Author Topic: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July  (Read 27875 times)

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #50 on: April 23, 2013, 07:01:53 AM »
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Reading through these, what kind of education did you pursue, was it worth it and would you do it again?

BS in Civil Engineering from a state university, M. Eng in Environmental and Water Resource Systems Engineering from a fancypants university.  I would do it again, but I wish I knew then what I know now. I had no idea it was possible to take generic undergraduate courses at a community college and transfer the credits. Growing up I was told that I had to go college and there was no other option, yet there was no preparation or planning for it. I wish I had known that taking all my classes at the nearby college for my senior year of high school would give me too many credit hours to apply as a freshman in the eyes of the university. I wish I had known that taking a year off between high school and college to decide what I wanted to study and save some money for college, along with my accumulation of credits from high school would mean I wasn't eligible for most of the scholarships in the eyes of the requirements. There is a lot more I wish I knew before starting out, but getting up to my eyeballs in debt going through school has given me the opportunity to learn financial sense. I'm not sure I would have that without these experiences. Meanwhile, my parents are divorced, yet both are living paycheck to paycheck with minimal retirement or emergency savings yet plenty of money for fun toys and experiences.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #51 on: April 29, 2013, 05:58:50 PM »
Every once in a while we all get lucky, maybe you win the lottery or find 50 bucks lying on the sidewalk. Like Manna from heaven I received a $400 wire transfer from Japan in my bank account today. To make a long story short in 2007 I worked for a company that went bankrupt in Japan and never paid me. They are still unwinding the company and this is my pro rated share of the company's liquidated assets. I realize that I earned the money and this is actually less then I earned but it was so long ago that it feels like free money.

I am going to have to pay taxes on this money in Canada so I am putting aside $100 as a conservative estimate on the income taxes. $300 will go towards my student debt bringing the balance down to around $2,700.


imustachemystash

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #52 on: April 30, 2013, 10:44:55 PM »
I got a Master's in Communication Disorders which is needed to become a speech and language pathologist. I would absolutely do it again.  I love my job and I think my education helped me grow as a person.  My job allows me to help people have a voice and that is meaningful way to spend my life.  My career also allows me to balance work and family life because I have summers off and can work part time.

This is a good question.  I look forward to reading what the others say.

Mazzinator

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #53 on: May 07, 2013, 08:40:03 PM »
Kaytee.. Have you checked ou the irs withholding calculator?? You can adjust your withholdings now so you can keep your money..

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator

Great work payingdown the debt!!! We have a ton, so it's good to see someone near the end..

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #54 on: May 09, 2013, 04:35:39 PM »
I am putting my $1k income tax return towards my student loan. Here is where I am at now:

Beg Bal: 2,708.95
Less:     1,000
End Bal: 1708.95

I will probably pay the whole thing off when I get my pay cheque this month, that's 2 months earlier then planned.

One of the cons of doing this is that I always feel a little empty about paying down the debt. I am very rational and I know I am doing what is best but I cannot escape the feeling that it would be great to spend this money on a new computer or something like that. When you pay down the debt there is no physical exchange like consumer shopping provides so it's nice to be able to come here and let you all know how it's going and get some feedback. The shackle is almost off!
« Last Edit: May 09, 2013, 04:40:35 PM by peterpatch »

tomatoprincess

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #55 on: May 09, 2013, 05:50:05 PM »
Keep at it! Think of the interest you save!

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #56 on: May 10, 2013, 07:41:17 AM »
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Kaytee.. Have you checked ou the irs withholding calculator?? You can adjust your withholdings now so you can keep your money..

Why have I not known about this before? Gah! This is way more accurate than my back of hand rough calculations. According to this, I've practically paid all the income tax that I need to for the year already. Thank you for sending this to me. Although, I'm not truly keeping money these days. It passes from my hands where I immediately use it to attack my student loans with mindful, tenacious ferocity.

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #57 on: May 10, 2013, 07:50:27 AM »
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I will probably pay the whole thing off when I get my pay cheque this month, that's 2 months earlier then planned.

Do it! Then post a picture of the zero balance. It'll be inspirational for the rest of us.

