August Update: $10,000 Debt Repayment Update
In June I announced my mission to pay off $9,888.00 in debt by the end of the year. I’ll be utilizing every means necessary to do it, including:
- Reducing weekly spending
- Re-starting my mystery shopping side hustle
- Pick up extra writing jobs
- Temporarily halt deposits into our emergency fund / savings
It’s time for an update, this is month #2 of our journey. Let’s take a look at the breakdown of how we did this month!
Minimum Monthly Payment
The minimum monthly payment for the current billing cycle was $147. The minimum payment was already factored into our monthly budget therefore no reduction in spending or extra income needed to cover this.
Suspension Of Saving
Until the debt is gone, we’re suspending our monthly contributions to our emergency fund / savings. This gives us an additional $500 to put towards the debt.
Reduction of Spending
We reduced our weekly entertainment spending by $60 per week, adding $240 to our debt repayment effort. This is down significantly from last month because we had to come up with extra cash for a visit to the vet for our cat. We spent $320 to find out our cat was dehydrated. Dear cat, please drink more water.
Mystery Shopping
I still didn’t do any mystery shopping, but it’s because I ignored it on purpose. More info in the section on extra writing!
Extra Writing
I got paid for the extra writing opportunity from last month, which added $50 to our debt repayment total. Plus, I was presented with four additional opportunities which total $650! That money will be paid out in the next 30 days.
Our debt payment this month breaks down as follows:
- Minimum payment : $147
- Suspension of Saving: $500
- Reduction of Spending: $240
- Extra Writing Payment: $50
Total payment: $937
A great reduction of our debt, but still well below the $1648 per month needed. However, next month should be much better. Hopefully no visit to the vet will be needed, and I’ll have some big time extra funds from writing to apply to the debt.
Progress
Starting Debt: $9,888.00
- Payment #1: $1208
- Payment #2: $937
Total debt Paid: $2145
Debt Remaining: $7783
Gotta keep chugging along, I want this debt gone!
How about you, Clever Friends, are you paying off a large amount of debt? How’s it going for you?
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.