May has come and practically gone. It was a truly rainy month here in Austin. While rain is normally a welcome thing in our drought ridden part of the country, we’ve experienced some extreme flooding and all the damages that come with that. It’s a tough time for many here in Central Texas. If you want to get involved and help out, you can pick an organization here and send whatever help you can!
As far as debt payoff went this month, I am pleased with my final turnout. It was a good month and the end of my student loans are in sight!
May was the last big month for debt payoff for me. I was able to payoff $1,984 this month. While it’s not the huge payoff that I had in April it was still a good month. Especially considering the random unexpected expense I ran into early in the month. I was really concerned that it would waylay any significant progress for me.
When May started I had $3,179 left in debt. Here’s a secret: I had a crazy dream of paying it all off this month. With a lot of hard work and my trademark frugal living I really did think it was possible. Getting hit with a $750 charge threw that dream off track. Still, I’m happy with how things shook out!
So, where did the $1,984 come from this month? Here are the payments I made this month.
$500- My mother sent me a check for $500 this month. This money came from a small amount of money my father had paid in (very) late term child support. She split the entire amount between my two siblings and me, so I got a nice sized check this month!
$900- The entire second portion of my monthly nonprofit income as well as a chunk of catering pay
$225- Part of my final coaching paycheck.
$57.00- My monthly auto payment. Now that there’s only one loan left, this amount seems so tiny!
$302- After I got back from San Diego and realized I’d come in under budget, I made an impulse payment with the remnants and some other cash in my checking account.
I only have $1,200 left in debt and chances are looking very good that I will be able to pay that final amount off in the first week of June! I still can’t believe it. I don’t know if I’ll believe it when I make the payment either. I probably won’t truly believe in my debt freedom until July comes and there are no payments to make.
Reflecting on this month’s payments I’m really happy with how things went down. I made huge strides on debt payments, I handled my unexpected charge without needing to use my credit card or emergency fund and I still have a small amount of money in my checking account. I like to keep something of a buffer in my checking account at all times, even if it is just a couple hundred bucks.
My income also dropped by $550 this month. Since March I’ve been getting two paychecks a month for lacrosse coaching. I got my final coaching paycheck in early May and the season officially ended May 12th. So, no more money from coaching. In June my income will drop another $550. I’m expecting to make $1,800 for the next few months until catering picks up again in September.
Next month will be my last debt payoff update. I can’t wait to write it! I’m happily heading into June and ready to start the summer debt free. The times they are a-changing!
Kara Perez is the original founder of From Frugal To Free. She is a money expert, speaker and founder of Bravely Go, a feminist financial education company. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Insider, Forbes, and Elite Daily.
That’s awesome Kara! How exciting that you’ll get that paid off so soon 🙂
Thanks! It’s probably the most exciting thing to happen in my whole life, haha. I can’t wait!
You should check out if your car insurance company gives you a 6-month or 1-year paid in full discount. It can be anywhere between 5-20% discount. I save several hundred dollars on mine by paying yearly. It’s never fun in February when I pay for it, but I use a credit card that earns cash back on the amount and I don’t pay interest so it is like an extra 1.5% discount also. If you save 10% that is better than most stock market returns.
So timely that you say that- I called my insurance company last week to re-negotiate! I’ll be posting about that conversation tomorrow!
Congrats! I paid off the last of my debt in March ($36k worth) and have moved on to funding my 6 month emergency account by December 31st. What I’m finding is that life post-debt is… harder. Sure, there’s still the same drive to sock money away, but I’m not approaching it with the same zeal as I did paying down my debt. I’d be interested to see your thoughts on this topic post-payoff! If nothing else, it’s a blog post idea for the July/August timeframe.
It’s definitely something that’s been on my mind! I’m already spending a little bit more than I have during the last ten months. I think I need to set new goals for myself and try to stay as motivated to meet them as I was with debt. I really want to max out my ROTH IRA, add 3 grand to my emergency fund and save for a big trip next fall. I think I’ll use a vision board or something for motivation.