I haven’t updated the status of my debt reduction lately. I think that’s partly because I feel guilty that I haven’t made that much of a dent in it. I’ve decided that with all the talk about having a baby, gas prices skyrocketing, and the unstable economy that I’m going to be throwing every extra “snowflake money” into our savings account.

I go back and forth between paying off debt and saving money. I’ve got quite a nice chunk of change in our savings account now, but I want to keep building it up in case something happens. I think about paying off our student loan and mortgage early, but then I get worried that we’ll need a new car or something will break or something awful will happen and then I decide to just put the money in savings.

It’s almost an obsession, which I’m sure it can be for a lot of people. “Should I pay off debt, or save money?” is one of the most prevalent, if not number one, question among smart savers these days.  In our situation, it’s a toss up, I think.  Our loans are at good interest rates (nothing more than 6.89%), and I think that if we need to get a loan in the future there’s a possibility that the interest rates may be much higher than they are now.  If I save enough money, I won’t need to borrow any.

Any way I look at it, I’m still paying off debt and saving money at the same time, so it’s a win-win situation. Maybe when things start looking up I’ll put more money towards paying off debt faster.  But for now, the peace of mind of having that savings account have a larger balance outweighs any other doubts I may have.   And that’s all that matters.

Posted under My Debt Reduction

Personally I love when people post their debt reduction and savings plans. I am updating my debt reduction this morning. I decided to take some money out of savings and pay on our student loan debt. I’ve also consolidated it at a much much lower interest rate. The personal peace of mind is priceless to me, so I decided it was worth it. We do still have a nice “cushion” in our savings account, but now that our student loan balance is down to a more comfortable level and I know we aren’t getting eaten alive in interest, I’m going to start saving more money for our emergency fund, a new car, and also for retirement. I’m proud to say we are under the $10,000 mark, and I hope to get under the $5,000 mark by the end of this year. I’m going to take half the money I make online and put towards this debt, and the other half I will put in savings. I can’t wait to get this paid off!

Posted under Money, My Debt Reduction, Pay Off Debt, Student Loans

The last time I updated this, I owed $12,333.78 on the student loan. As of today, the current balance owed is $11,899.22! I am happy that it has fallen below the $12,000 mark!

I got paid a quarterly bonus and put most of it towards the student loan. Also, I have paid off the Home Depot Credit Card that had 0% for 12 months before the promotional period expired.

Ultimately, I’d like to pay off this student loan before the year is over, but that seems like a pretty hefty goal, so I’m going to go with 2 years, or 24 months to have it paid off.

Posted under My Debt Reduction, Pay Off Debt, Student Loans