I have the exact opposite feeling when I pay something off. I am filled with giddy glee a la carte empowerment, in a "another one bites the dust" kind of way. Then I delete that column in my spreadsheet and breathe freer air. Maybe try celebrating with something small and completely out of character. Take the day off from work and hike a mountain while wearing a chicken hat or see a movie or something. It's all about mindset.

Edit - I am holding off on posting my own progress this month because I am hoping to make another payment after this second round of medical bills shows up. I'm not sure how much it will be for yet.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #58 on: May 10, 2013, 05:10:49 PM »
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I will probably pay the whole thing off when I get my pay cheque this month, that's 2 months earlier then planned.

Do it! Then post a picture of the zero balance. It'll be inspirational for the rest of us.

I have the exact opposite feeling when I pay something off. I am filled with giddy glee a la carte empowerment, in a "another one bites the dust" kind of way.

It is extremely likely I will do it and I will definitely post a picture of the $0 balance. I get paid mid month so stay tuned.

freerider156

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #59 on: May 10, 2013, 10:06:40 PM »
Just wanted you all to know that reading through this post has been very inspiring to me! My wife and I have a combined $90k in student debt and $13.5k in credit card debt. I have been "working" to pay off the debt for the last several years and constantly get sidetracked with other things that come up. Hence, I've had this credit card debt for around 8 years. It used to be up over $20k, but i haven't made real good progress in the last couple of years and its getting to me. I'd like to do a similar challenge and get my credit card debt paid off ASAP! We just had a baby girl and want to buy a house - those have been the driving forces for me to working hard at making us debt free a reality. I am new to MMM, but hopefully soon I will have a similar success story :)

way to go!!

LivingOnLess

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #60 on: May 11, 2013, 11:01:13 PM »
You guys rock! 

lark

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #61 on: May 13, 2013, 06:39:01 PM »
Time for a student loan repayment update. So far I'm ahead of schedule and I'm adjusting my goal for the year to $45k, which would be about half my remaining balance. Thanks to a better than expected tax refund and a couple of bonuses (and cutting back on new clothes/eating out problem), I finally feel like I'm making progress. It's sad to think that by the end of this month I'll have paid back more in loans this year than the last 4 years combined.

Date             Payment   Amount      
05/09/2013   Payment   $6,000.00      
04/21/2013   Payment   $222.94      
04/15/2013   Payment   $4,000.00      
03/21/2013   Payment   $222.94      
03/19/2013   Payment   $4,000.00      
02/21/2013   Payment   $222.94   
02/19/2013   Payment   $1,500.00   
02/04/2013   Payment   $1,500.00      
01/21/2013   Payment   $222.94   

Zaga

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #62 on: May 13, 2013, 08:21:03 PM »
I'm most of the way through a home equity loan.  It's at about $7,740 right now and I want to have it paid off by the end of June.  So I'm right with you on this one!
We got some things sorted out, so the money we were holding onto was able to go to the HEL.  Made a huge payment that will go through next week of $3,493.07, bringing the total owed down to $3,377.93.  Whee!  Half of the remainder gone in one swoop!

From here on out we'll slow down to half of what's left each month, because of a fallen retaining wall that really needs to be fixed.
Thanks to a job change for DH (with no 401-K, mixed blessing) our take home pay has increased.  The final $3,400 will be mostly gone by the end of May, woot!  Then one tiny payment left in June, that will have to be a certified check mailed in, what a pain.  So it looks like I'll make my end of June goal with time to spare!

Also, we've decided to wait until late summer to fix the retaining wall.  We can take it down ourselves so it's no longer a danger, the rest can wait.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #63 on: May 15, 2013, 08:41:54 AM »
I just paid off the rest of my school loan. I am a little more free then I was before, it feels great! It was totally worth the short term pain to pay off the loan.

I am really glad I posted my goal to this forum because the community support and the expectation I set was a key success factor for me. The expectations combined with a "SMART" goal made this gauntlet a very powerful tool to get out of debt. Thanks to everyone for your support.

