Can I experiencing anything in life and not draw parallels from Lord of the Rings? Probably not.
I was thinking about going with a Mt. Rainier climbing expedition as my example, but before prattling on about different base-camps, distances, and such, I would have needed to do research. For me – no additional research needed for LOTR.
So, lets face it, the first 4 months were phenomenal. In January, we had some 2011 carryover money that produced momentum. February through April, we had extra funds come in from big jobs, we had off the charts Craigslist sales, and we scratched out what felt like a multitude of small little orcs that were nipping at our heals. After that we had a hefty HVAC that took longer than we expected, but still – somewhat manageable on momentum and hope alone.
NOW, we get to the difficult part. Similar to Frodo and the Fellowship which soon became just Frodo and Sam – it was a difficult journey, but doable. With friendship and supplies, energy and hope, they managed. But at some point, they got through the walls of Mordor and stared out at the wasteland in front of them, and up at the looming Mt. Doom.
It’s at this point in the story that I feel we find ourselves. We are staring out at the wasteland called “My Graduate School Loan.” It’s the biggest amount we owe. It has the highest interest rate. When we pay – it feels like most money goes toward interest, and just a little leftover drivel hits the principle.
Added to this we are in May, 30 days from June. From past history, this is the ‘slow time of year’ for my husband.
What will be our lembus bread and memories of the taste of strawberries? What will keep us going? Probably the Dave Ramsey Show, seeing the eventual tipping of the scales on principle to interest, as well as encouraging words from friends.
This little hobbit is ready to be off riding on the back of an Eagle, seeing Mt. Doom fade in the distance. But that my friends is still months off.
Life & Love & Why 
I have been feeling the same way! April has seemed like an incredibly loonng month. We paid off my car at the beginning of the month and now all that’s left is my husband’s student loan and our mortgage. The balance is now $36Kish but it seems like the balance really doesn’t change that much…hopefully now that this is our last snowball, we will be able to see progress. We made so much progress Jan-Apr, I want to see us do that continually so we can kill this debt but I feel stuck… I don’t think it helps that the majority of the $ we throw at the student loans comes in the 2nd half of the month and I feel like I’m impatient to get that next paycheck to throw a big amount towards it. I know that it will feel SO good when we are done making payments but oh, how I want it to be sooner than later
I hear ya Shannon! Looking at the numbers sure helps though. I have a nice debt snowball excel sheet from Vertex42.com. free of course! 🙂
Putting numbers in there helped us see that even by using just a simple debt snowball – we’d save 10K in interest. such good “mental food” for the long haul.
Oh I know that feeling!! There was a period of about 8 months when we started to pay off my last (HUGE!!!) student loan and I thought for sure we’d never get the traction we needed. Then one day it was very much like I could see the snowball rolling because we reached a tipping point where FINALLY we started paying more toward the principal than interest. In the last few months we laughed when we saw the interest accrue at just pennies a day rather than the nearly $9 a day that it used to be.
While it easier said than done, you must resolve to be Samwise and let nothing dampen your spirits, not even that yucky rumbling cloud in the distance! (by the way, I could not be happier that you’re a Lord of the Rings nerd! And I mean that in the nicest way possible of course!)