Temporarily, at least. I paid off my last 0% balance transfer card this week. Now what I have left is my mortgage (around 23k at 4%), about 10k of loans that will be maturing over the next 20 months, and about 3.6k of revolving credit card debt that will paid off by my next two paychecks plus some expense reimbursement from my company.
So the debt is under 40k, finally, after a long period where it hung out at around 80k. But I've made a concerted effort to pay it down the past 3 years.
Unfortunately, it won't stay down quite that low for long as I have some home projects that MUST be done. I'll be taking out a fixed rate home equity loan and a HELOC to cover those, but I'll be using them JUST for capital improvements, so at least they should be expenses that I will partially recoup when I eventually sell my house. The front stairs are crumbling and need to be replaced, so that will be done this year. I've been wavering on whether I should replace my furnace now because it's 25 years old, or wait, and also thinking about replacing the dryer and range before the tariffs hit--but I probably won't. The front stairs are a definite project for this year, though, and I'm expecting it will end up costing about $8,000 based on the research I did last year.
I'm not rushing out to buy a car to beat the tariffs, as I drive less than 5,000 miles a year. I currently drive a 2012 Subaru Impreza without any bells or whistles. We'll see how long I can make it last (it has less than 68,000 miles on it). It goes into the shop tomorrow for a repair; hopefully that won't cost too much, but it should be my one big car expense for the year, knock on wood.
May 23rd, 2025 at 06:08 am 1747976888
May 23rd, 2025 at 06:10 am 1747977038
May 25th, 2025 at 09:59 am 1748163589
A Subaru’s boxer engine is generally lasts for at least 100k miles or so I am lead to believe…. Is it still under warranty? Oh wait, you did not specify what kind of car repair though.
Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you still have credit card debts that will not be paid off right away?
May 29th, 2025 at 01:28 am 1748478505
June 13th, 2025 at 07:28 pm 1749839336
June 22nd, 2025 at 11:43 pm 1750632236
The Subaru repair was something with the "bushings." From what I read, not taking care of that would lead to even more wear and tear on the car. Since the car is now 13 years old, it's no longer under warranty.
And, re the credit card debt, paying it off within one payment cycle IS to my mind paying it off "immediately." I just have a lot of payments such as the mortgage that come out of the first paycheck of the month (actually received the last business day of the prior month), so most of the credit cards are paid off with the second paycheck of the month.