I am expecting the rest of the people who agreed to this gauntlet to achieve their goals too. Hopefully we will see more peoples final results soon.

 I will post the screen shot of whatever the government provides me to show the loan is finished as soon as they provide it to me in the mail or through their website.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2013, 03:30:28 PM by peterpatch »

lark

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #64 on: May 15, 2013, 06:02:10 PM »
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I just paid off the rest of my school loan. I am a more free then I was before, it feels great! It was totally worth the short term pain to pay off the loan.

Congratulations! It must be such a good feeling. I'm looking forward to having my smaller loan paid off by the end of the month and then starting to tackle the big one. I can't wait to be free of this debt.

Mazzinator

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #65 on: May 16, 2013, 07:44:38 PM »
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Quote
Kaytee.. Have you checked ou the irs withholding calculator?? You can adjust your withholdings now so you can keep your money..

Why have I not known about this before? Gah! This is way more accurate than my back of hand rough calculations. According to this, I've practically paid all the income tax that I need to for the year already. Thank you for sending this to me. Although, I'm not truly keeping money these days. It passes from my hands where I immediately use it to attack my student loans with mindful, tenacious ferocity.

No problemo..we did the same thing..soo stupid..we have two little tax credits running around here..who knew kids could actually save us money?? We also already overpaid uncle sam (as of april) dumb!!! We also are paying off a shit ton of debt, but no way will we be done by july..sigh.. $99k left..yikes..

Congrats Peterpatch!!! I am totally jealous!!! In a good way, of course ;-)

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #66 on: May 23, 2013, 09:16:24 AM »
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I just paid off the rest of my school loan. I am a more free then I was before, it feels great! It was totally worth the short term pain to pay off the loan.

AHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (we howl to celebrate good news on occasion)

You did say that you might be able to shed this debt in May and so you have done. Congratulations! An enviable position indeed.


Quote
No problemo..we did the same thing..soo stupid..we have two little tax credits running around here..who knew kids could actually save us money?? We also already overpaid uncle sam (as of april) dumb!!! We also are paying off a shit ton of debt, but no way will we be done by july..sigh.. $99k left..yikes..

We have $51,066.18 left, but started at $107,336.20 almost 5 years ago. We just hit the 50% payoff last month because of THIS challenge. I have $13k left on one particular loan that I have targeted for annihiliation that will be paid of next year if I continue with this payoff rate. The rest is another student loan at 2.5% interest rate, and I am not sure in what direction I will go at that point. We'd like to buy a house or land at some point before our kid starts school in 4 years. If I continue saving the money that I was paying to the targeted loan, we'll have a hefty downpayment rather quickly, and I am leaning towards that direction. My husband is a carpenter turned SAHD, so we may look at buying a fixer-upper to eventually become a rental house.

May Update
Balance:     $14,190.88
Payments:  -$1,150
Balance:     $13,104.62

Remaining in challenge: $1,098.31, seems totally doable with two payments left in the challenge. Despite this being a 3 paycheck month, I was not able to apply the entire balance of the 3rd paycheck towards this challenge.  Most of it went to more medical bills. Yay! We're in the awkward time of the year where our bridge & FSA money is spent, but we haven't yet reached our deductible and coinsurance amounts. I am grateful that I was able to cover the cost of all these medical bills without breaking a sweat. Not living paycheck to paycheck does truly have intangible benefits.

My current goal is to adjust my witholdings based on the calculator link from Mazzinator and increase my monthly payments. By the end of this month.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #67 on: May 24, 2013, 09:04:24 AM »


AHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (we howl to celebrate good news on occasion)

You did say that you might be able to shed this debt in May and so you have done. Congratulations! An enviable position indeed.



Thanks Kaytee. I am glad to hear you are still paying down that loan quickly. Before you know it you will get to keep a whole lot more of your paycheck!

Mozactly

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #68 on: May 26, 2013, 08:13:34 AM »
This post has been inspiring to me.

I've had about $6,000 in student loan debt lingering while I saved for a down payment on a house, and got used to the new paycheck at my new job.

I figured: student debt is "good debt" and won't negatively affect my credit score, and doesn't look irresponsible at that level. So I'll take my time paying it off.

