Woo hoo! One more for the Old Debt Graveyard.

Paid off $1,206 in principal to achieve that.

So $2,644 down, $756 to go in my March challenge.

$63,143 to go on my Big-Picture Goal.

And...breathless silence...I REACHED MY AD HOC GOAL!!! My very first long-term goal, set in July 2007, was to pay off $19,520 of debt by 3/31/08. My goal debt balance was $438,135. Today, 3/4/08, our debt balance is at $437,192. So in reality I've paid off $20,463 since July.

Deep breaths...time to look ahead. Besides my Big-Picture Goal of paying off all credit card and personal debt, I think I'll continue to set monthly goals so I can still track my overall debt reduction. The credit card is the most important part to get rid of, but I also want to continue to work on the rest of it.

Several payments posted today, though not the credit card payoff I'm looking forward to. It should hit tomorrow.

US mortgage: $291 in principal
UK mortgage 1: $144
UK mortgage 2: $30
UK mortgage 3: $32
Credit card: $284

Total: $781 in principal

So $1,438 down, $1,962 to go on my March goal
Only $263 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal! I can't believe I'll reach that tomorrow.
And $64,349 to go on my Big-Picture Goal

Credit card payment hit: $58, all to principal since this one's a 0% interest for a little longer.

So that's:

$657 down, $2743 to go on my March goal. (I just realized we may have to pay management fees for our UK rental property, so this one's looking shakier still. But I'll try my best!)

$1044 to go on our Overall Ad Hoc Goal (still a cinch to make this goal even if the above is true)

$64,633 to go on the Big-Picture Goal

I'll have lots of exciting progress to report on Monday, as all four mortgage payments plus at least one credit card payment, possibly another that's a payoff(!) and maybe a third one as well, should all post.

$426 to principal. So that means:

$599 down, $2,801 to go on my March goal. We'll be cutting it close, but we might make this goal.

$1,102 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal. We'll knock this one out of the park before the 3/31 deadline. As my first longish-term goal, that will be very satisfying.

$64,691 to go on my Big-Picture Goal. I don't know what the odds are on this one. Depends if we can keep our lifestyle at about the same level even when we get raises, and also will only work if we don't have any expensive emergencies over the next couple years. A windfall or two wouldn't hurt our chances. :-) We need to average paying $2940 of principal per month for the next 22 months, and right now we're averaging $2780 per month. Hopefully snowballing debts will make enough of a difference.

Checked another UK balance online: $110 went to principal.

$173 down, $3,227 to go on my March goal.

$1,528 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal.

$65,117 to go on my Big-Picture Goal.

This one paid off about $150 less than I thought it would be, for some reason...have to keep an eye on it next month and see what happened. There was a $35 purchase, but that doesn't explain it all. This leaves me in a bit of doubt that I'll reach my March goal, but I'm a long ways off, so I'll have to wait and see!

A whopping $6 in principal to a credit card!

March progress: $63 down, $3,337 to go

Overall Ad Hoc Goal progress: $1,638 to go

Big-Picture Goal progress: $65,227 to go

I'm in that lag between exciting big payments toward debt, but a small student loan payment posted, with $57 going toward principal. So that's:

$57 down, $3,343 to go in my March goal.

$1,644 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc goal.

No progress on my Big-Picture Goal because it doesn't include education debt.

Small steps add up!

My goal for March is to pay off $3400 of debt by March 31. I picked this number because, while it's aggressive, I have over a month and a half in which to accomplish it. Also, I'll be 34 in March, so it seems poetic.

As I updated my sidebar to reflect my progress and my new goal, I realized that my goal balance is $436,436. So that seems kind of cute too.

I'm so glad I don't have to explain to you guys how making a game of my finances helps me stay excited about getting out of debt. :-)

My big UK payment posted, to the tune of $1556 in principal! So what does that mean? Well...

$3,559 paid for February, so I exceeded my goal of $2,900!

$1,701 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal!

