What does national financial literacy month mean to you?
Well for my wife and I, we have set up a plan to pay down some of our debt. We have accumulated some debt over the past few years. It was by choice so that she could stay home with our two beautiful children. I wrote a post the other day asking you to take a moment to review your situation because April is National Financial Literacy Month.
Did you take a few moments to see where you stood? Are you going to do anything about your situation?
Our goals are to have all of this done by June 1. She has 4 payments left on her car and then it is ours baby!!!! It will be nice to receive that title and see no liens. Our approach is going to be contrary to what scholars recommend; which is to pay down card with highest interest rates first. We are taking the approach to hitting a few with moderate rates to pay them down first. We want the satisfaction of bringing down the overall amount of cards with balances on them down. The minor victories are going to give us momentum to push ahead and pay down other debt that we have.
This past weekend my wife and I sat down to formulate a plan on how we were going to do it. I am not going to get into detail right now, but this weekend I paid every bill that we had for the month. It is really nice to have a second income now to give us the flexibility to do this. Mind you that we chose to bring this all on, we wanted my wife to stay home with our kids we were fully aware of the situation we would be in. Your kids are only little once, and money was not as important as their well-being.
My wife and I both have our master’s degrees and are both working now and our debt will be paid down hopefully by the end of the year. We are taking an aggressive approach to get back on track. It is going to work great for us and I cannot wait to tell you all about it!! Who ever thought paying down bills would be so fun!!
It is such a good feeling to not have to pay a car payment every month! I haven’t had a car payment in a few years. But, my car is getting up there in miles, so I dread having to start the payment cycle over again.
@ Short Road To – I cannot wait until that car payment is gone. It will be such a relief and it will free up some funds for other things. Start saving now and pay cash for the car and you can do away with having no car payment.
I think paying bills is fun as well. It’s nice to have that relief.
@ Michelle – it is only fun when you have enough money in there to cover the bills. It is not fun having to juggle bills or find creative ways to stretch due dates!! Enjoy your weekend!
It sounds like you made a good decision by having your wife stay home with the kids. Some financial sacrifices are well worth it. I’m sure you’ll have no problem paying off all those debts now. For some people it does make sense to pay off the smaller loans first to help stay motivated
@ Jeremy – I like to think we did, I know it was more important than money at the time. Sure it put us a little behind in our finances, but I cannot take my money with me to the grave like I can memories of my children as they were little. Motivation is what we need and itll be a long journey!
With our impending condo closing on Monday, the bf and I have set a time to talk about finances and have a financial tune up. We both do our finances separately for now since we’re not married, but I like to talk about it regularly to make sure we’re on the same page.
@ Kari – wow you guys set a time to talk about it. We were kind of just sitting there not doing much and we decided time to hit the bills! Congrats on the condo, you must be very excited, I noticed you have been posting steps on buying a home- Good Read!
Your not playing with defeating debt, is that your license plate. Keep us posted with the car payoff, boy its a good feeling, when you get that car title.
@ Lorilla – No that is not my license plate. I live in NY. It should be within the next paycheck or 2 that we pay it off! I will be sure to let everyone know, cuz I will be pumped!
The best part of paying bills is seeing them all go away! I would have to say that whatever route you choose to pay off your debt is your choice so stick with what works for you! The momentum you’ll gain is the most important!
@ Shopping to Saving – I agree with you, once you can get some momentum that is what carries you and puts on the right track. That is why I chose the small quick victories first! Enjoy your weekend!!
Needless to say, paying down debt is one of the best things you can do for your financial future. Paying off your car will not only free up a lot of cash, but it’s sure to motivate the hell out of you to come up with more money saving options. I’m looking forward to your future post where you tell us that the car is finally free-and-clear.
@ Anthony – Thanks for the words of encouragement…It has taken us a while to realize that we just need to do it and be done with the bills!
I love paying my bills as early as I can I have been trying to come up with a time that all of our debts will be paid off (and have gotten the answer of “a long time from now”) but everytime I see a little improvement I get all excited!
@ bogofdebt – even small victories give us momentum to move! Great job on paying down your debt as well. Hopefully we will both have the same journey to debt freedom really soon!
I like paying down the bills with the smallest balances first too. It’s just one less bill that you have to worry about.
@ Katie – exactly and it makes you feel like you are accomplishing something too! Big bills you will just pay down and it doesnt really feel like anything but paying off a card…phenomenal!
Christopher, debt for a house is typically OK but consumer loans and credit cards can be financially toxic. I once bought a new car and was so happy when I finally paid it off. What a drag!
@ Astro – Yes we have the house and we do have some cc and student loans. We are working on paying off the cars and CC now. Once those are done we will tackle the student loans. Both my wife and I have them from undergrad and masters so that will be for a while!
If you can be out of debt completely in a year, that would be AWESOME!! I think it was agreat idea to have a parent stay with the kids, I think that’s a really important thing that people just don’t do anymore. I think it’s worth the extra time you stayed in debt. And now you’re almost out! Awesome!
@ TB – We are going to climb out of CC debt, we have quite a few more years with student loans between my wife and I. I agree it was important to us to have her stay home. My little girls wouldn’t have turned out so perfect if she didn’t!
My tune-up is not to take any credit if only it’s emergency accident.
Paying down debt is very exciting, especially towards the end! I’m only 2 payments away from owning my car and I’m ecstatic! 🙂 It’s so much more empowering to take control of your finances, instead of them controlling you (and your actions).
Congrats on paying off debt!
Thank you very much. How have you been these days?