Welcome to my debt payoff update for September 2018! In these updates, I detail our progress on our debt payments for the month and highlight any updates in our financial situation.
I started this site to hold Mr. TMG and me accountable in our debt payoff journey. I also want to inspire and encourage others who are in debt (especially if you owe six figures like we do) by showing everyone that debt doesn’t have to be forever.
Whatever your numbers, I hope you find some inspiration in our story.
Let’s get to it!
Debt Payments
Here is a breakdown of all of our payments in September:
Navient 1-12 Direct Loan-Unsub: $5,984.98 — PAID IN FULL!!
Mortgage: $1,120.05
FedLoan: $2,383.96
Do you hear the angels singing?!
It’s been a long time coming, but we finally paid off all of my student loans! It feels like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Granted, there’s still more weight there, but at least it’s a bit lighter. 🙂
Check out our previous debt payoff updates below to see our journey:
- 2017 Debt Payoff Update: How We Paid Off $47,029.45 in One Year
- January 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $8,029.40 Paid
- February 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $13,051.03 Paid
- March 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $16,203.64 Paid
- April 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $6,460.98
- May 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $4,445.36 Paid
- June, July, and August 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $29,015.09 Paid
I told you here that we’re generally following the debt snowball method, which has been working out really well for us. Mr. TMG also got a second job for a while, which sucked but helped accelerate our debt snowball.
Related: 21 Side Hustles You Can Start Today
We put any other extra or out-of-the-ordinary money, such as tax refunds, directly on our loans. (Check out the updates from February and March 2018, where we got thousands of dollars back on our tax refund.)
All of these steps have helped us get to where we are today!
Updates
We’re still working our zero-based budget. With a zero-based budget, you budget every single dollar of your income in a given month. Your budgeted income minus your budgeted expenses should equal zero.
We balance our budget at the end of the month and make our extra debt payment at that time.
By doing it this way, our extra payment should include the budgeted payment amount and extra income we receive, along with any money we didn’t spend in our budget categories. We’ve settled into our budget and are doing great with it.
With baby #2 on the way, we’re thinking about when to purchase new furniture for him. (Did I mention we’re having another boy?) We’ll probably get those items in the after-Christmas sales.
We’re also planning a trip with family for Christmas, which I’m looking forward to.
Both of these are large-ish expenses that we have to include in the budget for the coming months.
Remaining Balances
When we set out to pay off our debt and realized we had over $670,000, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
I can’t believe the progress we’ve made over the last almost 2 years. Sometimes it feels like we’re not making much progress as we’re slogging through, but then we look back and see just how far we’ve come.
Here’s where we stand currently:
Grand Total: $570,847.71 remaining
I’m so excited to finally be able to attack Mr. TMG’s med school loan. As you can see, it’s been steadily growing as we focused on the others. His loan has been on income-based repayment based only on his resident’s salary because we were filing our taxes separately. The minimum payment wasn’t even touching the interest.
Last year, we filed our taxes jointly for the first time because we knew we should be able to pay off my loans this year, so the minimum payment starting in November will be based on my salary and his resident’s salary.
We’ve already gotten the notification that it will be almost $2,000, and it will increase at least once more next year based on his salary post-residency.
Regardless what the minimum payment is, though, we’ll be putting as much as we can toward it to knock it out as quickly as we can. (I’m hoping we can do 3 years, but Mr. TMG is less optimistic. Reach for the stars, right?)
How did you do with your financial goals last month? Did you make the kind of progress you wanted to?
If you liked this post, don’t forget to (1) share it with everyone you know and (2) connect with me on Pinterest and Twitter. See you there!
Hi, I’m Rho! I’m a wife, mom, and Biglaw associate who believes that true wealth is having control of your time. I help busy lawyers like you take back control of your time by teaching you how to achieve lifestyle freedom through mindset shifts and financial independence. Read a little more about me here.
