November Update: $10,000 Debt Repayment
In June I announced my mission to pay off $9,888.00 in debt by the end of the year. I’m 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
Last month it became clear that I likely won’t make my goal, but instead of giving up, I’m pushing to pay off as much as I can by the end of the year. Then, I’ll just keep going until the debt is gone! With payment #5 out the door, let’s see how things stand.
Minimum Monthly Payment
The minimum monthly payment for the current billing cycle was $80. 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 $100 per week, adding $400 to our debt repayment effort.
Mystery Shopping
Just as I was about to make my payment, I received notification I was paid $30 for a mystery shopping job I did last month. It was a restaurant shop, in which I was reimbursed for food purchased. Since the initial purchase was taken out of our entertainment budget, the $30 goes towards debt.
Extra Writing
During the last month, I did one extra writing job for which I was paid $25. Every little bit helps!
Our debt payment this month breaks down as follow:
- Minimum payment : $108
- Suspension of Saving: $500
- Reduction of Spending: $400
- Mystery Shopping: $30
- Extra Writing Payment: $25
Total payment: $1063
Here’s all the payments I’ve made so far:
- July : $1208
- August: $937
- September: $1640
- October: $737
- November: $1063
All the payments combined is a total repayment so far of $5585, leaving a balance of $4303 (remember, this debt is under a 0% interest credit card promotional offer). As mentioned, I’m may not be able to meet my goal of paying off the debt completely by the end of the year, but I’m definitely taking a big bite out of it, and I’m going to keep going until it’s gone!
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
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P.s. if you reading this and you’re into learning about more bloggers paying off debt, consider reading Our Debt Free Family, it’s a nice little story of a woman who is working on paying off a ton of debt.
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.