I did it!

Okay, today is a pretty big day for me. Are you ready for this?

TODAY I BECAME DEBT-FREE!

That's right! I paid off the last $359.44 remaining on my student loans. As of right now, I don't owe anyone any money!

While it's pretty exciting, it's also a little anti-climactic. When I made the payment online, my computer didn't sing and there were no fireworks or brass bands around to mark this momentous occasion. It's just me, all debt-free and shit.

Those are some pretty cool words, though: debt-free. I like it!

So now I find myself in this odd no man's land of not having to pay anything off. Soon we'll have a mortgage that will need tackling but until then, my money is mine! (Except for bills and such, but since I pay those in full when they're due, they're no problem.)

It's a weird feeling, I won't lie, but it's also amazing!

NO MORE STUDENT LOANS FOR ME!!!

Fun time money news

Remember those student loans I've been paying off? Well, they're not quite gone yet but I'm getting there! As of today, all that's left owing is $1,357.26. That's it. I'm pretty excited. I'm even more excited that my next paycheque will have a little overtime on it, which will go nicely on this balance.

But do you know what's most exciting? Next month is a 3-pay month and it marks the first 3-pay month since I finished school where I won't have to put one of those paycheques on my debt. It is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel! Sure, I'll have to use a little of that cash to finish paying this off, but not much.

This - THIS - is what I've been waiting for for almost seven years now. I almost can't believe I made it! And I'm also going to have a brief respite between paying off one debt and adding another (a mortgage). Yes, a mortgage is good debt as it means a house, but it's still debt and repayment. But I will have a fleeting moment where I don't owe anyone anything AT ALL!

I say, indeed.

Happy Christmas to me!

I do love the Christmas season and I love giving and making presents for others, but I also like to treat myself.  And I've been so good this year paying down my debts that, when I got my overtime pay cheque, I thought I'd do something special for me.

I ended up shelling out a bit more than I normally would on something for myself - $1,118.06 to be exact - but this is a one-time thing and I figured it was well worth it.

And even though it was all done online I still got a bit of a rush when I processed the payment. It's always a little sad seeing that much money disappear from my bank account but I'm confident it was the right thing to do and the right time to spend that much money.

Regardless, the money has been spent and there's a strict no refunds or returns policy so what's done is done.

I paid off another student loan today. That's 3 of 4 gone. And no more loans with CIBC.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ME!!

Up-Down Challenge Weigh-in #35 and Goals Update

Hi guys!  Remember me?  That tardy blogger?  Yeah.  I started this post Thursday at work and I'm finally posting it Friday.  Yeesh.

I haven't been ignoring my blogging duties on purpose, it's just that life got in the way - but it's been good.  I haven't talked much about my happy health of late and that's still important to me and an important part of overall health.  The reason I haven't been talking about it is because I'm in such a good place, happy-wise.  Despite some previous setbacks and a rough day here and there, I've been super happy.  It likely has to do with the Christmas season because I LOVE this time of year but I'm also at a good place in my life.  To be cliche, things are falling (and have fallen) into place.  And it's grand.

But that doesn't mean I don't still have goals or that I'm not getting on the scale.  Since I skipped blogging about my weigh-in last week (but I did weigh in), let's start there:

Two weeks ago: forgot to weigh in
Last week: 196.6 lb
This week 196.4 lb (-0.2 lb)

I've decided I need a new scale.  It's digital and when I turn it on it automatically shows 4 lb, even though no one and nothing is on it.  I reset it after this of course, but I'm always wondering if it's phantomly adding 4 lb.  So I'm going to buy a new one.  Take THAT, scale!

(And for the record, not thrilled with this number but I feel good and think I look pretty good, so I'm not going to stress too much).

So how goes everything else?  Let's see:

Goal:Run - I'm slowly getting back into running regularly but I'm stalling out at about 3 km.  I also need to get a refill on my Ventalin inhaler so I can continue to breathe.  Once I do this I should be able to get my distance back up there.  Lately I've been running out of breath before I run out of energy.

Goal:Food - Work has been so busy of late that I've completely fallen off doing this.  I need to get back into it because I know I do well for most of the day but fall apart in the evenings (usually evenings spent at work when all there is to snack on is Tim Horton's and vending machines and chocolates. Note to self: bring more snacks to work.)

Goal:Weight - So I'm pretty much not going to hit 170 lb by the end of the year.  Right now, I just want to be below 190 lb.  I think if I can keep up the workouts (and running) and really pay attention to what I eat I can actually lose this weight during the Christmas season.  Yeah!

