Hello all!
It's been a good couple of weeks for me. First of all, the Leons card is paid off! YAY! One down a couple more to go.
Second, the mess with the insurance company has been straightened out after many phone calls and copies of bank statements. The insurance company has refunded the policy fees, and says payment is on the way for the NSF fees as well.
The money from the tax refund has been paid to my student loan, so the balance left to pay is $3,025.53. Now that the Leon's card is paid off, I will be moving an extra $100.00 a month over to a monthly payment on the student loan.
Now comes my next dilemma;
I am half-expecting two large payments in a few months. One should be around $1000 and the other is roughly $2000. I have around $3000 owing to the orthodontist and around $3000 owing to the student loan. How should I allocate these payments?
On one hand, paying off the orthodontist will free up a direct debit out of my account every month. That would give me more "wiggle room" each month if money gets tight. The student loan is not a set amount or a direct debit so I don't have to worry about bouncing a payment.
On the other hand, the student loan has interest on it, albeit a small amount. I know if I play by the rules, the student loan should be paid off first. However, I do like the security of not having a set payment in the month unlike the orthodontist.
I will have to ponder this one for a bit. Good night all!
Debt Reduction Plan
Estimated Debt Free Day is December 31, 2009
Updated Debt Reduction
As of March
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
February 28, 2008
Great news and bad news in this update.
The good news is that I have done my taxes and my tax return will be$3589.66. My original estimate was $2600 (which is reflected on my original chart). I have decided to leave the original chart up so that I can see whether I am doing better or worse that my original plan. I added the tax refund to March because I figured it will take a couple weeks before it will processed. I have also been able to make good progress on the Leon's card. I have only $200 left to pay on it!
Boy, I love seeing how much my debt will drop next month. It feels so good.
Now for the bad news. Talk about a string of bad luck. This problem started when I decided to get my finances in order. One of my first steps was to shop around for cheaper car insurance. I found a company which was more than $50 a month cheaper, so I switched my insurance over to them. First, I got my insurance documents in the mail only to find that the insurance was MORE expensive than my last place. I immediately called the broker who discovered he had sent my application to the wrong company. After I RE-filled out new papers and had another payment taken off the credit card, it was straightened up. The broker arranged to cancel with the wrong insurance company with no cancellation fees. The wrong insurance company credited the credit card and I thought everything was fine. Then, yesterday morning, we were on our way to work and stopped to grab coffee. While the car was parked in the parking lot, some guy tried to pull into the spot beside me, slid on the ice and slammed my back bumper. My first claim ever and it's with an insurance company that I signed with less than a week ago. SO, I get the claim reported and taken care of this morning. After work, I stopped at the bank to pay my phone bill and to my surprise, the wrong insurance company (that I had cancelled with) had taken a payment out of my account! This, in turn, has caused my car payment to bounce. I am SO fed up!
Tomorrow I have to call Chrysler Financial to find out how to pay the bounced payment. I will also see if I can get them to send me some sort of statement of NSF fees. I have already gotten a statement of NSF fees from the bank so that I can add them all together and demand that the (wrong) insurance company repay the amount they took out, the amount of the bank NSF fees, and the amount of the Chrysler Financial NSF fees.
I also have to get an estimate of the bumper repair.
I also have to get the ex to pay on the Orthodontist payments he owes.
Sometimes it seems like the world works against you, but all in all, things really are going OK. I just look at the good stuff and deal with the bad stuff as quickly as I can.
The good news is that I have done my taxes and my tax return will be$3589.66. My original estimate was $2600 (which is reflected on my original chart). I have decided to leave the original chart up so that I can see whether I am doing better or worse that my original plan. I added the tax refund to March because I figured it will take a couple weeks before it will processed. I have also been able to make good progress on the Leon's card. I have only $200 left to pay on it!
Boy, I love seeing how much my debt will drop next month. It feels so good.
Now for the bad news. Talk about a string of bad luck. This problem started when I decided to get my finances in order. One of my first steps was to shop around for cheaper car insurance. I found a company which was more than $50 a month cheaper, so I switched my insurance over to them. First, I got my insurance documents in the mail only to find that the insurance was MORE expensive than my last place. I immediately called the broker who discovered he had sent my application to the wrong company. After I RE-filled out new papers and had another payment taken off the credit card, it was straightened up. The broker arranged to cancel with the wrong insurance company with no cancellation fees. The wrong insurance company credited the credit card and I thought everything was fine. Then, yesterday morning, we were on our way to work and stopped to grab coffee. While the car was parked in the parking lot, some guy tried to pull into the spot beside me, slid on the ice and slammed my back bumper. My first claim ever and it's with an insurance company that I signed with less than a week ago. SO, I get the claim reported and taken care of this morning. After work, I stopped at the bank to pay my phone bill and to my surprise, the wrong insurance company (that I had cancelled with) had taken a payment out of my account! This, in turn, has caused my car payment to bounce. I am SO fed up!
