by Hope
It’s funny. I’ve been preaching to my teams at work for years about slowing down and being more deliberate in your actions. Focus on what you are doing and do it right, the first time. It truly does make a difference especially when you’ve got a constant flow of work to do and inputs coming at you.
But I have failed to take my own advice especially when it comes to my finances.
New Job Excitement
When I got my new contract and regular income again, I just dove in. And it was great, I began paying things left and right. It was so refreshing to not be constantly stressed and borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
Alas, that excitement is not sustainable. And when you rush and don’t focus, you make mistakes or miss things.
Now, I’m focused. I’m slowing down. And I am determined to make more thoughtful decisions, set more realistic goals. So I’ve reordered my debt payoff. I’ve made sure it’s obtainable. And rebalanced my budget to include regular and substantial savings, more taxes to pay, and giving myself a bit more buffer in my month because I was getting into trouble at the end of the month when something unexpected popped up.
July Debt Numbers
| Debt Description | October, 2023 Total | Interest Rate | Minimum Payment | Current Total | Payoff Date (Est) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Loan #2 | $2,500 | 0% | $500 (beg April) | $500 | August, 2024 |
| CC - Wander | $1,630 | 29.24% | $75 | $1,402 | October, 2024 |
| CC - Amazon | $1,497 | 29.99% | $48 | $1,445 | November, 2024 |
| Dad - New Furnace | $2,600 | 0% | $0 | $2,600 | January, 2025 |
| CC - Frontier | $3,857 | 29.99% | $130 | $3,588 | February, 2025 |
| CC - USAA | $5,000 | 19.15% | $135 | $3,517 | |
| Car Loan | $19,581 | 12.69% | Gymnast Pays | $15,002 (not counted in total) | |
| Student Loans | $22,121 | 2.875% | In Deferrment | $22,659 | |
| CC - Apple** | $500 | Paid off every month | $0 | ||
| CC - AMEX | $894 | 29.24% | $0 | $0 | Mar, 2024 |
| CC - Sams | $1,106 | 29.99% | $0 | $0 | April, 2024 |
| Personal Loan #1 | $2,500 | 0% | $0 | $0 | July, 2024 |
| Total | $61,186 | $888 | $35,711 |
Go Faster
I’ve seen the comments indicating that I could go faster since I could roll the now completed debt payments into other debts and you are right. However, a couple of things…
- I am saving and investing more every month now. All my part time W2 income goes into savings. And I’ve added 10% automatic savings deposits from my large and steady part time contract gig. And I’ve increased my investing from $35 per week to $70 per week. (See Stash post.) Half of that weekly investment is going into a ROTH IRA that’s auto-invested.
- My income has increased thus my taxes have increased and I’m being overly cautious on that front. When I started this contract job, I was make $6K per month, now it’s up to $8K per month. And we are in talks for another substantial increase by the end of Q3. Taxes are substantial. I’m currently putting aside and paying almost $2,500 per month towards self employment taxes, social security, Medicare, state and federal taxes. And with the anticipation that my income will greatly increase, I want to be very cautious of not getting behind and would prefer to have a buffer.
- (added initial published) We are planning to go to Texas for Thanksgiving. The girls and I are driving. Therefore, have a budget line for that. That is the main reason there is no “payoff” in November.
I believe this plan is achievable even with any bumps in the road over the next 6 or so months.
One Note
I did remove Gymnast’ car from my overall debt total. I realize that it’s still legally mine. But we are quickly approaching a year that he has been paying it. Well, 9 months maybe. And he’s really targeting trying to pay it off quickly. And making wise choices to that end. Every once in a while, he laments the burden of the debt, but with consistent feedback that the car is his to sell should he want to get out from under the debt, he always reverts and talks about how much he loves his car. Thankfully, his cost of living with my sister is quite low so he’s able to focus on it. (He does pay her rent, etc.) And is covering all his own other expenses as well. I’m so proud of him.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Your debt total based on what you have included actually totals 63,786. Why would you include the car loan in the debt total but not the current total? It is not an accurate representation of your progress. Since last October, you’ve only paid down about 8500 in debt. And what about your mortgage? Why is that not included?
If this platform is being used to for head pats then continue on but if it is meant to hold yourself accountable, you’re doing a poor job of it by continually making excuses and ignoring sound advice. Why not, for the sake of it, just listen to someone else’s suggestion since you’re obviously still struggling financially? It certainly can’t be any worse than what you’re currently doing.
So are you suggesting, I remove the car loan from this list since I am not paying for it? Or leave it?
For a while, I did have my mortgage, but…
1. From the beginning, mortgage’s were not included by bloggers here.
2. Since it’s up in the air if I will stay or go, it’s definitely not a target for me.
Hmm, I see your point but I also see the commenter’s point. Your mortgage is a huge chunk of your spending/what comes out of your accounts each month. You don’t need to share the balance on the account but it might make sense to share what you pay each month and what your rate is. Also utilities, medication, groceries, whatever you buy on Amazon, stuff for pets, etc. Why don’t you document spending here? Debt is such a small part of the picture. I don’t think things will really change unless you are recording spending and holding yourself accountable to that.
I don’t know what you mean by the $63,786, when I total it, including the car loan, it’s $47,483 which means, since October (the baseline numbers for this table), I’ve paid off $13,703. And that’s with part time income only.
I haven’t had a full time job or income for two years now.
If you include the car loan, the numbers should be 63,786 and 50,713. But if you exclude the car loan (which you should do from the total since you aren’t the one paying), the numbers would be 44,205 and 35,711. Which means you’ve paid off 8,494.
Hope, if you’re looking for help with accountability, then you should post some savings goals and track them monthly.
Taxes, insurance, travel sinking funds, roth ira contributions, emergency fund, etc. Otherwise it seems like a slushy savings line items is prone to leakage you’ll regret in the future.
I am working on firming up the expected “budget” so you all can see what that looks like with this change.
I am continuing to invest $35 per week in my Stash account, previously shown.
And have just added a $35 per week investment into a ROTH IRA.
More to come on the other savings.
It is a damn shame your son is stuck with such a high interest rate car payment. He probably could have done better on his own.
I wish that was the case; however, he has tried refinancing it, and his interest rate was even higher than that so we left it in my name.
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thanks, girl! I will check them out! I didn’t know you read here.
If the car loan isn’t being considered in the total, you should remove it from the original total as well. I’m honestly really amazed and the debts paid off are rather low compared to the rest of the debts had. How are you budgeting? Where is the 6-8k per month going? It feels like there are things not being said here
I can do that in removing the car loan. When I created this list, I was still paying the car loan. But I will remove it with the next update.
I think people forget that I have not had full time income since the summer of 2022. And last year I was barely, not at all getting by. I had alot of catching up to do.
That income is pre-tax, pre-expenses, pre-everything. I will explain further with my “budget” so maybe it’s more clear. Up until this past month, over $2,200 was going to just “overhead” ie taxes, etc. and now I’m raising that to prepare for anticipated additional income.
I would like to see you track your expenses for a full month, or longer, and post your spending. I think it would be eye opening for you, and the commenters would be able to give you accurate advice. If you could cut unnecessary spending you could make a lot of headway with your debt and build up an emergency fund. You are making good money right now, but as we’ve all seen contracts run out and your income is not consistent.
The car loan- you should either remove it from both columns or keep it in both columns.
Once you pay off a debt are you going to roll your monthly payment toward the next debt in line? So when the Personal loan is paid off, will that $500 be added to the Wander CC monthly payment? Otherwise I don’t think the payments you’re making on the high interest Credit Cards are going to move the balance much.