Let's Review, Class

Lately I've been getting a lot of messages about how I became debt free. (Recap for those of you who missed the first quarter of the game: I paid off $50,000 in a year and half.) From our conversations, I'm noticing that many of you are sick and tired of being up to your eyeballs in debt, and you're ready to roll up your sleeves and get serious about paying off your loans.

So here it is--a crash course in becoming debt free. *Remember, I am not a financial advisor, I am an English teacher. If you want fo' rizzle advice, you should seek the help of a trained professional.*

1. Dave Ramsey- This man was instrumental in getting me out of the gate. I read his book, Total Money Makeover, and learned how to budget. There are seven steps, and even today, I am working those steps (I am currently saving for retirement). While you are more than welcome to go out and buy a copy of his book (it's really terrific), I found my copy at the library because I didn't have enough money to buy my own personal copy. The month I read Dave, I had literally counted out pennies to have enough money to buy groceries (personal low).

2. Mint.com- This little gem of a website is a great way to track where you spend your money. I used it for three months before starting Dave Ramsey to figure out where I was bleeding cash money. Answer? Barnes and Noble. Yes, I was a little bit ridiculous with my book and magazine purchases there for awhile. Mint allowed me an honest look at my finances because, after all, those cool little pie graphs don't lie.

3. Recognizing a "Need" from a "Want"- I want lots of things. I want new clothes, I want to go on vacation, I want to decorate the walls of my house, but I only need three things: food, shelter, and water (and I'm not talking bottled Dasani). I stopped eating out all together, and cooked dinner every night. My big secret? Meal planning. I stopped wastefully spending money on groceries and made each penny count. I clipped a few coupons, but honestly planning out my meals and buying only those ingredients was what kept my budget in check. Grocery shopping became a game for me. I wanted to see how well I could eat for under $50 a week.

4.Every last cent- I put every free dollar toward my debt. I did nothing that required money for a year and a half, and you know what? I became happier. I stopped focusing on what I didn't have and focused on what I did have. I cultivated a true heart of gratitude during this period, and I saw firsthand what God can do when we're willing to do a little work ourselves.

5. Take advantage of free things- We live in a country where we pay a butt load of taxes. Take advantage of the few good things they provide for us. My library became my new best friend. I borrowed books, magazines, and movies from the public library instead of buying them. I also spent a lot of time walking the trails at the park and even took up a little disc golf during this time period.

Paying off my debt was difficult. There were many times when I wanted to give up, but I kept pushing through. Like losing weight, if you want to see results you have to do something radically different. Being debt free has been such a blessing to me the past nine months. I will happily tell you about the benefits of being debt free in my next post, so stay tuned.

It is finished!

I really wanted to call into Dave Ramsey's show and scream it, but I'm a little shy. I decided instead to share with you how the conversation would go:

Me: Hey Dave! How are you?
Dave: Better than I deserve! What's up?
Me: I'm calling because I'm debt free!
Dave: Awesome! How much did you pay off?
Me: $50,000 to Sallie Mae in 12 months.
Dave: WOW! Kicked the old lady to the curb! And what was your income during that time?
Me: It's hard to say really because it was my first year working, but I think we grossed a little over $75,000 this year.
Dave: Wait a second, that's not mathematically possible! Did you sell stuff?
Me: No, we had some money in savings when we started the process, and then we also stupidly bought a house, but we got the tax credit. We used it to pay down the debt.
Dave: Oh, alright. Well cool. What was the hardest part of this process?
Me: Probably giving up the dinners out. My husband and I really love to eat out, and we didn't get to do that much while we were paying off the loan. I got really good at meal planning. Our spaghetti didn't have meat for a long time.
Dave: I hear ya. What's the key to this?
Me: Sticking to the budget, Dave. and ignore the nay sayers. There are a lot of people who can't celebrate the fact that you're doing something good in your life. You've just gotta keep your head up and keep working hard.
Dave: Snoopy dance, I hear ya. Well congratulations and count it down.
Me:Three, two, one I'M DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Listen, thanks for sticking around to see the end of my debt free journey. I promise 2011 will hold some exciting blog posts. I'll be M.I.A. until after Christmas, but I pray your holidays are merry and bright. God bless!

