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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June Check-in:
Will have paid $495 total from regular weekly payments.
Just made a LUMP SUM Payment!! $884.31, to just get me under the $25k mark so I can colour a letter on my artwork. I've increased my monthly payments to $800: $495 regular + $305 Snowball. But want to make it $1000 or higher. Feels great! :)HELOC New balance: $24,999.99
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Purple Foal WAHOOOO!!!! That's a huge milestone!!!! Way to go!!
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farfromtheusual Thanks! I updated the spreadsheet & realized in my category activity for the months that I paid more than I thought with 5 week months. I'm now at 29% of my goal for the year. :)
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Purple Foal even better!!
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June check-in: Being one of those whose name & line totally disappeared from the spreadsheet back in February put me a little behind on monthly postings and check-ins, but thanks to YNAB crack solve-its, I'm back in action (phew!). Happy to report that in June I was able to put a windfall I received of $4,200 totally toward my highest of two credit cards, and on top of that didn't fail to also pay my regular planned monthly pay-down on the same card. Am trying to improve my credit score in case we want to buy a house again (currently renting). I have also started paying off every monthly expenditure on the card instead of blindly letting it ride and add on to current debt--because of the pandemic, we now no longer eat out or spend money on much beyond daily living expenses, vet bills, and groceries. In each of the previous months I have paid down a budgeted amount on my two cards (recorded on the spreadsheet so not repeating here). Thanks to this virtual YNAB community and YNAB's weekly tips, I think my whole financial picture has gotten a lot clearer.
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Lavender Snow Congrats!! That's something to be really proud of!
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If there is one thing this virus has taught me, is not to put off what can be done today. So with that in mind, I totally decimated my budget and I am now debt free. I just needed to get my head around to paying off the remaining $3,300. In total $5168 paid off with the help of YNAB since the last 2weeks in December.
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Sea Green Griffin Congrats!!! That's huge!!!!
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Sea Green Griffin Congratulations!!
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Sea Green Griffin Congratulations on being debt free! 🎉 That is amazing news.
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Sea Green Griffin Amazing!! Why pay them interest when you can earn interest yourself!! :)
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Life is crazy, missed updating for a few months, but was able to fill everything in thanks to undebt.it! I took a crazy leap and changed companies (well, changed which laptop I log into) this month, which came with a pretty substantial raise due to the company looking to fill niche roles and generally having a better compensation policy than my previous employer. With that, a sign-on bonus, and a PTO payout from my previous employer (since, surprise, I haven't taken much PTO this year), I have been able to keep funding extra debt payments and am on track to hit my goal of $35,000 total paid this year! Still trying to balance to make sure I'm padding my emergency fund and funding true expenses well since my spouse works in the hospitality business and has variable income in the best of years, but I am so, so thankful that we'd already been using YNAB for a few years before 2020 hit us.
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Silver Router rock on! That's all really good news. Congrats about the employer change!
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I thought I made this post a week ago and found it odd there were no replies, but now I can't find it, so I guess I never actually posted? Anyway- I'm just wondering: how do you all track CC debt in YNAB? Not spending/PIF "good" credit card use. But like if you have a balance you are paying down. Because I just realized that it's not counted in the "debt" section of YNAB! All that has is my mortgage, student loans, car loans.
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Steel Blue Sound This is not the 'official' way you're supposed to do it, but is what worked for me. I just set up my credit cards with prior balances as Tracking Liability accounts (which meant they showed as negative balances and counted against my net worth) and then paid them like I was paying any normal bill from my checking until I had paid them off entirely.
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Steel Blue Sound yeah, that is a tricky bit about how YNAB handles credit cards. If you aren't using it for daily purchases, I would make it a tracking account instead.
BUT, if you're like me, and it sometimes still gets used (couldn't pass up the zero percent balance transfer AND the rewards on the card...) it gets messy trying to mentally keep the "original" debt separate from the "current" debt, which is generally budgeted. One of my complaints about credit cards, especially cards with debt that is being "floated" (or sometimes drug along like a lead weight...) is that it is difficult to see what the debt is vs what has been budgeted.
