by Adam Dawson
As I mentioned in a previous post, we’ve had a very difficult couple of months paying back debt, missing some of our snowball payments for the first time in 3.5 years. It’s very disappointing to look at the numbers and see how little the principal decreases if we aren’t making extra payments. So as disappointing as they may be, here are the latest debt balances.
Stafford Loan #1: $8631 (-$191)
Stafford Loan #3: $20133 (-$433)
Discover Student Loan: $40338 ($-201)
Citi Graduate Loan: $37755 (-$260)
Total: $106857 (-$1094)
One very exciting improvement from before, however, is that we’ve accomplished our first emergency fund goal by socking away $5000 into savings. The balances also don’t include our extra payments from the recent windfall, which will hopefully be all settled in the next update.
So we are making progress, albeit slowly! When I think of the long term, I know the future is bright, but I’m ready to move past this temporary hurdle.
That’s pretty awesome that you have an emergency fund of 5.000. I have 2,400 in mine and working towards 5,000. Dave Ramsey states that those must come first, prior to any other debt snowball payments. It’s easy to get back on track. Good for you!!
5K in the EF is really good. You can then focus better on debt, knowing you’re covered from a lot of ‘surprises’.
It was intellectually honest of you to post numbers before you added the windfall payments. It shows you what your real trajectory is.
Extra payments will feel so good after a couple months of treading water. Just remember, there’s no harm in letting the windfall hang out in your savings account for a couple months while you posture the best move. I like to build a few different models, talk them over with my better half, and then wait a few more days. Inevitably, I’ve forgotten a variable and it takes a some time to make sure I’ve considered every angle.