Just looking....

at my student loan balance makes me want to scream. I don't mind having a mortgage but my student loan debt is driving me crazy. I want it gone ASAP!!!

My federal loan debt stands at $69570

and I also have 0% interest loan from a private organization that is $4875.

I just want it to be over... ( in my Keyshia Cole voice).

When I am done with my second Masters program this summer I will probably have a total of $80000 in federal loans.

One of my goals is to pay off at least $20000 in loans this year I wish I could pay off more. I don't even want to begin to think about what my monthly payment would be for this mess.

Starting September 1, 2010 my salary goes up to $61686 from my full time job. I also applied for an adjunct professor job at a local university so if I get that I am hoping to at least bring my income up to $71000.

Hopefully, I am able to double the amount I pay off from $20,000 this year to $40,000 next year. This will leave a balance of $20,000 to pay off in 2012, and that should be relatively easy.

Stay tuned for SMART Goals related to getting rid of these loans.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Yeah for Progress!!

I paid off my small ( $1800) student loan balance. Its all gone!!! I celebrated by buying myself a wool/cashmere Anne Klein coat and some leather/cashmere lined gloves from Macys.

Total cost for both $120.00!!!

My next thing to pay off is a $4800 loan. I am giving myself to the end of April to have it paid off. I am thinking that I might celebrate that accomplishment with a new bedroom set and some curtains.

Paying debt off is fun if you celebrate every milestone!

Do you reward yourself once you reach a goal? If so, how?


until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Dave Ramsey setting me on the road to financial freedom

I have been listening to Dave Ramsey for the past month and have really started following his program.

If you haven't read The Total Money Makeover, you really should. His baby steps are truly life changing. I am on baby step #2 which is pay off all debt excluding the house. I even have my fiance on board. In January we are going at this debt with gazelle intensity while also cash flowing our wedding in Jamaica.

As a couple our debt stands at close to $100000. I have roughly 80000 in student loan debt while my fiance has $20000 in debt. We are giving ourselves 2 years to pay it off.

Right now in my debt snowball I have my undergrad loans and my first masters loans. According to my snowball and my own type A tendencies one will be paid off this month, one in May, one next December, and one in November of 2011.

That does not include the loans from the second masters. Just getting rid of half my student loans will make my financial life a lot better.

Baby Step 3 is to save 3-6 months expenses in an emergency fund
I love that idea but I am going to follow Suze Orman and save a little more than 6-8 months, which for me would be $20000.

Slowly but surely I'm on the path to financial freedom!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Can I live off $900 a month?

I am quite sure that I can, I just have to budget. I may have to do this until at least August or September which is after my wedding and when my second pay increase goes into affect because I will have a second Master's Degree. At the present time I have $62000 in student loan debt which will increase another $20000 in January leaving me with a grand total of $82000. I want this paid of within the next two- three years so I have started a debt snowball specifically for student loans which is my only other consumer debt besides my mortgage.

Why Now?

1. I have significantly more debt than my fiance and I don't want to start my marriage "unequally yoked". As a couple we are going to spend or first year of marriage getting completely out of consumer debt and just having fun ( My FI has less than $20,000 in debt).
2. We would love to buy another rental property within the couple of years or right after we get married so I need to get my debt to income ratio down a bit and they only way to do that is to get rid of the bulk of my student loans.
3. I will be 26 next month and would like to start having children by 30 or 31, and in preparation for that we feel that it is important to get rid of all debt and have a husky personal savings of at least $50,000 ( more on that later).
   
4. I want to be able to max out my retirements, my student loans are a hindrance to that process.
   

I am wondering if I should go back to following Dave Ramsey's baby steps, but the first step is seeing if I can live off 900 a month. I do want to enjoy the finer things of life.

New Plan

I am paying my car off next week. Next Friday to be exact. I am taking $1000 from my paycheck next week and a couple hundred that I have left in my account from this week plus $2000 from my emergency fund and just paying it off. I will still have a couple thousand in my account and with new real expenses during the month, (remember by home expenses come up to a little over $500), and it being a three paycheck month I should have no problem getting it back up to $5000.

I also will probably start doing my after school tutoring which I get paid for next week and that will be an additional $1100 a month. Yaaayyy for extra income.

Remember one of my goals for the year was to max out my Roth IRA. I am still planning on doing that but I probably won't file my taxes until April so I can max it during early 2010

Emergency Fund update

I received my tax refund and grad school refund check so as of right now my emergency fund stands at $13, 500.  It would have been around $15000 but I bought plane tickets to Panama for my BFF and I... get this, they only came to $750 round trip for both of us ( she will be paying me for her half and I will put that right back into the E Fund.  I also spent money on room service and the hotel room for valentines day at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, DC.  

I have changed the time frame for my goals around a little bit.  I would like to pay my car loan off by June 30, 2009.  Right now it stands at $5900, I am working on paying it off a little over $1000.00 a month.  

