by Ashley
Wow!
That is all I can say. Check this out…
| Place | Current Balance | APR | Last Payment Made | Last Payment Date (original debt, March 2014) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One CC | - | 17.9% | - | Paid off in March ($413) |
| Mattress Firm | - | 0% | - | Paid off in May ($1381) |
| Wells Fargo CC | - | 13.65% | - | Paid off in May ($7697) |
| BoA CC | - | 7.24% | - | Paid off in June ($2220) |
| License Fees | $2723 | 2.5% | 250* | December ($5808) |
| PenFed Car Loan | $16941 | 2.49% | 1400 | December ($24040) |
| Navient - Federal Student Loans | $4422 | 8.25% | 16 | December ($4687) |
| Navient - Dept of Ed | $72056 | 8.25-6.55% | 260 | December ($69191) |
| ACS Student Loans | $21040 | 7.24% | 77 | November ($21035) |
| Medical Bills | $6485 | 0% | 75 | December ($9000) |
| Totals | $123, 667 (Last month = 126,285) | Starting Debt = $145,472 | ||
I’m glad you all urged me to include beginning balances, because otherwise I never would have noticed that this month (December) marks a big milestone! We’ve officially paid off over $20,000 in debt since I started blogging (back in March 2014).
I remember that when I hit the $10,000 mark it felt monumental. If that was monumental, then this is Herculean! I still have so far to go, but at the same time I’m so proud of how far we’ve already come! At the beginning of 2013 my goal was to be credit card debt-free by the end of the year. Little did I know we would nearly double that goal. We paid off the full $10,330 credit card balance within mere months after starting to blog. And now here I stand, only 9 months after starting to blog, a full $20K paid off. It feels so, so good.
And because I can’t afford to let up steam anytime soon, let’s talk about some of the things that jump out at me from looking at this table.
First, how depressing is it that my student loan balance has grown?! For months, my payments were not even large enough to cover the interest, so the loan balances just grew and grew. My payments still aren’t any larger (I’m focusing first on paying down other debts), but I’m now on Income-Based Repayment, so my unpaid interest is forgiven for all subsidized loans. Just for transparency’s sake, I do have a couple unsubsidized loans that will continue to grow in balance (due to accumulating interest), but I’m still resolved to focus on other debts first.
Second, look at those payoff dates. My first few months blogging I was paying things off left and right! Now I’m working on larger balanced items, and it’s been a full 6-months since my last payoff. I go around and around on the order of my debt payoff, always coming back around to determining that the car needs to be my main focus (for personal satisfaction reasons). But a quick, easy win would really be nice.
And so I’ve placed an asterisk next to the license fees payment.
I don’t want to say I’ve made my mind up 100% (I keep waffling on these payment order issues), but I think I might shake things up a bit in January and make a larger license fee payment instead of putting extra money toward the car.
I can practically hear the groans. I know, I know. If I keep splitting priorities and waffling back and forth then NOTHING gets done. I really need to just pick something and focus. But clearly I’m struggling with this.
I’ll think about it more in the coming month (the next license payment won’t be due for nearly a full month), and make some decision about where to go with this.
If you were to ask me: “Which is more motivating? Paying off the car or the license fees?”
I would answer: “The car. 100% for sure, the car.”
But…..that satisfaction is still a long way off. The license fees, although perhaps less satisfying, could be tackled in just a couple short months. And that’s the type of pay-it-off satisfaction I’m really craving after 6 months with no pay-offs.
So, yeah. Decisions, decisions.
What would you do??? I know I ask this nearly every month, but humor me and give me your opinion on the matter! ; )
