Starting again... again

So things have really, seriously changed around here.

I've moved 1600km away from where I was previously based.

I've taken a job with a $20K a year increase in wages.

I've taken a home with a lower weekly rental cost and no on-top outgoings, which has lowered my monthly costs.

BUT, there were expenses in getting here, obviously.

The debt landscape has changed. I'm looking a little worse off than I was before, but I'm in a stronger position to deal with it, which is positive. I know that this move has been the best thing for me to do, personally and professionally.

Work has offered to pay $4000 towards my moving expenses, however it will be paid as an incentive bonus - one payment at 3 months and one at 12 months. Which is fine by me. Those will both go to debt when they come in and I'll continue to work at paying down the balances in the meantime.

So, how bad is it?

Total debt:

$13,680 Credit Card   - this is moving expenses
$32,178                    - this is the loan from my Dad, zero interest. The money I had put aside to pay him back was spent on moving expenses, with his blessing. He wants me to pay him back in lump sums of ~$5K, so I need to hold the money before I give it to him. More on that in a minute.

I have eliminated the TV debt completely and have no other debt.

GRAND TOTAL: $44,858

My current account holding funds for repaying my Dad is sitting at $1,200.

I have preset the repayments into Dad's loan holding account to $450 per fortnight, and once the credit card is paid off, I'll be redirecting funds to Dad's loan instead. I have unlinked it from my internet banking, so the only way I can access funds from that account is to physically attend the branch and get them to move it for me. Mostly I've done this so I can't rob it - which is a risk, because I'm crappy at saving.

At this point, any extra that I have at the end of the fortnight will be put to the Credit Card, simply because it has interest and Dad's loan doesn't. Plus the sooner I clear it the sooner I can get Dad's loan snowballing up. I'm paying an automatic $300 into the Credit Card each fortnight.

Dad isn't worried about how long it takes to pay him back, but I want to clear it as soon as I can. It was good of him to loan it to me and I'm conscious that I've been given a gift in not having to pay interest.

I'm intending to punch a bit harder at my debt over Christmas / New Year. I'm acting up into my managers role for nearly a full month over January and should have additional pay for that. I'm considering whether I can do some side hustle, but in a new town its difficult to know what might be around.

Its frustrating to me that over the past two years I've gained far more debt than I started with. ARGH!

I feel like each time I get going on the process of paying it down, something happens (and it is all my own choices, I get that) to drive the debt up.

On the up side this time around, I have managed to both increase my income and reduce my expenses, so its not all bad. Yes, my move cost me money but once paid off it will be putting me in a stronger position to buy a house. And that is still my end game. Debt free, home owner.

Me Made May and a debt update

Me-Made-May is keeping me busy, as I realise that my me-made wardrobe is probably not as strong as it could be, particularly for cold weather!

My lovely daughter bought me a Mothers Day gift which was so very thoughtful - a $50 voucher to Spotlight, a big box fabric and craft store. 

So we went along to see what was about, and as it turned out, the store was in the process of moving locations, which meant that there were some super specials on the apparel fabrics in store.

I picked out three crepes suitable for work tops, and a scuba knit suitable for a dress / skirt. When we got to the counter, I was delighted to find that the fabric (which was already over 50% off) was further reduced by another 50%. So the fabric which was over $20 retail per meter originally, I was getting for $5 per meter or less. But wait! I'm a member of the VIP Club (free to join, additional discounts) and it bought the total down even further.

In all, my four cuts of fabric - enough to make two tops each from the crepe and a skirt, a top and a dress from the scuba knit - came in at just $19.  I could not be happier! 

I've made the dress and skirt from the scuba knit - both turned out really well and have been worn to work already. All of the top fabric is laid out ready to be cut, I just need to find some time to get that done. I'm really happy with my choices, in that I thought carefully about what I had in my wardrobe and what would add value to what I already owned, and what would effectively mix and match. Once the tops are made up, they'll add some real versatility to my wardrobe, at very little cost. Yay!

Now, on to the debt update! New debt numbers as of today, with regularly scheduled payments of $150 towards the TV debt and $350 towards the family loan:

Starting Net Worth (28 April 2017)

-$35,513

Current Net Worth 

-$33,113

Total Debt Paid to date:

$2,400

That brings the TV debt down to $1,885 and the Family Loan down to $31,228.

