Debt Progress Like Woah

Woah. All I can say is woah. Since June of 2014, just 16 months ago, I have paid off almost $27,000. Thats 27 THOUSAND dollars. Is that right? Yes, this is true. I just did the math. I'm so proud of myself and excited at my progress. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This past weekend I made a final payment on my 3rd student loan and what remains is this little guy below. This little guy that isn't so little, a mere $20k, will be my final debt. Instead of concentrating on the large amount, i'll be taking it one step at a time month by month.

Liabilities	Min Payment	Balance	Interest Rate
Student Loan 1	$227.05	$20,879	2.36% / 6.8%
	227.05	$20,879

I am so excited to be getting these debts out of my life once and for all. And the thought of instead of $1,600+ every month going out the window to paying off debt, will instead land in my savings account and allow me to live a completely different life is such a motivator. I will be able to go after goals that I have placed on the back burner because of this dead weight debt. What a great feeling to have on a Monday! Have a great week!

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If I Can Get Out of Debt, So Can You!

Roughly $6,000 later...I'm down to my last 2.. let me repeat that. TWO of Six remaining debts. 

Today, I made my last payment of $184 to student loan #3 and closed the door to that bad decision, never to relive the mistake of taking a loan out for something that I can't pay for in cash. 

I love the feeling of knocking these debts off my list, one by one. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and start thinking about how much i'll be able to save once i'm completely free from these last 2 mistakes and what kind of freedom I will experience. 

My life will be completely different.

I started this blog in June 2014 and I've gone from $47K in debt to just under $29K. In 1 year i've scraped up nearly $20k to get these things out of my life. In 2013 I would have never dreamed this was possible! This year, i'm determined to dream a little bigger and pay the last $29K off in 12 months.

Can I do it?

I think I can but stick around and see for yourself! I'll show you how I do it. 

This is A Girls Journey to Financial Freedom.

Do you want to learn more about how to get out of debt? Send me a message and tell me about your own debt problems. Follow me on Twitter @financegirl

Want to Know What Getting a Net Worth Feels Like?

Guess what? I just paid off my credit card today! I made the final $300 payment and i'm not looking back. Goodbye forever, credit card debt.
I'm down to my last 3 debts totaling roughly $31,000, down from $47,000 just 1 year ago. Wow! Can you tell I'm excited?? Whats even better is that next month i'll be paying down the last $2,000 on Student loan #2. I can't believe i'll be down to my last 2 loans and $29,000 of debt after sitting on them for 10+ years. The tunnel is still long, but I am really beginning to see the light at the end and I couldn't be happier. It is an incredible feeling. What will I do when I don't have to send $2,000/mo to debt collectors? I will finally be out of the negative and begin to actually have a net worth at a rate of about $24,000 per year to be specific.
I never gave too much thought to net worth before, but if you're in debt chances are you have a negative net worth. Which sucks! To me, saying, "I have a negative net worth" sounds way crummier than "i'm in debt". I think i'll make that my new mantra when contemplating purchases that aren't in the budget.

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How I'm Getting Rid of My Debt - FAST

That's kind of a trick blog post title, because I actually don't think there is a FAST way to get out of debt. The secret to getting out of debt is persistence and considering all purchases carefully.

'Do I really want to spend $30 on a meal out tonight or do I want to get out of debt $30 sooner?'

I was listening to a finance podcast yesterday with a sometimes arrogant albeit entertaining host and he was talking about people who act rich. They have all kinds of fancy clothes, drive nice cars, etc. but they're up to their eyeballs in debt. They have no savings, no retirement and no paid for house. He yelled into the microphone, "Stop ACTING like you're rich!". I loled. It's so true. Sometimes I find myself planing and justifying luxury sunglasses and bags purchases, and then I hear that sentence in my head and I stop.

Stop ACTING like you're rich! 

Lets get out of debt so we can ACTUALLY GET RICH and then go shopping. 

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Rising Above A Hard Day.

Today has been, and will continue to be until 6pm, one of those days that is incredibly hard to fake enthusiasm for. I am talking about my day job here. I know this year will be hard but it's really important that while i'm here from 10am to 6pm everyday that I remain positive and continue to do my job at the highest level possible. 

When I find myself in these kinds of moods, mapping out my plan and goals usually helps to clear my mind of the negative poor-me thoughts and steer me back to the 'why'. Why am I doing this and why should I be happy to have this opportunity. 

Review of Goals

As you all know, my highest priority in terms of goals this year is to diminish my debt by about a 1/3. Decrease, decrease, decrease. Without this day job for the next year I would not be able to come close to obtaining this goal. In fact I'd be going into additional debt! I must focus on this and remain grateful. Though I might feel trapped in the daily routine, I need to keep in mind that I am slowly accomplishing bit by bit the goal of becoming debt free and as a result financially free.

My 2nd goal is to be building my business on the side so that it will be ready to partially sustain me in 2016. I must use my time wisely since it is limited to time outside the hours of 9am and 7pm. Keeping a very specific to-do list is imperative so that I do not waste time thinking about what is next and getting overwhelmed. Mini goals within this goal for this month is to launch the new blog centered website with new photos of products and have 5 blog posts already up.

There. I already feel better and more focused!

Here's to powering through 2015, identifying what you want, and making it happen! 

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GOALS For 2015!