Goal:Pants - I meant to take a picture on Thursday night of how my jeans are fitting but I ran out of time.  After December 13 my life gets much calmer, so I'll check it out then.

Goal:Dress - See above.

Goal:Debt - I currently owe $6,725.44 ($5416.01 + $1,309.43).  I racked up huge amounts of overtime but unfortunately it wasn't logged in time to be added to my next paycheque (which I get tomorrow).  So it's two more weeks before my 30+ hours (!) of overtime are added, but when it does come it will be a nice amount to add to my loans.  I'm close...so close!  The other upside is that I'm done all my Christmas shopping so any extra cash that comes my way will be able to go on loans.  Even if my scale number isn't going down, this number is and I'm so proud of that!

So that's where I stand with 22 days left in this year.  What will I be able to cross off this list in the next three weeks?  I'll let you know!

2011 Goal Update #3 and Up-Down Weigh-in #32

 Once again, I"m so late on my goal updates, but it's been a busy few days.  The Beau's birthday was on Friday so we took the day off and explored some neighbourhoods we're considering moving to next year (yup, we hope to buy a house).  Then we had all kinds of meals out, did some errands and went out with friends last night so it's been a great, yet busy, weekend.

Anyways, enough excuses; here's the goal breakdown and my weigh-in for this past Wednesday.

Goal:Plank - Again, not a single plank done in October.  This is officially over. 

Goal:Run - I haven't gone for a run in a couple of weeks, as I was training for my CN Tower stair climb and then battled a cold.  The plan is to get back into it tomorrow.  My current distance is 4.25 km, which is 0.25 km less than I wanted by this point but missing two weeks of running will do that to a person.  I still want to hit 5 km by the end of November so I'm going to keep aiming for that.

Goal:Food - Again, not really doing this.  I'm trying to keep track in my head but it's just not working.  Tomorrow's Monday and a great day to start with the food journal again.  This is something I really need to get back on track with.

Goal:Weight - My last weigh-in on Wednesday had me at 192 lb, so no change from the previous week but I'm still not making the losses I need to hit my target.  But like the running, I'm just going to keep trying. 

Goal:Pants - No dice. 

Goal:Dress - Please see Goal:Pants.  Sigh.

Goal:Debt - My current debt load is $7,822.72.  THIS is the number I really want to see go down and I've got a nice paycheque coming next week, with some ridiculous overtime on it.  That will give me a nice chunk to put on my CIBC loan, on which I owe $2,255.12.  This is the one I really want cleared by the end of the year, even if I can't hit my target of only having $5,000 owing. 

Student loan update

It's been awhile since I've checked in on my student loans so I took some time today to do so.

My main priority right now is to pay off the last loan I have with CIBC, as it's the lowest balance of the remaining two and because I really don't want to have to deal with CIBC anymore.  (We just never got along.)

The current balance of my CIBC loan: $2,409.76

I made a payment two days ago (and I don't know if it's been applied yet) and another automatic payment will go through on Monday; these payments will either lower my total owing by $60 or $160.  I'm kind of hoping it's the latter, as that will help that much more. 

The $100 I put on the loan was in response to me wanting to buy two new shirts - but instead of buying the shirts I took that money and put it toward my loans as I said I'd do.  I've been doing my best to be diligent and only buy what I need, which is why it's taken me so long to make a payment like this.  But I'm proud of myself for living up to my own standard! 

Another reason it's so important to me to pay down this loan is because I'm charged interest daily.  Yup, daily.  But my interest rate is 5.5%, so my actual charge is lower as my balance gets lower.  Back in August, with a balance of $3,981.35 I was paying $0.60/day in interest.  Today, with my balance at $2,409.76 I'm paying $0.36/day in interest - and that's a big difference. 

But it's not just the CIBC loan I'm paying down.  I'm also working away at my second (and last) National Student Loan Service Centre loan. 

Current balance with NSLSC: $5,561.22
Current interest rate: $0.80/day

THAT is some steep interest to be paying - almost a dollar a day!  I'm currently only paying the minimum payment on this loan until I finish with CIBC; then all extra monies get rolled together to pay this baby down! 