What a dumb mindset. It took this blog to make me realize that.

So now I'm challenging myself to pay off that debt (currently at $5,133) in the next five months. I'm moving my monthly savings deposit into my student loan payments ($850 a month) on top of the $300 I was already planning to start paying.
(Previously I paid about $100 a month on the student loan)

I'm also the kind of person who keeps a $1,000 balance in my checking account. Before each paycheck, I'm usually hovering right around or right below that mark. I used to have the bad habit of spending it down to $1,000 if I had extra (buying new shoes, new clothes, going out to eat, etc.).

NO MORE! Now every penny above the $1,000 mark is going into my student loan each month.

I'm proud to say I just put in $121.29.

I plan to have this puppy paid off by October.

Wish me luck!

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #69 on: May 26, 2013, 11:58:01 AM »
This post has been inspiring to me.....


NO MORE! Now every penny above the $1,000 mark is going into my student loan each month.

I'm proud to say I just put in $121.29.

I plan to have this puppy paid off by October.

Wish me luck!

Good luck Mozactly!

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #70 on: June 01, 2013, 01:09:18 PM »
Hi Everyone,

I got my final letter from the Canadian government declaring that my student loans are paid in full!




This is the end of my 6 year journey from $20.8k in student loan debt in 2007 to no student loan debt today.

reginna

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #71 on: June 01, 2013, 03:54:45 PM »
Serious clapping!!Well done peterpatch.

Zaga

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #72 on: June 01, 2013, 08:01:24 PM »
I'm most of the way through a home equity loan.  It's at about $7,740 right now and I want to have it paid off by the end of June.  So I'm right with you on this one!
We got some things sorted out, so the money we were holding onto was able to go to the HEL.  Made a huge payment that will go through next week of $3,493.07, bringing the total owed down to $3,377.93.  Whee!  Half of the remainder gone in one swoop!

From here on out we'll slow down to half of what's left each month, because of a fallen retaining wall that really needs to be fixed.
Thanks to a job change for DH (with no 401-K, mixed blessing) our take home pay has increased.  The final $3,400 will be mostly gone by the end of May, woot!  Then one tiny payment left in June, that will have to be a certified check mailed in, what a pain.  So it looks like I'll make my end of June goal with time to spare!

Also, we've decided to wait until late summer to fix the retaining wall.  We can take it down ourselves so it's no longer a danger, the rest can wait.
All done, sent in the final payment on Thursday.  It had to be certified funds sent to a special address, so it will hopefully process by the middle of next week.  Yay, one more loan down, only one monster to go!

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #73 on: June 03, 2013, 08:12:44 AM »
Congratulations, Zaga!

I indulged in a bit of loan repayment therapy last week by taking $600 out of my slush fund and applying it to this loan, so I made three payments in May instead of two. I want to be rid of this beast!

May Update, revised.
Balance:     $14,190.88
Payments:  -$1,750
Balance:     $12,525.34

Edited to add: Mint.com sent me an email telling me that I might be potentially overpaying on my private student loans! If mint only knew how funny that was.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2013, 08:15:14 AM by Kaytee »

Mozactly

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #74 on: June 04, 2013, 06:40:18 AM »
Hi Everyone,

I got my final letter from the Canadian government declaring that my student loans are paid in full!

This is the end of my 6 year journey from $20.8k in student loan debt in 2007 to no student loan debt today.

Yay! Congrats!

imustachemystash

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #75 on: June 24, 2013, 05:07:17 PM »
Congratulation Peter and Zaga!  So how does it feel?  I still have 2 more months to go.  I like the mustache on your letter by the way.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #76 on: June 25, 2013, 05:56:04 AM »
Congratulation Peter and Zaga!  So how does it feel?  I still have 2 more months to go.  I like the mustache on your letter by the way.

Feels great!


2 months to go. You're almost there, keep pushing that boulder and you will be at the top of the hill soon. Going down the hill is much easier ;-)

Kio

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #77 on: June 26, 2013, 06:12:39 PM »
Wow this thread is really inspiring!  We won't be done by July, but we are on track to finish up by next July.  Between my husband and I we have 3 degrees from the USA (a Bachelor's for each of us, and my husband has a Masters). 

