2017 has come to an end along with our first 8 months of debt snowballing. I think we made great progress this year, especially considering that we spent most of the year apart. Here I have my update for the last 4 months as well as a the total for our progress so far.
September
September was in interesting month. I didn't put any money towards our debt because of my trip home and the fact that I needed tires on my car before winter. We also had a thing where the Army decided to pull a fast one and deduct 2 months of BAS from Josh's check (I could rant about this for days but I wont). So, we got less than half a paycheck right as I was scheduled to go home. Luckily I had a lot of money saved for this trip and for my tires so it worked out.
October
October was a great month with $925 extra paid on my student loan! I'm so happy with our progress this month, I can't even tell you! I also managed to save about $100 towards a new laptop for Josh and $250 for repairs that my car needed. I was able to get all of the repairs done for $260 and now my car should be all set for winter!
November
November marked the end of deployment and some new budgeting challenges for us. We decided to just see how things go in November and December and then really get back to it in January. We're going to sit down and do our first post-deployment budget on the 1st or 2nd. Even with all the changes, we still managed to pay $746 extra on my student loan. We also go to the point where the total of my savings bonds is the same as the total I owe on this student loan. I'm currently working on getting those cashed out so that we can kick one more loan off our list! Hopefully by the middle of January!
December
December was a bit slow because of Christmas, however, I was able to cash out two of the savings bonds which totaled $185. Then we got an unexpected gift from my FIL - $200 for each of us! Josh used his for a new laptop (which we've been saving for) since he's starting school in January, and he used a bit of it to go see his brother in VA. I put 100% of mine on the student loan. It hurt a bit when I thought of how many books I could buy with that money ;) but I'll be able to buy as many books as I want once we're out of debt, and the library is fine for now. We also put some of my income onto the debts which makes our December total $630.
May - December
Our total extra paid on debt in 2017: $6425
Our total including minimum payments: $18677
I am super proud of our progress this year! I really didn't think we'd do this well and was only anticipating putting maybe an extra $300 per month onto debts, and we usually at least doubled that! My goal for 2018 (which I'll elaborate on next week) is to pay off all but my 2 largest student loans! I really think we can achieve this goal with some hard work and a good budget!
September
September was in interesting month. I didn't put any money towards our debt because of my trip home and the fact that I needed tires on my car before winter. We also had a thing where the Army decided to pull a fast one and deduct 2 months of BAS from Josh's check (I could rant about this for days but I wont). So, we got less than half a paycheck right as I was scheduled to go home. Luckily I had a lot of money saved for this trip and for my tires so it worked out.
October
October was a great month with $925 extra paid on my student loan! I'm so happy with our progress this month, I can't even tell you! I also managed to save about $100 towards a new laptop for Josh and $250 for repairs that my car needed. I was able to get all of the repairs done for $260 and now my car should be all set for winter!
November
November marked the end of deployment and some new budgeting challenges for us. We decided to just see how things go in November and December and then really get back to it in January. We're going to sit down and do our first post-deployment budget on the 1st or 2nd. Even with all the changes, we still managed to pay $746 extra on my student loan. We also go to the point where the total of my savings bonds is the same as the total I owe on this student loan. I'm currently working on getting those cashed out so that we can kick one more loan off our list! Hopefully by the middle of January!
December
December was a bit slow because of Christmas, however, I was able to cash out two of the savings bonds which totaled $185. Then we got an unexpected gift from my FIL - $200 for each of us! Josh used his for a new laptop (which we've been saving for) since he's starting school in January, and he used a bit of it to go see his brother in VA. I put 100% of mine on the student loan. It hurt a bit when I thought of how many books I could buy with that money ;) but I'll be able to buy as many books as I want once we're out of debt, and the library is fine for now. We also put some of my income onto the debts which makes our December total $630.
May - December
Our total extra paid on debt in 2017: $6425
Our total including minimum payments: $18677
I am super proud of our progress this year! I really didn't think we'd do this well and was only anticipating putting maybe an extra $300 per month onto debts, and we usually at least doubled that! My goal for 2018 (which I'll elaborate on next week) is to pay off all but my 2 largest student loans! I really think we can achieve this goal with some hard work and a good budget!