And to meet my goal of only having $5,000 of loan left by the end of 2011, I need to pay off another $2,970.98 by the end of this year.  I will say right now that this is starting to feel a little daunting but I've got some overtime moolah coming my way and that will go nicely on the loan.  But I have to be careful because Christmas is also coming up and I love Christmas!  It's so hard for me to not spoil everyone I love with gobs of presents. 

But as long as I'm careful and frugal and pay attention to what I'm spending I can do this!

Up-Down Challenge Weigh-in #31

You know how I was dreading getting on the scale this morning?  Part of me wanted to skip it, to just say I'm sick and didn't feel like it, but that's too much of a cop-out.

So I got on the scale, all nervous - and the results:

Last week: 192.4 lb
This week: 192.0 lb

Down 0.4 lb!  Despite all that awful food I ate, I still lost almost half a pound.  So I'm still going down but I realized something this morning: I've only got two months left to hit my goal weight of 170 lb and losing half a pound a week won't get me there.

This led me to ask myself, do I reset my year-end target weight or do I go hardcore to drop the 22 lb?  It's tempting to try some lose-weight-fast solution to get down to my goal but I know I won't be able to sustain any kind of plan like that and it's not worth hitting 170 lb only to gain a bunch of weight back.  But I also don't want to short-change myself by changing my goal weight, because that's where I want to be and even if I don't get there by December 31 I still want to get there.

So I'm going to stand pat with my target and just keep working.

I've been toying with the idea of joining Weight Watchers online for awhile now; I know some women who have used/are using this program to great success and I have no doubt it would work for me.  The thing is, I feel guilty spending money on this when I still have debts to pay off.  My current weight isn't causing me any health-related problems, nor is it keeping me from doing anything I want to do (I'm still running!), so losing weight is for me, not for any other reason.  I was planning to join Weight Watchers once my debt was gone, but maybe I should look at the numbers again.

And with all the overtime I put in last week, I'll have a nice paycheque soon and that will help the debt.  Surely I can find the money for Weight Watchers?

I'll let you know what I work out.

A little goes a long way

So I've finally managed to get myself set up to pay down my CIBC loan online and, I must say, I took the long, hard, kind of dumb way to get there.

I've never had internet banking set up with CIBC because I've always had direct debit arranged for my loan payments.  Because I've only been paying the minimum amount until very recently, it never mattered that I didn't have internet access.  Now, though, I've got more money to put on the bugger and I wanted immediate access, dammit!  So I decided to do it through CIBC - which led to me having to get a new internet banking password and then a new debit card because I couldn't make my password sync with my debit card and then to log on I needed my account number and transit number (which I should know but don't) and then I lost my debit card and had to get a new one...and THEN I realized I can add my CIBC loan account as a payee in my online account with Royal Bank and suddenly an internetical connection is made.

Sheesh.  Why did it take me so long to figure this out again?

Anyways...now that I've got the online connection, I've hatched a new plan to pay that sucker down and not spend on frivolous things.  See, when I get paid every two weeks I figure out what I need to pay from that cheque, make my payments and leave a bit in the bank as buffer, because you never know when something might pop up.  But then, because I had this extra money just sitting there, I'd buy a new shirt here and a pair of earring there and a new book and before long, that extra money was spent on things I wanted but didn't really need.

The new plan?  Whenever I see something I want (but explicitly do NOT need), instead of buying it I'm going to make a note of how much I would have spent and promptly put that amount on my loan. 

It's a good plan.  I earn interest daily on my loan and I have unlimited transactions with my RBC account, so this is really a win-win situation.  Even if it's $10, it still counts and will only benefit me. 

However, like most of my good plans, the theory is strong but the practice is weak.  I hope to turn that around with this one!

Oh, and right now my overall balance owing is $9,661.86 but I just made some payments that I'm still waiting to go through, so that should change the number a bit. 

Money guilt

I've been making great progress on paying off my student loans, but I still get money guilt and it's been growing lately.

Maybe it's because Christmas is coming, maybe it's because the end of the year is coming, maybe it's because I'm lusting after brown knee-high boots, but every time I think about buying something I feel like I should be putting that money towards my loans.  I'm also really close to getting another paid off, with only about $3,800 left on it and I want it gone so badly. 

September is a three-pay month for me, which is always lovely and which will mean more money on my loans.  But I'm also putting a chunk into my savings account (it's a high-interest account but since my interest rate is only 2%, it just feels wrong calling that "high interest") to help offset the expense of the holiday season.  Not only will this cover gifts, but also the baking and traveling and other expenses that pop up.  I've also already started my Christmas shopping and have ideas of what else I need to get.  Some people would say this is early.  (Okay, most people would say this is early.)  But for me and my money, I find it helps to spread the costs across a few months rather than try to afford everything in December.  Plus, it means I'm not rushing at the end so I'm not over-spending. 

