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12 Month - Debt Payoff Update

December 21st, 2017 at 03:49 am

Hi, it's been a while again but I decided to post my 12 month review to reflect on the debt progress. Last December DW and I made a decision to live financially healthier lives so that we can achieve goals that seemed really far fetched.

Welp folks, it's been one year already! Can you believe it? Time sure does fly. Smile I'm happy to report in the previous 12 months we have paid of $18,478 in credit card debt. We started at $40,714 and now reside at $22,236. Honestly, the best decision we could have made for ourselves and our family. By January 1, the debt should go down by another $1500 or so since there is one paycheck left in the year.

We are still using YNAB and totally swear by it but I have to admit I do not check YNAB everyday. We reconcile the accounts often enough for us not to get too far behind. Our habits have allowed us not to rely so much on YNAB to keep us on track, being financially healthy is a mental game that can sometimes break you. You just have to keep it going.

On a personal note, February 1st I will be done with my first year of my MBA and my anticipated graduation date is January 2019. DS car took a dump so I sold him my 14 year old Toyota Corolla and we decided to lease a 2017 Honda Civic since I drive 7 miles each way to work. I know the monthly debt payment isn't ideal but boy it's nice to have a reliable car and a year ago we would not have been able to afford it due to the debt and credit scores because of the debt. DW still has her 13 year old car and in about 2 years we will get her a paid in full used car. I took a month off work in October and it felt so nice to have the cash in the bank for all our vacation plans. We used zero credit cards, honestly the best feeling ever. So it's been a solid few months of continued progress both financially and personally.

For 2018 our goals are to finish paying off CC#9, which is slated for end of February. Rather than pay off CC#7 and because it's on a 5 year (3 years left) 0% installment plan we are going to keep the monthly payments of $350 going and then try to tackle the student loan debt and work on starting an emergency fund for ourselves. Rents in our area are increasing rapidly (remember I live in SoCal), we have thought about looking into a home purchase program called NACA. We may take it more seriously around the middle of 2018 depending on how we do with the debt and savings overall.

A huge thanks to the community on this site for the support! I wish you all blessings and prosperity as we come into the new year!

August Debt Payoff Update

August 19th, 2017 at 08:00 am

July was such a busy month for our household, I did not get a chance to post.

Debt Update:
We finished paying off CC#4 entirely, Woohoo! We will begin focusing our efforts on CC#9 before the promotional balance transfer rate expires. My annual review is late so any retroactive pay from my increase will go toward CC#9 as additional payment.

Personal Update:
I have completed 12 credits out of my 35 credit MBA program. Work has not slowed down and I have been accelerating the pace of my MBA program. I'm not going to lie, I am very tired and fatigued. I am taking almost an entire month off work soon, so I will rest during that time. We have some travel lined up soon. Denver for 24 hours in September then a Baja cruise in October. All is cash funded and none have been put on cards, I'm really proud of our efforts.

I have been keeping my eyes peeled on the labor market and it seems pretty good for my industry at least in California. The additional responsibilities and experience I've received over this year coupled with my MBA, should yield me an increase of at least 30% when I transition to a new company. I am beginning my strategic exit plan for this and so far it looks promising. We will see.

That's all I've got so far. I hope my posts thus far have been somewhat inspiring or motivating to those lurkers out there afraid to take the plunge and commit. I promise it's hard but totally worth it!

6 Month Check-in: Debt Payoff Update

June 17th, 2017 at 06:39 am

We are still chipping away at the debt. I look back over the previous 6 months and I'm glad that we started and we stayed committed.

We are paid biweekly which means June is a 3 paycheck month. There is still one paycheck left in the month but so far CC#4 has gone from $3599 down to $640, with the interest charge added in there. We've paid down this card by $3000 since last month's update. We are on track to have this card completely paid off by end of the month and I cannot wait to make that last payment. CC#7 paid down by $350, the min payment.

After this we will only have two cards left, which both have 0% interest rate, but we will focus on CC#9 because we want to take advantage of the introductory period for the balance transfers that we made. At our pace, I am hoping to have CC#9 paid off somewhere between September and October.

Lastly, I've mentioned before that DS has been saving his income from part-time employment. He purchased his first vehicle, a used one. All Cash, $3600! We had cash flowed his graduation present which was some of the cost of the used vehicle but most was his savings. He graduated from high school yesterday and we are so proud of him. His AP exam scores will arrive early July, we are hoping he passed one or some of them to get college credit. This will help him with reducing college expenses.

All in all, we are half way through the month and lots of changes and progress!

4 Month Check-in: Debt Payoff Update

April 22nd, 2017 at 06:31 am

Where does the time go? A month has flew by yet again but the good news is we are still chipping away at the mountain of debt.

We decided to take advantage of a great 0% balance transfer offer from one of our cards that had a $0 balance on it. CC#2 & CC#6 are now transferred to CC#9. The promotional rate is good until February 2018 which I plan to have this card paid off by then.

We've managed to pay off CC#5 in April and I had some business expense reimbursements from earlier in the month that I paid off on CC#3.

We started this journey exactly 4 months ago to the date (12/21/16), with 40,714.15 in debt and now we are at $31,006. That's almost 10K paid off in 4 months, whoa! To be fair our annual household income is in the six figures but we have cut down our expenses over the last 18 months and learned to live on less which has helped accelerate the debt pay down. It's not only about changing your habits, but also changing your mindset. Once you change your mindset about finances, the rest is a walk in the park.

DS has been working since December part-time and through what we've learned we have been teaching him about budgeting and managing his money. He has saved 90% of his paychecks and is 66% of the way towards his goal for a car. I could not be more proud.

Well hello there, it's been a while - Debt Payoff Update

March 10th, 2017 at 06:37 pm

I haven't posted in almost 2 months. Life gets in the way and work has ramped up exponentially leaving me with little time. Some great news is that I've started a MBA program, making my schedule even more hectic.

Now the even better news is that we've still stayed the course with the aggressive debt payoff. The following credit cards were recently paid off (Last 2 weeks):

CC#5 - Beginning balance $2888, 25.2% now $0
CC#8 - Beginning balance $2373, 25.24% now $0

We will focus next on CC#2 and begin snowballing the minimum payments. We hope to have this CC paid off in September 2017, with CC#4 to follow with a pay off in February 2018.