So far, we haven’t been good at posting regularly. I kept on
reminding the hubby that he should write a post about the January budget and
just an overall update on how much debt we have paid off so far, but he has been so busy at work lately. I doubt that he wants to spend any more time
looking over numbers. Hopefully soon he will post about the details of our
monthly budget and exactly how much we have paid off and expect to pay off in
the next couple months.
I will only talk about one number-specific thing. I got
another paid in full notification! We paid off $2,200.00. It’s not a huge
number, but still motivating. It’s also helpful because the money that we were
paying each month for that loan will go into the snowball effect for the other
loans. We plan on paying off a $3,000-some loan by the end of March (see, this
is why I shouldn’t be the one who talks about the exact numbers; I don’t really
know what I’m talking about). After that, the loan amounts drastically rise.
Even though it’s still been kind of difficult to stay motivated and on track
the past few months, it has helped that the loan amounts have been smaller
since each time one is paid off, it’s like a mini celebration and confirmation
that what we are doing is working. The loan amounts (since we are doing the
debt snowball) will get larger and larger. This means that it’s going to take
longer and longer to get the satisfaction of paying each of them off. We will
need to figure out how to stay motivated (anyone have any tips!?) since it will
probably feel like we are getting nowhere for awhile. But I know that what we
are doing is the right thing for us in the long run.
It’s crazy how much my behavior has changed already. Changing your behavior is absolutely necessary to paying off debt. If you don't change your behavior, then it won't work. For
example, I’ve been wanting a new purse now for many months. Parts of it were
starting to fall apart awhile ago and this past weekend the zipper completely
broke. Instead of buying a new one (which I totally would have done before we started this journey), I’m now using one of my “old” ones (one
that is starting to get worn out too). This example is trivial, but it shows
that I’ve learned to make due and be grateful for what I have. With a lot of
material items that I want or experiences that cost money, I always tell myself
that our goals are more important. I want to be debt-free, I want to buy a
house, I want to have a family, and so forth, WAY more than I want the newest
whatever-it-is.
What we are doing is not complicated, but it is difficult.
1 comments:
I found this blog through a post Nate made on Another71, and have now read back through all the posts...very interesting to read through and fun to see another young couple making some sacrifices to pay off debt!
I do have an idea for motivation after the payoff notices get more rare...well 2 versions of an idea. One thing I did was make a big chart that looked almost like a old-style thermometer (which I put on my bedroom wall - this was in my single days ;) ) showing the outstanding debt and as I paid if off, I'd fill in part of the tube to show it was paid off - like the fundraising charts that people will have on their websites. This way I could tangibly see it getting paid off. However, the sum that I was dealing with at that time was much smaller, so I could see progress fairly quickly (was about 8 months from start to finish for paying off that debt).
Another idea I had thinking more specifically about your situation - or anyone with a longer-term debt payoff - would be to have somewhere that you can put - and change! - a "debt payoff date". Like figure out when you would be debt-free if you just made the minimum payments, and keep updating that date regularly. From what I've gathered, you're officially on 10-year payments, so I'm guessing it'd be Fall 2023 originally? Of course since you're paying off 1 at a time, the current loans would still have a Fall 2023 payoff date, but if you were to figure it by applying just the lump-sum minimum payments to the outstanding loans (I think it was around $1500 at the start if my memory is any good?), then the payoff date on the outstanding loans wouldn't be 2023 - maybe 2022? 2021? Given that your real goal in paying this off is to be able to start "real" life when they're paid off, getting to change that date by a year every couple months might be very inspiring. :)
Just some thoughts and ideas. We're working on our house mortgage right now, which is a payoff notice that will be great to get but not one that will come quickly...so I'm trying to come up with creative ways for us to track its progress, too. :)
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