T-Minus 5 Months

Are you ready for this? I don't think you're ready.
BUT I FREAKIN' AM!!!!
At the end of this month, I will owe only Sallie Mae $12,900. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will be DEBT FREE in 5 months.
I'm on the down hill slope.
I'm nearing the finish line.
I've sacrificed, and I'm gonna win and SOON.

**I'm secretly hoping to pay my loan off before Christmas so we can actually have a Christmas with presents this year. In order to do this, I'm hoping to work after school homework help. This will help me bring in an extra $200 a month or more. The husband is working extra hours at work right now, so I think this will assist in a quicker payoff as well.**

Look at this breakdown from the Gold Digger herself:
Signature Student-UNSUB /SLM PRIVATE CREDIT STUDENT LN TR $5,443.12

Stafford-SUB /SALLIE MAE TRUST - LSC/FL $64.00

Signature Student-UNSUB /SLM PRIVATE CREDIT STUDENT LN TR $4,173.67

Stafford-SUB /CAVALIER FUNDING 1 LLC $201.94

Signature Student-UNSUB /SLM PRIVATE CREDIT STUDENT LN TR $1,140.77

Stafford-SUB /CAVALIER FUNDING 1 LLC $253.98

Stafford-UNSUB /CAVALIER FUNDING 1 LLC $71.42

Signature Student-UNSUB $3,737.96

I owe $64 on one loan and $71.42 on another. I bet I have $64 worth of pennies sitting in my closet. I'm in lust with how manageable my debt is looking these days. I remember last fall I was in tears because I didn't think we'd be able to pay off my loan for ten years. And now look at us. We'll have paid off $50,000 in one year--the first year of our marriage. The sense of calm I feel at the end of December is going to be worth more than $50,000. It will be priceless.

Money Thoughts and Debt Update

For those of you that weren't aware, I gave up two beautiful weeks of summer vacation to spend time with a group of rising 9th grade kids via summer school. Was it insane? Yes. I have never needed a day off so bad in my life. My nerves were about shot by the end of summer school; however, the paycheck I received was BANK. I sent over $3600 to the spawn of satan (aka Sallie Mae), and I'm currently owing only $17,333! I can't believe how close I am to paying off this wretched woman.

I did some calculations, and if I send all of my paycheck plus $398 each month, I will be DEBT FREE by the end of December. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time holding on to cash flow. I thought I was doing so well with my envelope budget that I went back to paying for things with my debit card. Big mistake. I blew my fun budget by hundreds of dollars last month. Ridiculous.

Instead of letting the extra money sit in my checking account until the end of the month, I have started moving superfluous dollars to my savings account. For whatever reason, my savings account is a sacred place. It's like I've forgotten I have that money. For all intensive purposes, the money doesn't exist until I'm in an emergency or it is time to pay off debt. From my husband's paycheck, I was able to set aside $250, and I'm thinking next week I'll be able to set aside another $200 or more. I've also gone back to the envelope cash system and I think I'm finally back on track.

Ok, that's all for today. I didn't mean to write this much! I only wanted to give you an update.

I Have Exciting News!

I get to keep my job next year!!!!!

I was teaching my first period class when the principal came down and asked me if I would accept a position for next year. Of course, I said yes. They will approve me on Tuesday at the school board meeting. I'm STOKED.

(Let me apologize for any spelling or typo errors because I've had a few drinks this evening, but I just have to share my good news with you!)

I'll be teaching creative writing, study skills, and financial literacy aka PERSONAL FINANCE!!!!!!!!!! WHAT WHAT!! Who knew my little obsession would become profitable? I was immediately filled with a great sense of gratitude, and I quietly thanked God as I continued teaching my first period root words.

