Crystal G

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in August 2009: $493.62
• Total Payments in August: $527.17
• Total Payments YTD: $5516.41
• Total Finance Charges For August 2009: $2.35
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $97.07
• Starting Balance for September: -$31.20 (which will be applied to the next round of debt)
• $0 Goal: September 2009 PWNED

Notes for this month:
Well that did it, it took 8 months (actually longer than I anticipated because February was such a bad month), but my original goal was to have it paid off by September 2009 and I did it on August 14th. You can view all of the payments and notations throughout the last 8 months. My dad has had this balance for years and I conquered it in 8 months.

Now I will continue doing monthly posts like this as I meet two more big goals. 1. To pay off all remaining interest-accruing debt (about $2600 worth from me taking over dads tractor supply bill and getting his truck fixed etc). And 2. Paying back the last person who loaned us money for the down payment on our home ($5,000). The goal is to complete both of those by December 2010. It will take slightly longer only because after the interest-accruing debt is gone, I plan to start putting a little more away into savings again, so my payments will be smaller.

I will keep charts on my blog of my progress as well.

See also: July, June, May, April, March, February, January

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in July 2009: $990.74
• Total Payments in July: $507.63
• Total Payments YTD: $4989.24
• Total Finance Charges For July 2009: $10.51
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $94.72
• Starting Balance for August: $493.62
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month:
No news of note this month. Just anxiously, impatiently waiting for August 15th when the balance will be NEGATIVE (which just applies to the tractor supply debt anyway). I guess I should note that dad is no longer mowing the old neighbors lawns, so he doesn’t have any extra money coming in anymore unless he gets lawns up here, which he’s gonna try to do. The old women from the old neighborhood were kinda taking advantage of him and he had enough of it I think. So this is gonna put a damper on finances for a bit. Fortunately we’ll have all interest accruing debt gone this year besides the house.

I will note I also got a $6 rebate on my credit card, which I applied towards this balance.

See also: June, May, April, March, February, January,

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in June 2009: $1509.77
• Total Payments in June : $527.17
• Total Payments YTD: $4481.61
• Total Finance Charges For June 2009: $8.14
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $84.21
• Starting Balance for July: $990.74
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month:
Finally got the balance under a grand. I may have it paid off by the end of July if my side work money comes in. I put a little extra on this month because I thought it’d be more motivating for me to see it in the triple digits.

See also: May, April, March, February, January,

I was having a conversation with my dad on the way home last night, mainly because I wanted him to know that on August 15th his loan would finally be gone and hoping that would make him happy. I also said that I’ll be taking over his Tractor Supply payment so he doesn’t need to use that card anymore. I was trying to explain to him that soon we would be free of all interest-accruing debt besides the house, but his reply was “I already know I’m always going to be in debt.” I asked why, and he said because “I only ever have $170 left over from Social Security every month after paying bills”.

I told him that’s not always going to be the case though. Once everything is paid off he’ll have over $300 more (so about $500) left over each month because he won’t be making payments anymore, and quite frankly that’s more than what I’ve been living off lately while trying to pay off these bills.

I guess it’s just hard to try and explain to him without feeling like he feels I’m lecturing him. I think the best route is just to do the payments, get it done, and then tell him when he needs to stop making a payment. Eventually it will add up and he’ll see, and maybe won’t feel so defeated when it comes to finances.

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in May 2009: $1999.12
• Total Payments in May: $499.17
• Total Payments YTD: $3954.44
• Total Finance Charges For May 2009: $9.82
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $76.07
• Starting Balance for June: $1509.77
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month: Getting down to the wire, folks. This is all very exciting for me. I never thought I’d see this debt of my father’s gone. But in August (maybe July if I get some extra money) it should be outta here. Some notes this month, I was referred to someone to commission some side work and made an extra $150 this month because of that, which will be a big help.

See also: April, March, February, January,

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in April 2009: $2464.74
• Total Payments in April: $477.17
• Total Payments YTD: $3455.27
• Total Finance Charges For April 2009: $11.55
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $66.25
• Starting Balance for May: $1999.12
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month: Nothing new to report for this month, really. It was a tight month in order to get that large of a payment because dad was short on cash again, and probably will continue to be until he is debt free. Guess that’s how things go. Fortunately with my birthday and getting $100 gift card to use towards groceries, that helped out a -lot-. Lawn mowing season starts this month as well, so I’m expecting things to get a lot easier while my dad makes extra cash from mowing lawns.

I’m also glad I reached my goal for this month to get his balance below $2k

See also: March, February, January

THEY SAID *drumroll*

“Our records reflect that your interest rate is currently 29.99%. The aforementioned rate is considered the Standard APR for Purchases as per the Tractor Supply Company credit card terms and conditions. For this reason, we are unable to negotiate a lower interest rate.”

….

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in March 2009: $2632.03
• Total Payments in March: $180
• Total Payments YTD: $2978.10
• Total Finance Charges For March 2009: $12.71
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $54.70
• Starting Balance for April: $2464.74
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month: This month was a little rough because my dad had no money to supplement himself beyond his bills due to his mistake last month. I decided -not- to put my old car payment towards his loan this month so that I could provide him with some gas money and running around money. However his contribution still goes through every month, and I did add a little extra to that.

I think in April I might be able to get the balance below $2k, or at least very close to it.

See also: February, January

I’m keeping track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this.

• Starting Balance of Loan in January: $5388.14
• Starting Balance in Feb 2009: $4988.66
• Total Payments in February: $2377.17
• Total Payments YTD: $2798.10
• Total Finance Charges For Feb 2009: $20.54
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $41.99
• Starting Balance for March: $2632.03
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month: This month had a large payment of $2.2k from me because I had a large tax refund. It would have been larger but I ran into a snag mid-February and had to give my father $500 to fix it, plus I owed some local taxes for PA, not to mention put $6k down on my car to pay it off. The new projected time to have this completely paid off is July, but I was hoping for June. At least I’m still on track for having this paid off by September.

I’ve decided to keep track of my payments towards my father’s debt reduction to kinda see the progress as we reach my goal of having his loan paid off by September 2009. So expect these posts monthly! Each month, seeing the progress should hopefully motivate me to stay on track with this. Afterwords we’ll have 2 more months of payments just for his remaining medical bills. Then he will be COMPLETELY debt free (sides the house, which is to be expected).

• Starting Balance in Jan 2009: $5388.14
• Total Payments in January: $420.93
• Total Payments YTD: $420.93
• Total Finance Charges For Jan 2009: $21.45
• Total Finance Charges YTD: $21.45
• Starting Balance for February: $4988.66
• $0 Goal: September 2009

Notes for this month: This month would have only been $178 (my dads monthly payment), but I put the extra money from my car insurance premium into the cost of the loan. I also got a $9 reward bonus from USAA for using my card.

EDIT

See every payment month that finally paid off this loan!
August, July, June, May, April, March, February, January