This is all the debt I’ve got left to pay. It used to include more student loans and credit cards but those have since been payed off.
Great Lakes Loan $11,062 157 ($95) I hate this loan. It never goes down. I got my tax form from them this year, and I paid them over 1,000 in interest. It looks like that tax write off kept me in the green for 2012! Even though I was happy about being in the green for taxes in 2012, that small win does not offset the 11k+ debt I had to carry for it.
Ford Credit: $8,560 ($301): This is my next target. In order to keep myself motivated to pay off this goal, I decided to set myself a mini goal. Finally, the needle is moving on this. I got my refund from the direct loan screw up (I cancelled my auto payment, paid it off, then they took the auto pay anyway), so I sent that $50 to the truck. I also got my efile tax return earlier than expected, and once the student loan money clears, I’ll send the 120 from my tax refund. It looks like I’ll be able to send them another big payment this month, but I’m not sure of the exact number yet. This is the first time since November, 2010 that I’ve made an extra payment to my debt, not counting the insurance check I got from the hail storm.
Though the year is out, i’m still going to keep this going in my monthly reviews. Since I’ve got a goal of running a marathon for next year, I’ll be counting runs in this as well. I’ve been continuing my weight lifting regimen as well as doing my marathon training, so I’ve been something of an exercise rat as of late. My week typically has 4 runs (3 short, 1 long) and 5 weightlifting workouts. I usually do the weights before work at the gym in the morning, and my short runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the long run on Saturday. The weather was fairly cooperative this month (considering it’s february) and I only had to run inside about 4 days – though there were some times that I probably should have ran inside.
In this number of goal workouts, I’m counting my visits to the gym, my running (priming for marathon training) and also my hunting.
In terms of the gym, this was another great month. I still have yet to break my working out streak, and I can assure you that the streak was the only thing that pushed me to the gym at least one time this month.
This month, in an effort to save some money and start eating what food H and I have, I started a Meat Challenge and a Grocery Store Challenge. Right now, the Grocery store challenge has yet to start because it will start when we get our CSA.
After the meat challenge post, I decided on a start date, went to the store and got some on-sale meats (salmon and shrimp) for the freezer, and have been doing just fine so far!
Looks like you are moving forward at a pretty good clip.
I wish I did as well with your health and exercising goals as you do with yours! Great job!
thanks denise! I think they took a bit of a back seat to my finances though!
Congratulation on getting the debts under 20k. Pretty soon it will be 10k and then 5k….
thanks joe! here’s hoping its soon!
hey good work! when is your target for getting out of debt?
Hey FP – I’m really not sure when my target date is. I havent calculated it in about a year since everything was so in flux last year. Honestly it really depends on how well I can get my spending under control this year, as I havent paid extra to debt in ages I dont even know at this point.
Student loans are a killer. The default rate on them has gone through the roof. Some say it could be new market bubble that could pop.
I arrive at my local butcher early in the morning and get my meat on clearance an well over half off.
I think student loans are rough too, thankfully I’ve paid off most of my notes (but not most of the balance). As for the meat, you should check out the post on the meat challenge. My freezer is full so i’m trying not to buy any meat till the fall.
You sure work out a lot… I am now less proud of my 20 minutes of aerobics on Friday. heh.
something is better than nothing WH!
I love seeing these workout and exercise goals on financial blogs. The body is just as important as the wallet. It looks like you’re doing really well. Keep it up on that Marathon training. I’m still only in “5K race” shape.
I really like they way you have set goals for yourself. And not only that; you are pursuing them with dedication. It seems you have set a powerful monitoring system on rolling.
lets hope they all work out fine!
Thanks, but 10 is still great!
Congrats on breaking the 20K Mark! I know what used to motivate me was putting the whole number next to the new number…to show that slow and steady is winning the race!
Or if you build your own amortization table and estimate how much money you are saving with your extra payments.
It really does help, and this is the first major milestone i’ve crossed in a while!