SO as my own work around (and of course they don't recommend this, either, but it works for my own brain) was to actually make 2 credit card accounts. One gets called "CC OLD debt" - which has a static amount on it, and I apply payments to it on a regular basis of the amount that I determined that I make every month (So actually it reads CC OLD Debt - 13th/$61 because that gives me all the info I need to know about that account, when it is due, and how much I pay every month). Then I made another account called CC Purchases. That account is where I put all of the purchases every month that I make so that I can keep track of how much I owe, and pay it off to "zero" every month.
Not going to lie - it's a bit tricky to track sometimes. BUT at any given moment, the total of the two accounts should be the entire account balance on the card. And if you pay off the purchases to zero every month, then what is left on the "Old debt" account should be the account balance on the card.Sometimes it is tricky to find the actual balance on the card, but as long as you go in and look it up, it's not that big of a deal.
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farfromtheusual Ok, so it sounds like I'm not missing something obvious- it takes a little creativity to figure out your own system. I actually asked ynab help and they said yeah CC debt isn't counted in your debt but it will show up in net worth. I've actually paid off my cards, so it's kind of a moot point I guess, but I wanted to go back in and fill out the spreadsheet from the months before I joined the challenge, and I wasn't sure if there was an easy way to calculate total payments and % of goal, but I guess not. Maybe I should make my own little spreadsheet. I feel like it would be useful for YNAB though to treat a pre-existing credit card balance as a debt! Because if I spend 100 on my card (on budget) and then pay 100, that's great, and ynab is happy- but what if I had another 1000k balance on there before that?
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Steel Blue Sound Im still in YNAB 4 and what you are describing sounds similar to what was called pre-YNAB debt and you just paid it down like other bills, a little at a time until it was gone. Now, when I have a CC balance that won't be paid in full quickly, as others have also done, I make a category with the name of the card and it has a negative (aka ugly red) balance until it's gone. Then I move it to a Hidden Category under 'Paid off Debt'. I know it's not the legit way, but that's how it needed to be for me while I was in the process of "growing up" financially! And I still use it this way sometimes when needed with 0% interest cards.
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Steel Blue Sound Yeah, I agree with you. I don't like the fact that debt is sort of hazy in the new system the way it works. It isn't nearly as clear as I'd like it to be about the debt that I am carrying and putting together a plan to pay it off.
As far as the spreadsheet for the challenge, you don't need to calculate those things, all you'll need is the total debt you started with, and then how much you paid each month. If you can figure those things out pretty easily, then the rest of the math will be done for you in the spreadsheet. Even if you just put in the amount of the payments, and then add it up to figure out how much the total debt was, that will still be better than nothing.Sweet Tangerine Yeah, I do the same thing. Gotta come up with some work arounds for some of the weak spots in the system.
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June.... pre-update I guess, since I haven't actually made the payment yet. The Direct Debit is due to go out next week ish and I don't like making extra payments this close to the payment date in case it cancels the DD or in case it doesn't and I pay twice. Still, for the last couple of months I've been trying to scrape together an extra payment and life has intervened but it looks like this month is the month! Once I make the extra payment I should - fingers crossed - be down to only £100 of CC debt which I can pay off entirely at the end of July!!
I've no idea when I'm going to be getting that inheritance money I was told I'd get in the New Year but I don't think 2020 has gone according to plan for anyone.
As a side note, when I pay off this particular credit card I'll be shutting it down immediatly as it's costing me £3 a month. In the UK you get extra protections if you run large purchases through a credit card, so I'm wondering if I should get out a different (free) credit card in case I have large purchases in future? I'd still be saving up for things - a laptop or whatever - so I'd have the money to pay off the card immediatly, but running the purchase throguh a credit card would give me extra protection. I'm just wondering if I should get a card out in advance when I have no plans for purchases anytime soon or if I should wait until I actually intend to make a purchase. Food for thought. I guess I'm probably still a little bit wedded to the idea of a CC as a backup when I don't really need that anymore.
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Mx Emmin GOOD FOR YOU!!! That's awesome news!
As far as the CC issue goes... in the US if you close an account it dings your credit score, and it will drop a few points. The credit bureaus like to see credit card accounts open, so if you were here I'd say to open a new one before you close the other one. But since you're not in the US I'm not sure if the same applies or not.And yeah, I'd be ditching the card with a fee, too! Unfortunately, my oldest card has a fee, and since my credit history isn't that long I keep it open to keep my score up. Thankfully the fee isn't big, but it's still annoying!