I'm not sure exactly whether it is best to put the extra against the Family Loan or the TV debt. I guess if I was being completely risk averse, I'd put it towards the TV debt, because its the only one that has the possibility of future interest. Plus, if I can kill it earlier, I can snowball those funds into the Family Loan... but somehow putting the extra to the Family Loan makes me feel happier. Hmm. Something to consider.

I do still hope to make a larger payment this fortnight, and will transfer that across later in the week if I'm able to manage it... and when I decide which one its going to!

Update - May payments

Sorry for the absence, I've been ridiculously busy at work and away from home for a number of days.

Pleased to say that my scheduled payments went ahead last week, with $150 going to my TV debt and $350 to the family loan.

Starting Net Worth (28 April 2017)
-$35,513

Current Net Worth
-$33,613

Total Debt Paid to date:
$1,900


That's a figure that's starting to look a bit respectable. Next round of payments are due next week and I expect to make slightly larger payments, all going well.

Sponsoring to save some $$

I normally purchase an $85 membership to my daughters sporting club.

This entitles us to "free" entry to all home games, which works out to be cheaper than paying entry at each home game she plays. I buy a membership in order to save some money, given that we do attend every home and away game through the season. Unfortunately there is no way of saving on the entry to out of town games, but I do budget for this item.

This year, she bought home a sponsors pack. She hasn't previously received the pack because sponsorship is something only the older players seek - she's playing some games with the senior team this year so they gave her a pack. Every senior player is encouraged to get at least one players sponsor, and if they get 5 sponsors they receive their own membership ($85) free of charge.

Now, my daughter doesn't have to pay membership yet, because she's under 18. Only 18+ players have to pay membership. So she gets in free to every home game regardless, because she's a junior player. Still, I had a read of the sponsorship pack to find out what was on offer.

Turns out that sponsoring a player gets you membership PLUS extra bonuses, including one sponsors game where you have all-you-can eat and drink (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) in a special marquee. You also get your name up on the sponsors wall, which is kind of nice I guess, particularly if you have a business to advertise.

So how much is sponsorship? 

$75.

I am so annoyed that I didn't know about this sooner. I could have saved an additional $10 a year and had a nice day out as well, for something I buy anyway!

If you have a child who plays sports, it might be worth investigating if they have player sponsor deals like this one - you may save yourself some additional money.

Shoe negotiations - teenagers

I took my daughter shopping for new sports shoes yesterday.

It was our second attempt at it, the first trip having ended in an argument. 

My daughter is very strong willed and while I say that she gets that from her Dad, I know she gets it from me! 

Anyway, I did some exploration online before we went and had money set aside for this purpose. 

Sports shoes designed for the particular sport she plays and  suitable for what she needed from a support / hard wearing point of view  averaged about $150 for a basic shoe from a good brand. 

When she was young, I bought cheap shoes and found that they generally fell apart by mid way through the season. She plays outdoor winter sports and is involved in training and extension activities associated with athletics and running. To make sure the shoes last, I now I invest in good quality shoes without buying top of the line. This time, she was pushing for shoes at the $300 plus price point, well above what I was prepared to pay and for no reason other than because she wanted a particular colour that was only available in the most expensive shoe. That's what caused the argument the first trip and why we didn't buy anything. 

Before this trip I negotiated with her. She has a job and had birthday money to use. I said that I would buy shoes up to $150. If she wanted a more expensive pair, she could pay the difference. 

She eventually settled on a pair at $237 and paid me the difference. 

It was a good outcome I think - she got what she wanted and I spent what I had budgeted. She also chose a very slightly cheaper shoe than her original choice  and we bought the shoes on sale saving a little more. 

I felt good knowing that we'd been able to negotiate an outcome we were both happy with and which demonstrated to her that I wasn't prepared to spend excessive amounts purely for fashion. 

She ended up spending only part of her birthday money (she got $200, spent $87). She's saving the rest. 

Me Made May

This month I'm participating in Me-Made-May, something that the online sewing community gets into each year. 

The idea is that you take a pledge to wear the clothing that you make for the month of May. The beauty of it is the you can pledge at any level you like - at least one piece a day right through to everything you wear being handmade.

I've been sewing for a number of years, and I have a reasonable collection of clothing that I've made myself. 

