Becoming debt free One Payment At A Time
I began 2020 with the goal to finish my debt free journey by the end of the year. At the time of writing out that goal, there was not a global pandemic going on.
I also had high hopes for a new family venture I was embarking on – a family tax business.
A lot has changed since last December, but I still am going to stick to my 2020 goal of crushing my student loans.
The Details
I track my progress towards my debt payoff journey using Personal Capital and the debt snowball method.
So far I have reduced my student loans by $3,629.96 since starting my journey. I have $13,700 left to pay back. This year, May is actually a 3 paycheck month for those of us who work in Corporate America. I plan to dump half of my paycheck on Friday into my student loans.
Current DEBT TOtals
- Student Loans: $13,700
- Car Loan: $11,687.48
Total Debt As Of May 2020: $25,387.48
Thoughts On Progress
Honestly May went well. I was able to put extra money into my student loans using a combination of luck, timing and goodwill. For example, I got $288.58 back from a hotel I had to cancel and placed the entire refund towards my loan.
My boyfriend bought me a new computer chair, so I banked those savings and added the $160 towards my student loans.
I also got an extra paycheck this month and placed a good chunk of that towards my loans. I had $864.98 left as a balance on one of my remaining loans, so I paid that off.
This was the first time since starting my journey that I was able to put away more than $2,000 towards by debt in a single month. I have about $25k left to go and only 7 months left to reach my goal.
Goals Going Forward
I have finally established a comfortable emergency fund. If I was to lose my job tomorrow, I have a 6 month runway to figure out my life.
The next months of the year I am going to focus on living on half my paycheck and sending the rest off to my student loan payments.
If you have any loans you are trying to get rid of and would like to start your journey, grab the personal finance bundle mentioned below. It has been instrumental in helping me track my debt payoff journey.
If you want more information on why I started and to read other posts on this journey, you can find them under ” The Race To Zero” or by clicking here.