Rebekah and I have paid some more on our loans...we paid $470 (originally $500, woo hoo! Progress!) to my student loans, which is the minimum, and another $100 to my other student loan whose minimum is $95. This number is starting to decrease a little bit thank goodness. We will get paid on the 15th and we should be able to throw a little extra at the loans. We are cutting back our going out to eat and other things this week. I didn't even by the raisin bran cereal made by Cascadian Farms this week! I bought the factory brand frosted flakes instead, a savings of $1.50. So, we are trying to cut back as much as we can. It is difficult, but I knew it would be when we started it. I must say not having to pay any money to credit cards is wonderful! Paying those off was such a relief! We can now focus our full attention on our loans and get them taken care of quicker. I cannot imagine the day we send our last payment off to FedLoan. I have thought about paying it in pennies when that day comes. Is that a good idea? I would obviously pay a ton for shipping, but I think it would be worth it...
On a non-financial note, we are running a 5K at Emory University this weekend. This 5K is to support the Winshape Cancer Center. This is an incredible center that helped my uncle before he passed away from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma last summer. I find it important to give back to people or organizations that gave something to you. They allowed me to have a few more days with my uncle before he passed which I cherish more than anything. So, we will be running this race for him. I really hope my time is good...I think I am going to shoot for no more than 24 minutes. I will let you guys know how it goes.
Hope you all have a great end to your week!
Looks like you've got things in order to start paying back all of those debts! I wonder if checking with the bank for a Line of Credit with a low interest rate, and rolling all of your debts, or a chunk of your debts, into one place could help alleviate the divisions of your debts. From your list, having 21 separate student loans looks like you make 21 small and separate payments each month. Further progress on your debt could be made by rolling them all together, and paying one amount, taking bigger chunks off the principle and incurring less interest all around.
ReplyDeleteKeep going on your debt reduction steps. It's a conscious effort and does take time. You've seen great progress already and are well on your way to feeling a sense of relieve and gratitude for having set a plan, worked the plan and met a goal!
We are working on it. Actually the loans are already lumped together. I just represented them in their dollar amounts. They are grouped together based on their monthly payments. The line of credit would have been a great idea though! I can't wait until we send that last payment. It is slow and steady until then. Hopefully in less than 3 years we will be debt free! Thank you for reading!
DeleteGreat story and keep at it! Every little bit counts but it is definitely not easy!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment! It is comments like this that help keep us motivated. Thank you for reading!
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