Our grand total for student loans was $114k in 2011 which is so hard to look at even now!!!  But I thank god for the loans every day because they turned us into Mustachians, and the rest of our life will be better off for it.  We've learned so much about ourselves and each other in this time that we have been aggressively paying off the loans.

Currently our balance is "just" $36k.  I will post our progress for end of July!

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #78 on: June 26, 2013, 06:22:29 PM »
Wow this thread is really inspiring!  We won't be done by July, but we are on track to finish up by next July.  Between my husband and I we have 3 degrees from the USA (a Bachelor's for each of us, and my husband has a Masters). 

Our grand total for student loans was $114k in 2011 which is so hard to look at even now!!!  But I thank god for the loans every day because they turned us into Mustachians, and the rest of our life will be better off for it.  We've learned so much about ourselves and each other in this time that we have been aggressively paying off the loans.

Currently our balance is "just" $36k.  I will post our progress for end of July!

Good luck! Please keep up updated with your progress.

Zaga

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #79 on: June 27, 2013, 07:02:03 AM »
Congratulation Peter and Zaga!  So how does it feel?  I still have 2 more months to go.  I like the mustache on your letter by the way.
Awesome!  Still one monster loan to go, but it's great to be down to just the one!

lark

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #80 on: June 28, 2013, 03:24:48 PM »
First loan officially paid off. Now *55k* to go. Can't wait to be free of student loans.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #81 on: June 28, 2013, 04:39:31 PM »
First loan officially paid off. Now *55k* to go. Can't wait to be free of student loans.


way to go lark!

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #82 on: July 03, 2013, 07:25:44 AM »
Because this is a challenge, I probably need to come clean and report the hiccups as well as the successes, right? I have $519 remaining left to pay in the challenge - same place I was at the end of May, and 28 days to do it. I have paid over $1700 in medical bills in May and June.  Another $600 coming down the pipeline this month, plus some supplementary expenses such as a water filter that we will need to install to help address the medical issues. This has consumed all of my discretionary income allotted for this challenge. This has not pushed me further into debt, but I have not had much appreciable progress on my existing debt. My goal for this month is to see if I can pound out that last $519. Still optimistic.

Rebecca Stapler

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #83 on: July 03, 2013, 08:53:25 AM »
Because this is a challenge, I probably need to come clean and report the hiccups as well as the successes, right? I have $519 remaining left to pay in the challenge - same place I was at the end of May, and 28 days to do it. I have paid over $1700 in medical bills in May and June.  Another $600 coming down the pipeline this month, plus some supplementary expenses such as a water filter that we will need to install to help address the medical issues. This has consumed all of my discretionary income allotted for this challenge. This has not pushed me further into debt, but I have not had much appreciable progress on my existing debt. My goal for this month is to see if I can pound out that last $519. Still optimistic.

I'm sorry about all of those hiccups. Having such a concrete goal might help you push through the month and achieve it. Sometimes I take a month to squeeze out every last bit of cash / value where I can -- Squeeze out some cash from a yard sale, consigning clothes liketwice.com/FlB4H, selling back books www.bookscouter.com, cash in points / miles from cc's or airlines to get things you would otherwise pay cash for -- or cash them in for gift cards to places you'll be spending money this month). Or cut down expenses just until next month (skip the grocery store one week and see how resourceful you can be with what you have? Make purchases with any extra gift cards you have hanging around? Find the very best deal you can on that water filter -- I love Google Shopper and always use ebates http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=yWYPcbC2uGhTxEx8S51wXA%3D%3D -- but you won't get your cashback until later with ebates).

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #84 on: July 03, 2013, 12:15:17 PM »
Those are some great ideas, Stan. Thank you. What I may end up doing it taking enough money out of my emergency fund to complete the challenge and then reducing my principal reduction payments on my loan for the duration of this medical hiccup. The amount of money I'm overpaying to the student loan should cover these expenditures easily - funny how that works out, eh? At most, there will be 3 more months of these medical expenditures. I think I have found a filter that fits our situation, but won't break the bank. We need to remove chloramines from our water as our PWS uses that instead of chlorine for disinfection.

