Women in Red Racers - Northeast Region

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Idle, as long as you can get the two debts paid off before they reset, I wouldn't be too aggressive on them.  The SL is more of a rate concern, but usually those aren't something a person can just pay off right now. 

I'd pay enough on the debts to pay them off by the reset date but no earlier, not pay aggressively on the car, and continue to work on your house fund. 

If you're going to be consumer debt free (except the SL) by July 2015 (Yay!), that'd be a great time to go looking for a mortgage and a house. 

And congrats!

[tribeca7]

UPDATE: tribeca7: 1/31/14, $37,068.40 (3/6/13, $45,406.31, NE101)

[nidena]

I'm in the Air Force. I work on planes as an avionics technician. It's not my passion but it's been paying the bills for nearly 18 years now--only 26 months until I reach 20 years...not that I'm counting.

I got a buyer for my truck!!! Yeah, me! And it's for enough more than I owe that I can put a large chunk into savings or towards some debt. I'm leaning towards putting it in my Roth for 2014.  I'm truly torn on this one.

My CC balance is $12,000 at 8%--not a high rate and I'm paying about $1000/mo (min is $150 I think) to get it down.  By selling the truck, I'll have an additional $270/mo to put towards it (truck payment is $212/mo and insurance is $121/mo for two cars). 

I'll be getting about $3700 to play with when I sell the truck.  Selling for $12,500; owe $8800.  Would you put that extra into your Roth for 2014 or would you pay down the credit card?  Mind you, I haven't done my taxes yet either so that's probably another $1000 that I'll get to play with. 

[Maryland Monroe]

Update: Maryland_Monroe[2] 2/1/14 $79605.98 (1/1/14 $80451.89 NE 113)

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Nidena, since you already have an aggressive plan to get rid of the cc debt in ~12 months, I like the idea of putting your windfall into the IRA. It's balancing the present with the future!

[movinonup]

UPDATE- movinonup: 01/31/2014 $303,402.79 (02/12/13 $309,217.65 NE100) NY

Account	Interest Rate	02/12/2013	12/28/2013	01/31/2014	Amount Paid Since Last Update	Total Amount Paid	Percentage Paid
LOC	18.240%	$3,500.00	$1,454.29	$2,003.36	$(549.07)	$1,496.64	42.76%
CC#1	18.990%	$20,688.08	$10,195.30	$9,965.30	$230.00	$10,722.78	51.83%
CC#2	0.000%	$(8.16)	$9,170.00	$16,242.60	$(7,072.60)	$(16,250.76)	(199151.47)%
CC#3	0.000%	$10,300.00	$8,768.52	$1,595.90	$7,252.62	$8,784.10	85.28%
CC#4	16.990%	$9,135.05	$7,612.16	$7,456.75	$155.41	$1,678.30	18.37%
CC#5	10.990%	$4,910.22	$11,221.00	$11,059.40	$161.60	$(6,149.18)	(125.23)%
CC#6	0.000%	$1,239.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,239.00	100.00%
SL#1	3.500%	$23,021.50	$21,236.27	$21,104.17	$132.10	$1,917.33	8.33%
SL#2	6.800%	$4,748.54	$3,703.75	$3,596.92	$106.83	$1,151.62	24.25%
SL#3	6.550%	$2,533.57	$2,124.25	$2,086.05	$38.20	$447.52	17.66%
MTG	3.875%	$220,170.76	$225,854.65	$225,515.59	$339.06	$(5,344.83)	(2.43)%
Auto	4.240%	$8,979.09	$3,397.01	$2,856.75	$540.26	$6,122.34	68.18%
Total		$309,217.65	$304,737.20	$303,402.79	$1,334.41	$5,814.86	1.88%

EF=$76.03

I am making progress, but am still spending too much.  There were a few non-recurring items that I am almost done paying. 

I transferred the balance from CC#3 to CC#2.  I essentially paid 2% up front to avoid additional interest for the next 12 months.  My current expenses are still a little out of control.  My EF was raided and my LOC was again used.  I am living on the edge financially, and I am not happy about it.  Using my UPromise credit card for nearly all of my expenses allows me to track my spending more efficiently and is helping me pay SL#1 and SL#2 faster.  I have been making lunch more often for about the last month.  I'm not bringing lunch every day yet, but I am getting better about preparing lunch.  I am working more hours at my side job, so this should help financially.  I need to come up with realistic goals for the year.  I haven't put enough thought into them yet.  I am still moving in the right direction, and I know my car will be paid off this year. 

