Lessons I learned the last two months as I’ve started receiving income again:
Paying everything at the beginning of the month can leave you struggling at the end of the month.
Even with money coming in regularly, it feels much better to have a buffer in your checking account and at least a small emergency fund.
After a year in “starvation” mode, even a little splurge right now feels too much.
Overall, April has been a great month financially. (You can see last month’s debt update here.)
Debt DescriptionOctober, 2023 TotalInterest RateMinimum PaymentCurrent Total Payoff Date (Est)
CC – Sams$1,10629.99%$0$0April, 2024
CC – Amazon$1,49729.99%$53$1,462May, 2024
CC – Wander$1,63029.24%$75$1,605June, 2024
Personal Loan #1$2,5000%$500 (beg April)$1,500June, 2024
Personal Loan #2$2,5000%$500 (beg April)$2,000June, 2024
CC – Frontier$3,85729.99%$131$3,566
Dad – New Furnace$2,6000%$500 (beg June or July)$2,600
CC – USAA$5,00019.15%$135$4,996
Car Loan$19,58112.69%Gymnast Pays$16,623
Student Loans$22,1212.875%In Deferrment$22,505
CC – Apple**$500Paid off every month$0
CC – AMEX$89429.24%$0$0
Total$61,186$1,622$56,857
Updates
The Sam’s Club card is paid in full. Woot, woot! But I am not going to close it. The kids and I use that membership very regularly for food and gas. The girls and I even got our eyes examined there this past month – only $67 for an eye exam. (If we buy our glasses there, we get 20% off. Princess has already taken advantage of this. I’m holding off at least one more month before spending that money.)
I have rearranged the table (again) to show the order I am focusing on the debt. With my current forecast, here are the next anticipated payoff dates:
Amazon CC – May, 2024
Personal Loan #1 – June, 2024
Personal Loan #2 – June, 2024
Wander CC – June, 2024
I’ve not yet purchased a lawn mower. Still dreading that completely. Thankfully, Beauty’s boyfriend graciously volunteered to cut our grass last week, buying me a few more weeks. I will have to address the need in May for sure. I did purchase a edger/trimmer thing. It ran me $131 and is electric. The downside is that it will only run 25 minutes per battery charge. The upside is it’s the same brand as all my other tools so I will have 3 interchangeable batteries so can get the yard done with quick battery changes. At least in theory! So I can start doing some of the yard with that.
Moving along the right direction steadily. I am working 3-4 12 hour days weekly between my two jobs. And loving every minute of it.
The post Hope’s Debt Update – April, 2024 appeared first on Blogging Away Debt.
