Wow, it has now been over a year since I started this blog!
Though I haven’t been as vigilant about posting as I’d like to be, I have been very vigilant about paying down our debt. In the past year, we have eliminated $32, 132.09 in debt. That’s unbelievable! We have been lucky this year, my husband got a substantial bonus last fall, a large majority of which went towards the debt. Also, we got the $7500 tax credit for buying a new home (all of which went toward the debt).
In light of these accomplishments, we will probably back off of our debt-reduction strategy and start focusing on retirement. We have already begun this strategy to some degree, but we will continue to stay fairly aggressive towards the debt until the grad loan is eliminated.
What’s ahead as we move into year 2 of the blog? Some goals and events I foresee in the near future:
1. Pay off graduate loan in full – $4,773.53
2. Pay off washer and dryer – $1,954.96 (we did 0% financing, but the financial penalties for missing a payment are huge enough that I’d rather not have to worry about it).
3. Maybe a baby? C and I are currently discussing starting a family in the near future.
4. Beefing up retirement. C and I have each begun putting $500 a month toward our respective 401k plans. This is in addition to maxing our Roth IRAs. C will get another (smaller) bonus this fall, and we’d like to dedicate half of it to his 401k.
5. Making an extra mortgage payment on the house for 2009 – $1513.79
6. Increasing retirement contributions even more once we’ve paid off the grad loan/laundry.
7. Home improvement — we’d like to do some painting inside the house, there are a few small repairs that need to be made, and we really should get our annual termite inspection out of the way.