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Mx Emmin Actual June Update - I only have £100 left on my credit card! (once the payments clear)
Not including the Fitbit - which I just flat out had the money for, I just routed the payment throught the CC - I paid off £196.56 this month. That's so close to £200 I'm tempted to just... just a little bit...
But whether I do or don't, it'll be paid off in full next month and I'll be debt free! 🥳🎉 -
Mx Emmin WAHOO! Congrats!!!
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Hi All, happily I think I might be back on track this month with my normal Snowball amount, I paid $2884 towards debt this month. My debt freedom date moved out to Feb of 2025 but I think I might be able to pull that back in. With pulling back on my debt snowball for the past few months, I've gotten a month ahead in YNAB, July is all set! Yea! And I've got an emergency fund that should cover approximately 1 month of Must Pay monthly obligations. So feeling pretty good about it this month!
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Grey Tux Congrats!!!!
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farfromtheusual Thanks! Glad to be back on track and with a cushion!
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Grey Tux Well done! 👏
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Nicole Thanks!! All down to YNAB and my girlfriend Amy who showed me the YNAB way!! 😍
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June payments include paying off 2 smaller credit cards. Total for the month is $3528.90. That makes my total paid since February ($14445.93) almost half of my smackdown goal for 2020. I hope the next 6 months go as well so I can keep on track. Then next year I can tackle more debt because I will still have quite a bit left! Thank you YNAB!!!
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Cyan Yeti Wow! That's an amazing accomplishment!!
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farfromtheusual Thank you
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Cyan Yeti Two in one month! That is fantastic news. 😄 You've got this!
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Cyan Yeti That's amazing!! Keep going!! :)
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May/June Update
Credit card consolidation loan
- Starting balance: $6927.58
- Current balance: $0 - paid off on April 14
Used auto loan
- Starting balance: $18,625.42
- Current balance: $15,301.61
I missed May, so here’s my update all wrapped in one.
Last time I wrote, we had just received word that ManSpice would be furloughed in mid-June. We started adjusting to the idea, tightening our belts, and getting ready for him to be a house husband for the foreseeable future.
Well, lo and behold, a couple weeks ago, his company called and rescinded the furlough! He is still gainfully employed and while I skipped an extra payment on the car loan in May, I ramped it right back up after we got word he still had a job. The plan is to send $1500 a month toward it till it’s gone. If all goes according to plan (HA! What’s that?!), we will smash our debt repayment goal this year.
I’m so impressed with and inspired by everyone’s progress. Go us!
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MicroSpice As tough as it was, look how you had a plan B that was going to work and then boom! Keep the changes you made of tightening your belts as your new normal & crush that debt! :)
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MicroSpice That's fantastic news! I know yall are really relieved for that!
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I continue to appreciate that I've been able to keep working like normal and therefore haven't had to face the struggles I'm sure many other people on this thread have.
June debt pay down:
-Student loans: $1106.50
-Car loan: $416.86
-Total: $1523.36
2020 Debt Pay Down: $8,580.66/$10,000 goal
I'm excited that I'll likely reach my goal next month or the month after that. Would love to be able to completely get rid of my private student loan soon so that I can focus on the rest of that $350,000 pile come 2021. 😬
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Joining in a bit late on here, but debt payoff has been my 2020 goal all along.
Beginning of 2020, we had $24,168.88 in credit card debt to pay off. We're currently at $14,661.30. So, we've paid about $9500 so far this year. I managed to pay a total of $9300 in 2019 (also with YNAB help), so we're doing good this year, already beating last year's total halfway through. I'd love to manage to payoff the remaining $14,661.30 we owe and be credit card free at the end of the year!
Then I can acknowledge the existence of those student loans >.<
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Steel Blue Mask Good is an understatement! You've already beat your payoff from last year and we're only halfway through the year. Glad you're here!
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Slogging through paying off my credit cards and car loan via avalanche method! This month felt like a big win! With the help of a vacation refund, I was able to through $971 towards debt in June! ($400 more than usual!)
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I'm pretty late to the game, but I'd like to join in for the last half of the year. I've been working on debt this year already, and overall started the year with a goal to reduce by $66,000.
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Turquoise Drill welcome to the party! It's never too late to join in! Add yourself to the spreadsheet to keep track of your progress!
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June Check-in:
Paid off in June: £573.24
Paid off YTD: £4329.53 (19.99%)
Remaining: £17325.61June was an unusual month - I had to transfer my largest CC debt to a new 0% interest card as the promotional rate was ending, so I incurred a transfer fee, meaning I didn't reduce my overall debt as much as I would have otherwise.
