While February was a very doldrums sort of month, for this project, March was awesome. And that was because I met my goal.

That’s right.

I paid off my student loans!!!!!!

You might recall that at the end of last month I was tempted to use my emergency fund to pay off the rest. But I did not deplete the rest of my emergency fund. That was because I knew I hadn’t yet done my taxes.

I’ve read a lot of financial advice that says that you should try to break even with your tax withholding. That if you are getting large tax refunds, you should adjust your withholding to get a larger paycheck monthly.

I can see the wisdom in that. But I also know that I love windfalls. And my tax refund–even though it’s my money the government has been holding for me and I haven’t even been earning paltry interest on it–my refund is a very fun windfall. Before the combination of YNAB and a higher salary meant that my monthly budget more or less met all my needs, my tax refund was a time of year to say, “oh good, I can replace my old shoes.” And I always used it for some sort of “treat,” sometimes a smaller treat in the one hundred dollar range, sometimes a large treat, like the computer I’m typing this entry on; which took up a big chunk of my 2009 tax return.

And this year, I knew that my tax return was going to go in full towards paying off my student loan.

So here’s what happened. Mid-March, my usual payment of $103.67 was withdrawn. I got an alert that my April payment will be $112. Due to the graduated nature of my loan, the payment gets slightly higher every two years. But I’m thinking, “If things work out, I’m not going to have to make that $112 payment.

At the end of March I make a good overpayment of $566.17. My initial budgeted amount was $498.67 and then I did not keep track of where the rest came from. Probably Matt paying me for food. That is usually in the $70 range. At this point, the amount left on my loan was $1,378.13.

But I’d done my taxes by that time and I knew my refund was coming. It arrived from both state and federal governments (thank you electronic transfer) and I turned right around and made a payment of $1,190.93 on 3/31. That left a balance of $187.29.

But what else happens on 3/31?  (Actually on 3/30 because 3/31 was a Saturday.)  That’s right!  I get paid. And when I’m slapping my money into my budget categories, I have more than $187.29 in my Goals: Loan Paid by 2020 category. Not to mention the amount I’d already budgeted in my monthly payment category.

So I did the thing that I’ve been longing to do for years. I clicked on the link that said, “estimate payoff amount.”  The amount, due to interest, was $187.36 and so I authorized that payment.

By April 2 my balance was zero.

I love that death squiggle at the end. Take that, loan balance!

I’m so very glad to have achieved this goal. And I’m quite proud of my progress. Since August 26, I have paid $13,537.68 towards this goal. And while $5852 was from my emergency savings, paying $7685.68 in seven months is nothing to sniff at.

Achieving this goal (and so quickly, as I had forecast June or July as the complete date) has given my confidence to go for my next goal which is to rebuild my emergency fund. And I have a yearly financial goal of saving 45% of my net pay. I think I can hit that goal, too.

Mr. Money Mustache says that when it’s time to reward yourself, to buy yourself a burrito, give yourself a pat on the back and set your next goal. I’m going to buy myself something a little bigger: a new computer. Of the list of things not bought in service of this goal (list: New computer,  Instapot, poetry post, reverse loft, emergency savings, tap dance, new slippers) it’s the thing I would like to do first. My computer is nine years old and while it’s a workhorse, it’s starting to falter. I don’t want to be without a computer.

After that, I’m going to set milestone goals on the path to rebuilding my emergency fund.

While all that is happening, I’m going to enjoy being a person only carrying one debt: her half of the mortgage.

That dark green box in the sidebar tells me that I’ve got $1,942.21 left to pay on this loan. It’s almost worth using up the last of my emergency fund for and I’m very tempted to do so. But I will hold steady with the current plan

February started off as a very depressing month, money-wise.  My shoulder was aflame in repetitive-motion-type hurt, so much so that I went to the doctor who referred me to the physical therapist.  This was great!  Except!  According to my insurer, I would first have to pay my deductible of $1,250 before any physical therapy would be covered. Much sadness ensued as I realized that all of the money going toward the Payoff! goal would have to be rerouted to the shoulder project.  But my shoulder hurt a lot, so I made the appointment.

Then, on top of that, I wasn’t going to be able to do my tax return until April 4, at the earliest.  We were in line for a $1,300 tax credit for installing our heat pump, but the documentation I needed was not going to be sent to me until April 4, despite me having submitted my paperwork in late November.  I’m someone who files her taxes in early February, so this was not good news.

Things got better by the end of the month.  I pulled $1,250 over from my (now very small) emergency fund to use as a deductible and set a goal in YNAB to fully fund it to $1,250 by January 2019.  That way, as I pulled money out to satisfy my deductible, the program would have me pay back a little each month until I was back to fully funded for the next year’s medical crisis.

And then the physical therapy didn’t cost as much as I thought it would. Despite being quoted as around $300 being billed to insurance for each session, when I got the bills, the insurance company would discount them by half and apply other mumbo-jumbo I don’t understand, so the physical therapy was costing me something like $75 per session, not $300.  I hate how complicated insurance is, and though I read carefully the EOBs and also have a spreadsheet of my own to understand the system, I still don’t get it.

So, while I wasn’t able to make the full extra payment of $500 which is my goal, I made a bigger payment this month than I thought I would at the beginning of the month.  Also, my tax form arrived sometime in late February, which meant I could start on my taxes sooner than April 4.

In February, I paid $595.12 which was my usual payment of $103.67 and an additional payment of $491.45.  I was less than $9.00 from my $500 goal!  $5.56 went towards interest and $589.56 to the principal.

My money for the extra payment came from $408 budgeted initially, plus $50 in cash rewards from my credit card. I also had $37.00 because I waited to re-up my gym membership until the month flipped, $10 in unused Dining Out money and $11.28 left over in my Random Fun Things To Do category. That adds up to more than $500, but I had to skim some off to pay for the amount I overspent on groceries this month.  (That was another disappointing thing.)

My remaining balance at this point is just over $2,000.  It is very, very, very tempting to use the last of my emergency fund to pay this off in one fell swoop, but I am going to try hard to stay the course.

My total amount paid for January was $655.34 which consisted of my usual $103.67 and an impressive additional $551.67. Of that total, $647.21 was applied to the principal and $8.13 was applied to the interest. I had budgeted $383.25 initially, and then cashed in $11.10 of BottleDrop refunds, as well as my $12.00 in Christmas scratch-off ticket winnings. Thanks to the calendar, Matt paid me twice for food, giving me an extra $147.60. It all adds up.

I added nothing to my list of things not bought to achieve my goal. Truthfully, I wonder if I’ve wandered away from that part of the project. I seem to be buying this and that (things under $40) when I “need” them. It might be good to check up on that.

 

My payoff estimator has me finishing this project by June of this year. Hopefully I can meet this goal. My remaining balance is $2,633.53.