MicroSpice We've been having that conversation, too, there's so many different paces that check can go that will all help... it's figuring out which one is the smartest that is the challenge! Hope your situation keeps looking up!

Sea Green Piccolo When anxiety or panic run high, I run to my budget. Having control of my finances in any situation makes it seem more manageable. I'm happy your budget was able to make you feel better! :)

Faness Thank you! And being someone who used to bury my head in the sand when it came to finances when things were tougher, it's been a great improvement for me that I'm actively making sure that I still look at the budget, no matter how uncertain I feel. Now it's just reinforcing those positive feelings when I check in! That's huge for peace of mind. 

Faness Sounds wise to me! I'm still working out what to do in April, my work has slowed down a fair bit but I won't really feel the effects of it for another month, due to pay periods being what they are and my rather irregular income schedule. I'm likely going to pay less in April to soften ride this out and hang onto a greater cash reserve and up my savings cushion. I guess part of the good of paying more aggressively is that in times of uncertainty like this, paring back to minimums is more feasible. Hang in there and all the best your way!

Spider Plant It's funny how paying the "normal" payment now amounts to having extra breathing room. 😁 I'm glad you aren't feeling the effects yet and I hope April is kinder than you're expecting. It may seem like we have a long storm to get through, but we'll make it! :)

PhysicsGal You are not alone! I'm still budgeting for my payments, so the funds will be there if I choose not to invest or need it for an emergency, but I feel better having access to that cash for now. You've already come a long way and rolling with the punches is almost a necessity with the current state of things. :)

internettie Always great to see your smile! You're not alone here, and many folks are doing the same. We're budgeting for our extra payments, but holding on to those dollars for now—just in case. Things have changed a lot since setting goals January and we're all rolling with it!

Nicole thanks Nicole. I know most folks are having to roll with the punches and thank goodness YNAB has taught us how to do that. After spending on meds, supplies, food to keep me going for a while since I'm in self-quarantine for at least another month, I am being stingy with my dollars going forward. I'm keeping it all in the credit union because life will gain a semblance of normalcy at some point and I want to be ready to go on the attack with debt again. Things change exponentially fast which is giving me whiplash. LOL I am so glad I have YNAB to keep me sane and grounded during these surreal times. I hope you are doing well.

Here's my real smiling face! It was nice to get outside yesterday.

internettie you actually look pretty good (all things considered). You had a few things sideline you in the past few months so its nice to see that you are able to get some sunshine and smile!!! 

MXMOM thank you. It did feel so good to sit outside for a while. Of course it snowed today! LOL Should be in the 60s and 70s this coming week though so I'm hoping to get out again. Want to show off my new mask! Now I can be protected and not so scary. 

Keith You're rolling with the punches! Life has changed a lot since those goals were originally set. Hang in there. ❤️

Royal Blue Cyborg That's fantastic! 🎉 Between stress and everything going on, avoiding reckless purchases this month is a real achievement. 

lil Ronnie we are doing the same - setting aside any amount above minimum payments- until we know better how long this may last. 

lil Ronnie I think stockpiling is a common approach for the time being. I also think your marquee is right, we just have to weather through this, but we'll make it!

Steel Blue Sound I have an ER doc friend and she just took a pay cut as well. I was so surprised by that, but she said the ER has been so slow. Nobody is out getting into trouble! Have you heard of White Coat Investor? My ER doc friend turned me onto him. My DH isn't a doc, but is a high income earner like you and I totally binge on the White Coat Investor Podcast and Blog. He's a pretty amazing dude and might provide a different perspective to your debt. Hugs, and welcome!

Wiecked aw thanks! I have heard of WCI, but haven't read his stuff.  I just joined a women physician personal finance group a couple months ago.  I make decent money, but so much less than most of my doc friends, and given my loans, things are still uncomfortably tight.  So I've always been intimidated and felt like I "don't belong" in any sort of financial group.  (they're often talking about what to do with their extra money since their loans are all paid off and college is fully funded etc, and it just makes me feel sad and jealous and inadequate because I am nowhere close to that world) But that is where I learned of YNAB and it's making such a difference already!

Steel Blue Sound Huge huge hugs love! When you have a big debt load, almost 50% of your take home pay, you are going to feel tight and scared. That's so normal. I applaud you MASSIVELY for taking on YNAB and not ignoring things due to frustration. Growth happens where we put our energy and if you are where you are, then you are SMART and will pick up financial concepts quickly and eagerly. Pick some people to following and just let their advice wash over you. No action is needed at this time, just gentle education and curiosity. :)

Wiecked thanks for the support! I did just realize that I could probably pay my car off fairly quickly, (relatively speaking...). And it has the lowest balance AND the highest interest, so it seems like a logical place to start.  And the payment is pretty hefty- freeing that up would definitely help snowball.

