This was what the start of the month looked like:
Student Loan #1 - $3,250.22
Student Loan #2 - $33,939.51
Credit Card #1 - $9,587.76
Credit Card #2 - $3,505.83
IRS Bill - $4,618.65
State Tax Bill - $897.00
Total (11/1/12) - $55,798.97
Here is what I paid down in a month:
Student Loan #1 - $3,204.46
Student Loan #2 - $33,739.51
Credit Card #1 - $9,356.03
Credit Card #2 - $2,954.29
IRS Bill - $4,408.65
State Tax Bill - $756.34
Total (11/30/12) - $54,419.28
Down by $1,379.69
Basically I used about 40% of my income and paid down debt.
My back of the envelope calculations tell me it will take me 39 months to pay down the debt at this rate. Hope to step it up so that I can hit the goal of being debt free in 27 months!
November update: Debt down by over $1,000!
November 30th, 2012 at 05:21 pm
November 30th, 2012 at 05:43 pm 1354297415
November 30th, 2012 at 06:52 pm 1354301574
November 30th, 2012 at 11:03 pm 1354316611
December 1st, 2012 at 01:50 am 1354326600
December 1st, 2012 at 02:23 am 1354328630
I recll you're mentioning meal planning and offer this pre made short cut.
http://www.womansday.com/food-recipes/month-of-menus/december-2012-month-of-menus
[hope the link works] I print this out and use it as suggestions. Don't make the meals your family doesn't like and switch days so that your very busiest day is something prepared over the weekend or really fast like a pasta dish with canned sauce. Friday is always left-over buffet here with everything lined up on the counter cafeteria style or sometimes just piled atop a halved baked potato. Soup or chowder is another easy peasy throw-it-all-in-the-crock pot and buy some quality rolls at the bakery.
This system has cut my food budget more than 25% and frees up designated $$$ to spend in another category. The unexpected benefit was stopping having foods in the pantry going to expiry and getting pitched.
December 1st, 2012 at 09:10 am 1354353011
btw r u doin the snowball method?
December 31st, 2012 at 06:32 pm 1356978756
Jerry