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Weekly Debt Payoff #20- Back on Target

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Hey everyone! I hope you’re off to a great start to your week.

I want to start off with a quick July 2015 monthly review:

  • The month was my month off, in which I took not only a physical vacation to Walt Disney World, but also used the month as an emotional and spiritual vacation from any type of debt reduction. Although I enjoyed this month off, I wrote about all my overarching feeling towards it here (Thoughts).
  • I used my extra funds from the month to 1) buy new clothes 2) enjoy some date nights with GF 3) refund my emergency fund (it was in the vicinity of $1,500.00 and now sits at $2,162.63; having anything below $2,000 makes me feel uneasy). Although I didn’t tackle everything I had on my to do list, I ended up getting a lot accomplished and feel pretty good about paying off this last $48,000.
  • Last week, GF and I had planned on holding a garage sale over the week. This plan fell flat, unfortunately. Not because we didn’t want to, but we were pretty overwhelmed with the time and effort it took to get everything properly prepared, especially after all the detailed comments I received on the subject. Between moving cleaning off and getting items ready for sale and moving them into our garage, we only got through 1/2 our stuff. Looking to hold a longer 2 day event in 2 or 3 weeks.

Ok, on to my debt payoff plan for the remainder of my balance. For anyone interested, here are my current totals:

Loan NameInterest RateOriginal Balance- May '09Current BalanceTotal Paid OffPaid Since Last Week
Sallie Mae 015.25$27,837.24$23,776.95$4,060.29$61.64
Sallie Mae 024.75$22,197.02$18,651.56$3,545.46$50.79
Sallie Mae 037.75$20,692.10$0.00
$20,692.10$0.00
Sallie Mae 045.75$10,350.18$5,310.59$5,039.59$615.30
Sallie Mae 055.25$6,096.03$0.00$6,096.03$0.00
Sallie Mae 06 and 074.75$6,415.09$0.00$6,415.09$0.00
Sallie Mae- DOE 015.25$5,000.00$0.00$5,000.00$0.00
Sallie Mae- DOE 025.25$3,000.00$0.00$3,000.00$0.00
AES6.8$9,000.00$0.00$9,000.00$0.00
TOTALS$110,587.66$47,739.10$62,848.56$727.73

Note: the paid off since last week is really the paid off since my last update in June, with the majority of the payoff coming just last week.

I know I said this before, but I’m SUPER ready to knock off these debts for good. I’m going to be as frugal as I was going into my month off, however, I have a few caveats:

  • I’m going to consciously maintain a sense of balance between life and payoff. I feel I’ve done pretty well over the last couple months and I don’t want all that effort to go to waste. My $50 a month has really helped in this area.
  • I’m going to continue contributing 10% of my salary to my company 401K. I enjoy seeing this balance go up every week and it will be awesome to start my debt free life with a sizable nest egg.
  • I’ll also continue contributing $25 to my nephews ESA account for his future college tuition.
  • I changed my mortgage payment schedule from a one-time monthly lump sum payment to a weekly payment schedule with a little extra for increased principle reduction. It’s only been active for a couple of weeks, but I like the idea of not having a huge payment due at the end of the month.

Timeline- My extra extreme schedule is to make my final student loan payment in 18 months. Is this realistic? Not really, but it’s nice to dream of being debt free before I hit 30. It’s looking like it’s going to be closer to 22 months, if none of my caveats change. I should have Sallie Mae 04 paid off by the end of October at which point I’ll start on Sallie Mae 01 (the big boy). It seems like a horse a piece between paying off Sallie Mae 01 and Sallie Mae 02, so I’m going to hit the larger of the 2 first. Good idea, or should I continue going from smallest to largest?

I plan on sharing my new budget at the end of this week.

I hope everyone has a great day!


10 Comments

  • Reply Sue |

    I LOVE that you are putting money toward a college fund for your nephew instead of more toys that they just don’t need!!! You are doing great and I wouldn’t be surprised if you managed to get it all paid off in 18 months – you are that dedicated!!!

    I like the idea of smaller to largest only because it is so motivating to actually SEE something being paid off but as you know, everyone has their favorite way!!! Just keep doing what you are doing and it will be gone in no time!!!

    • Reply Matt |

      Thanks Sue! Your comments always make me feel that I’m really doing the right thing and I really appreciate that.

  • Reply Juju |

    I think the balances are pretty close that I believe you should tackle the Sallie Mae 01 with the highest interest rate first. You are almost down to only 2 student loans left!

    • Reply Walnut |

      I’m with Juju. You may as well work on the one with a slightly higher interest rate. The magnitude of the debt is going to feel a lot better once the balance drops below $40k. Much more of the payment will be going to principal and it’ll be really motivating to watch the numbers fall.

    • Reply Matt |

      Thanks Juju- between you and Walnut, I think that settles it in my mind. After this #04 is gone- on to #01 and then only 2 to go!!

  • Reply T'Pol |

    I think you are doing absolutely GREAT! It was a wise decision for you to take a vacation and spend some money on yourself. Now that you had a breather, you probably have more stamina to attack the remaining debt. Setting targets such as being debt free at 30 are great and they help a lot. It also helps me to visualize the targets and my achievement so, I use graphs.

    I had set a goal for myself to own an apartment and a car free and clear by 35 but, life happened, I made some not-so-wise decisions and at the end, I reached my goal when I was 37. It was still OK. At least I had a goal and I showed an effort to reach it.

    Keep up the great work!

    • Reply Matt |

      Thanks T’Pol! I appreciate your kind words. And you’re right- I do feel like I have a lot more stamina now to attack the debt until the end.

      Congratulations to you for reaching your goals! Someday I hope to be in those very same shoes.

  • Reply Den |

    I’m so excited for you Matt to get that Sallie Mae #4 paid off in the next two months – wow!

    And I really like how you are keeping your life balance too – this will keep you grounded once your debts are all paid off!

    Have you started dreaming about what to do with all your extra money once your debt is paid off? That’s fun and motivating to think about. Great job!

    • Reply Matt |

      I know Den, I’m really excited too! 🙂

      Have I dreamt what I’ll do after my debts are paid off? Only just about everyday, lol. Don’t really have much of a plan yet other than I want to build wealth, so I’ll probably just end up putting my savings into some investment funds. What I do know for sure is that I won’t go buying a new, fancy car or a McMansion, lol.

So, what do you think ?