Roth IRA contributions and EF deposits still on auto-pilot. 

-movinonup

[nidena]

I hate that, when you make a mortgage payment, so little pays down the balance:

01/31/2014 Payment $859.51 Principle $195.91 interest $505.85 Escrow $157.75

I will be posting an update as soon as the truck balance is $0.  Stupid bank...departments closed on weekends.  Sheesh!!

[munjoyhill]

Update Munjoyhill   2/4/14   $107,603.80  ($155,340.30 6/18/09)

[nidena]

Buyer's loan is finalized; now it's "24 to 72 hours" until my loan shows paid off. Holy moly!!! It's like waiting for paint to dry.

[nidena]

Woo Hoo!!

UPDATE:
nidena: 2/6/2013 $166,592.04 (8/22/2007 $223,361.2 N453,503,NE648,NPT25)

I've finally reached the $50k paid off milestone. I'm swapping truck keys for a check this afternoon and that check will be going into the Roth for this year. I've been selling quite a bit on our local facebook yard sale page so that has actually helped me NOT use my credit card. 

Doing my taxes will probably happen tonight and I'm hoping to have enough of a chunk to completely max out the Roth. I'd love to not have to think about that for the next year.

[wudnit]

Nidena:  Way to go!!  Don't you love it when a plan comes together!!  It will be great for you to have that fully funded Roth!  Takes the pressure off for another year.
Congrats on selling the truck and congrats on hitting that $50K PD milestone!!  All reasons for celebrating!!

[chiver78]

hey everyone

sorry I haven't been around for awhile. going to make an update of my own in a few days when a couple more things post. I've moved backwards in a couple spots, made progress in others, and took on a new balance that I'm not racing - but is currently sitting on one of the cards I track. so I need to figure out how to post an accurate picture with or without that in the list.

anyway, the reason I'm popping in here today without any numbers is to ask if we're still in need of someone to do the official updates? I mentioned a few months back that I was getting a new laptop w/Office 2010 - which is needed for the official spreadsheets. I have finally moved over to this machine permanently as my old one finally died last week. if we're still in need, I can take that over. I have a very old revision of the Northeast .xls file that I can start from, and y'all can yell at me if I miss anybody in the first couple rounds of updates.

thanks!

[jdnstl]

chiver - having at least one more captain for the region would be helpful. since there isn't a lot of activity it doesn't take much to do the updates. idlechatter as the latest spreadsheet, i emailed them to her after doing the GSOTU. please message her with your email addy & express interest as being captain again.

[bankergurl]

$100K List Updated as of 2/9/14! An astounding $16,976.02 paid off in the last 2 weeks! I can't wait to see the damage in the next few months when the tax returns start rolling in!!
One Leapfrog, Nidena from the Northeast!
Put your hands together for Minnesotagirl7[3] from the Midwest for graduating from the $100K Club!
Congrats to movinonup from the Northeast for paying off over $5K!
Congrats to megaptera from the West for getting under $295K!
Congrats to Nidena from the Northeast for paying off over 25%, and over $55K!
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/11187/100k-club?page=5&scrollTo=1858332

[bankergurl]

$50K - $100K List Updated as of 2/9/14! $12,008.80 paid off in the last two weeks! FABULOUS!
Welcome to Minnesotagirl7[3] from the Midwest!
Two leapfrogs, Pay-no-interest from the South and Wudnit from the Northeast!
Congrats to Maryland Monroe from the Northeast for getting under $80K!
Congrats to Wudnit from the Northeast for paying off over $105K!
Congrats to Pay-no-interest from the South for paying off over $275K!
- Two members lost due to no update in over 60 days.
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/11190/wirr-50-100k-club?page=5&scrollTo=1858382

[meltingdebt]

Update 2/14/14 $3053.19 (1/1/10 $30,844.93)

Debt	Original Balance	Last Balance	Current Balance	current change	total change
cable	$136.84	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($136.84)
cell phone	$367.54	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($367.54)
clothing store	$512.46	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($512.46)
CC #1	$742.37	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($742.37)
CC #2	$1168.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($1,168.00)
CC #3	$9499.62	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($9,499.62)
BCC #1	$4818.91	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	($4,818.91)
BCC #2	$13,599.19	$3453.19	$3,053.19	($400.00)	($10,546.00)
Total	$30,844.93	$3453.19	$3,053.19	($400.00)	($27,791.74)

