Numbers above are based on totals at the beginning of August. Very late I know. Next numbers should be out next week. But those are a little more complicated. I had about $500 in miscellaneous snowflakes this month to bring my debt total down by $3,367. Not bad for one month.

I found an older version of my debt repayment spreadsheet. Prior to deciding to do the 0% balance transfer I believe the last it was updated was November 2008. But according to my estimates then at this point our total debt should have been $178,794.79.

I guess sticking to a budget, and having the balance transfer held over our heads as motive not to screw up really made us kick our butts into gear. Because according to my August update numbers below we have $7,541.55 more paid off then we had anticipated only 9 months ago! I guess things really can change. Hopefully it is always for the better like this! Looking at this versus my plan for the year on my up to date spreadsheet is a difference of $12,270. I am very impressed. I didn’t think my plans had changed that much but I guess they did. All our hard work is paying off, and this only proves that finding areas to cut spending little by little, and other decisions really do add up and make a difference. It is just hard to see unless you take a step back and wait out the time.

In the past year I’d say the main things that contributed to this are:
1. Had the balance transfers drop dead date force us to stay on track
2. We made a budget and stuck to it since January
3. We found much cheaper car insurance (~800 a year savings)
4. Bonuses, tax rebates, credit card rewards, and car insurance checks were sent to loans and not spent!
5. An envelope budget made sure we had $ set aside for non-monthly bills. Previously we would pay the bill in full, and then have no idea what we were really spending for the rest of the month.