| The good news is I am back in the positive for net worth, I am a few weeks away from sending the Department of Education the LAST DIME THEY WILL EVER GET FROM ME!!!, and it looks like we might even be getting a cost of living adjustment in the new year for the first time in a long time.
September had me paying $2,500 in county property taxes, and paying off the rest of my credit card. I also did a very close tracking of spending in Sept., by tracking every expenditure in a formatted spreadsheet that allowed me to see totals spent and how much I had left to spend as a result of each purchase, and that was very helpful. Basically it operates like an electronic check register. I can plug in fixed payments and income ahead of time, and add the discretionary spending as it occurs. When what I have to spend hits zero (or close), I stop spending.
Very looking forward to re-allocating my debt snowball, but am feeling a bit mixed about whether to go after the HELOC with intensity, or re-direct my energies towards saving and investing. I will likely just plug away with the Dave Ramsey plan; I'll be on Step 3 which is saving up 6 months worth of expenses; after that up retirement to 15% of gross. One difference will be switching from practically Interest Only payments on the HELOC and mortgage to the 30-year Amortized payment on the first mortgage and about double that on the HELOC. The rest of the snowball will go toward the emergency fund.
Trying not to feel discouraged about my low net worth at this point in my life; especially since I've been working since the age of 16!! One thing is for sure, if I have kids, they will not be shackled with student loan debt and limited in their choices the way I was -- you can take that to the bank!!
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Home value is updated monthly from Zillow.com/Zestimate
(Purchase price was $370K in August 2006).
Other Mortgage = HELOC/2nd Mortgage
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