Account	Original Balance	Last Balance	Current Balance	Current Change	total change
Savings	$0.00	$15.02	$180.02	$165.00	$180.02
Emergency	$0.00	$903.41	$1704.82	$801.41	$1704.82
Vacation	$0.00	$531.95	$932.76	$400.81	$932.76
New Car	$0.00	$1472.93	$1663.19	$235.26	$1663.19
IRA	$0.00	$1719.59	$1719.59	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$4642.90	$6200.38	$1557.48	$6,200.38

I cannot believe that it has been 2 months since my last update.  I was really hoping to have finished my race by now.  At the first of the year, I increased my automatic savings amounts.  For some reason though, I did not increase my payment amount to my very last credit card . 

On the bright side, my nephew is getting married in Las Vegas on St. Paddy's Day.  Trip has been paid for all in cash, and I have $600.00 stashed in my sock drawer as my spending money for the trip.  So my gift to myself this Valentines Day, is to get back on track, and get this credit card paid off, before I go on vacation in April. 

[wudnit]

I'm getting a bit excited.  When I started with WIR, I had 3 mortgages I was racing along with a HELOC.  I chose to race them as one race, but I do celebrate when I've paid off one of the debts.  So far, since I've been with WIR, I've only managed to pay off one of those mortgages.  However, I'm within 3 payments of paying off the next, and am hoping to have another paid off in 4 more payments.  I'm waiting for a windfall that we have been expecting for a long while now.  We had thought we would have it by now, but do not.  When we receive it, I do plan to put a chunk down on one of the mortgages to meet that June goal.  The last for us to tackle will be the HELOC which is pretty large, but I'm hoping to pay that off by June of 2015.  With the snowballing effect of the other payments, it will go quickly.  It feels good to be seeing the light at the end of the debt tunnel.  And it is exciting to have another "0" approaching!! 

For those with a mountain of debt, hang in there.  I've certainly been working through a mountain of it ($172,915), and it has taken a long time, but I'm getting there!! 

I'm looking forward to posting my March payments next week (I post when I've mailed the payments).  That will bring me within two payments of paying off another mortgage!!!!  I'm soooooo looking forward to when I can scream "I'm Debt Free."  At least now it seems doable, for awhile there, I was feeling like I was getting no where.

Hope all is well with everyone. 


Melting Debt:  Way to go having that trip paid for all in cash!!!  That is awesome.  Good luck paying off that credit card.  You can do this.

[bankergurl]

$100K List updated as of 2/24/14! $9,139.84 paid off in the last 2 weeks! Great job!
One Leapfrog, tulip from the South!
Congrats to tulip from the South for paying off over $5K!
Congrats to DizzyIntellectual from the Midwest for paying off over $20K!
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/11187/100k-club?page=5&scrollTo=1873833

[oceanfire31]

Oceanfire31: 2/25/2014 $6550.31 (09/07/2009 $22,908.15 NE679, NE692)

Account	1-23-14	2-25-14	Difference
SL (3.25%)	9124.36	6550.31	-2574.05
Savings	150	200	+50

I passed my UST test and used our tax return money to pay off a chunk of my loan. February is looking to have been a good month a little sad to see it go. 

[dschmidt1007]

UPDATE: dschmidt1007, 2/25/14, $91,882.36 (8/7/12, $110,668.68, NE90)

DEBT	STARTING DEBT	INTEREST RATE	CURRENT DEBT	MINIMUM PAYMENT	PAID OFF!!!	ANTICIPATED PAY OFF
American Express	$2,276.73	15.24%	$-	$-	$2,276.73	PAID OFF!!!
United Teletech Loan	$6,893.40	6.99%	$22,259.80	$552.00	$(15,366.40)	Nov-16
BoA - RCCL	$21,495.01	6.99%	$3,127.86	$64.00	$18,367.15	Mar-15
D's Car	$19,706.13	2.99%	$11,846.31	$484	$7,859.82	Apr-16
W's Car	$25,265.93	0.90%	$15,153.88	$550.00	$10,112.05	Jun-16
Sallie Mae SL	$13,609.27	4.38%	$11,971.35	$139.40	$1,637.92	Mar-17
Discover SL	$22,695.03	2.94%	$18,875.96	$264.00	$3,819.07	Aug-17
EdFinancial SL	$1,002.11	2.11%	$-	$-	$1,002.11	PAID OFF!!!
Care Credit	$2,467.00	0.00%	$-	$136.00	$2,467.00	PAID OFF!!!
Citi	$9,785.00	0.00%	$8,647.20	$-	$1,137.80	Jun-16
Total	$125,195.61	-	$91,882.36	$2,189.40	$33,313.25	Aug-17

