Student loan paid off!

I PAID OFF MY ONLY STUDENT LOAN!

I mean, it was only $4,500 back in 2012 when I graduated so, not a huge deal. I can still celebrate another debt gone though!!!

I have been paying $50 a month on this loan since 2012. That only equals to $4,800 but what a waste of $300!

I saw that the loan was down to $455 and I’ve been holding onto this one simply because the interest was nonexistent anymore and it was my oldest line of credit technically. I’m sure my credit will take a hit for it being paid off, but I definitely feel better.

This reduces my monthly spending by $50, to bring my spending to a whopping $1579 per month-that’s with the $500 loan payment I have still that is my LAST DEBT! How awesome is that?

Now onto my LAST debt! It has taken a bit longer than I had hoped, but life is messy for sure! A few more months and I will be debt free!

Imposter syndrome

I have been suffering from imposter syndrome since I started this blog. Unfortunately it gives me writer’s block and makes me anxious so I avoid writing here. Today, when listening to the latest episode of my favorite FI podcast, I realized that writing about my journey could help someone, while keeping me accountable. So…here I am again!

Weekly Summary

Financial Win of the Week:

This week I sent $1,000 to debt! Five star is going to be paid off by July! I originally predicted June, but recalculated and am being conservative. I also did something I don’t usually do…and it wasn’t very FI minded of me. Our community has been doing something called wine fairies. I decided to give back after having gifts dropped off on my porch twice! I spent about $200 to get gifts for 15 local ladies who deserve it! It feels SO GOOD to give back. In these times we really need to support each other and lift spirits. So, I consider this a win!

Weekly Summary: Financial win and fail of the week

FINANCIAL WIN OF THE WEEK:

Paying off my car is obviously the biggest win this week! I am saving $390 a MONTH in payments. Also, now that I own my car and have means to buy another car, I no longer need comp and collision on my vehicle. This means my insurance dropped dramatically. I was paying (splitting the bill with my husband) $81. Now, my share is only $25! How awesome is that? This is going to accelerate my debt payoff and subsequently my FIRE journey.

FINANCIAL FAIL OF THE WEEK:

I went to Walmart today for the first time in WEEKS! I saw a cute pillow and thought “my son would love that!” and bought it. $14.88 for a pillow. Admittedly it is pretty awesome-it’s a spider-man body pillow! I also saw a Pioneer Woman ice cream scoop that I had to have. So, I spent a little money I didn’t need to. I would say I regret this, but I don’t. I don’t think it was excessive even if it was impulse buying! No one is perfect and we all love something that is new and pretty once in a while!

Obviously I came out in the POSITIVE this week! We will see what next week holds!

Car is PAID OFF!

It’s been a while since I have written anything!

Here is the scoop, with this coronavirus I have been in a funk. I have been homeschooling 5 kids, working from home, taking care of the dog and trying to maintain a household and my sanity! It has not been easy!

Also, my finances were at a standstill as we were saving for a house, so I kind of lost ambition to post here because it didn’t feel quite right. Well…our house was AGAIN ripped from under us. This time, by bad business practices on the listing agent’s part! That was taken as a sign that the house will not work out this year. I am a believer in everything happens for a reason and CLEARLY buying a house this year was not meant to be! We made the decision to stop pursuing a house and use some of the savings to pay off debts and some to fix up our current apartment a little more!

BAD NEWS!

So, we found out the bank messed up on our contract and we are now not able to get the triplex we are under contract for. This is really bad news. I was very excited to be moving forward with real estate investing! I am upset with the bank for messing up and upset with myself for getting my hopes up. But…

Stay the course!

With the world in panic, it is easy to buy into the hype. Understandably people are afraid right now. People are calling this the “apocalypse”. They’re saying the economy may never come back and that the world as we know it is over. Luckily, if you pay attention to the news you know that isn’t true. China has gone two days with no new cases of COVID 19. Sure, it took them about 3 months to get to that point, but the United States has really responded quickly to this virus. New York and several other states are now under a “stay at home” order. This is long before the timeline China or Italy instituted this. I am glad that the response has been so swift by our government here in the states. As far as the FIRE community goes…the posts I have seen and the conversation…is concerning. It seems that many people have joined the community between 2008 and now. Although, I am one of those people, hearing so many testimonies of FIRE still working in 2008 and the years after have given me faith. Staying the course is still THE BEST COURSE! Remember, the market ALWAYS goes up, over time! Remember what you’ve been taught, remember what retiring early or reaching financial independence means to you. Remember your why! Stay the course!

Fun free activities to do at home!

Hey everyone, since we’re stuck at home I figured I would give everyone some ideas for keeping busy. Since the FIRE community is already pretty good at this, a lot of these will be known to many of my readers…but who knows, so here it goes!

Debt Update!

My snowball is on hold currently, like I’ve said in previous posts! I’ve been struggling with this because I was so dedicated to paying off my debt. I keep having to remind myself that I’m still paying off debt in the way of minimum payments! Watching progress and seeing how far I’ve come really helps while I’m on hold!

Starting debt: $27,831

Current Debt: $17,445