Day 132 - Mid-Month Report

February 23, 2011

Mid-Month Report

The first and fifteenth of each month I will update you on the status towards our goal of paying off $60K in one year.   

** Check out the Real Time Debt Tracker!!!  Keep up to the minute tabs on our debt balance and whether we can pay it off in 365 days!

Present fears are less than horrible imaginings  - William Shakespeare

A lot has happened the past three weeks - writing for the $60K Project hasn't been one of them. I had a birthday, an MRI and two doctor appointments - and that was just one week.  After my brief hiatus, I have a greater appreciation for bloggers who consistently write material day in and day out despite what is going on in their life at the time.  And I am grateful for health insurance and Health Savings Accounts. Without these essentials, our debt balance would be increasing rather than decreasing right now. At this point all I can do is trudge forward and hope for the best. And blog.

This month we were able to put $500 into savings.  Although I wanted to throw this amount at our debt, Mike and I discussed it and thought it would be a good idea to use this money for some upcoming travel we feel is necessary.  Graduation, wedding, birthday, babies - all happening in four different states in the next five months.  Needless to say we may not be able to make all of these events but we will definitely need some travel money.  So into the savings account it goes.

Scheduled Payoff of Mike Student Loan #2: I think we can pretty easily pay off this loan by June. I am hoping that with tax refunds and (hopefully) upcoming bonuses we could move it up to May, but with some significant upcoming expenses it might be difficult.

Increased Income: We now have an additional $134 a month we use for expenses since we paid of Mike's Student Loan #1.  In the future, the minimum payments made from my paycheck will continue to be used to pay off debt.  In addition, I have a side job that brings in $300-$500 every quarter and I'm expecting a check shortly.

Challenges: Eight months left to pay off $35,291 . This equates to approximately $4,411 a month in debt payments.   Last month this amount was closer to $4,152 so we have lost a little ground. We are nowhere near paying that amount each month in debt so I'm hoping these extra income streams and tax refunds will help catch us up.

Upcoming Significant Expenses: All kinds of doctor and vet appointments - trying to keep everyone healthy!!  I'm also in a wedding which means bridesmaid dress, bachelorette party, flight and hotel.

Additional Cutbacks: We are doing really well with our budget right now and usually coming in under what we expected. Mike and I had a discussion tonight about whether we could continue to live like this beyond the initial year we committed to - remember, there is another student loan sitting out there that we have yet to even tackle aside from minimum payments. We haven't even been at this for six months yet so it's discouraging that we are starting to think about going back to our old ways. Eyes on the prize.

Stay tuned,
Sarah