November Update

Debt status as of 6 November 2010:

House: $102,874 (-232)
Student loans: $17,900 (-99)
Car: $5955 (-855)

Total decline: -$1184.79
Current debt total: $126,498
Consumer debt to pay off: $23,855

Hope to have the car paid off by June!

Dave Ramsey event and October updated

Today I went to the Dave Ramsey event in Raleigh with my parents and got info straight to the source on how to get debt-free. First of all, I shouldn't be paying extra on the house until I have gotten rid of the other debt: i.e. the car loan and the student loans. So now my main objective is to use all extra money to pay off my consumer debt, then move on to step 3 of building up the emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses in savings.

Step one: $1000 in an emergency fund: check!
Step two: Get rid of all consumer debt (debt snowball): credit cards are paid off each month and now to pay off the car and the student loan - car first since it is less, then the student loan.

Debt status as of 16 October 2010:

House: $102,874 (-231)
Student loans: $17,999 (-98)
Car: $6810 (-441)

Total decline: -770
Current debt total: $127683
Consumer debt to pay off: $24,809

September Update

The summer got the best of me and I neglected this blog. It did not mean that I neglected my debt, as my current debt status will show. The month of June and into mid-July was mostly spent watching the World Cup and cheering for Germany. I worked a ton in July and August, with August being my best month on record for my business. Thankfully this will allow me to throw even more money at getting down my debt. 

Debt status as of June 09 was:

Car: $7,817
House: $103,792
Student loans: $18,442

Current debt:

Car: $7,251 (-566)
House: $103,105 (-687)
Student loans: $18,097 (-345)

Total decline in debt: - $1598

Current total debt: $128,453

I'm currently trying to shop for disability insurance since I'm self-employed and would appreciate any insight I could get from readers out there.

Thanks!

June 9 Status

After 3 weeks in Germany to attend a friend's wedding, network and visit friends and my host family, I am back home and still doing what I need to do to become debt-free. Made an extra payment of $250 on the car last month, paid $100 extra on my mortgage, set up automatic debits to my HSA account for $100 each month and put extra money in savings.

Current debt status:

Car: $7817
House: $103,792
Student loans: $18,442

Total debt: $130,051 - down by around $450 in the first month. Still have a long way to go.

Great read

Link to a great article about a girl who has already figured out the benefits of a debt-free life before ever even accumulating debt. Smart girl!

http://static.dispatch.com/www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/05/17/hog-wildnot-this-girl.html

Debt inventory and initial goals as of 16 May 2010

As of today, 16 May 2010, I have three kinds of outstanding debt (credit cards do not count as they are paid off in full every month).

1. Mortgage at 5.00% interest (refinanced in Feb 2010): approx. $104 K
2. Student loans at 2.125% interest: approx. $18.5 K
3. Car at 4.75% interest: approx. $8 K

Total debt: approx. $130.5 K

Goal #1: Pay off car within the next 12 months or less.

Goal #2: Pay extra on my mortgage to build more equity, currently paying $100 extra each month. Just switched my homeowner's insurance policy to a new company to save approx. $130 each year.

Goal #3: Put additional money in the HSA account to fund the rest of my deductible for this year.

Goal #4: Get 3-6 months of expenses in savings for an emergency fund.

I think that's enough for a start.

Welcome

My new blog will focus on my own efforts to create a debt-free life and document my attempts to do just that. Many of you may be on the same path. By sharing my own experiences of how I am striving to get out of debt, I hope to inspire others to do the same. If you have tips and wisdom of your own to share, please do. I'm not perfect and may make mistakes along the way, but am quite certain that I will be successful in my endeavors. I still hope to create a debt-free scholarship fund at some point in the future, so look out for news about that.

Enjoy reading!