Accepting this position means I will be debt free (minus our house) by December! When I originally got serious about becoming debt free I thought it would take me two to three years to complete. I've surpassed my original goal thanks to my husband's hard work and to the little miracles that have fallen into my lap (for example, the extra hours I pick up after school and then also Saturday school).

That said, if everything goes as planned and we are debt free by December, I will be surprising my husband with a Christmas trip. We will be skipping town and enjoying the hot sun on a beach somewhere. I won't tell you exactly where we are going because as I said I want it to be a surprise, but I can promise you that it will be spectacular! I think after a year of frugal living we deserve to have a little fun.

Down with the Naysayers!

I have never been afraid of a little hard work. Even when I wake a young tyke, I would push around my bubble mower for hours just workin' up a sweat (that's little me in the picture!). There was a period of time when I was a little lazy (circa middle school/high school), but when I got into college, my attitude on life totally changed, and I got busy.

Since I've been out of college, my work ethic has gotten even stronger. I'm constantly looking for ways at work to earn a few extra dollars, and even though I teach full time, I've been looking for a part time job on the weekends. Why? Because I have an evil "friend" named Sallie Mae. I want this heifer out of my life.

There are people out there in the world who are lazy. They say they "can't" pay off their debt. It's not that they can't; it's that they won't. If you roll up your sleeves and work hard, you can do anything. And maybe my philosophy sounds a little like pulling oneself up by his/her own bootstraps (o.m.g. imagine that!), but if you don't decide to take control of your financial life, who the heck will?

Now, I know times are hard, but when are times ever *not* going to be hard? Oh, that's right, WHEN YOUR FINANCIAL LIFE IS ON AUTO PILOT. You have two choices: kill your debt by karate chopping it each chance you get, or let it hang around, dragging you down for decades.

The latter just sounds depressing. I'm committed to working my buns off to kill Sallie Mae, and then I'm going to sit back and reap the benefits of being debt free. Can you imagine your life without minimum payments? I can. If I decide down the road that I don't like my job, I can quit. I can work minimum wage and stay comfortably afloat. I could follow my dream of writing. See, being debt free gives you choices.

So I say DOWN WITH THE NAYSAYERS! You can do this!

Ask me how much I owe Sallie Mae? Go ahead...ask me.

My friends, I received one honking tax return. Today, I sent the whole hefty tax return to Sallie Mae (that money grubbin' barefoot, pregnant KY girl). Are you ready for the numbers?

In September, I owed $50,000. Today, just a few seven months later, I owe $27,000. By the end of the month, I'll have that number down to $25,000. Suck on that.

That's right, girls and boys, I have met my payoff goal for 2010. *Cheers all around*

Money plan for the remainder of the year? Continue to apply my whole paycheck to debt payoff. By the end of September, my loan will be down in the low teens (between 10k and 13k).

I realize this may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but I am STOKED. 10k is nothing compared to 50k. God is so good.

Just sittin' around, listenin' to Ram Jam.

I'm actually sitting around listening to Dave Ramsey's podcast, but I've always wanted to write that as my status update.


Anyway, let me get to the heart of this blog post: I think my husband is getting annoyed by my aggressive debt payoff plan. He's very polite about the whole thing, but I can tell that our tight budget is getting to him. I set our fun money (or as I like to call it "blow" because even though we would never ever ever ever do drugs, I like joking about having a line item in my budget for "blow") at $50/2wks.


And now to reveal what the hubs and I fight about most: fast food.


I am a good cook, and I make dinner most nights. Unfortunately, Mr. Wooks is working nights for the time being, so he is out the door for work before I'm home. He sleeps so late that he feels like he only has time to grab fast food. (I don't understand this thinking at all because, I mean, isn't it just as easy to put some leftovers into the microwave on nuke for two minutes?)

We have a little side bank account that had about $150. I was hoping to use that money for gifts for the next year. I hadn't voiced this to Mr. Wooks because the money hadn't been touched in so long. It was literally growing dust. (Lesson learned: talk about money, even little bits of money.) So I get the banking statement and hubs has spent $80 on fast food in a two week period. WTF mate?! That's a lot of quarter pound cheeseburgers.

