So here is an updated graph to show our progress:
Since we normally pay $230 + $133 in the beginning of the month on our regular repayment schedule, that is the amount that I paid on this loan for the month. Of that, only a few dollars went to paying interest, so the final amount applied to the principal of the loan is $358 and some change. It made a HUGE dent though!!! Plus, in the second half of the month, we would normally pay $230 to the AES loan, and I still have a $100 bonus payment to apply for the month. If all is looking well next week on payday I will put that $330 toward this loan too! Which will drop our balance below the $1000 mark! If I do this for one more month, we will have this loan paid off by the first week of October!!!
So, let's face it, I'm impatient and I just want this to be paid off all the way. I could continue to split our payments 12 ways to cover all of the interest that is accruing, but right now I want to see something disappear from our list. *Gold Star* for me! And our next loan is another small one like this, so I might continue on this course until that one is paid off also. It'll only be a couple more months, and we will have 2 loans paid off completely. After that things will slow down though, so I might have to re-evaluate my strategy when I reach that point.
I have to admit that the savings goal is not going at all to plan. It is frustrating to me that I haven't stuck to that goal, and I am trying to make up for it now. Luckily, my paychecks have been consistently more than I expected, so I think I will be able to pick up some of the slack in the next few weeks. On the down side, I only have a few more months of solid work before the Christmas festivities set in, which means I will be losing my income temporarily until the first of the year. I'm going to be playing catch-up all the way til April if I'm not careful.
On the plus side, the summer semester has ended, and the fall semester is about to begin. We should both be getting grant disbursements to help pay for textbooks and other school stuff for the coming semester. I am hoping that I will have enough left over to put into savings and try to make up part of what I missed. These disbursements are supposed to be coming out tomorrow, but it seems like the school is having problems processing things since they changed all of their web stuff. As long as it gets here before the 20th, we should be good.
