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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Debt Snowball / FPU Update

Before I get right back at it I probably should offer an excuse for my absence. I haven't posted at all since September 2nd and the last post on my family's progress on our debt snowball plan was June 26th. Really? Well things are always much more complex than a single answer so I don't have something as simple an as excuse like "I hate blogging". Rather, I've been focused on three areas: 1) Family, 2) Work, and 3) Sleep.

Debt Snowball Progress


February 29, 2008 December 4, 2008 Change
Total Debt $182,890.00 $168,347.00 ($14,543.00)
Mortgage $138,489.00 $136,440.00 ($2,049.00)
Consumer $44,401.00 $31,907.00 ($12,494.00)
Number of Debts 12 3 -9

On the consumer debt side of things we're down to two items, the second mortgage and a personal loan. The amount of the personal loan is $6,847 and we're applying over $1,000 per month to pay it down. I have a goal to get it paid off in April 2009 by finding some more money to throw at it. The money will come from budget cutting and a tax refund.

After the personal loan is gone we'll have the second mortgage to content with. With the balance still at $25,000 we'll be working on paying it off over the next two years. Rather than applying our entire debt snowball payment to the second I'd like to take some of it and start on babystep three - cash savings to cover 3 to 6 months of expenses. With the economy the way it is I really feel the desire to have much more in savings. The great thing is, for the first time since deciding eight years ago to have my wife Carla be a full-time stay at home mother, we're finally in a spot to be able to save any money what so ever. I've made no decisions on this because all I care about right now is kicking that personal loan out of our house. I'm a tired of living with it.

The plan is to keep working the plan. Keep working, keep giving, and keep shrinking debt.

5 comments:

Jeff Burton said...

Welcome back. Thanks for the update.

Anonymous said...

Pat - Thank you for the encouragement!

Anonymous said...

I think I just need to focus on sleep, myself. So I don't end up with a... a mancold, or something.
Glad you're feeling better?
Congrats on the debt reducing.

Carla said...

Thank you for working so hard to make this happen!!

Karla,
Your comment might cause a relapse. Pat will be on the couch calling for soup.....

Anonymous said...

That's ok..
I hear you make a great chicken duckling.