There are a few books I could probably sell and those will be hard to part with, I've been downsizing my collection for years and only kept the ones that our local library doesn't have, yet I love to re-read. Same thing with clothing - just don't have a lot of it. We grocery shop every other week, and unfortunately, my pantry is full of foods that can't be eaten right now. We can't do corn or rice as we get sick when we eat them, yet I have bags of polenta and rice stocked up.

So, I'm not truly concerned about where the money is going to come from, I'm just annoyed that it's throwing off my debt repayment schedule.  I suppose this is somewhat of an enviable problem to have.
« Last Edit: July 03, 2013, 12:18:42 PM by Kaytee »

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #85 on: July 16, 2013, 08:16:50 AM »
Challenge accomplished. I punted one of our medical bills by sending in a partial payment with the remaining balance of our flex spending account card, thus allowing me to finish the challenge by the end date. I probably would have done this anyway as it is typically how I use up remaining awkward amounts on the flex account.

July Update
Balance:     $12,525.34
Payment:    -$625
Balance:     $11,983.07

Beginning 2013 Balance: $19,506.31
Total 2013 payments: $7,523.24 (....+ interest)

Met the goal by the deadline! AAAahhhhhhhwwwwoooooooooo!

Our medical treatments should last about another 2 months and then I will resume an equally aggressive payment schedule and hopefully, by this time next year I will have paid off this loan as well. Thank you, Peterpatch, for posting this challenge!



peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #86 on: July 16, 2013, 10:35:42 AM »
That's  great Kaytee! You had a challenge with those medical bills but you made it through the gauntlet nonetheless.

Very inspiring success, please keep us up to date on your debt fight for next 12 months.

Rebecca Stapler

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #87 on: July 17, 2013, 07:46:11 AM »

Met the goal by the deadline! AAAahhhhhhhwwwwoooooooooo!


Awesome! Congratulations!!

We plan to pay off a SL next week, we're just waiting for the check to clear ...

MakingSenseofCents

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #88 on: July 20, 2013, 09:34:14 AM »
Good luck! I just paid off my student loans and it feels awesome!

DebtDerp

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #89 on: July 24, 2013, 01:36:22 PM »
Alright, almost the end of the month and I have completed the challenge with room to spare!

Starting Balance (3/1/13): $62,690.29
Extra Payment (3/12/13): $600.00
Regular Payment (3/14/13): $728.46
Extra Payment (3/15/13): $3,170.00
Regular Payment (4/14/13): $728.46
Extra Payment (4/15/13): $1,150.00
Regular Payment (5/15/13): $728.46
Regular Payment (6/15/13): $728.46
Extra Payment (6/15/13): $1,700.00
Extra Payment (7/10/13): $1,000.00
Regular Payment (7/15/13): $728.46
Ending Balance (7/24/13):  $53,221.89

Total Principal Pay-off: $9,468.40/$7,500.00

I must say it feels good, but I still have a long ways to go. Thanks for the awesome challenge peterpatch!

Rebecca Stapler

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #90 on: July 24, 2013, 01:49:17 PM »
Well done Debt Derp!

I can't believe it, but I've done it too! We paid just a smidgen over $10k on a student loan, and kicked its ass right off of our balance sheet. YAHOO!!!

imustachemystash

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #91 on: July 24, 2013, 03:21:10 PM »
You guys are getting me excited to pay mine off next month!  So far I've met my goal to save at least $4,000 per month and next month I'm going to pay it all off in one lump sum!  We will all have to come up with a new challenge soon.

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #92 on: July 24, 2013, 05:00:50 PM »
Wow it's like an avalanche of debt repayment reports now that July month end is rolling around!

Congratulations and excellent work: MakingSenseofCents, DebtDerp, stan and imustachemystash.

