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Today's Action Steps

July 31st, 2009 at 05:16 pm

So yesterday I called to cancel my student loans

Today I stopped contributions to DH's and my Roth IRAs at TD Ameritrade (it was just in an account earning .5%) and transferred that money into our other Roth IRA account.

I also declined the loan approval - to my surprise the lady said "I'm sorry to hear that"

And I thought "Sorry? Don't be sorry, I'm ecstatic"... but of course I just explained to her that we were trying to refocus our priorities and getting out of debt was a bigger priority than buying a new car.

"Oh well, we can help you get a consumer loan or a HELOC"

"No thanks, we should have this paid off fairly quickly and plan to purchase a car after that."

With DR's plan I'm supposed to sell my van cause I can't pay it off in 18-20 months... instead I'm looking at 36-40 months.

But I'm really struggling with that part. I love my van for its reliability, safety, and the fact I never want to buy another one. I plan to keep this vehicle till it dies on us & I mean it... I'm not ever buying another van. I'm thinking worse case, maybe when DH deploys again we'll sell his car and use the money to pay off the van. Then when he gets back we can buy him a car in cash... he wants a new vehicle anyway & I don't see the point in having a new vehicle financed just sitting in the driveway.

I'm buddying up with my best friends too. I sent them a spreadsheet of my finances showing how I plan to pay this off. And yes, this also means now they know EXACTLY how much I am in debt down to the penny. But these are friends that I have known since I was 11 & my other friend since, well, before we were born because our Dads bodyguarded Elvis together.

One of the friends is in the same boat as me... the other friend, she is the one who doesn't have debt & I've asked for her assistance in keeping us accountable. That friend's only debt is her condo, no student loans, car loans, and her husband is part owner at his company, she works at a college... they did receive a settlement. However, they were like this before the settlement. So I figure she would be great to keep us on track cause she also wants to see us succeed. Oh and did I mention we are all under 30?

So now, its waiting for the Chief results. They are supposed to come out sometime soon. We're really hoping DH made it, that would help us on the road to financial wealth track that we are starting.

I'm confident now we can make it, but we have to make some sacrifices. Like I said, I'm stopping our retirement contributions for now. We're currently saving $250/mo towards retirement which that $250/mo could pay off $1000 every four months to get us out of debt even faster.

We'll get there & if we have less debt or NO debt... then we won't need so much in retirement.

2 Responses to “Today's Action Steps”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1249060322

    I think it is exciting that your dad was an Elvis bodyguard. I am a big Elvis fan. Does he collect anything Elvis? I have an entire Elvis bedroom.
    Good luck on paying off all your debt too!

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1249076246

    Considering your age and how quickly you can pay down debt stopping the retirement plans for awhile isn't a bad idea...but remember to start them back up ASAP!

    Best wishes on the chief promotion, too. I'm sure he'll make it. I think they prorate pay back to the date of the promotion...which may even be before the list comes out. That has been our experience with DH's promotions.

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