Welcome to my debt payoff update for April 2018! In these updates, I detail how much debt we paid off, tell you about any extra income we received during the month, and finally tally where we stand.
I started this site to hold Mr. TMG and me accountable in our debt payoff journey. I also want to inspire and encourage others who are in debt (especially if you owe six figures like we do) by showing everyone that debt doesn’t have to be forever.
Whatever your numbers, I hope you find some inspiration in our story.
Let’s get to it!
Debt Payments
Here is a breakdown of all of our payments in April:
Navient 1-08 Direct Loan-Unsub: $4,773.90
FedLoan 1: $1.43
Navient 1-12 Direct Loan-Unsub: $132.09
Navient 1-10 Direct Loan-Unsub: $162.42
Mortgage: $1,368.26
FedLoan 2: $22.88
Buh-bye, Navient 1-08!
We’ve been on a streak of paying off at least one loan each month since August 2017, which has felt UH-MAY-ZING!
You can check out the links below to see previous debt payoff updates:
- 2017 Debt Payoff Update: How We Paid Off $47,029.45 in One Year
- January 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $8,029.40 Paid
- February 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $13,051.03 Paid
- March 2018 Debt Payoff Update: $16,203.64 Paid
Ready to get out of debt?
Up to this point, we’ve been working on the relatively small loan balances (as compared to the giant ones we have left). Now that we’re hitting the bigger five-figure loans, we won’t be able to knock them out as fast.
Our pace will feel a little slower, but we’ll keep chugging along.
I feel really good about what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far. As long as we keep following the plan, we’ll be finished before we know it.
I told you here that we’re generally following the debt snowball method, which has been working out really well for us. In addition to tracking our loan balances, we also track our minimum payment amounts, which is a huge part of the debt snowball method.
Our total monthly minimum loan payment has decreased by $1,000 since January 2017!
That’s so crazy to me! I seriously can’t believe it.
Extra Income
The extra payment this month consisted of the amount we budgeted for the extra payment along with any extra income earned or received in the month of April.
We didn’t have a lot going on in the way of extra income this month. Mr. TMG got paid for one shift at his side job, which brought in an extra $900.
No huge tax refund or other sexy things going on with our extra income this month.
Related:
Updates
We’re still working our zero-based budget. With a zero-based budget, you budget every single dollar of your income in a given month. Your budgeted income minus your budgeted expenses should equal zero.
We balance our budget at the end of the month and make our extra debt payment at that time.
By doing it this way, our extra payment includes not only the budgeted payment amount and extra income we receive but any money we didn’t spend in our budget categories, as well.
We’re still going over budget in some areas, but we’re doing well overall. I’m sure we should pay closer attention to our spending, but honestly, because we’re still making great progress toward our goals, I’m not sweating it too much.
Mr. TMG’s car is in the shop, and we expect the repairs to be fairly expensive, so our extra payment will likely be smaller next month. Boo.
Little TMG is growing like a weed. He’s eighteen months (where does the time go?) and outgrows clothes before we have the chance to put them on him. We’ve added a line item in the budget specifically for him because we’re starting to have more expenses for him.
Remaining Balances
It’s funny how small actions add up to something huge over time.
This time last year, I could only imagine being where we are today. I’m sure I’ll feel much the same way (or even better) when we’ve paid everything off completely.
Here’s where we stand currently:
Grand Total: $608,702.05 remaining
Ready to get out of debt?
We’re inching that balance down, but let me tell you, interest is a freaking beast!
If you add up all the payments we’ve made so far, they total $90,774.50. However, our balance has only decreased by about $62,000 (I know. I know. “Only”… whatever).
We’re not going to let that get us down. We’re moving forward in spite of the interest.
Wouldn’t it be great, though, if everyone could just pay back the amounts they borrowed, without interest and fees and such? 🙂
I mentioned last month that we weren’t sure about the order we were going to pay the next three loans.
We decided to just keep trucking with the smallest of the three and work our way down from there. Because they all have such similar balances, we figure jumping around really doesn’t make much difference.
We only have a handful of loans left to pay off. (They just happen to be the bulk of the balance lol.) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s kinda far off right now.
Just keep swimming.
How did you do with your financial goals last month? Did you make the kind of progress you wanted to?
If you liked this post, don’t forget to (1) share it with everyone you know and (2) connect with me on Pinterest and Twitter. See you there!
Ready to get out of debt?
Hi, I’m Rho! I’m a wife, mom, and Biglaw associate who believes that true wealth is having control of your time. I help busy lawyers like you take back control of your time by teaching you how to achieve lifestyle freedom through mindset shifts and financial independence. Read a little more about me here.
