Debt Busters Club - February Update

(for more info on the Debt Busters Club or to join in, go here)

Our big debt buster goal is to pay off as much as we can on Dave’s medical school loans while he is still a resident (which he will be for 3.5 more years), and then to pay off the rest as fast as we can once he finishes his training and has a real job. However, we are expecting a baby in August so we are following Dave Ramsey’s advice to set aside all the money we would have paid on the loan as a temporary extra emergency fund. Once the baby is here and everything is fine, we’ll take all that money and send it to the loan. Our goal for January to July is to save $750 a month in that fund, for a total of $5250 by the end of July. My goal for the year is to pay another $2750 on the loans between September and December for a grand total of $8,000. That’s about 17% of our annual income and 4.4% of the total loan balance.

Total saved in January (and part of December): $1416.93

That means we’re ahead of schedule so far!!

Another goal for the month of February is to use as much as possible from our overflowing freezer and pantry and to buy as few groceries as possible. The money we don’t spend on groceries this month will go into the student loan fund. This will also push me to find creative ways to use many of the items we’ve been accumulating. I’m expecting to buy a few things during the month, including milk, eggs, fruit, some meat/chicken and maybe bread. I would skip the meats, which we don’t eat much of anyway, but I’m trying to make sure I get enough good protein while pregnant.

Last week, I bought 1 gallon of milk, 1 quart half and half and a 3lb bag of onions. Total spent: $7.75 (I normally budget $45 per week for groceries for our family of two).