See, I've got things in control...only I'm feeling really guilty.  The Beau and I were at Dixie Outlet Mall on the weekend to hit up the Michael's (this girl needed yarn!) and we decided to walk through the mall as well.  Of course I found a bunch of things I want, including lots of nice soft sweaters at the Jacob outlet.  ($17.50!  I'll take one in each colour please!)  However, I did not buy a thing.  I felt guilty.  I don't need any more soft sweaters; my closet is full.  Some of my sweaters need to be defuzzed, sure, but then they'll be good as new for another season. 

But I'm a girl who loves a deal and it's just so tempting. 

Without spending a dime I still felt guilty.  I guess it's because I have this money sitting in my account "just in case" that I'm not putting on my loans but that is there, encouraging me to spend.  I know I should put it all either in my "high interest" account or just move it to my debt now, but what if I need to [fill in the blank]? 

So I've got a plan.  But I'm not going to share it just yet; I need to do something else first and that won't happen until day-off Wednesday, so I'll fill you in then.  In my head it's a great idea.  It's just making it work in practice that will be the challenge.

2011 Goal Update #1

Again, I missed updating my goal statuses on Wednesday, but that's okay because I'm going to do it now!  (Only five days late.  Sheesh.)  So, how am I doing?

Goal:Plank - I'm not going to lie: I didn't do a single plank in Halifax.  I wanted to do one every day for the month of August and, at the end of the month, I was about 60% on that.  Also, I have not done a single one yet in September.  But today is only the 5th so I can start today and still do well this month.  Also, I always find it easier to reset and start again after Labour Day; now that summer is over, it's time to get back into a regular routine.  (I think I still feel this way because I'm still at an age where, for more than half my life, Labour Day marked the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year, so it still feels like a fresh start.)

Goal:Run - in my quest to be able to run 5km, I wanted to increase my mileage (kilometreage?) to 3.5 km by the end of August.  On my last run, I did hit 3.5 km, but it wasn't consecutive; I had to take some walking breaks in between.  But I'm going to take it!  To stay on track, I need to be at 4 km by the end of September and I'm going to keep at it.  I'm right on track!

Goal:Food - as I've mentioned before, I've switched from my hard copy food journal to an online one.  I was doing really well with logging all my food and I had every intention of logging my food during vacation (thanks to a handy-dandy Blackberry app!) but it was a little too involved to do during vacation.  Because the food items and nutrition value depend on users entering information so it can mean A LOT of searching to find the right food at the right portion size.  So I didn't log a single thing while away.  Oops.  But I'm slowly getting back into it and it has been helping; seeing my calorie allotment for the day and watching it dwindle with each item I put in has really made me realize just how many calories get taken up by "just one" cookie.  I'm going to try to maintain this for at least September and hopefully by that point I'll be ready to make the right choices without having to log everything.

Goal:Weight - I'm 22.4 lb away from my goal of 170 lb.  With four months to go, that's 5.6 lb/month to lose.  How easy is that?!

Goal:Pants - not much change.  I was going to try them on and take another photo, but my stomach has been feeling gurgly and gross all weekend, so I'm avoiding anything too tight.

Goal:Dress - pretty much the same thing as the pants. 

Goal:Debt - I currently owe $9,835.09 and this month, there will be more money put towards that number.  I'm confident that I can hit my $5,000 owing by year-end.

All in all, I'm happy with how I'm doing.  It's a big challenge for me, trying to stick with a plan beyond a few weeks.  I always start out with such good intentions and I always fall off the wagon within a week or two.   And having a consistently-shrinking student loan balance will also help me because at least I'll be making headway towards one goal. 

So, tomorrow marks a big reset button for me.  Briefly I felt nostalgic for school and that back-to-school feeling.  Then I remembered how much I hated high school and how happy I am now with the Beau and the kitty and I'm just fine to have my own kind of back-to to do. 

Back to my goals!

Pre-vacation update

Since we're heading out at 6 am tomorrow and I'm at work today and I'm still not packed, there's not much time to post before we leave.  But...one major development happened today and I must share:

I PAID OFF ANOTHER STUDENT LOAN!

