Back when I started this blog in 2011 I was over $11K in debt. That was a scary number. Over a fourth of my gross annual income. Since then, I'm down to 2.5K. I probably could have paid it down a bit faster --- my actual goal was to pay it off before the Princess graduated high school. That didn't happen. However, I'm in actual reach now of paying this stuff off --- not way out in the distant future..... but in July. As in NEXT MONTH.
It will take some tweaking and some sacrifice, and essentially wiping out my liquid emergency fund.... but it will be worth it. (So that y'all don't think that I'm totally crazy, I have other money placed in an account that's just not as easy to get to should Murphy come a calling). I also have tuition put aside for the fall so I'm not just completely wiping out any and all safety nets.
So, I'll put my general $500 in this month and next. Then I have another $236 to apply (state tax refund), and likely another $100 coming in from another source. That puts me at $1336 paid. I then also have $1300 sitting in that pseudo emergency fund. That's $1636 (which gives me wiggle room for interest charges in that time period). And voila! I'll be done. Finished.
The tempting thing to do would be give myself a little lifestyle inflation once I get to the zero debt point. Tempting, but that won't happen. It CAN'T happen. That money that I've been putting to debt repayment now has to be put to good use. Namely, savings. My car is 13 years old. While I'd love to get another five years out of it, chances are that isn't going to happen. I'd like to have cash to pay for a new to me car. And if not cash.... well then enough of a downpayment to make those monthly payments really small. Also, there is still the matter of tuition. I'd like for the Princess to finish college with as little debt as possible. So I need to boost savings for that too.
With lofty goals like that... lifestyle inflation is out of the question. Completely and totally. Now if I can just make myself stick to that plan.
Congratulations! That is an awesome accomplishment. :)
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel! I've been playing with numbers and I so itch to just make a lump sum payment on debt just to be off sooner. Alas, I've been told and agree it may not be the wisest thing, considering how small disasters have affected me in the past and the long recovery times before I get back on my feet. Not to say that when I get within 2k of the debt I wont pay it in bulk, but for now, I'm sitting on it for a while longer. Party planned for July?
ReplyDeleteYeah, if I didn't have other money set aside that I could get to within a couple of days, I wouldn't have the guts to lump sum.
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