I made a dress last week, that took me overnight to make, and cost only the fabric ($25). I needed something to wear to a funeral and I could easily have gone out and spent $80 - $150 on a nice dress for the occasion. Instead, I invested a little bit of my time and a little amount of money into fabric, and made something that fits me perfectly and I feel really great in.

Sewing isn't always the thrifty answer, but it can be a very positive way to save some money on specialty items. I can certainly make professional dresses at a significantly lower cost than buying them.

Me Made May is a great opportunity for me to look at what I've  made and how I can wear it in my everyday life, in order to get the best value from my hobby.

Thrifty cooking

I've been eating a low carb diet for a while now, and I love it. I have great health results, so much more energy, sleeping better, it's amazing.

But I need to balance that against my budget. 

Rice, pasta and beans, potatoes and carrots  are the staple of most frugal meals. I don't eat any of those things. 

I think this winter the slow cooker is going to be my friend. Cheap meat, veg I can eat, and rice for my daughter. I have mine with zucchini noodles to bulk it out. Easy and delicious. 

There are ways to manage frugal living even on special diets. 

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, I started this way of eating because of a food allergy that made me violently ill. I had also put on a lot of weight. This way, I can avoid my allergen and lose weight. 14.5kg down so far - or 32lbs. Not bad!). 

Update on my second job

I thought I should give an update on my second job.

Unfortunately, the managers decided to wind back the work and there is nothing for me to do. I haven't had a shift since October 2016 and there is no work in the foreseeable future. Not just for me, for all the employees.

In some ways, since I've spent a lot of time dealing with the separation from my husband, this has been a good thing. I've also noticed that I've been able to be more productive in my day job because I'm not as tired from the weekend work.

In positive income news, I received a raise in August which was worth more than my part time job was annually. That has certainly helped things significantly. I'm very aware of how lucky I am to have such a great job, and to have a generous pay increase thanks to moving up through the bands within our Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. As long as I can demonstrate that I'm performing my role and learning and growing each year, I *should* get a progression. So there is a possibility of a similar raise again this coming August, but I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch there. Things are tight in my work industry, but as far as I'm aware from my Manager, progression payments have been circled off from any cutbacks.

Not having the second job has meant that I've also been able to be more present for my family through some pretty difficult times in the last few months. We've had illnesses and we lost one of my grandparents early this year so being able to drop everything and be there was important.

As my daughter gets older, I find myself not wanting to make sure that I can be present for her, and as she gets older her schedule with her own Dad (who she normally visits every other weekend) becomes more unpredictable. Working a weekend job and unpredictable teenager schedules doesn't really work. Perhaps losing the job was a blessing in disguise.

Financially, I haven't found its made any difference, thanks to the raise. Actually, having that extra income this year would have pushed me into a higher tax bracket, increased the amount I'd have to pay in levies through my tax, and removed the very small amount of social security assistance that I receive. I'd be working harder, for very, very little, if any, gain.

I'll keep my ears open and if a lucrative opportunity comes up I'll grab it, but otherwise I'm going to leave the second job for the time being.

Personal finance blogs

I'm re reading the wonderful archives of www.bloggingawaydebt.com

Tricia was such a wonderful inspiration to me. Now I'm up to 2010 and Bek's. I'm heartened to think that these wise women clawed their way out of debt.

I can too.

Another week until I get paid. The challenge for this week is to spend as little as possible.

I'm sitting on my couch and it is cold. But instead of hitting the button on the heater, I've put a beanie on. An extra jumper. Bed socks. I'm still cold but it's passable.

I'd rather be cold than have to pay more for gas this month. I want to put that money towards my debt.

Bills account

I have a bills account that I pay a set sum into each fortnight when I get paid.

This fortnightly amount is slightly more than all of the upper limits of my known expenses (PO Box, water, electricity, wood, gas, healthcare, grooming, clothing, insurances etc) annually, divided by 26. So I always have enough to pay my bills with some to spare. 

I paid my PO Box last fortnight but with my credit card, because that's the only payment method they take. The PO Box renewal is $129 annually.

What I forgot to do was transfer the money from my bills account to my credit card! I have the money for this expense saved in my bills account, so I'm robbing myself if I don't transfer it immediately - and risking being charged interest! 

As you know, I've paid my credit card down so that there is only a $100 balance remaining in total so I've transferred $100 this morning. It will take a day or two to come across but will mean that my credit card will be completely paid off. Woo!! It also means that there is an extra $29 sitting in my bills account... which is fine. I like having a bit of a buffer there in case of an emergency.