Steel Blue Sound now we are talking!!!!! 🚘

Steel Blue Sound  That is a great plan! Start with the car! Wishing you lots of luck on your journey! If you are on Instagram, I would suggest searching the #debtfreecommunity, there are lots of Doctors there paying off six figure debt so you may feel right at home there.

Steel Blue Sound Welcome aboard! I'm glad you found your way here! :)

Even the newest of noobs are welcome here and it sounds like you already have the makings of a great plan! I'm looking forward to your updates - that car payment will be gone before you know it!

Steel Blue Sound Those numbers sound overwhelming, so break it down for your own mental health & to motivate you to move forward. I agree with the others: pay off your car loan. Now CC & car gone, focus on your student loans. In fact, just put that as your debt total and even break them into loan #1, #2, #3 etc if there are more than one. Everybody has a mortgage - that's the last debt to be paid off. So use the student loan deferral to your advantage: pay off your car, build up an EF of a few thousand, then stockpile the student loan payments to a massive payment when you start to pay them again. Also, look closely at the fine print of the deferral...they might still be charging interest even-though they don't expect payments. That is how the mortgage deferral is working. Use the debt snowball on your student loans to pay off the highest interest first, or the smallest ones first. Again, take the mortgage out of the equation. Good luck!! You've got this. :)

So re-itemize your debt payments as:

Car Loan $$$$

Student Loan #1 $$$$ (% interest)

Student Loan #2 $$$$ (%interest) etc

Steel Blue Sound noobs are always welcome, join any time. The spreadsheet is to record your progress so we can easily see what the overall totals are, but as someone said already, pick a few debts to focus on this year (or one, or even a portion of one) and make that your goal, and track on that this year. Many of us need longer than a year to get fully paid off, so you will make friends here over time, watch folks graduate, and eventually graduate yourself. Pick a figure that you think is realistic - or not. Many have a 'goal' and then a 'stretch goal' and often people are amazed when they exceed even their stretch goal with the extra kick that accountability and focus give to clearing debt. I look forward to following your journey.

Steel Blue Sound how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

Highlander89 I have about 125k of student loan debt (and this is after 10y of payments....) (plus another 25K for my husband), plus a mortgage, so I feel your pain.  The numbers are so big they don't even feel real.  Unfortunately I don't think I have any forgiveness options, ugh.  fortunately my interest rate is low. I just pay what they tell me to.  Would  love to pay more, but..... it's just not happening right now.  

Steel Blue Sound Glad Im not the only one! At this point, aside from forgiveness or some large inheritance (trus me Id rather have the people) I wont be paying this off anytime soon. So minimm payments it is.

GENERAL UPDATE: Just got paid today, and so was able to payoff the remainder of what I will be able to pay towards my CC this month. I paid a little over $1200 towards my CC. On the spreadsheet, it will eventually look as though I've paid more than I owe. That is because the principal entered was what it was at the beginning, but I do periodically charge things to the card. These are work expenses for reimbursement or are items I purchase when I want an added layer of security (buying via CC from some online retailer rather than in a brick & mortar.). All in all, great progress, and I was able to put money into emergency savings as well. With my stimulus, I opened a Roth IRA as well. So a good month all around.

Highlander89 

I played around with undebt.it recently, and it says that (not including mortgage, but adding in 33k of my husband’s student loans, for a total of 183k) that we’ll be debt free in 8y, just by snowballing together minimum payments. That’s still a long time, but honestly I have always assumed it’s going to take me like 50y to pay off my student loans, so 8y was actually a pleasant surprise and makes me feel motivated and that there IS a light at the end of the (albeit long) tunnel. And it will be even faster if I can throw more than minimums sometimes. I definitely recommend the site! (It’s free, but the “pro” version is $12/yr, and currently 25% off. It even has YNAB sync, but honestly I’m not sure yet what that does)

Gold Song That's amazing!! Way to go!

Slate Gray Cobra Hugs. Came to say basically the same thing...lol.

Slate Blue Vacuum I find my mood goes up and down. I am also employed and lucky to be paid despite not being able to work for the past 4 weeks. So I get how your DH feels. My husband's work status changes daily (hourly?) as the various government (Canada) support programs keep changing.  I agree totally with your "no new debt" goal. I know for us, that was a huge change from the past. And without YNAB intentional decisions about money, we would probably just go merrily along and say we would figure it out later. We have done something similar in that we are pausing our debt paydown and just going with minimum payments right now. Luckily both accounts remaining are currently on a 0% interest program so those tiny payments at least all go to the debt. However, we are budgeting in YNAB for the extra payments in a separate extra debt payment category so that if we don't end up needing the cash, we can take the whole thing and throw it at the debt later. In the meantime, we are rolling with the punches and happy that we are all healthy and safe.