$306 Left On Lending Club Loan
I made a big snowflake payment to my Lending Club loan this month and while it hurt to see that money go out of my ING account it felt good to bring down the balance on a loan.
I currently have $306 as the payoff amount on the Lending Club loan, which I am hoping to pay off in March.
After I make that payment I will be free of the Lending Club loan and can roll that money into the snowball for a different debt target.
Lending Club Loans Update Feb 6, 2009
This year is really my year to magnetize money to my life!!! I have a few $25 loans over at Lending Club and I was sad to see one loan go into default a few months ago. The balance that the person owes me is about $20.00 and since I only invested what I could ‘afford’ to lose I was not too disturbed by that one account.
Then I noticed that one person decided to pay off his or her loan EARLY so I got $21.60 deposited into my Lending Club account in one month instead the usual $8.00.
Tweaked The Budget Again
Hello money saving people!
I tweaked the budget again because of changes in expenses. The budget is a tool that I use to keep track of my finances and as such it is not set in stone.
I paid off the last bit of money that I owed Capital One so I am free of debt to them. Yeah!!!!
I used to pay a (self imposed) minimum of $40 every month, plus whatever I could snowflake over and I am finally done with those payments. I have taken that $40 and rolled it into the snowball that is now being paid to my Citi visa card. When I am done paying off the Citi visa then I will take that money and apply it to the next debt on my target list.
Tracking My Finances In 2009: 29 Jan
Welcome to tracking of income and expenses for the month. Please note that I get paid on the last day of the month so my cash flow net effect will usually be negative until the last day of the month.
This does not mean that I am adding to my debt, it just means that the money coming in is less than the money going out because bills are due starting on the first but I don’t get paid until the last day.
Income for the month to date: $435.23
Expenses for the month to date: $2464.25
Debt Update: January 2009
It is time again to take stock of how much I owe and the progress I have made towards paying off debt. I have updated my NetWorth chart and as you can see it is still in the negative but slowly creeping upwards.
I have also made some progress with the Debt Payoff chart and I am slightly above halfway done with the original debt. Here are the next two targets in my snowball debt payoff plan:
Capital One Card
Lending Club
I currently have $298.50 left on Capital One and with a few micro payments, or snowflake payments I am going to have this card paid off by February.
Suze Orman On the Oprah Show
In case you missed it Suze Orman was on the Oprah show yesterday trying to give people tips on how to have a better financial management plan in 2009.
She gave a few tips that we PF bloggers talk about all the time such as having a plan to pay off your credit card debt. Suze noted that in today’s economy the best way to get rid of credit card debt was to pay the higher interest card first. She gave the following scenario:
line up credit cards in order of highest interest first
pay the minimum on all cards
Snowflake Target (Christmas Resolution)
Welcome to How I Save Money!
Most people wait until New Years to make resolutions or to set goals. I am making a Christmas resolution to pay off a credit card by March.
I have written about my snowflake process before and how I take any extra money to pay towards certain targets.
My next target is the Capital One credit card which currently has $727 at 0% interest rate. I had been paying the minimum on this card because it was at a zero percent interest rate and my money would have been better put to use elsewhere.
Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps: My Take
I have been hearing a LOT of talk about Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps approach but never paid attention to it.
Then today I decided to bite the bullet and go see what all the hype is about.
Basically, Dave lists a series of baby steps that everyone should take in order to become financially independent. These steps are as follows:
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$1,000 to start an Emergency Fund | |
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Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball | |
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3 to 6 months of expenses in savings |