The bills account has a built in buffer thanks to my over-estimating, so it also acts as my emergency fund. It has a floating balance usually of around $1000 - $1500, but is currently a little depleted due to some unexpected bills thanks to some personal issues that I'll go into later.

I'll update balances and net worth when the transfer is completed :)

Everything has changed

So big changes around here.

My husband and I separated.

That was... hard and expensive.

He had signed my daughter up for a phone plan, and with the separation that bill now comes to me. I'm annoyed about that, but there's not much I can do about it.

We'd also purchased a large TV together, and because its staying in my home, that bill is also now mine.

I basically got nowhere for a few months. So frustrating.

Then my parents agreed to go guarantor on a house loan for me, so I could get my own place.

And then they changed their minds. Which is fine.

Dad instead suggested that they could pay out my existing loans, and I could repay them at 0% interest and so get ahead a bit quicker and into my own place without help.

That was very, very kind of him, and I took him up on that offer.

So, as it stands today:

I owe my Dad $32,178.

I owe $100 on my credit card (which has been put away and will not be used unless I can immediately transfer cash to pay off whatever purchase I'm making - therefore making it a cash purchase).

I owe $2335 to the TV debt. (also at 0% interest)

My Dad has asked that I pay him back in lump sums. So I'm saving the payments to him in a separate bank account and tracking my payments using NetWorthIQ.com

My net worth, when I started it last week was -$35,513

My current net worth is -$34,113

Its annoying that I'm higher again than when I started, but I've gone back to basics again and I've also done some tweaking to my budget to free up some extra cash.

I have been really distracted with the ending of my marriage and some family crises but I am absolutely determined to get out from under this debt as soon as humanly possible.

I think I'll try and say something every day about debt and debt reduction... to keep me accountable and motivated.

Getting somewhere

Update for the end of October:

Credit card: $2,190.33

Personal Loan: $28,975.55

Total Debt: $31,165.88


Starting to see some improvement. This is the right direction at last!!

Smarter and harder

One of the things I think I can do to help myself out of this self-dug hole is to work both harder and smarter.

Smarter:

I've recently received a $20 per fortnight (which is my pay cycle) boost in pay, thanks to our enterprise agreement annual increase. That has been added directly to my credit card payment since that is the most pressing of my debts and the one I'm most keen to kill off first.

I've also decided to stop transferring $50 into a savings account each fortnight. If its sitting in the savings account, I tend to spend it. I'm not good at saving at this point in time, and I think that is a symptom of my focus being on debt reduction. Putting it into one account just to transfer it out and spend it is just a stupid waste of time and its not getting me anywhere. So instead of not-saving it, I'm just going to put it to debt. I won't spend it if I've paid it off debt. If it isn't there, I won't miss it.

That boosts the credit card payment to a whopping $520 a fortnight.

I'm also in line for a potential raise at work, which would equate to about $140 a fortnight before tax. I'm not sure how much tax will hit it, but I expect that about $100 of that would come home to me. So that will be added to the credit card too if it comes through. The bonus with that one is that if it does come through, it should be backdated to early August, meaning a good solid lump sum to go straight off the debt - five pay fortnights worth it should work out to.


Harder:

My second job has managed to hold on through the season, despite my fears that I was going to lose it completely. It looks now that the manager there will keep me on, and my shifts are secure for as long as I want them. Through the winter, for various reasons, I'm only able to do one shift a fortnight, which equates to about $55 after tax in my account.

As spring has now hit, I'm able to do three shifts most fortnights and that means that my pay for a fortnight is around the $150 mark, depending on hours.

So far, I've worked a mix of one shift fortnights and three shift fortnights over this financial year, but haven't been paid yet. I'm expecting a lump sum payment of those shifts that I've worked to come in this week, and all of that will go to the credit card. I expect this will be north of $500 in a lump sum, which will go directly to the credit card.

As fortnightly payments for this second job come in, they'll go straight to the credit card too.


I'm hoping that this smarter / harder tactic will help me make a sprint towards zero on the credit card before the end of the year.

Back to basics

I'm still feeling frustrated.

Despite putting $450 a fortnight against my credit card debt, each fortnight I've had some reason to use it and my net debt has barely moved.

Total credit card: $2926.81

Yes, you read that correctly. In the two months since I last wrote, I've paid less than $50 off the balance. I'm livid at myself.

