i AM SO EXCITED THAT THIS THREAD IS UP!! I'm fairly new to this section of the boards, but I've been following along on the 2017 Debt Dumpers thread for the last few weeks, and I've been itching to join for 2018. We've got ambitious goals for 2018 in general - I turn 29 next month, and am now fiercely motivated to get life on a better track before I turn 30 haha.
Debt Goals:
1) Pay off my car note ($2552 remaining - will hopefully have that done by the end of March)
2) Pay off Credit Card #1 ($2400)
3) Pay off Credit Card #2 ($5000)
4) Pay down Credit Card #3 to at least 75% of its current balance ($6750)
That would reduce our overall debt by ~$16,700, which would be incredible. It would leave us with 25% of credit card #3 to pay off, 100% of credit card #4, and my student loans. I actually figured up that we could be debt free, with the exception of my student loans, in 18 months - assuming everything goes according to plan. We'll see about that. I'm planning for two years just to be safe. DH is working two jobs (and has been for roughly two years now) and I just started a full time job a couple of months ago, and until we get on our feet better that will replace my more-than-full-time-less-than-minimum-wage self-employed business that I've been operating for the last two years. Bummed to put that on the back burner, but on the bright side, the majority of our credit card debt is because of the business, and it's been hard to get caught up with that because every time we pay a card down a little, I need to put something else on it. Not having that situation will help us get our feet back under us.
I know DH will need a "new" car very, very soon, but we're hoping to find something that won't cost much more than the trade-in value of his truck. That thing has been nothing but a PITA since we got it a few months ago, and we are more than ready to be rid of it... Just have to find a replacement before it completely falls apart, haha. I've had some teeth sensitivity for a long while now and really need to get in to the dentist to see about that very soon. I'm convinced that will turn out to be something terrible and awful and expensive, because that's just how I am, lol. So we'll see how all of that goes.
We've got two WDW trips planned this year - a very short, budget-friendly trip at the end of January for my birthday, and a slightly longer, slightly more extravagant trip at the end of October for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We'll be crossing Wilderness Lodge off of our resort bucket list for that trip and we could not be more excited. We booked a package for it so we'll be making monthly payments until the end of September, and that will take care of the room and tickets. We received a little money from various family members for Christmas, and that will more than take care of our January trip. We actually need to figure out what to do with the extra Christmas money that won't be needed for the trip - be responsible and put it toward debt, or use it for a couple of fun things we've been wanting for a while but keep talking ourselves out of until we get the money? Haha
Also, since others have mentioned their non-debt-related 2018 goals, I'll toss mine out there, too.
1) Lose 50lbs before our October trip
I have a very sedentary life with lots of stress (largely financial stress) and that has taken quite a toll on my waistline (well, not just my waistline, lol). NO MORE. With 3, sometimes 4, jobs between us, DH and I get little sleep and lots of fast food, which is horrible for both the wallet and the waist. I don't even want to think about all of the money we've spent just on food in the last two months. Anytime I start to think about it, I just get nauseous, haha. So since I'll have some more free time for a while, I'm going to use it to get more active and to spend more time planning meals and cooking ahead so we don't run into the "there's nothing to eat in the house, I need food now, let's just go get something".
Thanks for letting me jump in to this thread! I'm excited to get to know all of you as the year progresses!