For those with debt--Share your accomplishments in the past 12 months!

bmo88 · August 2015

So, it's been exactly 1 year since DH and I signed up for Ready For Zero (an free online debt tracking tool). It has helped us tremendously in terms of focusing on our dept repayment, setting up goals, recognizing accomplishments and considering different payment strategies.

I cannot believe how much debt we have paid off in the last 12 months. We paid off $17,200!! That included paying off my remaining student loan balance, a furniture credit card, a good chunk of DH's student loans and a portion of our 2nd mortgage/HELOC. With our current plan, we are on track to pay off $24,000 in the next 12 months and then be debt free (excluding the mortgage) by December 1, 2017. It's so motivating to see progress and have a visual plan to keep going.

Please share your accomplishments and future plans for getting out of debt!

simplyelise · August 2015

I actually didn't have any debt 12 months ago! But then I got married...lol

So since we got back from our honeymoon in November, we've paid off over $26,800 in debt. All that except for about 1400 was student loans. The 1400 was our rental car, food, and hotels from the honeymoon.

We have 28,680 left to go. We are on track to be 100% debt free in July 2016. I might end up getting a raise starting in January, so I'm hoping we can knock it back a month to get our payoff down to 20 months, but we've squeezed as much out as we can, so July is probably the best possible result.

cbee817 · August 2015

We had to get our entire sewer line from the house to the street repaired (clay tile to PVC) in December 2014. The bill was $8,200 and we put it on a 0% credit card for 15 months so we wouldn't have to take the $ out of savings. The bill is down to $2,800 today and will be paid off in December 2015.

That was our only debt (aside from our mortgage- SL were paid off in 2013 and we pay CC bills in full when there is an interest rate) until July when DH got a new car- we always have had used vehicles and his was falling apart (2006 subaru outback with power steering, exhaust, battery, and brake issues) so we used the dealer's 0.9% financing for 48 months to get a new 2015 subaru forester. It's the opposite of the post's accomplishments but we'll only be paying $437 in interest for a brand new car for our family. Thankfully, my 2003 honda civic is still holding on so hopefully we won't need another new(er) car until DD#2 is out of day care in June 2017.

brij2006 · August 2015

We started out with about $141k in debt (including mortgage) in November of 2013 when we started Dave Ramseys' Total Money Makeover. Every penny of that is paid off!!!

hoffse · August 2015

We have sent nearly $42,000 to debt in the last 12 months. Some of that is interest, but it's mostly principal. I don't track it that closely. Maybe 2/3 principal, 1/3 interest? I haven't counted our mortgage in that because we're dragging that one out as long as possible.

Only 7 more years to go! Ha.

But seriously - this is why I'm not gazelle intense with it. We just have so much combined law school debt that I would rather draw it out a couple more years and be able to live life than light a bonfire and burn up all of our extra money. Besides, we're still going to finish paying the loans back like 17 years early, and that will save us well over $100K in interest. That's good enough for me.

KatieCutie05 · August 2015

Well I paid off my car last week! Wooh! Thats our only debt payoff in the last 12 months... but thats because we paid cash for everything baby and paid cash for a 4800 heating/cooling unit.

However this month marks 2 years since we started... we started with 147k in non mortgage debt and we are now down to 90k.

vlagrl29 · August 2015

we don't have any debt except my SLs and we aren't paying much extra at the moment. Great job though!

bridejl · August 2015

I don't know the hard numbers off the top of my head, but this year we've been aggressively paying off H's car and student loans. His student loans won't be paid off until next year, but the goal is to pay off his car by the end of this year. So that we can buy another car to replace mine (although I dread the thought of another car payment). We also have a 0 interest credit card on our entry doors that will be paid off in December.

dragonstarjk · August 2015

We don't have a total number; since we really aren't debt-averse, we don't have a big plan to pay off all debts. However, I am excited to say that H's truck will pay off in December!

We still have my car payment, H's student loan, our mortgage, and pretty soon a loan to pay off to build our front porch. We don't have any plans to pay any of these off early as we'd rather put extra money in savings/retirement.

als1982 · August 2015

I'm not sure about the last twelve months, but since January 2015 we've paid off just over $24,000, closing out my student loan and now working on getting rid of H's. We've done this while still putting 18% in retirement, going on one international vacation and several domestic trips, and paying cash for a bathroom remodel.

bmo88 · August 2015

Nice job everyone! A lot of debt has been paid off in the past year!

orangehills · August 2015

We paid off our last car payment, and my student loan. Once we sell a car and get that money in savings, we'll pay off DH student loans, hopefully no later than Sept/Oct of this year. Then we just have a mortgage, but we're not rushing to pay that off, just doing the normal monthly payments. No credit card debt either. It feels nice!

MissKittyDanger · August 2015

I had my credit paid, then I got married and although I anticipated everything to be paid cash .... payments came quicker than savings.

I can attest that my cc will be paid by October and my husband's (!) will be paid before the end of 2015. I do have stupid student loans that I pay regularly and plan on doing lump sums as savings builds. I'm hoping that will get paid quickly because I am soooo done with that damn thing!

It's inspiring to see others pay off their debt

For those with debt--Share your accomplishments in the past 12 months!

Re: For those with debt--Share your accomplishments in the past 12 months!

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