Debt Reduction March and April 2014

Yes I am a total and complete slacker and am over a month late with this update. As my last post explains, staying on top of things has been difficult for me as I am growing a human being and my head is in twelve places at once. As such, this may be the last official update and I may just continue to keep my paper record and at the end of the year, let you know how we did. Because I know that things are only going to get crazier and I did not even budget for April or May except for our regular bills. I am very happy with where our savings is at this point but I know we need to save more before the baby gets here, which means that I need to get my butt back in gear on the budgeting front. I bought Quicken and am hoping the automatic updating of accounts and categorization will help me to stay more on top of things. Plus we will each have an app on our phones where we can take pictures of receipts and link that to a transaction. So if we lose receipts, it will be no big deal anymore. Though I may not be doing monthly debt payoff updates, I will try to let you know if this change in how we budget helps us out. But onto the numbers....

Here is how our debt numbers looked at the beginning of April...

Credit Card #1: $0 (-363.24) (In other words PAID OFF)

Credit Card #2: $4,190.64 (-152.99)

Car Loan: $12,357.83 (-189.19)

Student Loan #1: 27,865.35

Student Loan #2: $56,914.03 (-151.00)

End of March Debt: $101,327.85

Debt Paid off in March: $856.42

Debt Paid off in 2014: $1342.37

The March debt number is higher because Student Loan #1 has gained interest. But the good news is my smaller credit card balance is paid off!!!! That card hasn't been paid off in a very long time, I did the responsible thing and used our tax refund to pay if off but the rest of it got spent.....at least there is one less monthly payment to worry about. But for debt paid off throughout the year I still totaled the amount I have actually paid towards debt. I think I will continue to update on debt status but probably not much else for the rest of this year at least. Going to try and get back on the saving and paying down debt wagon. Since it is May, decided to include April pay off as well.

Here are our debt numbers as of the beginning of this month....

Credit Card #1: $21.50

Credit Card #2: $4,073.01 (-117.63)

Car Loan: $12,165.62 (-192.21)
Student Loan #1: $27,865.35
Student Loan #2: $56,781.28 (-132.75)
End of April Debt: $100,906.76
Debt Paid off in April: $442.59
Debt Paid off in 2014: $1784.96

So in case you are wondering I did not use credit card #1, Matt and I went to a zoo last fall right before they closed and turns out their credit card machine got turned off before being closed out. This means that we were never charged until they turned it back on at the beginning of May. This will get paid off as soon as I can get things straightened out with my credit card after thinking someone got my credit card number and then finding out they didn't. Also once again student loan #1 is still a challenge for me to use in calculations, I don't get statements so I can't see balance from month to month, only when I look at it that day. So because I didn't track it like I should have at the beginning of the year, the numbers are slightly off. I will be recording balance at the end of every month from now on in order to keep better track. I am pretty proud of the progress we have made but honestly slightly disappointed that I am falling off the wagon. Hopefully by the beginning of June I can have Quicken figured out (still getting used to the software but like what I see so far in terms of visualizing our spending) with the help of a book. I have a guide in my amazon cart but waiting until there is something else I need so that I can get free shipping. 

I currently have another post in the works and want to do a pregnancy update but sleep has been winning once again, that and housework and hubby time and trying to figure out summer plans and starting to get a little stressed about baby stuff oh and work and....the list goes on and it will only get longer once our little one is here. Ultrasound is May 30 so I will probably be doing a big update after that with pictures of our little bambino :-)

Ta Ta for now!