My personal loan isn't faring that much better.

$29,515.13.

Total debt: $32,441.94

In January, my debt was $32,195. So I'm actually further in debt now than when I refinanced my loan, before the house move.

Its the interest that is killing me on the personal loan - I'm paying $300 a fortnight (over the minimum payment), and each month copping an interest hit of over $300. I know that this will get better when I'm whacking $750 against it each fortnight, but at the moment it just feels like treading water.

I am taking my credit card out of my purse. It needs to stay in the drawer, and not be used.

I need to tighten back up on my expenditure. Things got out of control during the house move, and then from there I made a very expensive purchase on my credit card ($2000 odd). I bought a Thermomix, and to be honest, I don't regret it at all. Other than wishing that I'd saved up for it rather than putting it on credit card. I purchased it straight away as there was a special on, and I do think that I got good value from doing it that way - or at least I would have if I'd been able to pay the credit card off in a timely fashion.

I ate out a lot during a period where we were clearing out my Nan and Pops house - and not only ate out paying for myself, but shouted other people lunch on a number of occasions. At $50 - $70 a pop, that was taking valuable money out of my weekly budget, and I was then putting other things on the credit card - like groceries.

I think perhaps I've been putting the wrong amount away into my bills account too - I raised that amount up, but I think I'm putting too much in there and not leaving myself enough in the weekly account to do what needs to be done. For example, I'm saving for medical things into the bills account, but paying for them out of the weekly account because the bills account isn't readily accessible. So I'm saving into the bills account, spending out of the weekly account, then paying for things that should be coming out of my weekly account with my credit card. Its a stupid, pointless cycle.

I've also had additional medical bills, with my daughter requiring a new medication and visit to a specialist. That set me back $500 in one single day!!

So. Back to basics for me. I WILL get myself back on track, I WILL have a $0 credit card by the end of this year, and I WILL get this debt cleared.

Frustrated

I'm sure that the universe is trying to tell me something. 

No closer to getting my credit card cleared. 

Think I need to revisit my budget. 

Gifts have blown me out of the water these last weeks. Gifts and takeout - which couldn't be avoided as I was away from home helping my parents. 

Credit card: $2997.60

Personal loan: $30,250.67

Medical debt is zero. 

Big changes

I've been a bit absent, but with good reasons.

I've moved house - which was a very long, painful and expensive exercise.

But the house that I'm not in is lovely and there has been discussions with the owners about us potentially buying it when the time comes. So that is a positive.

The new house has solar panels, so I'm expecting that with a little careful management that I'll have no net increase in my expenses here, with the electricity windfall making up for the slight increase in rent.

I am behind the point that I last left you though, having had to redraw on some of the funds I was ahead in my loan in order to make the move happen. I've also put a bit back onto my credit card.

In response, last night I sat down and redid my budget. We're down to brass tacks here for the foreseeable future until I can right the damage that I've done to my progress.

First step is to put the credit card back to zero.

I've allocated $450 per fortnight to that.

Second is to knock my loan back down. So as soon as I've moved that credit card to zero (I cringe to say that it will be 4 fortnights until the magic $0 appears)... the loan repayments will be going from the current $300 to $750.

My medical debt is fully cleared now, so that is a massive help.

I've also gone through how I manage all my annual payments and allocated them all to my "bills" account, which is separate to my daily account. By transferring out all of the payments and future allocations the day that my pay goes in, I will only be left with a very small amount in my account which is to cover groceries, date night and $50 discretionary spending each fortnight. That discretionary spending is to cover any small incidentals - school excursions that come in last minute and so on.

All payments for this fortnight have now gone out, so I'm starting May with this renewed approach to getting my house back in order.

I suspect that anyone who is like me, not terribly great with money, has these setbacks when they start off on a debt journey. It certainly seems to be the case for most of the debt reduction blogs that I've read - even though most of them are American. I know that it is far from ideal to be having big expenditures like a move when I'm trying to pay down my debt, and worse that I've actually gone backwards as a result of it. BUT, I'm determined to pick myself up and get back to that lovely feeling of $0 on the credit card and thousands in front on my loan. It felt so good the first time and I know that I can do it quickly if I am careful with my money.

So, onwards and upwards as I keep chasing zero.

Discipline isn't my middle name

First pay fortnight of March, and I stumbled.

