It's official! We've set the date. "What date?" you ask. The date we are GOING to be out of credit card debt by! I'd love to say we'll be completely out of debt, but our focus has really been on our looming credit card debt (since the interest rates are high) and we haven't really focused on our car loan.... yet! We'll get there. For sure. But with an interest rate under 1%, we're not too worried about that one just yet.We started with about $40K on our credit cards and if all of my budgeting is correct and if we stay the course, we'll be completely out of credit card debt by December 2012! There are a some assumptions in here (that our bills don't increase significantly, that we both maintain our current incomes, and a few others) but I did build a slight buffer in there and I truly believe that we will be celebrating that New Year's Eve in style! (And by "in style" I don't mean in an expensive fashion, I just mean popping a bottle of $4 Andre champagne and toasting how great it feels to be out of debt! Then in 2013, we'll tackle that damn car loan and bulking up our savings for a future home! Ahhhh, I love having goals to work towards.
This is just awesome - and doesn't even seem that far away! Having a date is what I want to do, but right now it would be so far off I'm afraid it would dampen our enthusiasm. I hope that by this time next year we will have made such a dent in the numbers that we can follow your example. I love having goals, too.
ReplyDeleteSarah
I am so proud of you! I also will be debt free from CC debt and consumer loans by the New Year. Let's celebrate together. I will still have the huge Heloc and the home loan, but all the crap will be gone! Yeah.
ReplyDeleteThat is some really awesome news, very exciting. I haven't mapped out a date yet for our credit card debt, but it is coming up, kinda, 6 months maybe?
ReplyDeleteThen on to the car loan.
That was our goal too....ours is unlikely to happen though...so I am counting on ya so I can live vicariously!
ReplyDeletethats great! sounds like an achievable goal, 2012 is going to be a big debt payoff year on my blogroll
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome! Congrats! It must feel like a huge weight off your shoulders!
ReplyDeleteJust wondering- how long has it taken you to pay off your debt and what major steps did you take to pay it off? Would love to hear how you did it so i can apply some of your "tricks" to help pay off the rest of my student loan.
yay for you guys!!! that's great news!
ReplyDeleteTerrific news - I'll be rooting for you to succeed! What a huge monkey off your back that will be. Woot woot!
ReplyDeleteThis is SUCH a worthy goal - let nothing sway you - remain laser brained.
ReplyDeleteAnything else is just slavery. Good luck, will check back
Thanks for your support everyone! It really means a lot :) I'm hoping this blog helps me continue to be accountable for our spending and staying on track. I believe we will!
ReplyDeleteLizzie, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "remain laser brained"... that's what I feel it's going to take to get us to our goal of being debt free by December 2012!
Christina, I started this blog and journey in September 2010 so not that long ago and honestly the hardest part for us is starting right now. We had been a bit slow to get started and had some difficulty staying on track but now we're really focused. The things that have helped us is the increase in our income (not having to pay almost $600 per month for my niece's tuition and my husband getting full time work recently have helped big time!). Now we're able to put this extra money right towards our debt. Before now we were struggling with where the money would come from, now we've found the money, it's just that we need to ensure we stay on track and send all the "extra" money in, rather than use it for fun stuff.
When looking for "tricks", I'd just say you need to either find a way to increase your income (or make some side cash) or lower your bills and take that extra money and send it in to pay off your tuition. We got rid of cable, lowered the minutes on our cell phone and started buying some groceries at the 99 cent store! I know it doesn't sound like much but these small tweaks have given us some wiggle room in our budget. I also became an electricity Nazi and demand that all lights are shut off when someone isn't in a room and we unplug almost everything when leaving the house. Our bill has been lowered significantly! Give it a try and see if you can squeeze an extra $20 or more out of your budget and send that money right in to your debt! Every dollar helps!