6.09.2012

debt, a brief look back

I realized I never gave an account of what I owed at the beginning. In the interest of being thorough here's a quick recap of where I started from.

When I rejoined the ranks of the gainfully employed in March 2010 I was somewhere in the neighborhood of being 34k in debt. In July I added another 8k for the trailer, but paid my total down to around 32k by December 2010. In my January 2011 blog post I stated that I owed 28k, but after reviewing records I see that I was incorrect. I had forgotten to add in a 2k surprise bill from the IRS for back taxes owed, so it was actually 30k. These are my best fuzzy guesstimates for 2010 since I nuked the records.

January 2011 was the turning point. I secured a low interest loan to consolidate all my high or variable interest rate loans under 5k each. My new monthly payment was a quarter less than the total I was paying before, but I made the decision to keep paying the same amount. Doing so made it possible for me to pay off a 3 year loan at 10% interest in 11 months time. This last bit and everything that's taken place since is documented in the blog for anyone wondering how things have progressed.

I realize this looks like a good thing, and it is in way. This is also a bad thing. Had I been smarter about my money to begin with I don't think I would've squandered it like I had. All in all, man I've really come a long way!

9 comments:

  1. So, where are you now in terms of debt? I'll tell you what, a lot of people squander a lot more and end up a lot worse than $40K, and never manage to climb out.

    Yay!

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    1. I'm right around 11k of remaining debt now. You're right in that it could've been a lot worse for me. Learning to live with just what I need has made a huge difference in my life!

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  2. Good for you Steve pat yourself on a the back. Not many people do it that fast.

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    1. Thanks. To be fair a lot was sacrificed to make it happen. Most of it was done willingly though.

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  3. Currently I have 17k. While some of it was medical (my part AFTER insurance, from a stroke), a bit more was because I did go out and just buy things for the heck of it. "Oh, I can just worry about paying it later". Well, it's later, and I'm paying! Not so much worry, but it's kind of frustrating not to have that $400/month all to myself anymore!

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    1. Woah and wow! I've been there before, although just in the financial sense. I hope things get better for you soon!

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  4. Amazing, and so encouraging. There is light T the end of these tunnels!

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