Struggling to be debt free

$290 utilities $100 groceries $1020 student loan $195 dentist $415 Oldest sister's bday $33 alarm monitoring $211 spending $50 savings $100 gas $108 my raise- this will likely go to my student loan-but I haven't really decided yet. Boy, does time fly! It's already almost the end of the month.  I can't believe I'm just now getting this post up.  I have got to get on the ball.  I have so much to blog about, but I've just been kinda busy and kinda depressed.  As for my student loan- I actually ended up paying $1,226 on it this month (see previous entry), due to leftover money in various categories from the previous budget period.  I also had money left over from the money I budgeted my oldest sister's birthday.  Anyways, I am still waiting on some travel voucher reimbursements- so hopefully I will get those soon and I will be able to put a little extra on my student loan.  I thought we had this all worked out, but it's been over 2 months sinc...

So after being paid on July 15, I made my big payment for the month, $1,226! My student loan balance is now down to approximately, $15,273 (that's with interest through July 31-the next anticipated payment date). My payment date has been advanced to October 2017. Who hoo! I am getting that balance down!  My balance is almost down to the amount I have in savings, I think that knowledge is encouraging me quite a bit.  I have approximately a little over $13,000 in savings so the 2 numbers are converging.  I should be able to meet my goal of having the balance in the $14,000s by the end of July. Looking back at my payment history, I have made more than the minimum payment required on the loan since February of 2014! I received a small raise at work (about 5%) so I will likely put that money towards the student loan (more on that in a separate post).  Also, I am expecting reimbursement for at least one more travel voucher this month- so a portion of that money will also...

$1,480 mortgage $367 student loan (already paid and blogged about!) $60 pet plan (still need to cancel this) $90 groceries $217 spending $100 savings $100 gas I am still closing out my budget from the last two week period, but it looks like I will have some leftover cash in various budgeted areas to put on my student loans (I think about $150), i.e., snowflakes.  I am excited because I having been dreaming and planning about what I will do with my money once the student loan is paid off.  However, I am kind of a pessimist so I tend to think that something bad will happen before I can pay off the very last loan. I overcompensate by obsessively  focusing on finding money to pay on the debt, until it has been paid in full. Anyways, I think I will work on closing out the end of June so I can make an extra payment on my student loan and avoid just a tiny bit of interest charges.

As of the end of June my student loan balance is at $16,632 (that's with interest calculated through July 15, 2015-the next anticipated payment date). I'm finally seeing the movement that I was looking for at the beginning of the year.  My hope is that by the end of July the balance will be in the $14,000s.  That's definitely going to take some work so  I will have to see what snowflakes I can add to the payment.  My payment date has been advanced all the way to January 2017 (my student loan company will advance the payment date and apply the extra to principal).  Does anyone else have a student loan debt around the same as mine? Let's race to see who can get there the fastest.  A little competition always gets the financial juices flowing!