Well I have read that it helps to have a goal for being debt free for many reasons, but for me I can see the phsycological reasons the most.
So, I figured out our debt snowball plan before we started… all I needed to do was figure out the dates.
Step 1: Right now we are putting every cent into our siding loan at 375 a month plus extras. The plan is to have it paid off by the end of the year. Hopefully if we keep our expenses down and income up we can pay it off even sooner. End of loan worst case 12/08.
Step 2: Put that 375 a month towards the truck payments on top of the 480 a month there, making it 855 a month plus whatever extra possible. That should have it paid off around 4/10 worst case.
Step 3: Put that 855 a month towards the mortgage on top of the 350 a month there, making it 1205 a month plus whatever extra possible. That should have it paid off around 1/12 worst case.
Step 4: Put that 1205 a month towards the last debt, my big student loan. We actually have 2 loans, mine and hers and some would say to pay these off before the house but hear me out. Her loan will hopefully be forgiven after 10 years of public service thus wiping hers out by the time we get around to this stage. My loan we still have to pay, but it has one thing going for it. I consolidated my $40k+ student loans before my repayment started while the rates were awesome. My $38k left on this is cheap since I am locked in at 1.5% apr. Yes, I said 1.5%. I was really lucky that I did things the way I did. So anyway, lastly I will take my 1205 a month plus the 215 a month I pay now to make a 1420 a month payment. With what is left on principal by this time we will have this paid off 6/13 worst case scenario.
Hopefully barring any emergencies I can count on putting even more money, coming from:
-Being frugal (saving money to put towards debt)
-garage sales, ebay sales, selling clutter
-working extra overtime
-future raises (both of us)
-birthday/xmas money
-bonuses
-2nd job??? maybe… working on possibilities there still.
With any luck this timeline will help keep me on track. Wish me luck !