So, I looked….
I shouldn’t have done it, but I did.
I looked at how much we owe on our student loans.
I was pleasantly surprised to find we owe less then I thought we did. That was a bit of a relief despite the HUGE debt we have. But as I have been avoiding it all these years because we just needed to do what we did, It is time to face the music. Time to face the hole we have dug and jump in with 2 feet.
So I printed off a few budgeting worksheets that I will be posting as free printables soon(!!!!) and I started to make a plan. I have now written down every loan we have and how much is owed. I am in process of getting an idea of how we can best pay them off.
I am feel like we have a huge hole to fill back in but knowing the whole picture has been surprisingly calming to me. I now feel like we know what type of a shovel we will need and how we can make it happen. I have a goal to pay it off in 5 years. This goal sounds really crazy if you knew how much we had, but I feel like if we get really intense and start making this work then we will be able to do it.
Especially because we are moving. Yup, you heard that right, We are moving. We will be back in the Fresno area. This is going to require some fancy footwork on my part to get everything done before the date, but We will save SO much money if we do that.
I hope you will join me on this journey. We have never had to pay off debt because this in the first debt we have ever had in our lives. So I have never paid it off. I plan on posting weekly or bi-weekly updates. If my husband ok’s it I will be sharing our total and how we are paying it off as well.
To motivate me in this process, I am looking for people who have debt pay off stories to post on the blog. It can be something you are working on now or how you accomplished the pay off completely. If you have a story that you are ok with me posting, please email it with a picture of yourself or your family to me at Melissa @ livingafrugallife.com and title it “Debt Story”.
I am excited to get this crazy journey started and to get it all paid off so we can be debt free and away from the pressure of all this.
Do you pay off debts in order of amount of debt or amount of interest rate?
Good for you! You have accomplished what you set out to do and you are trying to find a plan to pay it all off…and QUICK! We have had debt in the past and it feels SO good to not have to worry anymore. I am still not quite sure how we did it, obviously some divine intervention, but we moved money around and were diligent in paying off those debts, even though it meant in the short term that we had a little less cash than we would have liked. In CO, we had a great house and were living within our means despite our debts on our home improvements (roof and windows). We also had a car payment. Reasonable, but another thing to pay each month. It did not weigh us down, but it was always there and we knew it (about $30K total I believe). When we moved, we looked at our income, savings, and decided to pay everything we could off (we had our roof, window, car, carpet (paid by renters), a small loan for a bike, but thankfully no credit card debt). It took a year to accomplish it all, but I truly believe when you make a plan, stay the course, PRAY A LOT, and use the tools around you (and some creativity) the Lord provides a way. If nothing else came from our moving to SoCal, we were able to pay off all our debts and keep our home rented. You can do it and you are a resourceful person with much determination. GOOD LUCK!
Thanks Tami. We are determined to get it done fast. No more cloud hanging over our head!
In answer to the question, we paid off debts with higher interest rates first. I am so glad Kevin is financially savvy.
Did you post the printables for the budgeting worksheets mentioned above? Love reading your blog, so many things that apply to my everyday life!
I have not posted them yet. I am in the middle of packing for a move but will be putting them up in the next month or so. Thanks for reading!