December 2010 Monthly Review

Well, it looks like another month has passed us by.  This month was not all that kind to me in terms of how I did with my debt, but it did put my quest into perspective and help me get back on the right track (I’ve had 3 no spend days in a row!).  Although I’ve done a yearly review, I figured that a monthly review would benefit me, if for no other reason than to stay consistent.

Student Loans:

Although I haven’t made a payment aside from my minimums (yet), it doesn’t look like it’s going to be all that substantial.  Working less around thanksgiving (instead of more, like last year) and christmas, and taking some time off submarined my hours at Job #2, thus reducing my earnings.

Direct Loan $4,269 ($250) – This just went down a small amount after I made a $1,400 payment to the note in November.  This has been my prime target for about a month, and I’ve made quite a few strides on it so far.  This will continue to be my target until it’s gone.

Great Lakes Loan $12,365 ($94)  Just sent my regular minimum payment to this loan.  This loan has a rather high interest rate which is rather bothersome, but there’s not much I can do about it – consolidation would be a pain in the ass, and when I pay off the Direct Loan, that will act as its own consolidation.

Truck Debt:

This is for my vehicle.  I had already started trying to become debt free when I bought this, so I was quite torn as to wether or not to take on new debt while I was trying to eliminate other debt.  If you want to read more about it, check here, here and here.  Despite most of the advice I heard, I went ahead and took out a loan on this.   I made the right move.  Unfortunately, due to the amount I drive, my “3 year/36,000 mile” warranty lasted less than 1 year.  Of course, when I was just 100 miles over the number, I had something happen and it needed to get towed in to a shop for a repair, which I had to pay for.

I’ve decided that this will be my next focus after the Direct Loan is paid off.  If you want to read more about my decision making process, go here and here.

Ford Credit: 17,959 ($310): Just made the regular monthly payment on this loan, so I’m not sure why it went down more than normal, but I’ll take it.

Payoff Plan:

  1. Direct Loan
  2. Truck
  3. Great Lakes

Total Debt Level: $34,593 ($2,064) This went down so much because of the large snowball payment that I made from November during the first week of December.  I think that this is the most that my debt has gone down in one month, though, which is something to be celebrated!  I made my debt level goal for the year, and now I’ve gotten off and set some new goals for 2011, which I’ll share later.

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14 thoughts on “December 2010 Monthly Review”

  1. That is great that you met your goal for the year of debt reduction, that should be celebrated.

    I know it looks like a lot of debt, but you are determined and it will be gone in time. My student loans we not paid off until I was thirty and I hated those loans. I still a remember the day I made my last payment, it was right before my third child was born.

    Keep on plugging away!

    • Thanks Kris! I really dont want to keep them around that long, and I hope that I dont have them around that long – having them gone by 30 would be great, but that’s still 5 years away. I’m young.

  2. I don’t think I’ve got a blended rate, sam. for the truck, my rate is 1.9% (yay for cheap credit) and for my student loans, the direct loan is 6.8% (boo to 2006) and the great lakes loan is 4%

    • Yea, I think you’re right – I usually try to keep christmas low, but this year there were so many other things than christmas. Oh well.

  3. That’s a great dent into your debt (if not a gaping hole)!

    I used a spreadsheet to track my debt and would reward myself after I passed certain milestones. That way, I made debt reductions a celebration reason.

    • I agree, MR. I use a spreadsheet (as well as mint), but the spreadsheet is the official metric. Usually I try to give myself something after crossing a big milestone (like completely paying off credit cards, or paying off the car (not yet) or paying off all student loans (33% done). I think that reducing debt is a cause for celebration.

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