Tomorrow I have to call Chrysler Financial to find out how to pay the bounced payment. I will also see if I can get them to send me some sort of statement of NSF fees. I have already gotten a statement of NSF fees from the bank so that I can add them all together and demand that the (wrong) insurance company repay the amount they took out, the amount of the bank NSF fees, and the amount of the Chrysler Financial NSF fees.
I also have to get an estimate of the bumper repair.
I also have to get the ex to pay on the Orthodontist payments he owes.
Sometimes it seems like the world works against you, but all in all, things really are going OK. I just look at the good stuff and deal with the bad stuff as quickly as I can.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
February 27, 2008
Today I made another $200 payment on the Leons card. Only $200 to go.
I also got some more good news regarding my tax return. The amount of interest paid last year was a lot more than I had (conservatively) estimated. I ran the numbers again and I'm guessing I will get more than $3500 on my tax return. Tomorrow I will go out and buy a copy of QuickTax and do my tax return so that I can adjust my chart.
No luck with getting the payment for the braces, but I have been able to pick up some extra overtime at work. That will cover the extra cost.
Stay tuned everyone. I promise to update that chart soon.
I also got some more good news regarding my tax return. The amount of interest paid last year was a lot more than I had (conservatively) estimated. I ran the numbers again and I'm guessing I will get more than $3500 on my tax return. Tomorrow I will go out and buy a copy of QuickTax and do my tax return so that I can adjust my chart.
No luck with getting the payment for the braces, but I have been able to pick up some extra overtime at work. That will cover the extra cost.
Stay tuned everyone. I promise to update that chart soon.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
February 5, 2008
Well, I only made a payment of $200 toward Leons, which still puts me ahead of my chart but it's not the extra payment I wanted to make. My ex hasn't come through with his payments on the braces but I am hoping to get in touch with him tonight and see what will happen. I'm going to wait until I see before I update my debt chart, just in case I can make another payment this month.
On the other side of my life, my boyfriend is getting his finances in order as well. He also fell into debt after his divorce and is carrying some of that debt at a high interest rate. He is working out a low interest loan with his bank to transfer the higher interest debt. That part is easy for him. Although he carries debt, he has good credit because he has a decent salary and has never missed a payment on his loans or cards. He will take longer than me to pay off though because of his higher debt load. We've decided not to accelerate payments on his debt because his extra money is spent on his kids. Child support and children's activities are more important than paying off debts faster.
SO my plan is to follow my debt repayment schedule and accelerate it if I can. Once I am completely paid off, we will do this same process for what's left on his debt. Once those are all cleared up (estimate 3 years), we look into buying a house. It seems as I am creating goals, there are more goals within those goals.
Ultimate goal is to buy a house. Within that goal are the goals of paying off the debts. Within those goals are more goals of each individual debt. I suppose it makes it a lot easier to stay motivated when you can have this checklist of benchmarks along the way. It also makes it exciting to measure your progress with items you can actually see!
On the other side of my life, my boyfriend is getting his finances in order as well. He also fell into debt after his divorce and is carrying some of that debt at a high interest rate. He is working out a low interest loan with his bank to transfer the higher interest debt. That part is easy for him. Although he carries debt, he has good credit because he has a decent salary and has never missed a payment on his loans or cards. He will take longer than me to pay off though because of his higher debt load. We've decided not to accelerate payments on his debt because his extra money is spent on his kids. Child support and children's activities are more important than paying off debts faster.
SO my plan is to follow my debt repayment schedule and accelerate it if I can. Once I am completely paid off, we will do this same process for what's left on his debt. Once those are all cleared up (estimate 3 years), we look into buying a house. It seems as I am creating goals, there are more goals within those goals.
Ultimate goal is to buy a house. Within that goal are the goals of paying off the debts. Within those goals are more goals of each individual debt. I suppose it makes it a lot easier to stay motivated when you can have this checklist of benchmarks along the way. It also makes it exciting to measure your progress with items you can actually see!
