Payoff! November report

October was another stunning payoff month.  My total amount paid was $1148.49!  This includes my new regular monthly payment of $103.67 and an extra payment of $1044.82.

How much I paid toward the principal and how much toward the interest.  In October, I paid $12.59 to interest, the rest went to the principal. I still have not figured out how to have all the extra payment go only to the principal.

Where the money for my extra payments came from. I was able to make a $1000+ payment due to something called a “birthday.”  Though I did have a birthday list going in my head, no one asked me for it, so I got mostly cash, and some fun things like Junior Mints.  I used the cash to buy an awesome new clothes drying rack and the rest went to the Payoff! project. In addition, I had initially budgeted $297.61 in the Payoff! category.  Matt paid me $70.37 for food.  I cashed in my cash rewards balance on my credit card and got $103.67. I found a quarter. There was a leftover student loan allocation of $85.67.  I found an extra $1.50 matching my credit card amount to my credit card budget in YNAB, my budget program.  Due to my Thrifty Food Project, I had $98.97 left in my grocery account, and $5.81 leftover in dining out.  (It would have been more, but I got roped into overpaying for pizza by $19.)  I also had $35.27 leftover in my Random Fun Things To Do category, which is my miscellaneous spending.

A list of what I didn’t buy in order to put more money toward this project.  I had thought about buying some new slippers with my birthday money.  The slippers I currently have are cheap, and every time I put them on, I think fondly of the quality sheep’s wool  of my previous pair of slippers.  Those lasted three years.  These have already passed their prime after one year.  But I decided I could carry on.  In the spirit of the Payoff project, I can be happy that the $60-$70 I spent on my loan instead of new slippers, brings me that much closer to my Payoff! goal.

Any roadblocks I’m having toward this goal.  I haven’t had any roadblocks in October (no wonder!) but am, as usual, worried that I will grow bored with this project this month.