So we have goals! Lots of goals! But our biggest goal right now is digging out of what I lovingly refer to as our MEGA DEBT PILE. No, seriously, it’s really MEGA. How Mega you might ask? Well here’s the break down:
- Frugal house- $210,000
- Frugal Student Loans- $161,000
- Frugal Private Student Loan- $4,900
- Frugal Car 1- $19,300
- Frugal Car 2- $16,334
- Frugal Credit Card #1- $10,700
- Frugal Credit Card $2 16,334
So there it is, black and white. How did we get there? I ask myself that question a lot, some of it has to do with 2 major job losses, some of it has to do with having 3 kids in 5 years, and some of it was poor choices. There. I said it. Poor choices. We continued to think that we would be able to take care of things the next pay period, month, year, you name it! So what changed? We decided that the way we were living was unsustainable! After 2 false starts of thinking we’d get there and failing (badly), we’re making some huge progress.
Our debt is now $14,000 less than what it was 5 months ago, and more importantly, we’ve had 5 months of not taking on any NEW debt! I don’t think we’ve had a streak like that EVER. I’m so excited!! But I also feel like we have soo much more to do!
So how did we pay off that $14,000 here are the top 3-
- We both worked extra hours! Lots and lots of extra hours! This was definitely the biggest contributor to the above numbers going down.
- We didn’t have any major financial crisis (knock on wood), it seemed like for the longest time Murphy was sleeping on our sofa, we had an emergency vet bill, medical bills for the frugal humans, I backed into our contractors truck, you name it!
- I started spending more time looking at where the money is going, we’ve always had a budget, but I started watching more. I’m hoping to do a few things each week (as mentioned in the frugal 5 friday blog posts), that will get incorporated into our daily life.
So that’s where we’re at! Check back each month on the 1st to see what kind of progress we’ve made. As always please feel free to share and comment! I’d love to hear how you all are doing on your debt free journey.