Monthly TD Line of Credit

It is the end of the month and time to find out what my student debt is at. This month I put in 150.00 +65.00 +200.00 = 415.00.
In total this month I put in 415.00. This brings my total line of credit down to $33,189.37. This means that in total I have put in $1,191.44. I am very proud of this number. I know that its not massive but it is a start.

Math:
34,380.81 - 1,191.44= $33,189.37


$415.00 is not enough to meet my debt repayment goals so how do I increase this amount. I have bee reading a lot of other blogs to get ideas. One of the blogs that I was reading had a 'snowflake jar' which puzzled me. So I googled it and came across another idea to help pay down my debt. The idea of snowflake finance is to put what ever is left over even it its only 25 cents in to your debt. So I am going to try this method. Actually I already did with my lay 2 pays ago. The money that was left over before last pay was almost enough to completely pay off the remanning debt to Dave. This made me feel really great! So I am completely on board with this idea. I hope that the $24 will be the first to go into my 'snowflake fund' aka my Student Debt.


What about you? Will you start a snowflake jar?

Sundry Debt Update and Extra December Pay Cheque

I am so excited I gave the last $62.80 to Dave today. Which means that he is completely pied off!!!! YAHOO finally since it was outstanding since August. Also the first $50 for Miranda is sitting on my desk ready to give her when I next see her, and at the rate that we are going it might not be until after next week's pay day. If this happens then I will have the next $80 for her. Which means that after she has that $80.00 I will be Sundry Debt free!!! I know I am jumping the gun a little bit but I am excited about the idea. To be even a little bit debt free is an exciting prospect.

In other news next month I get 3 pay cheques and I have spent the last couple of night agonizing over it to the point were I can't get to sleep. Its pathetic I mean now that I have money and I am trying to pay down debt and its an extra pay cheque I am still stressing over it. I had originally wanted to put the extra money left over after my automatic general saving deduction and cat fund deduction into debt. But other things have come up like my car fund which has to be at $2000 by the end of December. Also I have the chance to go to an academic conference in Cuba in February. And since there is no 'spare' credit (thank God) It has to be paid for in cash. The other thing is that I am not treating it as 'bonus or extra cash' for me its just another pay day. So I want to make sure I use it wisely. sigh.... advice anyone....

The first steps to payin' off debt

In my last post I mentioned that I have several sundry debts to friends. I recommend that they be the first things you tackle. Taking my own advise the first thing I did was pay off Jessica. I owed her money for the last of our shared phone bill a total of $117.56. The second one I started to work on was my debt to Dave. Now he's not fully paid off, but because he is the biggest I wanted a good chunk of it paid. I have given him $270 of the $332.80 that I owed him. So $332.80-$270= $62.80 that I still owe him. He would have been paid off last month but 'life got in the way.' So he was willing enough to let me delay for a month. The topic of 'life getting in the way' I will talk about in another post. The other debts that I took care of was the $27.05 that I owed Dan. I am also happy to report that as of last night I have also paid of John which was $120.00. This leaves me with the last amount I owe to Dave and the full amount of $130.00 I owe Miranda.

Original sundry debt amount: $727.41

Current amount paid back: $534.61

Amount Outstanding: 192.80

Ownin' Up to the Debt

The first thing that Gail taught me was to Own Up to my student debt. To be honest I thought I knew what it was. I had it at a nice round number about 40,000.00. Ya I was way off almost 10,000.00 off. Gail has a great worksheet on her website that can help you as it did me own up to my debt. I know its scary to go it, but trust me you will start to feel you have a handle on your finances, when you actually know the true numbers. The second piece of advice that I have gained is: to write down any personal debt you have outstanding with friends. Then systematically get rid of the second list and plan out how you will work your way through the first list.

this is my First list:

PAY OFF IN Who you owe For What How Much Interest Rate 12 months 24 months 36 months TD Canada Trust student debt $34,380.81 5.00% $3,008.32 $1,539.97 $1,042.57 National Student Loans student debt $13,058.00 7.50% $1,169.78 $604.29 $412.60 TOTAL: $47,438.81 $4,178.10 $2,145.27 $1,455

TOTAL: 47,428.81

That is a VERY SCARRY NUMBER!!! I honestly can tell you my parents don't even know its that high. And of course I had no idea.

The second list included the sundry debts to friends:

Jessica (last phone bill for our aptm in Uni.)~ $117.56

John (Moving truck)~ $120.00

Miranda (concert ticket)~$130.00

Dan (containers)~ $27.05

Dave (trip)~ $332.80

TOTAL: 727.41

So GRAND TOTAL: 47,428.81 + 7.27.41 =48,156.22

Ya almost $50,000.00 in student debt and I want it paid off in 3.5 years. This is the first of my grand plans and this blog is going to help me keep on track.