$65,233 to go in my Big-Picture Goal!! This one's especially exciting to me because it means I've paid off more than $5K in credit card debt since Jan. 1. Though my overall balance, $439,836, is very pleasing too, because it means that if I weren't counting an estimated $40K for NT's future education, our debt would now be under $400K.

OK, time to figure out my March goal!

U.S. mortgage: $291 to principal
UK #1: $116
UK #2: $24
UK #3: $26
Total: $457 of principal

Which means $2,003 down, $897 to go on my February goal...

$3,257 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal...

No progress on my Big-Picture goal, as it only concerns credit card and personal debt.

I just posted a GBP740 (about $1,480) payment to one of our UK credit cards, so as soon as it hits we'll breeze past our February goal and take a big chunk out of the other two. That will happen tomorrow or Wednesday!

$287 to principal.

$1,546 down, $1,354 to go on my February goal

$3,714 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal

$66,789 to go on my Big Picture Goal

I will transfer a bunch of money to our UK account today or Monday, and once it goes through, I should be able to put enough toward a credit card to reach our February goal! Looks like I underestimated our February debt-paying potential, because of unexpectedly not owing the taxes we thought we would. Well, that just means I'll set a higher goal for March, since I'll be starting that challenge so early in February.

$58--all to principal, as this card is 0% till May.

$1,259 down, $1,641 to go on my February goal.

$4,001 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal.

$67,076 to go for my Big-Picture Goal.

Yee-haw!

Almost forgot about this one! It takes so long for payments to post on their crappy low-tech Web site that it's hard to remember to go back and check.

$53 paid to principal

$1201 down, $1699 to go in my February goal

$4059 to go on my Overall Ad Hoc Goal

No progress on my Big-Picture Goal

Awhile ago I mentioned NT getting a tax bill from the UK that came out to close to US$1150. NT thought it was a mistake, so he wrote a letter and sent documentation explaining it. Meanwhile I saved up the money and, because the bill would be due Jan. 31, transferred it along with my regular bill-covering transfer in early January.

NT used MLK Day, since it's not a UK holiday, to call the tax office in England. I was pleasantly surprised to hear they'd accepted his explanation, no money was due, and a letter was on its way across the pond confirming that!

Since the money was already in the account, I hastened to pay off one credit card we'd nearly gotten rid of and make a large payment to the next-highest-interest UK card. (I was tempted to pay off a really small-balance card, but its interest rate is way better so I did the sensible thing.)

All told, I knocked out US$1,148 of principal! And I get to add to my Old Debt Graveyard page.

February goal: $1,148 down, $1,752 to go.
Overall Ad Hoc Goal: $4,112 to go.
Big-Picture Goal: $67,134 to go.

OK, I'm setting my February goal high, but we've all seen small increases in our paychecks so I think we can make it. I want to pay off $2,900 in principal by the end of February. I just realized it's a leap year and February is 29 days long, so it seems an even more fitting goal. I'm starting now, so it's not really $100 per day, but I like the way that sounds. :-)

Ugh, I've been sick and haven't felt like posting, but I finally feel a little better. Checked my personal loan account and my payment posted. $403 went to principal, which means I met my January goal!

Goal: $1575
Results: $1592

$5,260 to go on my overal Ad Hoc Goal

$68,282 on my Big-Picture Goal

I have a full day of work ahead of me but I wanted to post because my UK credit card payment posted! The nice exchange rate allowed me to put GBP 500, or US$1,000, toward principal! So that's $1189 down, $386 to go on my January goal.

$5,663 go to in my overall Ad Hoc Goal.

$68,685 to go in my Big-Picture Goal.

Hooray!

A whopping $8 in principal! :-)

$189 down, $1386 to go in my January goal.

$6,663 to go in my overall Ad Hoc Goal.

$69,685 to go in my Big-Picture Goal.

$286 to principal. I've finally made up for the dent my dishwasher caused, and so it's $181 down, $1394 to go in my January goal.

And $69,693 left in credit card/personal loan debt.

