March Debt Goal Update: Pay Off Auto Loan

Posted on March 31, 2012 Written by 8 Comments
Auto loan update

This month has been full of ups and downs, and sometimes ups and downs all in one day. It’s been rough to say the least. Tax season is in full swing, so on top of my full-time accounting job, freelancing, blogging, and tax consulting - I got a new job!

Or should I say another side job, which means I haven’t had a day off work in about 2 months. But thankfully, this new job is one I absolutely love. More details here.

BUT…even though this month was tough financially and emotionally, I still hit some pretty awesome milestones with my car loan.

I also got a small tax refund (due to over estimating on my part), and was able to put a good chunk of change towards my loan. Which has given me the chance to officially change my “become debt free date” to July 1, 2012!

 

Previous Balance – $5,083.15

I reached a huge milestone on my car loan this month, the half-way mark! Since I started in November 2011, I’ve paid off $4,658.03 or just over 50% of my loan balance.

This is a screenshot from the Payoff.com debt tracking software. Read more about this new job/venture here.

 

Progress and Payments

Here’s the good, the bad and the not so great breakdown.

Extra income total – $762.61

Total extra payments – $1,392.61

As you can see, if I didn’t get money back from doing my taxes, I would have only paid an extra $262 on my loan. Kinda sucks. :( But thankfully the refund money helped.

Since starting my new steady side gig I haven’t invoiced the billable hours yet, but next month’s report will reflect a decent increase.

Here’s an updated screenshot of my progress using the ReadyForZero debt payoff software.

RFZ chart progress

 

New Loan Balance – $3,701.74

The daily interest rate last month was $0.48 a day and now it’s down to $0.35 a day.

It’s awesome to watch my chart balance keep going down. And if you notice the update, I will be debt free in 5 months instead of 8 (which was last month’s estimate).

However, I still intend on making more income and becoming debt free within the next 3 months!

RFZ progress bar

So how do you think this month turned out?

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Filed Under: Goals & Updates Tagged: , , , , ,
  • http://www.mymoneydesign.com/ MyMoneyDesign

    Cograts on the new job and on bringing down the debt!!!  I know how great it feels to pay off that debt, but I do have an observation: A 3.46% interest rate is pretty low.  Have you considered making only car payment of $315 and putting the other $315 into a Roth or investment account (perhaps earning 8%)?  I ask because I have recently noticed the same thing with my situation.  I was going to payoff my auto loan, but between paying off a debt at 2.25% or buying dividend stocks paying 3%, I chose the dividend stocks.

    • http://carefulcents.com/ Carrie Smith

      You do make a good point, and I’ve thought about that myself. But my overall goal is to travel more and be able to work via telecommuting/laptop. So I really think by eliminating the only debt I have, I can max out my Roth IRA, plus other investment and still be able to fund my dream of working on the go.

      If I had several years left, I’d definitely think about going that route. But since I only have 3 months left, I’m just going to push through and get it over with!

  • http://www.youngprofessionalfinances.com/ Young Professional Finances

    Congratulations on reaching the halfway point! 3 months left is amazing – you’re almost done! I love the tools you use for tracking also – heading over to check out the ReadyForZero software thing. Looks pretty cool!

    • http://carefulcents.com/ Carrie Smith

      Thank you! I’m so excited to be debt free. :) I really like using both software programs, if you have questions let me know. I think you will like them too.

  • http://my-alternate-life.com/ Jordann @ My Alternate Life

    That’s awesome! Now I’m going to check out payoff.com and ReadyForZero, both look very cool, I love visuals.

  • http://www.twitter.com/bwfeldman Benjamin Feldman

    Great job, Carrie! You are really making progress paying down that loan balance. It’s awesome that your daily interest costs went down so much in one month!

    • http://carefulcents.com/ Carrie Smith

      Thank you! I’m so thankful to have a program like RFZ to keep me motivated while paying off debt. The achievement emails really help too, I love getting the encouragement.

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