Most of you remember my saga with direct loans. To end it, I finally had to have the bank pull back the funds over a month after it had cleared the account and still had not posted to the website (nor could they even find it). I went to pay it all on line after cancelling my monthly payment, so they decided to take my monthly payment out anyway. I cant wait to see how long it will take them to refund that.
Also, as for No Spend November, I think it went really, really well. Aside from paying for my honeymoon, my spending was almost 1k lower that it has been over the past 6 months. Now that the honeymoon is all paid for, I’ll probably try a low spend December (I don’t really have a whole lot of Christmas shopping done yet)
I went looking through my old monthly reviews on this site, and the oldest one that I could find that used this format was from april, 2010 (the old format I reported how much I spent in what category). Back then, I had 7 (!!!) different things that I needed to make monthly payments on. Now, I’m down to 2, and I’ve got a lot more free cash because of it.
Student Loans
Great Lakes Loan $11,345 ($103) I hate this loan. It never goes down.
Truck Loan
Ford Credit: $9,463 ($302): This one will be my next target. I’m hoping i’ll be able to have it paid off by the time I get married.
Health Goals
I’ve also decided to track my health goals for the year. This has been up and down all year, but despite the traveling, I’ve managed to keep it together this month. This is usually gym visits, but I dont always like to go to the gym, so I’m changing it to workouts. Usually when I dont go to the gym, I go running.
Goal Workouts: 20
Total Visits: 14
This went better than last month, though I still havent been great. I think part of it is the damn time change – I hate how it gets dark so early!
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Congratulations on your No Spend November, that is a significant decrease.
How long until you get married?
Thanks niki –
I’m getting married in july of 2012. The goal to pay off the truck is probably a strech, but i’ll go for it anyway.
It’s pretty fun watching how you pay down your loans. I noticed you changed up your widgets a little while ago. Won’t it be great when they are gone?
It will be nice when these loans are gone….
Sounds like you are still doing great with your health goals. Good job. Many people let health stuff be the first to slip when times are busy. I am glad you have stayed focused. It’s important.
Thanks miss t – I’m looking to improve them come 2012!
I think you’re doing a great job all around. The fact that you have a positive attitude and keep revisiting your goals makes those goals so much easier to achieve. I’m sure you’ll pay off your truck by July!
Well, it’s something that will give me hope jana. Thanks for stopping by.
Congrats on a decent month! And buying your honeymoon tickets!
Thanks! Hopefully december is better!
Looking good! You should definitely count the runs, they are a work out.
Totally agree joe – it was a tough run, as I have been doing more lifting than running lately. My cousin beat me, but out of my family I got 2nd.
From 7 to 2? That’s awesome! You must be freeing up so much cash for other things. And 14 gym visits are nothing to sneeze that… That’s about 14 more than I had.
Yea – I had a lot of credit card minimums before I paid them all off. It’s much easier now that I’ve got a ton of cash freed up.
Student loans are always such a killer. I’d concentrate on paying them down first. I had a bit higher total than yours and managed to pay it down by cutting back in similar ways.
Very cool scott!
Impressive. 7 to 2 is pretty darn cool. It would be nice to unload student loan debt, as Scott suggests, but those loans are usually low interest. It’s probablyy best to do exactly as you’re doing.
Actually – the student loan interest is quite high – something like 6.8% while the loan on my truck is awesomely low – 1.9%. My reasoning is though, if something terrible happens to me and I cant make payments, they cant reposses my brain, but they can reposses my truck!
Love it! I think the best thing about paying off installment debt and consumer debt is the lowering of your “monthly nut” i.e. the amount that NEEDS to go out the door every month.
Great work Jeff.
Totally agree evan – the expanded cash flow is great!
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