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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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?

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