Guys. I am so excited about this post that I couldn’t wait to get it written!! February was very good to us and we made BIG strides on our debt repayment.
When I juggled our various bank accounts and looked at what we were going to be able to do, I couldn’t wait to call the Hubby and share my excitement with him. It feels like we’ve had a boxing match with one particular credit card for over a year now. It’s tiring! I’m ready to win this battle.
SMART Goals and Debt Payoff for 2017
Home
Our 1950s home needs many updates. Our kitchen aggravates me a ton. But all of that will have to wait another year. I’ll avoid cute remodels on Pinterest to help keep my annoyance at bay. That said, there are other goals I have for our home this year that won’t cost money. And other things that can’t wait and will have to be addressed.
Remove all items from each bedroom and start fresh.
I was able to start this process in our master bedroom. That’s the room I’m most likely to neglect, and I’m tired of having everything we don’t know what else to do with piled in our room. This big task will likely take me months to get through touching everything in every bedroom.
Clean out the basement.
We’ve been tackling this task little by little.
Still to go:
- Shelving in dining room corner (I’d like to make this a closet, but we already have the shelving on hand.)
- Repair dining room ceiling
Family
- Take a beach vacation.
- We’ve got the house and van rented. I’ll need to work on getting a deal on our hotel stays on the way to and from the beach.
- Continue to practice swimming. Waiting for warm weather.
- Two hiking/fishing/camping trips for every warm month. We had nice weather for February! We got a little hiking done.
- One on one time for each child, every month.
- We took several kids out to use their ice cream passes. We also had some one on one time running errands and going to the park.
Marriage
- 12 Dates in 2017.
- January: Went to see Garth Brooks. If you ever get the chance to see him in concert, DO IT! This was our Christmas gift to one another.
- February: We hired a babysitter and went out for a meal and grown up conversation. (Two dates this early in the year is probably a record for us!)
- January: Went to see Garth Brooks. If you ever get the chance to see him in concert, DO IT! This was our Christmas gift to one another.
Personal
- Yoga & movement. I have GOT to be more intentional about this. Fail in February.
- Read On Writing. Not yet.
- Read through the New Testament. Reading most nights.
- Though I didn’t make reading a goal for this year, I’ve read 3 or 4 books already. Way more than usual!
#PressOn and Knock Out Debt
Our new motto has been harder to embrace than the #yearofno was. But we’re getting there! January was tough, but we got back in the swing of things in February. While we have loosened our rules just a little, we’re still doing well keeping our spending under control.
The Goal
Last month I reported that we’d reached 81% of our credit card debt paid off. We’ve been paying on this debt since January 2016. This is NOT a percentage of all the debt we owe. If I looked at the entire amount of credit card debt we owe, I’d be so overwhelmed I wouldn’t know what to do.
Instead, we decided to focus on the biggest credit card debt we owed. It’s not Dave Ramsey approved. But we hated this debt the most. And we felt like knocking it out first would make all the other debts fall more easily.
I guess the idea is that if we could kill the Goliath of our debt, we’d ride that victory through the rest of our debt free journey.
It’s been a long journey, but it was totally worth it in late February when I did the math to discover that…
We have now paid off 94% of our big fat debt!!
Aside from the excitement of having only 6% of that debt left, we finally got the number into triple digits! This feels totally doable!! I’m confident that we’ll be able to kiss this debt goodbye forever next month.
How Did We Do It?
We had several unexpected checks show up in the mail. All of that went right towards debt. We also had extra money on a paycheck, plus I was able to use some blog earnings to help pummel the bill.
One thing I want you to notice about our debt payoff chart is that it isn’t pretty. The way we paid down debt didn’t break down to a nice math equation. We had good months and we had tough months.
Sometimes we made huge strides. Sometimes we barely moved the balance down at all.
But we kept going. That’s all you’ve got to do. If you’re fighting debt, just keep going!
The Plan for March
In March, I’ll either report that we won against this card…or I’ll be crying because some Murphy event got to us first. I’m keeping a positive attitude!
To get this done, we’ll keep small expenses at bay as much as possible. I’ll try to bring in some more bits of income to help cover these costs. Most important will be to focus on the next debt and enjoy the feeling of owing less money without spending a bunch of money celebrating.
New for 2017: A Link Up!
If you blog monthly check ins with your goals, be sure to link them up here! And tweet about it so we can invite others to join us, too.
[Tweet “Link up your goals for March! #bloggerswanted”]
#PressOn!
Go get those goals!
Did you keep up with the goals you set early in the year?
I'm Jamie, and I want to help you afford a beautiful life with your family. 
Way to go in paying that much debt off!
Woo hoo!!!! Congratulations on your debt progress this month! I am sending all sorts of positive vibes your way so that you can knock this debt to the curb once and for all next month!
Thanks!!
Congrats on some awesome debt payment this month! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that next month you’ll finally be able to cross it off your list.
Super congrats on hitting 94%! My March goals are all spring cleaning related – we seem to have accumulated so much junk in the last few months!