Here we are one month into our goal to be Debt Free by the end of 2012… how did we do? Did we make any progress? I’m happy to report, yes we did!
This month we paid off $6,740 – which was the total of our 2 smaller student loans
We also made some extra money, which comes in outside of our budgeted income – so it is helpful in applying right to debt.
$150 on Craigslist sales
$7 from Pennies for Debra
$75 from a stack of silver coins we had floating around the house (finally rolled them and made them usable)
$94 in a Cash Back savings from our Energy Company
Totaling $322 extra dollars of income.
In addition to all of that – we also (of course) paid our minimums on everything else – further chipping away at principle of what we owe.
Finally – I’m happy to report an additional, unexpected bonus to living on a budget.
The biggest change is that we are using the envelope system for food. I specifically budgeted $100 less then what we had been averaging on food because I figured if we paid attention to where our food money went – and were a little more strict in our eating out – we would be able to make this lower food-a-month goal. I’m happy to report that including a birthday party and a birthday dinner for the hubby – we met the new food budget goal no problem!
AND to top it off – we both lost weight this month. Budgeting is good for one’s health. 🙂
Total Debt paid in January: $7,276*
*For the purpose of Baby step 2 we are not factoring in our home mortgage
Life & Love & Why 