Okay, I am going to start labeling with what Monday of the year we are on. So we started our journey again in January of this year. So we are on the 10th Monday of 2019. All of my numbers are based on what they were at the beginning of the month.
A little of our journey. We started attempting to pay off debt in 2012 after we got married. I went to a private college and had only paid the minimum amounts on my student loans. I have no idea what the original balances was. I was also on income based repayment for most of the time so my interest just kept stacking up. Then we put most of our wedding on credit cards. Hubby also had a credit card that he had at the limit for the entire time he had it. He would pay some and then he would charge it up again.
So we moved in with my parents at the end of 2013, all in the name of saving up a down payment for a house and paying off some debt. We were able to pay off two cards, to the tune of about $1,000 but, we did a poor job of saving money. We spent almost everything we had saved over the course of the year we lived with them. In November of 2013 I received a lawsuit settlement for some medical issues. We used this money as the down payment to the house we now live in.
So fast forward to 2016, I decided to actually start a spreadsheet with our debt numbers on it in January. Our savings balance was $584.35, baby step 2 balance $41,957.16, all debt including house $144,123.39. In general, we did not do a good job of extra payment. Hubby works in delivery and his 20 year old car was going to need a new transmission, so we shopped around and got a good deal on a used car. Enter a new car loan. We also paid off 2 student loans during this year.
January 2017, savings balance $140.94, baby step 2 balance $60,252.61, all debt including house $160,432.04. We INCREASED our debt by $16,308.65 for the year. Not a good year. We also cash flowed a cruise during this year. Some may have been put on credit cards, I really can’t remember.
January 2018, savings balance $179.71, baby step 2 balance $57,919.46, all debt including house $156,211.13. I was actually proud of the beginning of this year. We were able to reduce our debt by $4,220.91 from the year before. We were still very much using credit cards. We had not fully committed to any debt free plan. We also took a vacation that was not budgeted, completely charged up all of our credit cards again, and missed 4 credit card payments. Let me tell you, they will call you EVERY SINGLE DAY until you catch those things up.
Finally January 2019, we have committed to following Dave Ramsey. We have committed to being debt free except the house in 2 years. We are tired of not having any money to spend. I take ALL credit cards out of my wallet for the first time EVER! Savings balance $177.78, baby step 2 balance $55,363.85, all debt including house $151,492.18. We were able to pay off $4,718.95 in the previous 12 months. Now it’s time to get serious! No more debt. Cash flow everything. Get a snowball plan in place. Unlike with Dave, we are following a avalanche strategy. Some of our credit cards have 26.99% interest. I am much more interested in paying the least amount of interest than I care about quick wins.
At some point over the years we lived in our house, we got behind on mortgage payments. We always paid them by the last minute due date but, it was always 2 weeks behind when the payment was actually due. So in January we were able to put a small amount into savings.
February 2019, savings $336.18, baby step 2 total $54,971.51, all debt including house total $150,918.23, for a paid off amount of $573.95 overall from January to February. We got our tax return in February so we were able to catch up on the rest of the missed credit card payments, make a double payment on our mortgage to get caught back up and making future payments on time, and we were able to fully fund our $1,000 baby emergency fund.
March 2019, savings $1,000.05, baby step 2 total $53,773.68, all debt including house total $149,355.47 for a total paid off from February to March of $1,562.76. We are obviously still in March but this is the most hopeful I have been for our financial future. We have been talking about where we want to move once all our debts are paid off. Along with what we want to be able to do. We are making plans together. We are discussing things together. I can’t wait to see what we can get done!