So since last month's update, we finally got hubby's Year End bonus - you know, at the end of February - and his first client payment for his company.  We only took half the payment from his client (keeping half on the side of 2014 taxes as we have no clue what that's actually going to be), put $1,500 aside for some home repair items, and are putting pretty much the rest towards debt.  Thus far I've paid off our AMEX and paid off the Dave Matthews ticket I just bought on our Citicard (I could only get them in advance using that card otherwise I wouldn't have used it at all since it was a 0% balance transfer card).  

I am currently waiting on a $499 refund on our BoA RCCL card that was supposedly processed last Friday (2/21) for a ridiculous battle that we went through trying to purchase a bathroom vanity online & kept receiving defective & wrong models. Ugh!  2 months of my life lost fighting with those idiots. Long story short, we finally told them enough is a enough, give us our money back & pick up your stuff - now they won't pick it up without a box, so they told us to keep it/donate the vanities & we'll give you the remainder of your money back (they already gave us a $300 credit for all our trouble). In the meantime, I've had to purchase another vanity, so I have 3 bathroom vanities, 2 taking up space on my front porch, and still don't have my money back.  If I don't have it credited to me by Friday, all hell is going to break loose on them.

Also, I started a commission only job at the end of January, after being out of work since October.  It's sort of in the same field - I used to work for a hotel - but now I can help clients with any hotel they want to go to rather than just the one I worked for previously.  It's slow going reaching out to all my previous clients & trying to scrounge up new business, and it's daunting as I don't get paid until after the groups I send to hotels check in & check out.  So as an example, I managed to secure the bookings of the athletic teams of a pretty big school in NY, but since I'm booking their Fall sports, I won't get paid til like the end of the fall, which is scary, as my unemployment runs out in May if Congress continues to sit with their thumbs up their asses and do nothing.

[wudnit]

Update:

Wudnit  2/27/14 $63,842 (1/13/10 $172915 NEU46)



My new balances are as follows:

HE:              $37,289
House:          $21,697
Apartment:     $ 4,856

TOTAL:         $63,842

I lost my table format, so haven't been able to upload a new table in a long time.  My plan is to have the Apartment paid off in May. 

[nidena]

Feb 27, 2014 8:06:04 GMT -5 wudnit said:

Update:

Wudnit  2/27/14 $63,842 (1/13/10 $172915 NEU46)



My new balances are as follows:

HE:              $37,289
House:          $21,697
Apartment:     $ 4,856

TOTAL:         $63,842

I lost my table format, so haven't been able to upload a new table in a long time.  My plan is to have the Apartment paid off in May. 

Apartment paid (and in the 50Ks) by May?  Sounds like a great plan!!

[Maryland Monroe]

Update: Maryland_Monroe[2] 3/1/14 $78752.86 (1/1/14 $80451.89 NE 113)

[bankergurl]

$50K - $100K List Updated as of 3/2/14! $12,343.38 paid off in the last 3 weeks!
Welcome back to nasagreen from the South!
Two leapfrogs, dschmidt1007 and Maryland Monroe both from the Northeast!
Congrats to nasagreen from the South for paying off over $70K!
www.notmsnmoney.proboards.com/thread/11190/wirr-50-100k-club?page=5&scrollTo=1879660

[movinonup]

UPDATE- movinonup: 02/28/2014 $302,599.49 (02/12/13 $309,217.65 NE100) NY

Account	Interest Rate	02/12/2013	01/31/2014	02/28/2014	Amount Paid Since Last Update	Total Amount Paid	Percentage Paid
LOC	18.240%	$3,500.00	$2,003.36	$330.16	$1,673.20	$3,169.84	90.57%
CC#1	0.000%	$20,688.08	$9,965.30	$9,815.30	$150.00	$10,872.78	52.56%
CC#2	0.000%	$(8.16)	$16,242.60	$15,842.60	$400.00	$(15,850.76)	(194,249.51)%
CC#3	18.990%	$10,300.00	$1,595.90	$4,568.74	$(3,052.84)	$5,731.26	55.64%
CC#4	16.990%	$9,135.05	$7,456.75	$7,301.30	$155.45	$1,833.75	20.07%
CC#5	10.990%	$4,910.22	$11,059.40	$10,897.65	$161.75	$(5,987.43)	(121.94)%
CC#6	0.000%	$1,239.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$1,239.00	100.00%
SL#1	3.500%	$23,021.50	$21,104.17	$20,860.02	$244.15	$2,161.48	9.39%
SL#2	6.800%	$4,748.54	$3,596.92	$3,486.49	$110.43	$1,262.05	26.58%
SL#3	6.550%	$2,533.57	$2,086.05	$2,047.65	$38.40	$485.92	19.18%
MTG	3.875%	$220,170.76	$225,515.59	$225,175.44	$340.15	$(5,004.68)	(2.27)%
Auto	4.240%	$8,979.09	$2,856.75	$2,274.14	$582.61	$6,704.95	74.67%
Total		$309,217.65	$303,402.79	$302,599.49	$803.30	$5,814.86	2.14%

