Hey guys, I still exist! I checked the previous thread and I haven't checked in since since Aug 2022.
MY BAD
I hope everyone has been dumping since I've been away without too many setbacks...because we all know those happen.
Just a mini update for now...
I have $800 and change left on my personal loan and will have it paid off no later than 1/5/2024.
My car should've been paid off in February 2024, howEVER, I totaled it on 10/26 this year. So now I've got a new car loan and a 2019 Audi A3 that I absolutely love. I'm still figuring out all of the bells and whistles and buttons. Truly the car I've always wanted. (The most important thing was that I didn't get hurt or hurt anyone else in the accident of course.) As far as the car payments go, I was able to put down almost half of the price of the car from my insurance settlement and the payment is $200 less than the monthly car payment I was paying on the Kia. Another howEVER...I plan to knock it out in 3 years by paying extra every month starting in January.
I'm slowly knocking down the balances on my credit cards by using the snowball method. Very slowly. But I've paid off the first of 7 cards - all smallish balances. 3 of the cards will be destroyed and accounts closed after they are paid because they are not consumer friendly...annual fees, etc.
I have 1 credit card settlement that was negotiated outside of my personal loan package and I'm paying $238 a month to get rid of that for another year.
I started using the YNAB program/app last month. I'll admit it hasn't totally clicked for me yet. I mean, I understand it logically but it still doesn't feel effortless. I paid for a year's subscription and will definitely keep working at it.
My credit score is slowly coming up. Decreasing the credit card use percentage should help it rise more.
I will admit that I've still got a spending problem. Online shopping is the main culprit. Hoping that YNAB will help with that issue, at least a little.
My husband has 2 credit cards that he's trying to pay off as well. He's knocked down the Discover balance in half and after that he'll tackle the Capital One card. We racked up some of that debt on our WDW honeymoon this past April but it was worth it
We're going to get a joint account (finally) around May after I get some savings going after the personal loan is paid off. We're still keeping our own accounts but want one joint account for household expenses we can both contribute to monthly.
I guess that wasn't so 'mini' of an update.
Tomorrow I'll try to write up some goals