It's like MMM says you have to treat debt like your pants are on fire and just put everything you can into getting rid of it. I don't want any of you to miss out on the great feeling of being completely debt free. I am so used to putting boat loads of my income into my debt that saving just comes naturally so I just move the money I normally would have put into my student loan into my retirement accounts. Slaying these debts will make you a savings wizard by default. When the debt is paid just keep living the same lifestyle and invest wisely, compounding and time will take care of the heavy lifting.

Rebecca Stapler

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #93 on: July 24, 2013, 07:41:10 PM »
When the debt is paid just keep living the same lifestyle and invest wisely, compounding and time will take care of the heavy lifting.

Amen. Our retirement accounts are going gangbusters lately and we haven't done anything with them in a year!

Kio

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #94 on: July 31, 2013, 11:02:00 AM »
Alright all, here is an end of month update for our loans:

June 2013: $36,255.62
July 2013: $34,657.15

Difference: $1,598.47

A little disappointed with this difference, but we also took 2 road trips during this month to visit family, so there were some extra expenses there.  We definitely can be more Mustachian next month!

We were supposed to get to pay off our 'spotlight loan' this month, but the people over at our lending office Edgeucation Loans are always getting confused, and they applied our payment wrong.  Usually I call back, but we have a few massive payments coming in August, and I'd rather just make sure those go through correct.  There is only so much time that I can spend on hold with these people :-/ 

Also, I just found out the loans are getting sold again!  They were just sold in April from Direct Loans to Edgeucation, and in Sept. they are heading off to MOHELA.  Ugh. There was such a headache in the last transfer that I am NOT looking forward to another one.  Its really a great motivation to get these loans gone... every time they get sold off I feel like such a chump, since, you know, my debt is somebody else's asset.  :(

I am also going to do a 0% balance transfer for one of our loans over to my Discover card in August. Its great timing to be able to do it before they sell to MOHELA, because at least Discover has their shit together enough to know how to apply payments!  Not sure how much MOHELA is going to suck, but I haven't heard many positive reviews online.

Anyway, August is going to rock because it is triple paycheck month, bonus month, and we don't have any planned big expenses. YAY!
« Last Edit: July 31, 2013, 11:06:14 AM by Kio »

mariarose

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #95 on: July 31, 2013, 01:10:07 PM »
Mine got sold to MOHELA, with no warning.  Sucked because I had paid ahead enough on Direct Loans to be able to take a month off, which I had decided to do because of some other financial hits.  That month I get a demand for payment from MOHELA, which I could not do, because of the money already being spent.  So my credit probably took another hit for a late payment.  Since then, however, there has been no problem, and all my payment amounts have been recorded correctly and promptly.  Just bad timing for that 1st month...

Zaga

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #96 on: August 03, 2013, 12:31:43 PM »
Our last student loan is with Mohela, and really they have been just fine.  They are certainly much easier to work with than Sallie Mae was!  Also their website is pretty user friendly for everything except putting your extra payment towards just one part of your loan.  The loan we have has 2 parts, one subsidized and one unsubsidized.  I thought it would be nice to pay off the smaller one first, but the extra payments I've been making get proportionately split between the 2.  I asked, and would have to call customer service every month to have all of the extra go to just one loan.  Not sure it's worth the trouble.

imustachemystash

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #97 on: August 19, 2013, 09:39:46 PM »
Guess what!  I sent in a lump sum of $21,494 to pay off my student loan!  I'm just waiting for it to clear.  This gauntlet throw down really held me accountable, so thanks for everyones support!  Now that I'm debt free I need a new challenge.

Kaytee

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #98 on: August 20, 2013, 08:28:31 AM »
Holy shit, imustachemystash, congratulations! That's awesome!

peterpatch

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Re: Eliminate 7.5k student debt by end of July
« Reply #99 on: August 20, 2013, 06:11:33 PM »
Guess what!  I sent in a lump sum of $21,494 to pay off my student loan!  I'm just waiting for it to clear.  This gauntlet throw down really held me accountable, so thanks for everyones support!  Now that I'm debt free I need a new challenge.

That's almost 3 times more then the gauntlet goal IMMS!

We're not worthy!

« Last Edit: August 20, 2013, 07:01:32 PM by peterpatch »