So I plead my case: what happens when the $150 is gone? Are you going to put burgers on credit?
His case: I've always eaten a lot of fast food. It's a bad habit. It will take awhile to break. I promise I won't put it on credit.
My case: You might as well eat your own scat because fast food is so bad for you.
His case: I move.
My case: You don't move enough to burn 50,000 a day! I need you to live for a long time!
His case: Silence. Shut down mode. End discussion here.

Rest argument for three days. Come back. Resolution? We've decided to half the $50 each two weeks. Previously, the $50 was sitting in an envelope. I must say that most weeks I spent more than half of the $50 because Mr. Wooks works so much, and I like to meet up with my gal pals when I get lonely and bored. I think splitting the $50 outright will be good for both of us because it'll make us more aware of what we're spending our money on. If we want to go out to the Japanese steak house, we're gonna have to pool our money to go. I think wanting to go out with me on dates will keep him from blowing cash flow on Taco Bell and it will probably keep me from buying things like candles (because I spend my money on stupid stuff).

This week I've been trying to make easy food for him to take to work, and so far he hasn't spent any money on fast food.

Now if we could only karate chop the rest of this debt. . .

Money Buckets of Oats

I have decided that I am going to go ahead and pay off my second student loan using the money we have in savings. If I don't pay off this Perkins loan before April 1, I will be charged interest AND a finance fee ($1000...ew). Paying off this loan won't leave much left in savings, but I will be able to put most of the money back once I get paid next week.

I will feel much better know I only have one payment to make each month. The three loans together cost me almost $500 a month, but now I'll only *have* to pay $344. I can easily make that. Don't get me wrong: we are in no way, shape, or form slowing down on our debt snowball; however, having only one payment makes me feel so much lighter.

Also, paying off the Perkins loan will put me over my halfway mark (exactly $11,500/$20,000) for the year.

All of that in only three months. When I started getting serious about my debt in January, I was convinced it would take me four years to pay off $50,000, but after three months, I'm already 1/5th of the way there!

My money goals for the next two months:
1. Get my savings back up to two months living expenses (should be easy peasy)
2. Continue debt snowball

We should be getting back our tax return in the next month or so, and once we do, I'm going to open an ING savings account with the 1% interest. 1% Certainly beats my .35% .

Paid off my first student loan!!!!!!!

Yes, yes I did. $7500 on two and a half months bringing in about $5000 a month. We killed that sunnofabiotch.
I'd like to thank:
My husband who has made many sacrifices to help me pay this monster off
Coupon.com for helping me save a few dollars on stuff I buy regularly anyway
Cash because credit just makes it too easy to buy stuff
Money Matters for keeping me focused
G.O.D.
My creative imagination for imagining that each payment is chopping a video game monster (rpg style)
Dave Ramsey who taught me the snowball method

Now, I only have one more small loan to pay off and then I can tackle the mega monster known as Sallie Mae.

To celebrate, the husband and I ordered Papa Johns. I hope to stand before you at the end of April and say "I paid off my second student loan!" No debt will be camping out in my extra bedroom.

I bought a new shirt!

I'm excited. It's a short sleeved floral blouse that I can wear to work and at home. I've been wearing sweater sets to work, and the air hasn't been turned on yet, so I pretty much sweat it out everyday at the front of the class.

Unfortunately, I felt a little guilty for my purchase when I got home yesterday. Number one, the shirt wasn't on sale, and as someone who has started clipping coupons, buying a non-sale item made my eye twitch a little. Number two, I found myself having a mental pep talk as I used to do when I had a shopping problem. Here were the voices in my head:
"You deserve this!"
"You haven't bought clothes in almost 7+ months"
"You can't sweat to death in sweater sets!"

