How to Post your Initial Debt and Post Updates

[captainredracer]

We ask that our members post their updates in a specific way because it helps our volunteer captains update the weekly spreadsheets correctly and quickly. It helps to put your update in bold so that your post won’t be missed.


Step #1: Decide which debt(s) to race.

This can include credit cards, student loans, car loans, mortgage debt, personal loans, etc. You can include ALL debts, or race in heats (first consumer debt, then car loans, student loans, mortgage, etc.) and rejoin after each heat. Most people prefer to race their consumer debt and once that race is won, then come back and add their mortgage debt. It is up to you to decide the best strategy for your situation. You can always ask the members for their advice!

See the "Tips Strategies WIRR members use to pay of debt" thread to get some ideas.

We recommend you post exact amounts rather than guessing or rounding your numbers. This forum is about being honest with ourselves, so add up the real numbers. We know it hurts, but you’ll be glad you did!

Step #2: How to post for the first time:

When you post your debt for the first time, we ask you to follow the format below and to put the tagline in bold font. To do this, highlight your tagline and click the “B” icon at the top of the message box.

There are two formats that are commonly used to post your numbers in the "tagline":

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Format #1: report your total debt only.

Username: Current date, current total (joining date, starting amount, and starting page)

Your starting page is the page listed on the Proboard thread where you made your very first post that lists your debt. This number can be found in the upper or lower left of the Proboard thread.


Example tagline: Coffeegirl: 2/7/09 $8,500 (1/7/09, $10,000, NE21)

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FORMAT #2: report your total debt AND a breakdown of where that debt is allocated.

Showing all the debts is sometimes a real eye-opener for people and encourages them to get moving, which is why we recommend this. Is your debt too big for you to grasp? That's ok, too. Feel free to post a subset of your debt (for example, only credit card debt) first and then when you succeeded paying that off, start another race.

Example tagline: Coffeegirl: 2/7/09 $8,500 (1/7/09, $10,000, NE21)

	Interest rate	Starting Debt	Current Debt	Difference
CC#1	5%	$5,000	$4,500	(-500)
CC#2	10%	$3,000	$2,500	(-500)
Car loan	6%	$2,000	$1,500	(-500)
Total		$10,000	$8,500	(-$1,500)

It is up to you to decide how you want to post your allocation. We just ask that you use the specified format above to post your tagline.

Posting using the table format:

For your first post, you may want to post your numbers directly in the message box. If you post directly in the message box, your numbers are likely to be out of alignment. To fix this, we’ve created an excel table that you can enter your values in and then copy and paste directly into the message box. This will keep the numbers organized when you post on ProBoards. It takes some practice to get the excel sheets to work but it is worth the effort to figure it out!

You can ask a member of your region to send you a copy of the excel spreadsheet and she (or he) will help you figure out how to use it. Everyone is very willing to help! Don't be afraid to ask questions as we all went through the "learning curve" to learn how to create tables.

Step #3: How to post an update

You can update weekly, biweekly or monthly—or after you’ve made a big payment to your debt. You can choose how often you want to update. Most people update monthly or biweekly since that follows their pay schedule.

Use the format described above to post your update. It helps the volunteers if you start your tagline with “Update” or your user name and then put your numbers. Don't forget to put your updated in tagline "bold" font. Note: it also helps if you use a dark font, some of the lighter fonts are hard to read and can be missed.

In addition to reporting your numbers, we really like to hear what you did to reduce your debt or what has happened that made your debt increase. This is all part of the accountability that makes the women so successful at paying of their debt!

In addition to reporting their current debt, some members like to report the total amount paid, amount paid since the previous post, % paid etc. You are welcome to add these little “extras” as you want.

Step #4 - Smilestones (our reward system)

We reward our members by posting smiley faces (emoticons) that represent different values of debt that has been paid off. These smiley faces are posted in the weekly regional updates provided by our volunteer captain and co-captains. A list of the smiley's and the debt amount paid that they represent are listed below:

= $100
= $500
= $1,000
 = $5,000
= $10,000
= $25,000
 = $75,000
= $100,000
= $200,000

Debt Emoticons: some of our members thought it would be fun to list their debt amount in the form of emoticons. While the captains don't use these in their weekly update, you are welcome to use them to as part of your post if you'd like.

$100 -
$500 -
$1,000 -
$5,000 -
$10,000 -
$25,000 -
$100,000 -

Still confused? There is a lot of information to digest. If you have any questions, just jump right in and post a message on your regional thread and someone will help you.