However the one-off transfer fee was much lower than my interest fees would have been next month, had I not moved the balance, so overall it was a good move, even if the net result was I'm now at 19.99% and haven't filled in another block on the thermometer... 😬
On a more positive note, my targeted credit card has now become my lowest balance 😁 Just two more payments on that card and it will be gone forever! I normally make my payments when the card balance is due, so I'm paying for June's bill with May's Salary. However, in July I'm intending to make my July payment as normal on or around the 20th, then straight after I get paid on the 25th, I'll make a second payment in July, using July's salary to clear the card :) can't wait!!!!!
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Turquoise Major Those little back slides are helpful, though, in the long run. They do save a lot of money! Kudos to you for playing the game! And congrats on being SO CLOSE to paying off that card! Can't wait to see that update!!
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farfromtheusual Thanks - Yes, I knew I would need to transfer the debt this year, and the beauty of using YNAB is I have a strategy to clear it. It was better to pay a one-off fee of 1.5% rather than letting it slip to the standard rate for the card, which is about 17%.
I am really, really pumped to clear the card in July - This one was for a planned debt that I took on and again, with YNAB's help I was able to set a goal to have it paid off without accruing any interest on that debt. Back in January I used some birthday money to buy myself a treat which has been sitting on the top of the wardrobe untouched. It is my reward for paying off £10K of debt on that particular card since October last year so will be a particularly special late birthday gift.
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Turquoise Major 1.5% on a zero % interest promo is a great fee, too! Normally they're 3%. But even at that, it's way better than the cost of monthly interest! Congrats on having a plan!
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farfromtheusual Yeah, it was a promotional rate "for existing customers". I had no idea, but I actually had a savings account with them that had 23p in it! So I was an "existing customer" and qualified!
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Turquoise Major That's awesome!!
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June Check-in:
Paid off in June: £1177.63
Paid off YTD: £4314.19 (43.14%)
Remaining: £5685.81 (for this year's goal) / £27,457 (total left to go)
Decided to put the gift money we received last month into a savings account, ready for when we find another car rather than using it all on debt. Our old rust bucket needed to be repaired again recently (thankfully a fairly small fix), and I think it's time that we looked for something newer/safer.
I did take a little of the money to pay off a two smallest debts though.-
Blue Sander Well done!
I can completely sympathise on the car thing - those little expenses every few months just get annoying. I remember with my first car (a Ford Escort) I was paying out £10-£100 on small repairs each month before I just had to let her go. She was a lovely car, and obviously I had an emotional attachment to my first car, but in the end it was better to cut my losses and save for a more reliable motor.
Sounds like you paid off some small debts though, so well done!
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Turquoise Major I hate buying cars, I'm so worried that I'll be conned into buying something that will break, so I hang on to cars for as long as possible. I LOVE our current car (18 yr old Honda CR-V), but it's done over 160k miles, the tax is expensive and it's looking very scruffy these days. And you're totally right! If I add up what we've been spending to keep it on the road, it's mounting up to way more than the car is worth now :(
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Blue Sander I'm with you there... and the worst part is that more and more cars are made to be disposable just like everything else in our world. 😒 And more and more they are made in such a way that you HAVE to have a dealer to repair things, which is very expensive on top of the already expensive cost of getting a vehicle. It's very frustrating!
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farfromtheusual Oh gosh yes! Computers for everything! 😂
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Furnace paid off two months early! Two credit cards left. On track for payoff by October. It’s such a great feeling to hit a goal. Thanks YNAB!
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Slate Blue Network Fantastic! It must be great to see the light at the end of the tunnel!
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June Check-In
I've been so very derelict in checking in. I just updated my previous months. I was furloughed due to Covid-19 but since I made so little, unemployment ended up paying more than I'm used to. I was able to pay off a student debt I had of $1900. I didn't include that in the original debt I was trying to pay off so I didn't include it in the spreadsheet. I'm really focused on paying off my Discover CC. My biggest amount to date was $350 this month. I made a scheduled transaction early in the month for the date it was due and made sure that I saved up enough from my paychecks to make it. Next month, I'd like to strive for $400. That's about half of my monthly earnings but I want to pay as much of it down as possible while I still can. I'm back to work now so no more unemployment to help bring it down quickly but I am getting great hours so I'm making a little more now than I was at the start of the year. I'm also due for a raise in August. It won't be much but every little bit helps.