EF=$121.03

The good news is that I am still moving in the right direction and my big expenses seem to be in the past now.  I am trying to do a better job of budgeting.  Some of my big expenses would have been covered if I had done a better job of budgeting last year.  $300,000 is in sight again.  I should be getting there within the next 2 months.

My tax return is done.  I know that it doesn't make financial sense to get a big refund. However, I know that I am not disciplined enough at this point to use the money to pay down my debt if it comes every 2 weeks.  When I get this money in a single chunk, I am much more disciplined. 

Roth IRA contributions and EF deposits still on auto-pilot. 

-movinonup

[nidena]

My credit card has been steadily increasing since fall and it's been eating at me.  When I took advantage of the offer from USAA for the HEL, I didn't realize how ambitious I was being.  By paying an additional $1000/mo to my HEL, I took all my budget slack away.  As a result, I began using my CC for more than I was able to pay on it each month.  Example: I'd make a $1000 payment and then use it for $1300 worth of purchases.  So, to recover from that, for the next two months, I'm not paying anything extra on the HEL and I'll use those payments to get my CC balance WAY down.  It's not the using that bothers me, it's the charging more than I was paying off each month that bothers me.  Once I get the CC balance down, I can go back to paying extra on the HEL and I'll have the slack back in my budget.

[wudnit]

Nidena:  Sounds like a good plan to me!    You are right, I SHOULD be in the 50's in May, if not before.  A lot will depend on when we get our tax refund (no idea if we will be getting one at this point, just dropped all our info off at our accountants on Friday......too much for me to deal with), but hoping we do so I can apply some extra funds to the debt.  Also, still waiting for the windfall that keeps getting delayed.  When that comes, I want to apply some of it to debt.  My BIG goal is to have everything paid off by no later than June 2015.   I will be really happy when I can say I'm down to just months of debt, versus over a year of debt.  (I've been at this a long time, so have already been paying for years!). 

[wudnit]

Movinonup:  You seem to be doing what I did.  I bunched everything together and included it all in a single race.  It makes it a bit overwhelming sometimes to look at the big numbers, but to me, it was the reality of things so I wanted it all in one bleak picture so I knew what I was up against.  Don't feel you have to justify a tax refund!!  I'm with you, when I get it in a lump sum, I am more likely to apply it to debt.  It gets piddled away if I get it each month in my paycheck.  Glad to hear that your big expenses are in the past and that you are moving ahead!!  Hope you get a LARGE tax refund!!!

[tribeca7]

UPDATE: tribeca7: 3/4/14, $36,631.97 (3/6/13, $45,406.31, NE101)

[kristin11]

Update:

Kristin11: 3/6/14 $4,360.95 (12/31/09 $16,567.73 NEU8)

Creditor	1/21/14	3/6/14	Difference
Discover	$4,870.35	$3,227.08	($1,643.27)
Disney Visa	$1,166.76	$1,133.87	($32.89)
Total:	$6,037.11	$4,360.95	($1,676.16)

Big changes this month. I took advantage of the 0% balance transfer offer on one of my non-racing cards. Thought that I was going to be able to move half of my Discover balance but it was only about 1/3. Still very happy about it though! I now have 3 cards with 0% rates so I am going to move my attention to paying those off before the promotional time ends. I plan to reduce some of my other payments to make doing this easier so I might be turtling along in this race for the rest of the year.

I am going to spend some major time working on my 2014 budget this month because I have a lot of expenses coming up between June and September and would like to be able to pay cash for them all. I received a $600 tax refund so I put all of that into a separate account to try and cover some of these things. I am hoping that I have a very good year! Happy racing everyone!