That's right, another one bites the dust!  I still have two more to go, one each with CIBC and the National Student Loan Service Centre, but I'm well on track with those ones.  The next one to pay off is the CIBC loan, as it's the lowest balance of the remaining two. 

Here's where I stand:

CIBC: $3,985.55
NSLSC: $5,849.54
TOTAL: $9,835.09

You know, it's kind of amazing to see this figure below $10,000.  And it feels so good to be on track!  It's also a nice feeling to feel so good about my loans before vacation; makes me feel less guilty about the spending we'll be doing over the next week (but it's money we have saved, so it's not like I'll be compromising my payments because I want lobster).

Okay, back to work now.  Our travel companions are arriving tonight around 8 pm and the Beau is off today to do the last-minute things, but I'm hoping to get out of work early today so I can help him out and, you know, pack and stuff. 

See y'all in a week!

Goal Recap

Over a few posts, I've listed out the various goals I want to achieve between now and December 31, 2011.  Here's a quick recap:

Goal:Plank - do a plank a day for the month of August (and - why not? - the rest of the year)

Goal:Run - be able to run 5 km

Goal:Food - maintain a food journal

Goal:Weight - weigh 170 lb

Goal:Pants - fit into my Esprit jeans

Goal:Dress - fit into my pretty purple dress

Goal:Debt - to have only $5,000 remaining on my student loads

--------------------

Plank-a-day update: 10/12 (I missed yesterday out of laziness/forgetfulness - worst excuse ever)

Goal:Debt

I've been making great progress this year on my student loans but I really, really want the damned things paid off! 

Here's where I stand right now:

CIBC: $ 3,981.35
NSLSC #1: $ 5,843.66
NSLSC #2: $ 493.64

Total owing: $10,318.65

With only 4 1/2 months left this year, I want to get as much paid off as I can.

GOAL: Get my students loans down to $5,000 owing

STATUS: $5,318.65 to go

PLAN: Throw every bit of extra money I have at my debts

Ideally, I'll pay off even more and have less that $5,000 owing when 2012 arrives, but I want to set achievable goals that I can (hopefully/maybe) surpass so I feel even awesomer about myself!

The incredible shrinking loan balances

My loan payments finally found their way through the internets and arrived safe and sound and promptly lowered my current debt load.   It's so nice to see that total going down!

On June 12, I owed $13,430.58 on my student loans.  Today, July 12, it's much better:

CIBC: $4,018.67
NSLSC #1: $5,990.06
NSLSC #2: $1,383.42

Total owing: $11,392.15

That's $2,038.43 I've paid off in a month.  When I break it down like that, it really makes me realize how much progress I'm making.  If I can maintain this rate of repayment, I'll have my loans paid off in five months.  That's December - three months earlier than I had originally calculated!

Making this deadline will depend on how much I accrue in overtime, as that's what's helping me along.  Even if I don't make mad O/T scratch, I'm still well on my way to paying off my loans by the time we're hoping to be house hunting. 

The other day, I got a letter in the mail from CIBC, officially informing me that my one loan was paid in full.  Forget framing my university degree - I'm framing this letter!  Woot!

Where da money at, yo?

I really wanted to do an update on my student loans, but I'm waiting for a payment to go through.  One of the things about online banking that has always had me scratching my head is how I can make a payment and the money will disappear immediately from my account (which is good, as it keeps me from spending money that isn't there) but then takes days to show up at wherever I've sent it. 

I understand that there is some lag time, as different institutions have to catch up with each other, but I'm always wondering just where my money is (or the binary code that makes up the digital figures that accounts for the money; it's not like I'm sending paper bills through the ethernet) while waiting for it to be applied.  I guess it's just hanging out in cyberspace, maybe making friends with some credit card payment or payroll deposit. 

And I get paid tomorrow, which will mean another payment, which will mean more waiting.  Sigh.  But it's coming!  That number will get lower! 

In the meantime, here's where I stand:

CIBC: $4,015.05
NSLSC #1: $6,157.86
NSLSC #2: $2,052.06

Total owing: $12,224.97

Next week's update will be so much better!

Loan baloney

I've become pretty obsessive about paying down my student loans and I get so impatient waiting for pay day!  Thankfully, I get paid this Friday so I'll be able to make another big payment. 

I've just checked my balances and here's where I stand:
CIBC: $4,062.54
NSLSC #1: $6,145.52
NSLSC #2: $2,047.75

That's a total of $12,255.81, which is actually $10.81 more than I owed last week.  Damn you interest! 

