Category Archives: Finances

42K x 30: Month 6 Update

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Student Loan Debt - April 13

Again, I’m behind the ball on where I would like to be on paying these student loans off.  I am down to 38K though!  And less loans is an accomplishment in itself.  How I’m gonna pay 38K off in 2 1/2 years is still a stretch! That would mean I need to put 1,300/month towards loans… 300 more than usual.  Eek.  Gotta step up my game… or ask for money for all birthday and holiday gifts in the future!

  • Starting Balance: $38,812.46 (April 1 ,2013)
  • End Balance: $38,002.84  (April 30,2013)
  • Paid Towards Loans: $972.73
  • Interest Paid: $168.51 <— this number is getting lower! It was $190 when I started
  • Principle Paid: $804.22

I was trying to squeeze in another $500 payment this past month, but by the time I had enough, it was May.  Oh well, it’ll go out next week and maybe I can scrounge up a couple hundred more at the end of the month to send in as well.  All these extra payments are going to payoff the next loan on my list that’s already down to $1,900.

Short Term Goals  Pay off this loans in this order (deadline)

  • 1-08 @ 6.55% (February ’13): $0
  • 1-07 @ 6.55% (April Jul ’13): $1901.70
  • 1-05 @ 6.55% (Dec ’13): $3147.66
  • 1-06 @ 6.55% (2014): $5056.91

If I play my cards right, I can get that 1900 paid off in the next three months.  That means an extra $634 each month towards that loan.  I can do that…. just keep my eyes on the prize and squeeze every penny to put towards loans.

Here’s a glimpse into what my massive spreadsheet looked like this month:
Student Loan Debt Chart - April 13
I gotta look into my VSAC Loans (Vermont Student Assistance Loans)… because their interest rate has gone down slightly (Yay!).  I thought they were fixed, but sometimes if you use the auto pay, it will decrease your interest percentage – so maybe that’s what happened?  Either way, I hope it’s not a glitch, because that just means less interest to pay and more of the payments go towards the actual loan!

May Plan

  • Pay (at least) $634 extra to Sallie Mae Loan 1-07 ($1901.70)
  • Pay minimum on other Sallie Mae Loans
  • $40 bi weekly to VSAC Loans

Reflections I was hoping to catch up the past couple months, but I keep slipping behind.  It’s really tough to wrangle up extra $ every month.  Pretty much what I do is, every week X amount of $ gets pulled from my account to our joint account, which we use for all our family needs – mortgage, groceries, gas, etc.  The remainder ($255/wk), I barely touch.  I don’t use my debit card.  Ever.  I rarely buy anything for myself, and when I do, it’s a $5 salad once a week when I forget to bring lunch, or I bought gym shoes and some new clothes months ago, and recently registrations to races.  But I think I’m good about being frugal – but not so frugal that I don’t eat or don’t enjoy things I like to do, like running or buying a gift for a friend getting married.

So if you do the math – $255/wk x 4.33wks/mo = $1104 – $352 (sallie mae min) – $80 (VSAC) – $634(extra sallie mae payment) = $38/mo to use for myself.  Kinda cutting it close there, but lets see if I can do it…

Do you think I can do it?! $1900 EXTRA LOAN PAYMENTS in 3 months…. eek!

Did you miss the previous posts on this financial challenge?  Play catch up here:

Who Doesn’t Love Free?

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at&t commercial more or less

source: youtube, at&t

As soon as I wrote the title of this blog post, I realized it could make for a really good AT&T commercial.  I love those commercials.  The ones with the guy sitting down with kids asking them to explain what’s better, ‘more or less’?  And they go into this speal in their adorable kid verbage and reasoning… too cute!  I can’t wait until Avery starts making actual sentences… what fun to come!

Where was I?  Oh yes, Free.  So when Avery came along we were showered with lots of advice.  One of the suggestions that has (finally) come to fruition was from my dear friend, Roland at work (Daddy of 3 adorable boys).  He told me about Huggies Rewards – each huggies product has a code sticker that you can log in online, get points for, and redeem for rewards!  Well, all of Avery’s diapers are huggies (thank you Costco), so I’ve been logging them online and the points have been adding up.

With all rewards programs, it takes time to sign online and input the info.  But I just kept a stash of the codes in my bag, and once a month I’ll plug them in.  3 minutes a month is worth it, especially when it results in a really cool reward!

I’ve been perusing the ‘rewards catalog’ for a couple months now.  I had enough points for some lame rewards that didn’t interest me like magazine subscriptions – no thanks.  I get my parenting & SELF magazines and that’s all I need.  But yesterday I passed the 500pt mark and spotted a toy I actually wanted to buy Avery – valued at $19.99, but I get it (and shipped) for free.  I clicked the button and boom, it’s in the mail!  6-8 weeks before it arrives, but since it’s recommended for 3+, Avery can wait.  Maybe I’ll put it away for his birthday?

HUGGIES REWARDS
Avery loves buttons and zippers, so I was looking for a book or toy that allows him to practice that kinda stuff – so this was perfect.  Now instead of buying it, we got it free! Yeah, maybe I’m a little excited seeing as I’ve been logging these points for 18 months now, but free is free.  And it was so worth the little effort on my part. Can’t wait for it to come in the mail!!!

I am absolutely not paid to share my experiences and recommendations (although I’d be open to it if Huggies called me offering some big bucks), but until then (ha!) I just want to say, it’s worth the effort – just create a login at www.huggies.com.  They’re really great too – never got one solicitation email after signing up!  Or you could just send me your rewards points and I can use them! :)

What rewards programs have you tried that are worth it?  My latest attempt was using SaveUp.com for paying off my student loans.  You have to log in every day to ‘play’ in raffles.  After months of not winning anything, I gave up.  Not worth it.  I think my friend Alana is still trying to win at it… good luck girl!

The {Big} Tax Refund Renovation

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It’s that time of year.  Unfortunately, this year’s tax return looks NOTHING like last year’s.  Our refund last year was  5 digits long.  We had enough to pay off a student loan, credit card debt, put into Avery’s college fund, oh yeah, and build a deck!

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This year, it was two.  Yep, two digits long.  This year we got a whopping $31 back.  But because we had to pay federal, and got back from the state, we put that on our credit card since our points were getting up there, and we’ll be getting a cash back reward of $25.  So our grand total after our 2012 taxes were filed, is $56.

Now, that’s much better than owing  which we thought we would need to.  But we found some papers we were missing and thankfully we didn’t have to pay.  After last year’s giant refund, we were planning on using our refund to pay off debt and do some home renovations, like last year.  Well, $56 sure won’t fund a big project like a deck, so we’ll have to get creative with this one.

Speaking of the deck, we never finished it.  We still have to put a set of stairs on the other side of the back stoop down to the deck, so we don’t have to walk around on the grass to get to it.

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Our building permit is good for a year (I think), so I mentioned it to my Dad that we need to finish it by end of May, and could he help?  When he was here visiting last weekend, he took measurements and was going to cut pieces for the stairs and bring them down next time.  When I found out we were going to get a measly tax refund, I called him and asked if the stairs would cost $31 or less, and he said yes.  The advantages of having a carpenter for a father. (LOVE YOU DADDY) Free labor, and he sometimes buys the supplies without letting me pay.  Especially in this case.

So there you go, our BIG plans for our BIG tax refund… a set of stairs – although I don’t know if you can technically call them stairs when there will probably be only 2-3 steps. Either way – looking forward to building the stairs with Dad next month….

Did you get a big tax refund?  How are you spending it?