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Hope’s Debt – April, 2019

It’s the last day of the month. April has been a month of enormous wins (business wise,) personal challenges (car wreck) and some fun (Gymnast visited and we went to Texas.) Time is just flying by! I can’t believe summer break officially starts for us in just a few weeks.

But through it all, I am very much laser focused on getting 100% out of debt ASAP! And I did get rid of two debts in their entirety this month…

Creditor	Balance (as of 10/14/17)	Interest	Min. Payment
Student Loans	$35,019	2.88%	$0 (income based deferment)
Credit Card	$2,221	17.00%	$32
Car	0	7.00%	$0
Collections 3 (Ex-husband)	0	6.25%	$0
Collections 2 (Apartment)	0		$0
Total	$37,240		$32

I have begun paying at least $100 per month towards my student loan, which covers the monthly interest.

I mentioned yesterday that my Credit Card debt is what I am targeting hard now. My, maybe lofty, goal is to pay off my credit card debt before we go to Texas at the end of the June. That may mean not saving my car payment money…or maybe I’ll be able to pick up some extra work.

But that would be absolutely amazing!!

What are you personal finance goals for this last month of the school year? Before the schedule change that summer brings for so many families?

Hope

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 5 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.

Cash is King

by Hope

The credit card is on ICE…literally. Put up, out of reach…and detached from all online payment methods…for now. We have no travel plans until late June, and our town in tiny. So I’m not worried about not having it.

That bulls eye I mentioned when I mentioned my last debt pay off, it’s all I see when I think of it!

The Plan

Cash, cash or not at all. I’ve divided our monthly expenses into weeks. And I’m pulling out that much cash every week.

This weekly amount includes our:

Groceries – $125
Entertainment – $50
Household – $2.50
Gas – $20 (I’ve decided to give each twin $20 every other week for 1) my use of their car and 2) the gas they use when they drive Princess somewhere. I think this is more than far since nothing is more then 3 miles away.)

To make it easier on ATM withdrawals, I’m taking out $200 per week. I’ve let the kids know of this plan…we can use this money however we wish, but when it’s gone, it’s gone. Until the following Monday.

I decided on Mondays so that the kids start planning ahead at least a little bit…ie think about what we want to do this coming weekend, meal plan for the week, etc.

Caveat: This is one caveat to the $200 per week. Princess birthday is in May. I have a little extra budgeted that week for a family meal out and her birthday present, so I will also pull that extra out for that week.

Goal

By doing this, my goal is to not overspend at all…

And when we come to the end of each week, I will review income vs outgoing and put any extra toward the credit card debt. My income continues to vary greatly depending on what projects I pick up, etc. so I am hoping that this will expedite the pay off process.

Wish us luck. I haven’t done a cash system in a very long time. And today is the first day! But I think it will be good for us. And there’s something very empowering about pulling cash out…

Hope