Progress

I realized this morning that I haven't posted in awhile. I have been so crazy busy and in the midst of my crazy schedule in my day job, I decided to start driving for Uber. Why? Well, I sat down and did some simple math regarding my current finances and made some pretty lofty goals based upon my calculations. Here is how I currently stand financially:

Mortgage: $160,198.63
HELOC: $24,260.94
Credit cards: 0
Student Loans$: 343,977.33

I plan to pay all of this off within 87 months. 87 months!! How did I decide on the number of 86 months? Well, in my day job I am an attorney that works for a State agency, which is considered public service for the purposes of loan forgiveness under the College Cost Reduction Act (CCRA). The CCRA was signed by President Bush just before he left office in 2007 and provides loan forgiveness to those of us with student loans who work in public service for 10 years (or 120 months) and make 120 on-time payments during the time of service.  As of the writing of this post, I have 34 months of verified creditable  public service completed (though I actually believe it may be more, but I will have to fight Federal Direct to recognize the missing payments as eligible payments...long story, but it has to do with the deferment & forbearance periods I have exercised since graduating), which leaves me with 87 more months before I am eligible to apply for loan forgiveness on all of my student loans. So... if I can increase my income and accelerate my mortgage payoff, then I can be completely debt free at the same time as my student loans are discharged. I REALLY RALLY want to know what it's like to have no house payment, no student loan payment, so I decided o start dedicating my efforts to paying off every bit of the house and consumer debt by the time my student loans are forgiven. It IS doable, but it is going to take a lot of work. Every single dollar I make with Uber will be dedicated to debt pay-down. I intend to keep attacking it with a vengeance until it is gone. It may sound crazy, but financial freedom is worth more than words can even express. I have a desire to retire early, so the sooner my debts are gone, the sooner I can retire. :)

From Solo to Duo

Greetings fellow Wanderlusters!

So though I originally thought I was going to be traveling to Paris solo...it turns out that Robert will, indeed, be joining me in the City of Lights. I'm VERY excited to be going...and I'm glad that Robert will be joining me. He's a little worried about going to a country where we don't speak the language. And I'll admit, I'm a little nervous, too. So I am embarking on learning a little bit of French before we leave. I am currently looking for a tutor over at Italki to start the process. I'll keep you updated on how things progress.

Robert has been complaining about the amount of money that I have been spending on travel lately, so he has asked me to slow it down once we return from Paris. I *might* slow it down a bit...or I might not. Honestly, I don't feel like I have been spending that much on travel. Norway, London & Paris combined has cost less than $5,000 total so far, which, in my opinion is NOT bad. Perhaps in my next round of travel planning, I need to go solo...which I totally wouldn't mind. I could use a break from home life for awhile. We'll see.