Oh yes, the voices in my head were in over drive. Then there was another little voice in the background:

"The debt is yours."
"Your husband has been living on your frugal budget. Is it really fair for you to continue spending when he so willingly gives to the debt repayment?"

And so, I came home and discussed my guilt with the hubs. In good husband fashion, he told me I shouldn't feel guilty. I asked if he ever felt bitter about having to live tightly. He said no because he hasn't ever felt the need to buy a lot of stuff. He did say that when he wants to buy something, he feels like he should be able to do it because he wants for so little. I agree with him.

So I told him that I wanted to give him the whole of next week's fun money. He told me he didn't want anything, but I know that he likes to get his lunch at Taco Bell when he's not working, and I want him to be able to do that.

I think I wouldn't feel as guilty about buying the shirt if I had a line for clothing in my budget, but I don't want to make a line item for clothing because we so rarely buy clothing. I also don't do a line item for gifts because gifts come from our fun money as well. I'm sure some people will say that not having these items included in the budget is a serious flaw, but this works for us most months. I guess I'm just feeling especially guilty about being the debt holder. Poor Mr. Wookie didn't incur the debt. I did.

I did it again!

I broke last week's grocery record. New record: $32.82. Here's what I got:

Bagels
Bread
Debbie Cakes
Bag of Green Giant Broc. and cheese
Bertolli Lemon Shrimp Frozen Skillet dinner
Salad (I have carrots at home already)
Bag of apples
Cuke
Milk
Whippin' cream
OJ
Fettuccine
Shredded Parmesan
Yogurt
Butter
English Muffins
Body wash

I saved $2.65 with coupons. I didn't need to buy any laundry detergent or toilet paper. I also didn't need to buy any meat because I still have some in the freezer. Here is dinner for the week:

Tonight and Monday: Fettuccine Alfredo with a side salad and rolls (meat free meal of the week)
Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Salad and Rolls
Wednesday: Hamburgers, broccoli, and green beans
Thursday: Bertolli Dinner
Friday: Breaded chicken cutlets, cheesy potatoes, green beans

You may be curious about my breakfast and lunch habits. For breakfast, I eat something quick. Either poptarts, cereal, toaster strudels...something like that. I'm trying to eat healthier, so I'm doing English Muffins, peanut butter, and apple + juice for breakfast this week. Mr. Wookie always eats a blueberry bagel. For lunch, I eat a turkey and cheese sandwich, yogurt, piece of fruit, and a bag of chips or a pudding pack. I try to have a glass of milk with at least one of my meals in an effort to get my calcium. The yogurt also helps me meet my calcium goals. (The Dr. told me last week that women should be getting a lot more calcium than they think, so I've been trying to get more calcium into my diet.)

I'll be able to send an extra $30 to my debt at the end of the month because I only spent half of my grocery budget this week. Hip hip hurray! April's grocery budget will be difficult because I will need to buy toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, and laundry detergent. I do have some coupons to assist with these purchases, but they always make my bill go over $60. I'm going to try my darndest to stop it from happening!

$20,000 Debt Pay Down

My big goal of 2010 is to pay $20,000 toward my student loan debt before Oct. 1 of this year.

Shew! Even the sheer number makes me woozy, but then I log in to salliemae.com, and I'm sickened by the amount of interest that I owe just from this month. How is it possible that I owe almost $200 in interest over a 30 day period? This is cruel and unusual. But I got the debt by going to college, and I am thankful for my education.

So today I made my first payment of 2010. Drum roll please:

I sent in a payment of $2547 which decreases my total goal to $17,453.00.

Go me! In 4 months I can say I paid off one of my college loans (I owe $7500 to the Department of Ed. and I'm paying it off first), and then I can really get started knocking down my Sallie Mae debt.

Here's a true story: every time I send in a payment, I imagine the principle is a giant rpg video game giant. My payment is a giant chop or punch or kick (or all three put together), and slowly but surely I am killing the mega beast! Take that, biotch!

That's all for tonight. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors in this post. I'm pretty ill, and when I get the ill I get the dumb. Night night!