I also am going to stretch and get my E Fund to $20000 by August 31, 2009.  Why? Because I want to focus on maxing my Roth IRA out this year. I am 25 and I am promising myself that this year and every year until I am no longer eligible.. I will max my roth out. 

Student loans are on the back burner for the most part.  The interest rates are too low to really be worrying about paying them off early.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

How will I use my third paycheck???

I have decided to follow Single Ma's advice and split my third paycheck in half. Half will go to pay off my small student loan balance and the other half will go to beef up my emergency fund a little more. I also get paid from my second job this week and will be funneling all of that money to my student loan balance. If all works out well I should have that paid off next month, around the time of my 25th birthday.

I also received a $4250 loan forgiveness for my teaching obligation and immediately applied that to my next smallest student loan balance which was at $5226.00. I also have been paying $70.00 a month on it. Needless to say the balance is under $800.00. I am hoping to have that paid off in November as well.

The next loan that I have to tackle is my Capital One car loan that is at a very high 16.64% interest rate. I hope to have that paid off by March or April. As it stands right now the balance is at roughly $6476.73.

Finally I am debating on whether to stop contributing to my 403B for right now or not. It offers no match and I put $220.00 a month into it pretax. Right now I think I should focus on paying of debt and increasing emergency savings.... what do you think?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Debt Snowball update

Today I sent a payment of $1000.00 to my smallest student loan. The balance of this loan was $2725.98, but now it is $1725.98. I may be able to have this paid off this month, if I use my third large paycheck on the 31st. Although my debt snowball is a priority in my life, my main goal is to make sure I have $10,000 in my Emergency Savings by the end of the school/work year ( which is June 23, 2009. If you look to the right you can see I have a little ticker chart with how much I have in it right now ($2541.00) On the 31st I could probably add another $1200.00 to it bringing the total to $3741.00, less than $300.00 shy of $4000.00. I will then have the month of November and December to save up an extra $1300.00 and have $5000.00 in there by the end of the year.

Do you think my goal is attainable? What do you think I should do with my third paycheck, put it directly into savings or use it to pay off debt?

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Finances on autopilot and other random rants

I love online bill pay. Now that school and grad school have started I don't really have time to manage my finances. I also don't really have time to read my mail... but I do it anyway only to open bills and financial documents just because I don't want to be late on any payment. All I have been doing is opening bills, logging on to my online bill pay to set up a payment and let it flow from there. I am living within my means so its not to hard. The money is there. What is hard is starting this debt snowball.

This leads me into some goals for September.

1. Pay off small Stafford loan by September 30.
2. Start jogging/working out at least 4 days a week. I'm getting a little thick in the thigh area..lol
3. Start eating raw at least 3 days a week. I am have been very tired lately and kinda sickly. I can't afford to be sick so I have to keep my mind, spirit, and body healthy. In October I am going to do another 10 day Master cleanse, I did one in June and it really changed my life.
4. Stay a week ahead of class on grad school reading and assignments.

Thats really it for now. We will see how it goes. I got up at 5:00 today to write this post. I have to be to work at 7:30 (first day for the students), then I have classes from 4:30-9:45. Its gonna be a long day.

Rewarding myself for paying off debt!

I have decided that I am going to reward myself every time I pay off one of my debts in my debt snowball. On Friday I will be sending a $1,582.03 payment to my Stafford loan (balance 2726.00). In September I only have to make a payment of $1165.99, and then that debt will be erased from my debt snowball.

While I am paying off debt I thought it would be a good idea to reward myself because right now I am on a strict budget and well... personal finance should be fun... so what would be fun to me right now is paying off debt and adding a piece of jewelry to my limited to jewelry collection.

Above is a pic of the piece I'm going to buy first.

Its called "A Charmed Life" and get this... its only $64.00, it a design from Stella&Dot. I love it, love it, love it. I can budget for it and give myself a little gift to stay motivated....

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

Debt Snowball update!

I have paid all my bills for the month except for my very large consolidated loan which I will be paying tonight ( 140.82). On Thursday $1,582.03 will be going towards my smallest debt which is a Stafford Loan with a balance of $2726.00. It will be paid off in the month of September according to my Debt snowball payment schedule, and then I will be tackling my Direct Loan.

It feels great to have a plan to pay off debt.

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP

First student loan may be paid off in August

I am starting debt snowball in August but due to an extra large paycheck on Thursday and all these extra hours I am doing at my second job it seems my Stafford loan with its balance of $2726.00 maybe paid off in August instead of September. This calls for a serious change in budget and no frivolous spending on furniture for the house but it looks like it can be very possible. Then one debt will be gone and there will be four more to go before I scream I'M DEBT FREE!!!!

until next time, think prosperous thoughts

YBP