2015 Finance Goals

Happy New Year everyone!
I love a fresh start. The ending of one year and the beginning of a new year is something that I look forward to, probably because of how much i've screwed up during the year in the past.
The following are my (perhaps lofty) goals for 2015.

1.) Pay off $12k of debt this year. By using 75% of my tax refund and anticipating a at least 4% raise in March, I should be able to pay an average of $1000/month on my debt bringing my end of year debt balance down to $27k.

2.) Double my business sales from 2014 and sell $5K in 2015. Whooptiedo! I have a small clothing and accessories line which I am creating and selling when i'm not at my day job. I do craft and art fairs around holiday times and have sold consignment to stores in the past. I'd like to do even more of this in 2015, which brings me to my 3rd and last financial goal.

3.) Get out there more! Participate in 1 Spring market and 2 holiday fairs. Sell to at least 1 store and creating more online buzz.

What are YOUR goals for 2015? 

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End Of 2014 Debt Update!

I am so serious about getting out of debt.

Remember that $4,500 credit card debt that I had back in June? It's gone! Paid! What a relief. The consumer debt weight has been lifted! There is light at the end of my debt tunnel and I feel so motivated. I am that much closer to obtaining financial freedom!

So my debt spreadsheet went from $47,039 of debt across 6 different 'loans' in June to $37,772.78 across 4 loans currently. This is called hardwork and dedication, people! If I can do it, you can too.

My current debt spreadsheet now looks like this below. I will take the $300 that I was putting toward the credit card debt and put it toward Student Loan 4 since this is the smallest and I want to keep the momentum going. (I should probably be putting closer to $400/mo extra on the debt but i'm cutting myself a break here at least until I get caught up from holiday spending). Also, all of my interest rates are quite low so the order of payment won't make a huge difference here. In addition, I will be putting $500 on this loan from an apartment rental that I am doing this month, bringing the balance down to $1,207.18 by the end of the week. I should have this paid off in the next 3 months and will start on SL 2 putting $372.55 extra on that loan balance every month.

Liabilities	Amt/mo	Balance	Interest Rate
Student Loan 1	$174.65	$21,691.39	2.36% / 6.8%
Student Loan 2	$82.50	$5,797.62	5.25%
Student Loan 3	$87.92	$8,576.59	3.25%
Student Loan 4	$372.55	$1,707.18	2.36%
	$717.62	$37,772.78

You know what else will happen within the next 3 months? 

Tax refund! Oh yes, 75% of the refund will go to the debt, the other 25% will go to savings. AND March is raise time at work. Woo hoo. Chip, chip, chipping away.

Happy New Years everyone!

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Tips for Finding More Money in Your pocket This Month!

One way to find more money in your pocket and tackle that debt! is to first take look at your expenses to see what you are spending your hard earned cash on. You might be surprised at what you find.
Once you have your list, decide if there are any expenses that you can eliminate. My list looks like this:

Rent

Utilities

Cell phone

Internet

Student loans

Credit card payments

Netflix

Gym

Groceries

Metro Card

My list is pretty pared down, however, I could still make some changes. I could find a less expensive cell phone plan. I could cut that payment in half and have $50 extra/mo in my pocket. I could look for an apt with less expensive rent, something that I am seriously considering. (The rent is too damn high!) I am all about health and fitness and I am a regular at my gym, but do I need a gym membership in the warm months when I can run outside? Or maybe I could find a less expensive gym.
Just a few small changes here and I could have another potential $200-$400 extra in my pocket every month.
It's worth taking a look. Don't let your expenses weigh you down.

Have you tracked your expenses? Where will you cut some corners?

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2014 Midway Point - Goal Reflection

It occurred to me today, that we are just days from the midway point of 2014. Wow, already!? This year, a year that was supposed to be THE YEAR for me, has I have to admit been pretty good. I started out 2014 with a slew of goals as I always do, making sure to keep them high enough but still attainable. No one likes failure! Below are 4 of the most important goals that I made for 2014.

Credit card debt: This was the first goal that I had on my list. I feel pretty good about this one, even though my cc debt won't be paid off completely until early next year. Not only do I have my system in place for paying this down, but it's also automated, requiring no work from me. It's just happening!

Saving: Next, I had a goal to save $200/mo. It is really hard to have debt and also a 401k that gets contributed to every month, but to also be saving money in a savings account? Guess what people, i'm doing just that! And again, it's automated! $100 comes out of every paycheck and gets directly deposited into my high interest yielding savings account. Check!

Financially free plan: The 3rd goal was to put a plan in place to become financially free. This one is a little less measurable but I think I can say that i'm at least on the path to getting there. I believe that if I continue to educate myself about investing, debt reduction, passive income, and entrepreneurship, I will get there.

Career: The final thing on my list of goals is to work on my career. Whether it be getting a promotion at my day job (which did happen this year, btw) or by getting my entrepreneurial side of things up and moving. This goal needs more focus over the course of this 2nd half. The focus needs to be shifted on what I want and what will make me happy.

Overall, I think it's been a pretty successful 6 months. So congratulations and lets celebrate our midway 2014 successes and work hard on accomplishing more over the next 6 months!

How will you make your 2nd half of 2014 as sucessful as it can possibly be?

Send me a message. Did you love the post or hate it? What would you like the next topic to be? Follow me on Twitter @financegirl