I paid a measly $300 off my personal loan, down from my intended repayment of $670.

Now, I'm still paying over my minimum payment, and I'm proud to say I'm now over $2000 in front on my loan repayments in total, but this is a stumble.

Second pay fortnight, lesson learned. I've transferred $370 and the other $300 goes out tomorrow as a planned debit.

I am not a disciplined person by nature - but I am determined and I will get to zero.

Update - February

So its the end of February. How did I do?

Pretty well!

I managed to pay $1580 off my personal loan and $320 off the medical loan for a total of $1,900 off debt in February.

I'm pretty damn proud of that.

The rest of the months budget went pretty well too, although I had some additional expense due to an unexpected trip away with my daughter.

Originally I'd planned to take her to Melbourne to go shopping for her birthday. But for a whole range of reasons we ended up having to stay the night, so I was up for a hotel room, and breakfast, and dinner.

But, it wasn't too bad, because I was able to claim a rebate on some medical expenses that I'd previously paid out, and that covered all the expenses.

All in all, a great month.

Onwards to March, which is a three pay month, so I'm hopeful that it will be an even better result!

Progress Report - 14 February 2016

All my loan repayments were made at the start of my pay fortnight, and my new budget is going well. At the end of the first fortnight I'm within budget. I'll give a full report at the end of the month. 

So - debt balances as of today:

$30,235 - personal loan

$0 - credit card (woohoo!!)

$800 - medical 

Total debt: $31,035

Starting debt (19 January 2016): $32,195

Total paid off to date: $1,160

I know that interest is going to hurt on this loan, so I'm glad to say that I've already managed to get ahead of the payment schedule already - after only one month. Having ongoing boosted payments is going to help to significantly reduce the interest that I'm paying on this loan, and reduce the length of time that I'm under the debt.

I was discussing debt with my partner a few days ago. I asked him how he was going with his loans - he seems to be travelling ok. He asked how I was going - I told him what my balance was sitting at and he was shocked. 

I'm not sure why he was shocked... he knows how much debt I carry... but I guess its not something that we discuss all that often. He made a really interesting comment about how depressed he would be if he was carrying that amount of debt.

I'm not depressed by it. I'm annoyed that I let myself get into this situation, but in the end, it was me that did it. I made choices, and I have no option now but to deal with the outcomes of those choices.

BUT - I'm on a really solid track to wiping out this debt and I feel really, really good about how that is going so far. 

I think there are other things I could be doing to squeeze even more out of my budget, to boost those payments further. Thats something I'd like to work on in the coming months. But for now, $760 a fortnight (or $1646 a month) seems like a pretty solid base payment for this single income household to manage.

That's $380 odd dollars not a fortnight than the minimum payment :)

New Budget, what to do with "leftover money", debt update

Last night I sat down and plugged all of my actual expenditure into a spreadsheet. What an eyeopener.

I had a budget - which I thought I was following quite well. In some areas, absolutely I was, but in others... not so much.

So this month I'm going to change it up a bit. Along with carefully tracking my expenses as they happen on my newly minted spreadsheet, I'm also going to try the envelope system. So any money for groceries, spending money ($25 / fortnight) and takeaways / eating out ($25/ fortnight) will be in envelopes in my purse. That way, when the cash is gone, its gone.

I am working to a $0 balance monthly budget, but at the end of January I had around $65 left in my account. So I've transferred that to savings, and I think what I'll do if I happen to underspend this month (which I'm projected to do at just under $500 if I follow my budget) I'll put that into savings too. That will give me the emergency fund I've been considering without having to actually take anything away from my loan repayments - it money that I've just been losing due to poor budgeting in these past months. I also send $50 a fortnight to savings anyway, just as a drip feed, so that will keep the account ticking over.

Today my pay came through from my second job, $310. I have now transferred that into my loan, bringing the total for the loan to under $31K! Woohoo!!

Even better, with that little kick along I'm right on course to bring the loan back under $30K this month!!

I'm thrilled that I've been able to throw so much at this already - even before my first interest payment hits the account (which I think must be due around the 15th). I expect interest will be around $300 but it will be interesting to see exactly what the impact is.

(Note that I'm not paying more towards the medical as its at 0% interest, and is due to be paid off in 6 more payments anyway)

New balances for today

$30,835 - personal loan
$0 - credit card (woohoo!)
$960 - medical

$31,795 - total