June paid-off: $350
Total so far paid-off: $1,099.17 (out of, I believe, a lofty goal of $3500)
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Amelia that's huge! Way to go! I would add the $1900 to the spreadsheet, even if it wasn't planned to pay off or included in your original goal, it still counts. I'm glad things are looking up for you!
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June check-in: we paid $4067.26 toward debt payments this month. That is all regular monthly payments plus a triple payment on the HELOC. We’re trying to pay as much as possible to get rid of our debt before hubby has to find a new job, but we still have to live. Next month looks even better for debt pay down. You are all a great inspiration to keep on track. Keep that momentum going!
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June Update:
Paid off in June: $2645
Paid off YTD: $13330
Remaining: $1479I paid off my Citi Flex Loan in June. Very excited to see that $0 balance in YNAB. Now all that's left is my 0% Chase CC. The balance transfer expires in November so I need to pay $300/month to have it paid off by then. Totally doable!
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June Update: Paid off $1402 to the remodel loan.
Still $42747 outstanding so it will take a little while, but progress is progress. Also funded some emergency funds like the Vet Emergency fund (input $50), Dental Emergency Fund (input $50), Tech Replacement Fund (input $50), House Maintenance Fund (input $100) and the No Job Fund ($500).
Could have paid off more and really had to stop myself from transferring those fund straight to the debt, but I know future me will thank me for setting some money aside for when doodoo hits the fan. All in all, pretty happy with the month so far 🙂
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Missed my May check-in, so my debt reduction was:
May: $2,262
June: $417
June was the first non-stellar month we've had since January. But next month is shaping up to be a blockbuster, with some big back child support payments incoming. I set a ridiculous goal this year ($30,000), and we've been ridiculously blessed. While we're not even halfway there, our total of $11,578 this year is amazing. We've already almost matched the $14,000 we paid down last year, and we're only halfway through the year! Woohoo!
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Oops, deleted my last reply. I had some fake numbers in my spreadsheet for forecasting, lol. Total for the year is in fact $11,578. I'm just confusing myself at this point. :)
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Max Green AWESOME!!!
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I was able to pay off a hospital bill. Then I was looking at my statement for a surgeon bill and was confused. Also, it was taking weeks for payments to be processed. I called them to ask some questions. The lady told me that the payment I just sent in will be my last payment and that she was clearing out the remaining $348 because I've always made on time payments and paid extra! I was in shock! So, now my medical bills are done!
Now to decide if I want to continue just paying income-based on student loans when repayment comes around again or to pay extra and try to eventually pay them off. Currently I'm on the public service loan forgiveness track. I'll be 47 payments in of 120 total. The thing is that I'm not sure if I want to stay in public service for the next 6 years or not. If I do, I'd pay a ton less with the forgiveness program. Currently the payment is set at $140/month. I owe $55k.
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YALL!! Everybody is doing SO amazing this year!! We're at 2.279 M I L L I O N dollars!!! Last year we only did 2.8! We're going to blow by that number really soon, which means we are really close to DOUBLING the amount of debt that we've smacked down this year, despite a whole world of upheaval! That's amazing!!
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farfromtheusual oh wow thats quite something!
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Here's my June update:
MC - $412.46 $61.00 $351.46
Total - $351.46 $61.00 $351.46
Extra - $50.22
I'm SO thrilled that the balance for my personal debt is below $400! This is the least personal credit card debt that I have ever had! I'm still able to put the extra $50 on my car payment, which is awesome, too, and so next year I will put that debt officially in the smackdown so I can knock it out as well. Now if I can get the raise that I'm after in my office job I'll be able to put even more of a hurting on my debt!!
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June Check in - progressing on track. Still aiming to be debt free at the end of this year. $2815.76 paid off this month. I constantly review my progress charts almost every day if not every other day. I find it helps keep me focused and on goal. I've been on a really tight budget to get this done, but I suddenly realized I kept overspending on my grocery budget every week for a few months as I had it too low to make it look good. So I've tweaked the number a bit higher this week and will see if that is the true number I should be using.
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auntdar sometimes what we think we should be spending, and what actually has to be spent are two different things...
Way to go for being right on track!
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