Struggling to be debt free

$1,480 mortgage $492 Student loan $60 pet plan $90 groceries $200 spending $100 savings $100 gas Today is payday for me, so I will be running to the bank at lunch to deposit my paycheck.  I had a good bit of money leftover from the last 2 week pay period so I will be able to put more than $492 on  my student loan today.  I should fall down in to the $5,000s, but I need to close out the budget period so I can figure out the exact numbers.  I have been waiting with bated breath for this paycheck as paying off debt is like a drug to me.  Payday is such a thrill, but there is always such a long time between checks! Sometimes if I have a little cash available I will make a small payment to my student loan, mid pay period, just to see the numbers drop a little more.  Goodness, I will be so happy for the day when student loan is no longer a line item on my budget because I have paid that stupid thing off!  Good wishes and happiness to all of you!

I am off to work in a few moments for a half of a day.  I am so grateful that we only have to work half a day today so I can get home and finish my Holiday cooking!! So far I have stayed on budget with my Thanksgiving budget and even have $100 left over.  We did not get Thanksgiving day bonuses and while it was missed, I'm okay with it.  I was able to budget well and thanks to the $60 gift card I received when I purchased my tires, everything worked out.  Hopefully, I won't spend much over the next 4.5 days and I will be able to put that extra money on my student loan.  Guys, I am laser focused and obsessed with making sure that I put $19,000 on my student loan this year! I will do it! 

As of Monday I have paid $17,651.22 on my student loans this year.  At the beginning of this year, my original goal was to pay $10,000 on my student loans, I later modified that goal to $16,000.  I have met both of those goals. So I have been thinking about what to do and my new goal is to put $19,000 on student loan debt by the end of this year.  I am hopeful that I can make that goal.  I only have about 1.5 months left, but I am going to try as hard as I can to squeeze every extra dollar out of my budget (without sacrificing too much) in order to come up with the $1,348.78 needed to meet that goal.  I have about $984 budgeted towards my student loan debt for the next 1.5 months.  So I am a bit short, but I am hopeful that my Christmas spending will be limited and I will be able to scrape together extra money. If I am able to make this goal, my student loan will be down to approximately $5,130 by the end of December!! Boy, would I love to start the year ...

Oh my goodness!!! I put a $1,564 payment on my student loan (this was my $1,529 budgeted payment and $35 leftover from the last budget period).  I currently owe $6,464 on the loan (with interest calculated through the end of the month).   With this payment I have paid $17,651.22 on my student loan this year! I don't have a payment due until September 16, 2022. It's a great feeling to know that if tough times emerge, I would not have to make a payment on the loan for almost 7 years.  However, believe me, I would be trying to find every way to scrape together some money so that the interest would not compound!  If I had only paid the minimum payments on this loan, I would be paying on it until 2030.  As it stands, if I only paid the minimum payments on this loan (from here on out)- it would still take me, approximately, 4 years to pay off the loan. That would put my at paying off the loan in 2019!! There is no way I can pay on this loan for 4 more years. ...

We don't get paychecks until Monday because the 15th fell on a Sunday, but I wanted to go ahead and put my next budget period up. $210 utilities $100 groceries $1529 student loan $300 thanksgiving $33 alarm monitoring $200 spending $50 savings $100 gas  I have a little money leftover from the last budgeting period to help me get through the weekend.   I have a $60 prepaid debt card that I received as a result of the new tires I purchased last month.  I think I am going to buy a Publix gift card with that prepaid debt card and use it for Thanksgiving. (The rules regarding the use of the prepaid debit card are overly complicated.) That way, hopefully, I will have cash leftover after Thanksgiving that I can put on my student loan.  I'm also still hoping that the firm gives us gift cards for Thanksgiving as we likely will not receive Christmas bonuses this year.  If we receive gift cards from the firm, I may have more money that I can put on my student l...

First, oh my goodness, payday is not until NEXT Monday (16th), I'm so ready to put a payment on my student loans.  It feels like I have been in the 8000s forever.  Is anyone else as impatient as I am? I really need to learn patience, it is not one of my virtues.  I hope everyone has exciting plans for Veterans Day.  I plan to stay home, clean, read and work in the yard. Hopefully, a no spend or low spend day.  I gotta make this money stretch until payday. I have a few expenses coming up: a new water filter for the refrigerator, thanksgiving grocery items and some travel for work at the end of the month.  That reminds me, I need to email the bookkeeper sometime this week to make sure she reimburses me for (some of) those outstanding travel expenses.  I already have 2 trips planned for December. While I'm concerned (as I spoke about in my previous post) about the new associate that has been with the firm for almost 2 weeks now, I'm excited that ma...

I should be getting reimbursed for some work travel in the next few weeks.  I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but the amount that's due to me in November is about $1,000.  That is the amount that I typically keep in  my travel fund.  I was hoping to be able to put some of that money on my student loan, but I guess I will put it all back in the travel fund.  Maybe I will split it and put a small portion on my student loan.  Oh well, I guess I will figure it out when the reimbursements come in. Although, I have a feeling that that due to the upcoming Holiday season, the bookkeeper may be a bit slow in reimbursing me.  I will have to stay on top of her to make sure that she pays them this month.  The firm will also probably try to do some small bonus or gift card for Thanksgiving and that will likely cut into my reimbursements.  In December I am expecting another $250 or so in reimbursements.  Also, as of October 30, 2015 the...

$1,480 Mortgage $492 student loan $60 pet plan $90 groceries $200 spending $100 savings $100 gas I was only able to put $492 on my student loan, but my next payment is not due until November of 2021.  I am paid up exactly six years in advance on my loan!  I owe $8,019 (with interest calculated through the 15th of this month) on the loan.  It's getting close, it was a real morale booster to get below $10,000.  I'm hoping I can snowflake a bit towards the balance over the next couple of months so that I can get it down even more before the end of the year. Should I make a new goal for the end of the year?  I will probably have the balance down to around $5,600 by the end of the year.  Should I try and shoot for $5,000? $600 is a lot to strive for when my budget is already cut to the bones.  Hmmm, I will have to think about this one. I have $3,841 in my online savings account and I earn about $0.11 a day of interest.  It's nice to see the b...