Hi everyone, glad you’re here. If you’re new, I update with my financial progress at the end of every month to. I track the amount of debt that I have and how much I paid over the course of the month. I’ve also started a to add progress on my health related goals for the year.
This month has been one that’s relatively crazy – I’ve had a lot going on lately, and while I’m not ready to share just yet – things will be changing for me personally. I’m excited, but also nervous, and have learned first hand about the power of routines and goals. Also, it doesnt look like there will be a debt payment this month, because I’m using that money to pay the tax man.
Student Loans
I started out with student loans from 3 companies, but now I only have 2 – I paid one off last year. My current target is the federal loan, and I’m hoping to have that paid off by the end of the first quarter of 2011.
Direct Loan $3,343 ($566) –I’m looking to have this paid off by the end of march, but given a few different changes, it may or may not happen – I’m still going to try though. Unfortunately, it looks like the tax man has taken away my snowball payment this time around.
Great Lakes Loan $ 12,184 ($64) Just sent my regular minimum payment to this loan. The amount applied to principle seems to change every month – which is totally lame. This is the last loan marked for payoff.
Truck Loan
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. Tough decision, but it was in-line with my future goals, and I think I still made the right choice.
Ford Credit: $17,405 ($290): Just made the regular monthly payment on this loan this month. This one I’m going to try to pay off by the end of the year – right now it’s got over 42,000 miles and is 13.5 months old! Also, the warranty is expired. I’d really like to get out from under this so that I can save for repairs/replacement as soon as possible.
Health Goals
I’ve also decided to track my health goals for the year. My goal was to go to the gym a 4 days per week. Last month, I got to 4 days a week 1 week, then the other weeks I made it 3 days. I’d like to get more, obviously and I hope that will change this month.
Week of Jan 30: 4 Days
Week of Feb 6: 4 Days
Week of Feb 13: 3 Days
Week of Feb 20: 2 Days
Goal Visits: 16
Total Visits: 13
The month started out good, but I’ve had a few events towards the end of the month that dont normally come up, and they inturrupted my schedule. This is going well, however. When I’m at the gym, I feel like I belong there and I enjoy myself, and when I feel like I’ve got a spare hour or more, I start to think that I should go to the gym (instead of doing something else). This is starting to turn into a habit, which is what I’m most excited about.
How did you fare this month in finances and your yearly goals? What sort of things are you going to do next month to keep working towards them? Also, if you’ve made it this far, odds are good you’ll make it to the end of the year: Most people drop off within the first 30 days.
Student loans are compounded daily so even though your payment is the same every month, the amount applied to principle will vary depending on the number of days in the month.
Thanks for that, beagle – I was not sure how the interest was calculated on these loans. It’s a good thing feb is a short month, maybe I can knock it out before march comes along!
You know what? I say CONGRATS on getting to the gym 13 out of 16 goal days because for most Americans, that’s just a dream. I’m just starting to follow your journey so I’ll be going back to read some more, so good luck!
Nice job paying those loans down! The best thing ever is getting our from student loan debt!
Student Loans are built on top of an amortization schedule so while it may be near impossible (with extra principal payments) to figure out savings exact savings it doesn’t matter cause you are rocking it out! (Same with your auto loan)
Thanks for the notice Evan. I’m focused enough to pay them off, so I don’t think it really matters in the end (except it may cost like $10) but I was just curious because the numbers change all the time.