So if I’m going to be talking about paying off debts, I have to come clean about the total of those debts. In order for me to stay home with our little one, we decided we need to eliminate all but my student loan debt. The number we are looking at is {deep breath}:
$18,838.39
I hate seeing that number. It’s much easier to stomach in individual credit line balances than to add it all up into one. The breakdown is about 50% credit cards/store cards and 50% car loan. I read somewhere that the average American family has $8,000 in credit card debt so we are apparently decidedly average. I’m so not proud of that fact.
Why aren’t we including my student loans in the total? Well I’m ashamed to admit, the amount is ridiculously high and it will be a very long time before those are paid off. Luckily, my interest rates are low. Once the above debts are taken care of, we will be putting any extras toward tackling this beast. So what is the goal?
Pay off $18,838.39 by December 31st, 2015 or about 16 months
With our current budget, if everything goes perfectly, this should be achievable by October 2015. If something goes wrong, like losing a couple weeks of work, December gives us a little leeway. I’m hopeful that I will be able to shave $200 off our monthly grocery bill using the Grocery University program (a 33% reduction!) and will then apply that to our debt. In doing that, these debts will be eliminated by September 2015 or just over a year. There you have it in writing. Here’s to hoping what they say about putting your goals in writing is true!
Do you have any current financial goals? What are your strategies to help you achieve these goals?
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