living on little

Even though I was aware of my student loans, I have just been keeping them in forbearance and/or deferment for the past few years. I had an epiphany last week when I received my interest capitalization. Even though I have made good progress paying down debt, my student loans were still accumulating interest so paying down the other debt was sort of counterproductive. So I redone my budget and made my first student loan payment. (I also redone my sidebar since the SL is my priority now.) I paid off $11,000 in cc debt the past two years so I know this can done in 4 years or less.

I am glad I sat down and looked at my student loans.

I have so much going on right now. In March I will be donating a kidney to a family member so I will be off a few weeks recovering. The month of May will be tight moneywise (actually every month is lol) but I will still try to pay $100 towards my SL.

OAN: I am down to $400 on my cc debt.

My cc debt is under the $1k mark. I actually owe $950 now. I hope to have it paid off by the end of March.


I set my mom's 2012 budget up. She has been begging me since the 1st of Dec. I have her set up to pay her HELOC off by Nov '12. Last year we focused on her CC. She paid them off in full and according to her budget. I have to give her credit that if I put the plan on paper she will follow it. I am going too really cheer her on to pay her HELOC this year. Then she will be left with her mortgage which I know she can pay off by 2015 (at age 58). Afterwards, hopefully she can spend the next 5 years aggressively saving for retirement.


Even though my mom has always had good credit and has always paid her bills on time, she has never been much of a saver. The past couple of years I have been talking to her more and more about retirement so she had been more interested in her finances. I am so happy to help her get ready for retirement.

I am finished with my Christmas shopping and I stayed in budget. Yay me!!! I will make a payment to my CC tomorrow, which will put me @ $1400. I have my goals set for 2012:

1. Credit card paid off by May 2012. I have a zero percent interest until Dec 2012.

2. Save 3-4 months of living expenses. (Currently at 1 month)

3. Get car loan to $4000.


2011 was a good year for me, I paid down about $8000 in debt without adding any new debt. I hope 2012 is just as good. My husband will be having a sleep study in January 2012 but our HSA will cover that. He will also need a cornea replacement but that will be later on in the year. I know we will definitely be out of $1500 for that, hopefully we will be able to cash flow that.


Happy Holidays....

A few weeks ago when I started this blog I had right at $4k in cc debt. I am currently at $2600 and if all go as planned I will down to $2150 tomorrow. I transferred the remaining cc debt at 7.99% to my 0% cc so I could have 1 monthly payment. The balance transfer fee was $15, which wasn't too bad. I am trying to continue to simplify my life as much as possible. Even though I have made great progress, I still have a ways to go with a car loan and student loan. I also feel like I am behind on retirement. I have less than $5k saved and I am almost 30yo. In January, I plan to start putting $200 a month into my company 401k. The only problem is my company doesn't match. I don't qualify for a Roth IRA because me and my husband file separate because my student loans are on a income sensitive repayment right now. I plan to tackle my student loans aggressively once my car is paid off.


Do you think I would be better off with a Roth Traditional IRA?

I have made some progress on my CC. YAY ME!!! CC#1 balance is currently at $1688 and CC#2 is still at $1450. I plan on paying $250 to CC#1 on Friday. CC#2 is currently at 0% until Nov '12 so I've decided to pay the minimum monthly payment and then make a big lump sum payment in Oct'12. That way I can pay extra on my car loan. Other than that, I am continually trying to spend less as possible. I did buy me a new pair of Levi's yesterday at a discount store that recieves all the extra's from Dillard's, J.C. Penneys, and other major department stores. Considering I am 5'9" size 4/6, finding a pair of well-fitting jeans for $9 is a bargain.

I am very excited about this week. I get to make a hefty payment(at least hefty to me)on my cc, which will put me under a $2k balance. I also get to declutter some items because my church is having its annual yard sale. In addition, I get to work a few extra hours this week at work. We have been having gobs of overtime lately, which is helping me to pay my cc's down. I can't wait to get rid of those things. I feel like they weigh a million pounds on my shoulder. I am so glad I decided to blog it really helps me to release, but please bare with me as this is new to me

I have been lurking on SavingAdvice for a while now and I have learned soooo much. Thanks to all of you, now it's time for me to get more serious about my debt, so I can live debt free.