Another month of the Debt Smash-athon is in the books! As usual, you Debt Smashers worked hard to accomplish big things! Even though only a fraction of our community reports numbers, I know there are many more of you who are working your tails off without reporting it.
I get so inspired reading all of your accomplishments each month! Thank you for sharing them and letting me share them with the rest of the community!
Whether you’re working on smashing debt now or you have other financial goals, the progress and success of our Debt Smashers below will help motivate you to rock you goals!
For those who are new here, in 2019 we’re having a Debt Smash-athon! Everyone is invited to participate by reporting how much you paid in debt each month. We’re also keeping track of how much we invest for retirement and save for our big goals. If you want to learn more and join this debt smashing movement, you can join the fun here.
Let’s start with the numbers, even though the best part is all of your personal thoughts and accomplishments. You’ll find those after the numbers.
MAY Debt Smash-athon Totals
During May, we collectively put $68,030.83 toward debt!
Way to go friends!!
Of the 39 of you who completed the Debt Smash-athon report for May, 85% reported putting money toward debt in May. That averages out to $2,061 per Debt Smasher, with a median of $1,500 paid in debt.
As a group, we invested $25,252.83 toward retirement! 54% of respondents reported retirement savings.
We also put a total of $25,435.70 toward big savings goals other than debt and retirement. 62% of respondents saved money for a big goal in May.
When you put that all together, the 39 total reporters made $118,719.36 of financial improvement in May! That is so exciting! Way to go friends!
Monthly Winner
Each month I will have a special prize for a randomly selected Debt Smasher who reported his or her progress. This month’s winner will get a $25 Amazon gift card!
May’s randomly chosen winner is Amy who said:
In less than five years we’ll have our student loans paid off and our oldest son will have graduated college debt free.
Woohoo! That’s exciting! Way to go Amy! I’ll be in touch!
Beyond the numbers
We all know that numbers aren’t the only indication of progress. Even with small numbers, we still make important progress as we change our course and build better money habits.
As usual, I was giddy with all of your accomplishments this month. I picked a variety of your motivating responses to share below. I wish I could give you each a personal shout out, but that would make this post far too long. You are doing great things!
Milestones
“Paid off my credit cards, and opened new high yield savings accounts” ~Becky
“We paid off our Credit card and cancelled it!” ~Rivkah
“Our big goal is to be out of consumer debt by the end of the year. Here we are at month 6 and we are already 62% paid off. It’s going faster than we hoped!!” ~Andra
“Paid off last credit card” ~Alex
“My debt starts with a 3 instead of a 4 now!” ~Heather
“Our car loan is under 4k!!” ~Yajaira
“Paid off our credit card!!” ~Jill
Big Wins
“I got three paychecks this month. I budgeted for the first two and the last one went almost completely towards debt smashing.” ~Kolia
“I changed jobs this month but even with the gap in paychecks I didn’t use my credit cards!” ~Jessica
“Knocked an extra €1000 of the mortgage” ~Ingrid
“Paid off our first wedding vendor!” ~Whitney
“We had a $200 car maintenance bill, but had money set aside from sinking funds to pay for it.” ~Jackie
“Paid for son’s surgery with cash” ~Shannon
“Rough month…yet, still saved SOME and paid off debt SOME!” ~Shirley
“Paid car insurance in full, instead of monthly, for the first time EVER!” ~Alasa
“Paid a big (3x a year) bill in full without having to break it up into installments.” ~Brooke
“May was a tough month financially, but thanks to my generous parents, we were able to handle it when about $1,500 in unexpected medical expenses came our way, making it so that we didn’t have to go into debt. Sometimes our financial progress comes on our own, but sometimes it comes thanks to the goodness of others!” ~Torrie
What was the key to your success?
“Planning menus, hanging out more laundry, being content” ~Tiffany
“It was a three paycheck month, but I spent as if it wasn’t” ~Bethany
“Looking at goals everyday” ~Lori
“Revamping our budget to be more realistic.” ~Jessica
“Funding our snowball even when we have unexpected expenses.” ~Jen
“Honestly I was able to save a lot by eating lunch at work instead of going out, and by taking transit a lot more instead of cabs/Lyfts.” ~Jessica
“I think a big part of our success now is that we take out a set amount of cash every other week and only spend that on everything we need. It’s helpful for us to know we can spend money going out to a movie or whatever- but that just means we won’t have as much for something else.” ~Pam
“Not even acknowledging that I had made so much more money. I just automatically put it towards debt.” ~Julie
“Have a goal, don’t complain, belief in god, a strong mindset, and being thankful for your health.” ~John
“This was a 3 pay month for me so I was excited to put extra money toward my mortgage principal. Watching the numbers go down really motivates me!” ~Emily
“Sacrificing and focus, put every extra penny towards the debt” ~Winnie
“Every penny counts! Even that extra $.78 counts towards paying down the loan. And seeing the interest drop after every payment has been fun, almost addictive!” ~Jenna
“Just getting started, just do the thing you’re not excited about so then you can get to the exciting stuff.” ~Stephanie
“Made an extra principal payment on mortgage even though we had unexpected expenses.” ~Linda
“Paying off my student loans in April was huge motivation to keep going with my husband’s loans. Finally feeling free of my loans made it even more exciting to start dumping all extra money into his loans. Seeing (and crossing!) that finish line helps us keep going.” ~Lisa
Join Us in the Debt Smash-athon!
It’s not just me who’s excited about this. This is what fellow Debt Smashers are saying:
“The debt smashathon is really helping me stay motivated because it’s a long grind!” ~Jackie
“This is my first month reporting, and think this is so cool to see how well everyone is doing!” ~Becky
Well, $118,719 of financial improvement among us is a great start to the summer! I can’t wait to see how we all do in June!
You can do this!
I feel terrible, I didn’t get my number in on time. I moved across country for a new job and really only paid the minimums so nothing too exciting to report.
Really excited for everyone participating in the challenge!
We paid off our house! It was a lot of work, extra work and very minimal spending, very counter cultural living but we are excited.
I love how much progress everyone is making. Keep up the good work, everyone!