I learn better money literacy.
2. Post in this thread the total amount of debt you would like to pay off during the 2020 calendar year: All of it. Maybe it's too big of a goal, but the more debt I can have out of my life this year, the easier it will feel to breathe. I have exactly zero plan on how I'm going to do this as I'm brand new to YNAB, but excited to learn.
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Little Red I'm the same! My CC debt is all just terrible spending, and my personal loan the same to be honest. I did not learn my lesson the first time and my goal is to be better in 2020 too.
Best of luck to you!
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Green Cleric Yes, it's frustrating realizing that all the debt you've accumulated could be savings if you had just refrained from impulse purchases. I'm just going through the process of getting diagnosed with ADHD as an adult though, so apparently money struggles and poor impulse control are not uncommon.
Best of luck to you as well!
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Little Red Ambitious goals are the best kind! They urge you to do your best and no matter how much you achieve, you're still better than where you started from. :)
We'll be rooting for you!
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Faness you're very right! Thanks for the kind words. I'll be rooting for everyone here as well!
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Little Red I just got my diagnosis for adult ADHD as well. The impulses are still there but I know why and I can tell them to go sit in a corner and ignore them. The diagnosis helps you be aware.
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Little Red How long have you been using YNAB so far? If it isn't long, then take some time to get used to using it before really figuring out how much you can manage to spend. I tried to be super ambitious in the beginning, and it only landed me in more debt because I didn't have a clear understanding of how much my basic expenses were every month. The only way I could figure that out was to use the program for a while (3 months is a start, 6 months is better, and a year gives you a full picture of what happens through all the seasons of the year). So if you haven't used it for very long, then be gentle with yourself to set yourself up for success. I've learned that when I "fail" that's when I'm more inclined to go further in the wrong direction. Really -there is no fail, but my brain has a way of being mean to me about it. Feel free to shoot me a message if you'd like to talk about how to set things up. I'm happy to help give you some of what I've learned so that maybe you'll be spared some of the roller coaster that I went through along the way.
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farfromtheusual I literally just signed up for it this week. I have a hard time with any kind of "in moderation" in my life, so it's hard for me to start something new and not want to go full tilt at it. But your advice makes a lot of sense.
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Little Red I can so relate! Like I said, feel free to shoot me a direct message if you want to talk through some things and I can give you some pointers on how to set things up so that you don't back slide by getting a bit too over ambitious too soon.
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farfromtheusual Very true! As much as we all want to pay off our debt super fast, it's best to have your emergency fund $1000 in place, fill up your true expenses & know where you stand before sending all your money to debt repayments. A big hiccup comes, which it will, and you want to be ready for it, and not resort to debt again. That would be the most frustrating part.
Little Red said:
I have a hard time with any kind of "in moderation" in my life, so it's hard for me to start something new and not want to go full tilt at it.I can relate! I get very OCD on learning new things and definitely become obsessed. This one is a great one! I joined in July and haven't stopped my intensity. What I have been doing is educating myself on everything personal finance. I've read many books, listened to ALL of the YNAB podcasts & other finance/budgeting ones, read blogs, and I'm on this forum almost daily. The more you know, the more you can tweak your finances. Everything from cutting fixed expenses to challenging myself on discretionary expenses.
One tidbit I learned in a podcast yesterday (DIYMoney) was to save up a pool of money, and be cautious to hold on to it until a storm passes, then use it as a lump sum debt payment. That's where I'm at right now with work and our strike situation. I want to add a snowball amount to my HELOC debt above my weekly payments, but I'm not sure what my upcoming paycheques will be like, so I'm holding the money until the storm is over.
So educate yourself! It is so empowering!!!!
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Where are you supposed to follow the steps to join, like list total debt, etc.?
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Magenta Horn Just as a comment here. Everyone posts the answers right here in the thread and then there's a link in the main post to add your information to the Google Sheet. The list of amounts is up to you to share with all or not, but it's safe since we're all in the same boat with debt.
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We want to pay $50,000 off our new mortgage. We've already paid off one house, but succumbed to the hedonic treadmill and sold it to buy one with some land. Now we want to pay off the new one!
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January debt payment: $385.23
January interest accrued: $229.79
Net January debt payment: $155.44
Before now I had not been taking interest into account when figuring out how much I paid on debt each month. It doesn't make sense to use the actual paid amount when interest adds back to the debt. So I will be going for the Net payment each month. Maybe that will keep me more in tune with how much interest I am paying and work at getting the debt paid off as quickly as I can so I can stop paying so much in interest each month. My priority debt is a personal loan that is the highest dollar amount debt and also the highest interest rate debt. It definitely needs to get paid off as fast as I can. I've gone back to the spreadsheet and changed the amount I paid on debt this month from $385.23 to $155.44 to more accurately reflect what portion paid is decreasing my debt.
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Hey everyone! Have been and fixed some errors and formula problems in the sheet - hopefully things are looking back to normal.
All the things that rely on Formula I've now locked - but shout / @ me if there's any obvious issues with it!
At some point next week I'll expand the currency list - so shout if yours is currently missing!
And last thing, I've just made some edits to number formats - since there are multiple currencies in play, for consistency, I've tried to remove a currency symbol from a number (calculated bits and the check in bit). The main row in Row 5 should now have an up to date conversion in $ though!
Shout if there's anything extra you want the sheet to do -and I'll have a crack at it!
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BritishMuseum Thank you! It looks great now & happy to be a part of it from the beginning this year. (joined 2019 in Nov) :)
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BritishMuseum I build fancy spreadsheets, too, and so I know the hours and hours that go into them to get them just right. Thanks for all your time and effort on this!!!
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