It’s been a lonnggg time since I’ve done a frugal state of the union post, and a lot has happened since then. So how are we doing? Meh. I think we’ve made some good progress in a lot of ways, but I also feel like we’re not going fast enough. Frankly I think we’re a bit fatigued, but since we started I think we’ve definitely stopped the bleeding and our debt does continue to go down. I have more of an update, but let’s look at the numbers first:
- Frugal house- $197,590
- Frugal Student Loans- $161,000
- Frugal Private Student Loan- $1,300
- Frugal Car 1- PAID OFF WOO HOO!!
- Frugal Car 2- $8999
- Frugal Credit Cards Total- $44,260
That is $7,184 less than the last time I posted which was in August of last year? I wish it was more, but replacing the roof really threw a kink in the works. Such is life.
So where do we go from here? Well, I think it may be time for me to start looking for a new job, I’m not 100% certain yet, but I’m working on my resume and I’m going to put some feelers out to see. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m being under paid in my current role and boosting our income would certainly help us pay things off faster.
Also, remember the stock bonus I got about a year and a half ago? It’s fully vested and I’ve paid taxes on it, it also has gone down in value considerably, so we’ll be pulling that out in order to pay off the private student loan, that will open up an extra $100 a month to go towards other debts.
I also think that we’re all but decided that we’ll be taking out a 401k loan to pay down the credit cards. It will be a super short term 24 months, and it should help to move things down faster.
We’re both still in school plugging away and we’re both still working per diem at our second jobs for now, we’ve cut back, but we still have about $400 coming in this month and then $700 each month for July and August, so it helps. Hubby should also be getting a raise in August and then again in September, not huge, but will hopefully account for an extra $150ish a month.
When it comes to the house, we’ve paused any major renovations, our deck and our driveway both need major help, but if we can suck it up for one more summer, maybe next year we’ll have some more breathing room.
So there you have it!
I paid off credit card debt via 401K loan many (21?) years ago because the stress of being a single mom of a 2 year old and trying to find enough money each month for the several cards I had plus mortgage, daycare, etc. was just too much stress. I took a 5 year loan and never ran the cards up again. If you are changing jobs, I presume you are borrowing g from your husband’s account?
You haven’t made the progress that you want, so be it. Not replacing a leaky roof would cost a LOT more in the end.
Good luck and happy debt paydown.