I sent a $1425 payment to NT's student loan, and today the balance was ... $1426 lower? That's odd. The only thing I can think is that maybe interest hasn't hit yet for this month, and he had one little portion of the debt that was less than a dollar; it disappeared. I think they forgive debt that's less than a dollar. Anyway, I'll take it! That brings us to $2177 down, $123 to go on the May debt goal.
It brings our big-picture progress to $19,526.29. We're a fifth (20%) of the way toward our new, lower goal! And in only a seventh of the time allotted.
We've been doing some more unallocated spending recently; the bikes all need tune-ups, and the first one cost over $100, so I'm sure the other two will be about that as well. The hot water stopped working in our bathroom sink because of the faucet, so NT is going to try and fix it himself; otherwise we'll need a plumber. Either way it'll cost something. NT is going to get some alterations done to the nice suit he bought in England so it'll fit perfectly. I think there were a couple other things I agreed to, but I can't remember now! We are planning a fun weekend, visiting the farm that provides our CSA share, staying in a hotel, and pampering NT for Father's Day. But that's all coming out of allocated budget line items.
But, we've also been doing some frugal/free things and earning/saving money. AS got the last of her freelance checks we were expecting; $1375! We canceled three weeks of diaper pickups, so our nice diaper service canceled a full four-week invoice! $76 saved that I wasn't expecting at all. AS sold a dressmaker form that is too big now that she's lost some weight (and plus there's no room for it in our little condo) on Craigslist for $50. NT got a cat-litter rebate check for $7.99. And we needed a travel crib for our upcoming trips, so I put the word out on Facebook and got an old but sturdy one free from a co-worker.
Another co-worker (AS's) has been giving us hand-me-down clothes in 5T (for five-year-olds). We take 'em and put them in a box in the closet. I'm such a kid's clothing hoarder! I'll take any size clothes, and we divvy them up into boxes in the girls' closet. Then every few months, I get rid of outgrown clothes (or if the younger will be able to wear them eventually, I add them to a box for that age/size). It's a bit of effort to keep everything organized, but we've barely had to buy any clothes for the kids, ever.
Yesterday I had a startling realization. We've paid off over $180K in debt, but I'm impatient to get to (and celebrate) the $200K mark. For some reason I glanced at my "Debt starting point" page, and realized that, on paper, we have hit that mark. Our highest debt point was somewhere between $457K and $460K, and our current debt is $258,175! However, about $20K of this difference is because, when we began, the US dollar was much weaker against the UK pound, so our UK debts counted as $2 for every pound. Now the exchange rate is a bit closer and they're calculated at $1.60 per pound. So I don't count that in my debt payoff calculations. But, effectively anyway, our debt is $200K less than it was when I started 6 years ago!
Big student loan payment; goal progress & other thoughts
June 12th, 2013 at 04:06 pm
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At this rate you'll be in England by the time DH graduates.
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June 14th, 2013 at 09:49 pm 1371246570