First, let me apologize for the unexpected hiatus, and commit to not having that happen again. I had some medical issues which have been (mostly) resolved.
The good news is that I cleaned up another credit card on Tuesday! I cannot tell you how happy that makes me! I have one card with a small balance (under $120), some personal loans, and my student loans to pay off; then I will finally be debt-free for the first time in my adult life!
I’m not kidding myself here. These last bits will not be easy to do; the personal loans come to about $30,000, as do the student loans, but I intend to use the wonderful snowflake method described at I’ve Paid for this Twice Already to attack them.
Fortunately, I had consolidated my student loans just before the government tightened up on them in 2005 and, when I ended up in a job that paid one-third of what my former job did, I was able to put the consolidated loans into forbearance. I don’t recommend doing this because, while you are not paying on the loans, interest continues to accrue, but it was the best choice I could make at the time.
So, my current plan (once that last credit card is cleared up) is to pay down as many of my personal debts as possible before the student loans come out of forbearance at the end of this year, alternating loan payments with emergency fund deposits. Realistically, this means it will be about three and a half years to four years before I will be completely debt-free. Given that I have spent the last thirty-five years in debt of varying sorts, I think I can wait to finish the process.
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