Current status:
$122,000 remaining on mortgage @ 5.25%
- Scheduled pay-off June 2035, projected pay-off July 2029 by paying $59 extra/mo.
- Reduce principal by $3,000 by end of year

$8,000 remaining on vehicle loan @ 5.25%
- Scheduled pay-off Aug. 2014, projected pay-off Oct 2012 by paying $100 extra/mo. plus a bulk payment from savings/monthly cashflow
- Pay off in full by end of year ($8,000)

$34,500 remaining on student loans @ 3.625%
- Scheduled payoff Jul 2025, making minimum payments only
- Reduce principal by about $2,000 by end of year

$800 on store card at 0% until 2015
- Currently paying $50/ mo. / increase or make bulk payment
- Pay off in full by end of year ($800)

$6,900 on credit card for adoption expenses at 0% until October 2012 - Currently throwing about $500/mo at this + tax refund due to adoption tax credit
- Pay off in full by October ($6,900)

Current amount in savings/checking: $14,000 / Hope to maintain at least $13,000 of this for emergency fund)
Current take-home: about $4,500/mo.

Hey Wannabe,
Sounds like you're making great progress.

If you're confident about your savings skills you could decided to not pay of the debt at 0% pro-actively, but wait until september and pay it off at once at that time. You'll get to keep the interest during that time. The same goes for the store card.

But really, only do this if you're absolutely confident you can keep the money seperate for this debt.

This month, we made payments as planned, with $450 going towards the adoption expenses on the 0% credit card ($300 of this was the state tax refund). So, we paid off $1,340 in principle this month.

Our income and account balances stayed about the same this month.

We submitted our tax returns and are still waiting for the federal tax refund of $5800. Because of the adoption tax credit, we were required to paper file and we are expecting that there will be delays in processing because of the adoption tax credit. Once we get that, it will go towards the adoption expenses.

I ran the numbers of holding onto the refund money in a savings account until near the end of the 0% interest period, but the interest earnings would be minimal. To me, the satisfaction of being rid of the debt is worth putting the tax refund directly to paying off the card.

We found out this week that my husband will be involved in a special project at work which will require significant overtime for the next few months. This could add up to an additional $5,000 in income that can be used to help pay off the vehicle loan by the end of the year.

Mortgage: 121,528/122,100
- Progress: 572/3,000 (19%)

Vehicle Loan: 7,321/8,048
- Progress: 727/8,048 (9%)

Student Loans: 34,236/34,615
- Progress: 379/2,000 (19%)

Store Card: 695/795
- Progress: 100/795 (13%)

Credit Card for Adoption Expenses: 5,500/6,900
- Progress: 1,400/6,900 (20%)

Overall Progress: 3,178/20,743 (15%)
Time Progress: 2/10 months (20%)

Current amount in Savings/Checking: $15,000 (min. wanted: $13,000)

We are mostly on schedule. We have gotten back $1,100 of our tax refund, which went directly to pay part of the credit card. The IRS has requested additional information regarding the adoption tax credit, so they have not released that portion of our tax refund yet. (Last year, they did a partial audit on nearly everyone who claimed the adoption tax credit, and many did not get the refund until August).

We also a friend that surprised us by paying back a $500 loan (money that we thought we would never see again). But, we splurged and spent $400 on stuff for the house that we were going to buy anyway.