I’ve got some pretty lofty goals for 2019 and one of them is paying off a big chunk of my debt. Last year I shared my “Money Diaries” with you guys and gave you a breakdown of my monthly budget along with a snippet of how I spent my money for a week. If this was a movie, the next words that would be coming out of my mouth is “And it was at this point I knew I had to change. I had to get a hold of my finances and pay down some debt, but in reality, I’ve know this for sometime and just been ignoring it praying the huge debt I have will magically go away. Now let me be clear, the important debt that needs to be paid each month; student loans are paid on time….no matter how many tears I weep at the $545 per month payment but other debts; credit cards, medial and at one point and time a car loan did not fare so well.
Late last year, ie two weeks ago, my mother made me log into my student loan account; as I just send a echeck month and go on about my business, and had me look at what the remaining balance was; the total $45,000! I’ve been Bird Boxing this for years; yep I finally saw it…well kinda and I couldn’t resist making a reference to it in a post lol and I wanted to puke; I actually may have now that I think about it and I felt this sense of defeat come over me. I make $1800 per month and my student loan debt takes 30 percent of my monthly pay; 30 PERCENT! And if I factor in credit card payments, medial debt and that one Old Navy store card that forgot about until some random credit collection agency called me about it, that’s another 10%. So all told, I’m paying 40% of my $1800 a month income to debt. Where we do that at????? I’m surprised I can afford toilet paper!
After looking at my debt numbers for days; I used ten calculators, good old fashion pen to paper and an abacus to ensure I was seeing this right and the amount of money that flies out of my paycheck each month it kicked me in the ass, so when I was setting my goals for this year, I finally got up the balls to include paying off some damn debt plus getting my savings account back on track. Que a round of applause, streamers and fireworks, a band playing in the background and someone saying “This girl has finally got her shit together, give it up for her”!!
My goal is to pay off $11,566.11 that includes all my medical debt, a credit card and two student loans while saving $10,000! Yep you read that right, did I write that right??? Nope I wrote it right, gotta go big or go home!
shop similar looks:
Here’s a breakdown of what my debt and current savings account balance looks like as of this post:
AES Success (success at taking all my damn money) All loans current
Loan 1: $14,207.19
Loan 2: $13,138.20
Loan 3: $10,379.49
Loan 4: $7,099.29
Loan 5: $566.82
Total: $45,390.99
Capital One: Past due
Card 1: 0
Card Two: $900
Total: $900
Medical Bills: combo of current and collection accounts
$3000
Total: $3000
Ally Bank: (savings account)
Current: $1,806.19
Goal: $10,000
Left to go: $8,193.81
The first $566.82 of my debt “payoff” goal will be paid once I file and receive my taxes; whenever that is Government Shutdown and $1500 will be added to my savings account brining the total to $3,306 but I was also debating just putting the entire return to my debt but I’ve not made a final decision about that. Dave Ramsey says; and no I’m not joining his Financial Peace University cause I think it’s stupid I have to pay you to give me steps to help me pay off my debt when I can just Google or YouTube it and shouldn’t that money I’m paying you go to paying off my debt?? But I digress. He says that if you have money in your savings account and debt, you really don’t have money in your savings account. And I can see that point, but I really like seeing money in my savings account, it makes me happy and it earns me intrest aka FREE MONEY!
Though I’m scared shitless of how this will all come together, I am happy I have a plan and I can see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. And when I say tiny, I mean just that. It’s the size of a pin hole but I know as time goes on it will get bigger!
So there you guys have it. I’ll be doing monthly updates here on the blog about what the numbers are looking like and talking to you guys in real time over on Instagram! Ya’ll are my accountability partners so if you see me slipping, call my ass out! And if your goal was to pay down some debt and save more, join me on this year long journey!
XOXO,
Shanna