UK credit card: $272 in principal
US mortgage: $289
UK mortgage1: $110
UK mortgage2: $24
UK mortgage2: $24
Total: $719

$1680 to go in my January goal.

I should probably add something to my control bar about my goal to pay off all personal/credit card debt in 2 years. I'll go do that now!

$58 to a credit card.

$2399 to go for January!

Student loan: $55 to principal
UK CC: $13 to principal

Need to pay $2457 more to reach my Jan. goal.

As predicted, the dishwasher I felt was the best value overall came to $950 with installation, haul-away, 5-year warranty etc. Soo, that's on a Sears card with no interest or payments for awhile. I'll leave it there and concentrate on other debts, then pay that one off before it starts costing me interest.

That means I'm $950 behind on my January goal, as expected. So to pay off $1575 of debt by Jan. 31, I actually need to pay off $2525 in principal. Should be manageable since that's what I generally do each month.

On the upside, spanking new dishwasher, and no worries about repairs or replacement for five years! They'll even come and give it a free cleaning and general tune-up once a year.

Also, it's ENERGY STAR-certified. Is there a tax break for that? I'll have to look into it.

OK, I've decided to make my goal this month $950 less than usual, since that's how much my dishwasher might be [gulp!] with installation, tax and 5-year warranty. If I decide I can afford the one I really want.

So my January 2008 goal is to pay off $1575 in principal. BUT, to make sure I don't go off track for my overall goal, I'll be increasing my February and March goals. I would need to pay in a minimum of $2700 in each month to reach my goal by 3/31. I may make it a bit more aggressive than that if it looks like I can handle more. I'll cross that bridge when it's closer to February and I know more about our '08 net pay.

A UK credit card payment posted--$194 went to principal, which means I reached my December goal!

Goal: $2525
Results: $2571!

I will wait a bit before posting my January goal--have to figure out how much this dishwasher's going to set me back!

PS: I just realized this marks the sixth month that I have set an aggressive debt-repayment goal and met it!

Personal loan payment hit: $432 toward principal. So that's $2377 down, $148 to go to reach my December payoff goal.

I'm pretty sure some other automatic payments have posted by now, so I may have hit my goal. I'm about to go through the UK accounts and see.

Since I'll probably buy a new dishwasher on credit next month, my January goal may have to be more conservative than usual--even though I have a plan to pay off the dishwasher, I do have to add it to my total debt until I do so. Probably what I'll do is figure out what extra I need to pay on the other months to make sure I reach my overall ad hoc goal of paying off $19,520 by the end of March. Better to make extra payments on those interest-charging debts while the dishwasher is sitting on a no-interest card!

Checked some online accounts, and the following amounts of principal have been paid:
US mortgage: $288
UK mortgage 1: $124
UK mortgage 2: $26
UK mortgage 3: $28
Credit card: $273
= $739

So that's $1945 down, $580 to go for December. I think I have at least $750 in minimum payments hitting later in the month, so we should make the goal, no problem. :-)

I paid off the credit card that I used to reserve hotel rooms for our trip to England in May. The remaining balance was $1148. So for my December goal, that's $1206 down, $1319 to go.

My December goal is same as the last two months, to pay off at least $2525 in principal by the end of the month.

To that end, I just checked another credit card and that payment posted. $58 in principal, so that's only $2467 left to go for December!

This is another new credit card bill, the card I used to pay for my England plane tickets. It has 0% APR until May 2008, so I'm going to pay the minimum on that one till I get closer to that deadline. Then I'm going to pay quickly before it builds much interest.

It has been painful to put these expenses on credit, even though I planned for this back in July when I first started this debt repayment regimen. I'm going to work very hard to make sure that this, and NT's education, are the only things in the future I don't buy with my own money (barring a new house when we eventually move).

Hooray! My early credit card payment posted: $23 to principal. So I paid off $2545, $20 over my goal, in November.

This was on a credit card that I used to reserve my England hotel rooms for our trip in May. It does not have a pretty interest rate, so I'm going to pay off the remaining balance on payday (Friday). This means I should absolutely slaughter my December goal! :-)