Sunday, January 27, 2008
January 27, 2008
After much trial and error, I figured out how to post the spreadsheets.
So, update for today. Nothing new paid, but I have my plan of action. On my chart, I have my three debts and their progress as I pay them off. I plan on updating them at the beginning of every month to reflect any payments I make.
In May of each year, there is a large drop in the amount I owe due to my repayments I plan to make on my student loan when I receive my tax return each year. This year, I have a $2500 payment scheduled based on what I figured my tax return to be. However...the government announced a retroactive tax change for 2007 and I went to a website to figure out my new estimated tax return. The new number should be around $3200. Good news for me! I have left the chart at $2500, but will change the information on it when I get the actual refund.
The orthodontist payments will remain the same each month, $250 per month, but there is no interest on this debt.
Leons is the goal for now. As I wrote earlier, I am trying to throw a lot of money at it right now just to get rid of it.
It's funny, you know? I am trying to get out of debt just so I can get back into it. You see, my goal is to get rid of these debts so that we can buy a house. I don't mind that kind of debt though. I look forward to making payments toward my own house instead of paying rent to someone else.
So, update for today. Nothing new paid, but I have my plan of action. On my chart, I have my three debts and their progress as I pay them off. I plan on updating them at the beginning of every month to reflect any payments I make.
In May of each year, there is a large drop in the amount I owe due to my repayments I plan to make on my student loan when I receive my tax return each year. This year, I have a $2500 payment scheduled based on what I figured my tax return to be. However...the government announced a retroactive tax change for 2007 and I went to a website to figure out my new estimated tax return. The new number should be around $3200. Good news for me! I have left the chart at $2500, but will change the information on it when I get the actual refund.
The orthodontist payments will remain the same each month, $250 per month, but there is no interest on this debt.
Leons is the goal for now. As I wrote earlier, I am trying to throw a lot of money at it right now just to get rid of it.
It's funny, you know? I am trying to get out of debt just so I can get back into it. You see, my goal is to get rid of these debts so that we can buy a house. I don't mind that kind of debt though. I look forward to making payments toward my own house instead of paying rent to someone else.
Friday, January 25, 2008
January 25, 2008
*sigh*
I have my wonderful spreadsheets and charts all ready to go in Excel, but I can't figure out how to put them on this blog now. If anyone out there knows how to help me, I could sure use some advice.
Anyway, I ran into some trouble this month. I took the step to find a cheaper insurance company and I found one that is $60 per month cheaper. YAY! The bad news is that I need to pay 2 months up front. BOO! So after forking over the double payment, that left us a little short until today (payday).
However, I am still on track for getting my Leons card paid off, maybe even early. I have a promise from my ex to pay off some money he owes toward our son's braces. Since I made the full payments on them for the past few months, I can use the money toward other bills. If he comes through, I can pay off the Leons card this month.
$600 left owing to Leons. I'm aiming to pay $300 on January 31.
$3500 owed to the orthodontist
$6572 owing on the student loan
I have my wonderful spreadsheets and charts all ready to go in Excel, but I can't figure out how to put them on this blog now. If anyone out there knows how to help me, I could sure use some advice.
Anyway, I ran into some trouble this month. I took the step to find a cheaper insurance company and I found one that is $60 per month cheaper. YAY! The bad news is that I need to pay 2 months up front. BOO! So after forking over the double payment, that left us a little short until today (payday).
However, I am still on track for getting my Leons card paid off, maybe even early. I have a promise from my ex to pay off some money he owes toward our son's braces. Since I made the full payments on them for the past few months, I can use the money toward other bills. If he comes through, I can pay off the Leons card this month.
$600 left owing to Leons. I'm aiming to pay $300 on January 31.
$3500 owed to the orthodontist
$6572 owing on the student loan
Thursday, January 3, 2008
January 3, 2008
I've decided to tackle my Leon's card first since my interest free period ends in May. I don't want to end up paying the high interest that comes on those sorts of cards.
I owe $900 to Leons and today I made a payment of $300. At the end of January I should be able to make another payment of $300. I also made a $50 payment on the student loan although that barely covers the interest.
I'm still working on a spreadsheet to get my debts organized but it's almost finished.
I owe $900 to Leons and today I made a payment of $300. At the end of January I should be able to make another payment of $300. I also made a $50 payment on the student loan although that barely covers the interest.
I'm still working on a spreadsheet to get my debts organized but it's almost finished.
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