This week went a little better, but still not as good as it should have… We ended up paying off a straight $500 this week, bringing our total credit card balance to less than $4,000, and our total debt picture to under $42,000.
We had our first sonogram yesterday, so we spent a little money getting that done, but all in all, we are keeping expenses down this holiday season. We still have about $900 left this month on our goal of $1,500 (nothing like last month, for sure), and I think we might just make it. I did find out that I’m getting a *very* healthy bonus this year, but my current plan is to bank it for the baby, just in case it is needed.
Within the first week of next year, we won’t have a single debt over $15,000, and when we started this two years ago, we had a debt that was over $23,000, and another that started at $15,000. It is somewhat depressing to see that we’ve only paid $1,000 off the student loans in 2 years, but that plan will probably accelerate midway through the year next year. I’m not planning on putting a whole lot of our extra money on debt during the pregnancy, but I still want to do more than the minimums, even if it is only a little bit.
Once the credit card is paid off, my blogging will probably drop to nearly nothing, since we won’t be as active in our reducing debt, and be working more to piling up cash. All in all, I’m not unhappy with the progress we have made, and there is always room for improvement, but the blog has more than served its purpose. This blog has been an incredible motivator for me – really pushing to squeeze every dollar I could so that I could report back positively. We’ve really upped the ante, and paid far more off per month since the blog’s inception than previously, and I’m very happy about that.
All that to say that I appreciate your encouragements, and know that they have played no small part in my progress. Thank you!
I think the amount of money you guys throw at your debt each week is awesome. My goals are more in line with getting rid of smaller cards to work on the bigger fish. At the same time I also have done 'debt shifting' through balance transfers to 0% for a time period. Those are almost on auto pilot as long as I make the required payment each month.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I find inspirational about what you're doing is you will be so much better off when the baby comes. With paying off so much debt, you'll have money and won't have to work as hard as you are now. I remind my wife that getting rid of our credit card debt is vital to our future. While we are not ready for a baby right now, the family picture could change in five years.