End of the Month Debt Tally

One of the reasons I started this blog was to keep me accountable in my quest to erase debt.  This is my first debt check-in since I first divulged my debt load in January:

Remaining Balance on Student Loans: $ 37, 942

Remaining Balance on Credit Card: $2,423.14

Remaining Balance on Car Loan: $ 7,900

Total as of February 29^th, 2012: $48,256.39

I'm officially under the $50,000 mark, folks!  I raided my emergency fund to pay off one student loan totaling $410.  Don't worry, I still have a tidbit over $1,000 in my emergency fund, and it seemed so silly paying $50 over the next 10 months when I could have a small victory and completely erase one of my student loans.

I also received a loan forgiveness of $450 because I taught Spanish (a high-needs subject area) during my first school year. 

The current game plan is to pay off the credit card by August or September.  Hopefully I'll piece together some side jobs during my summer off in order to erase the debt more quickly.  I want to pay extra towards my car and student loan balances, but seeing that I have low interest rates and options for loan forgiveness/cancellations, I want to be more aggressive in achieving robust emergency and retirement funds.

My total loan balance is still a lot, but I've made tangible progress.  I look forward to seeing that balance dip even further in the coming months!