Back when I didn't have much money and could only (barely) make my minimum payments, I knew I was paying interest but I didn't pay much attention to it, mainly because I couldn't afford to do anything about it.  But now that I'm making bigger payments and really making a dent in my loans, the extra interest I'm paying is really sucking.  There's not much I can do about all the extra interest I've paid thus far, but it really is helping motivate me to get it paid down more. 

I'm off next week and going to my mom's to spend some time with her, so I'm going to have to pay extra attention to my budget and make sure I don't overdo it; I really don't want to have to forgo putting extra money on my loan because I spend too much when I'm with my mom.  We'll be redecorating a bedroom in her house and she's letting me make all the decorating choices...but I said I'd foot the bill since she's letting me pick everything.  So I'll just have to make the right choices.

One student loan GONE

I paid one off!  Woo hoo!  I still owe, you know, a bit but I've paid one of them off!

I still have these three left:
CIBC: $4,058.88
NSLSC #1: $6,140.22
NSLSC #2: $2,045.90

Total owing: $12,245.00

It feels SO GOOD to see this number going down!  And within a couple of months I should have it below $10,000.  Just like my weight, I'm going to keep chipping away at this too!Hide all

A student loan update

Remember this post?  Well, I've made a little progress on the loan front. 

I got a nice, fat pay cheque a couple of weeks ago that included all the overtime I've accumulated since starting the new gig.  That allowed me to put $1,500 on the first (and lowest) of my loans.  The result?

BEFORE: $1,912.78
AFTER:    $   370.74

Oh yeah.

By my calculations, that brings my overall remaining debt to $13,429.19.  Much like my weight, slowly but surely this is going DOWN!

It's all about the Benjamins

Or the Bordens, seeing how I'm Canadian and all.

I had my taxes done over the weekend and I'm getting a nice little refund, which I'll be putting directly back into my RRSPs.

Or will I?  I know the proper thing to do is to put the refund into my RRSP because the main reason I'm getting a refund is because of my RRSP contributions.  And by investing my refund, I'm helping to cover the tax I'll have to pay once I start drawing from my RRSP.  So this would be the sensible way to do things.

But I've also got some student loans that need paying off - and the sooner the better.  So do I take my refund and put it towards this debt?  It's a conundrum.

As well, as of April 29, I will have paid off all my consumer debt.  This is pretty huge for me, as a year ago, I had about $5,000 owing on a line of credit and about $2,500 owing on credit cards.  AND IT'S ALMOST GONE!  Paying off $7,500 in a year is both exciting (no more debt!) and depressing (all that money that didn't go to me!) but I'm proud that it's almost behind me.

So about those loans.  I have four different loans to pay off: two (Canada and Ontario) negotiated through CIBC and two (Canada and Canada-Ontario) negotiated through the National Student Loan Service Centre.  The reason for four?  My first year of university, student loans were negotiated through a financial institution; after that, they changed to being negotiated through the NSLSC.  So I make four different monthly payments, which is so much fun.

Anyways, now that the consumer debt is done I can start paying more than the minimum on my loans.  Here's where I stand:

CIBC
Canada loan:  $4,136.44
Ontario loan:  $1,912.78
GRAND TOTAL: $6,049.22

Knowing I paid off $7,500 in this past year, I'm confident I can take down this entire chunk of my loan between now and next spring.  But - of course - there's more:

NSLCS
Canada loan:  $2,743.62
Canada/Ontario loan:  $6,435.35
GRAND TOTAL:  $9,178.97

So my overall total owing is $15,228.19.  That's a pretty big number.

But I took some time yesterday afternoon to put together a repayment spreadsheet and I've come up with a very ambitious repayment schedule.  If I can stick to it, I will have all my debt paid off by the end of June 2012.  Seriously - 14 months.  And I've set up my budget in such a way that I still have a little slush fund every month, for those times that I blow my weekly budget or need a little extra for things (like cottage weekends or birthdays or a pretty pair of shoes).  Because as much as I want to pay off my debt, I don't want it to be at the expense of my life. 

So starting next month, more money will be going towards my loans.  I'll be starting with the lowest balance first ($1,912.78) and doing the snowball method: as I pay off each amount, I'll roll what I was paying on that balance into the payment on the next-lowest balance until all are paid off.  And so begins me seriously buckling down and focusing on my financial health this year.

Here's to June 2012!