Debt Snowball Update

For those interested in our progress on becoming debt-free, I have an exciting update!  The refinance on our house went through, and we now have a 15-year, 3.25% interest loan.  We cut 13 years off our mortgage (should we stay in this house forever) and cut what feels like a bazillion dollars in interest payments and PMI.

Refinancing our home also helped us out a lot with our student loan payoff goals.  Because of the timing of the refinance, we don't have a mortgage payment this month or next month.  We also got a few hundred dollars back, which I realize just gets tacked on to the loan, but it sure did help boost our debt snowball this month...

With the extra money from the mortgage, plus our tax returns, we were able to do some huge things this month.  Instead of paying the next biggest loan - the $2,800 Gate student loan - we paid off a $5,200 private loan from Willamette, which also had the highest interest rate on it!  Woooooo!!  We paid it on Valentine's Day just before going to sleep.  We pressed the "Send Payment" button together, and it was the best Valentine's Day present we could have given to each other.

It also looks like summer school is happening, so I'll be able to count on a paycheck in July.  Which means... the money we've been putting aside to get us through the summer is going toward another loan this month....  which means....  we're also going to be able to pay the $2,800 Gate loan that we'd planned on for this month after all!!!  It will feel sooooooo good to erase those debts from the whiteboard and write PAID instead!!

That will leave us with one last Gate loan at $4,900, my student loans at about $10,500, and Bryann's whopper of a consolidated loan at about $23,000.

Whooo those are some big numbers.........  We still have a loooong road ahead of us, but we've made such amazing progress even in these last 4 months.  Our goal is to be done by Bryann's 29th birthday, and with our progress so far, I'm pretty sure we can do it!

So keep encouraging us not to spend money and to have zero fun.  :-P  Just kidding.  We still have fun, and we still splurge every once in awhile.  Case in point, Bryann just bought a board game, and I just bought a water proof rain jacket for Alaska.  Oh yeah, and we're going on a cruise to Alaska with our friends in June.  :-D