How are things going with your January finance management? We are now nearly 2 weeks in and I have a fun little freebie printable to help you along the way!
Have you had the opportunity to evaluate your income and expenditures?
How in line are you with a 10/70/20 flex plan?
Have you considered implementing some of my strategies into your own finance management this year?
If you have absolutely no idea of what I am referring to, take a quick break to review my post about tackling debt, HERE.
Yes, I know, I have given you a lot of information over the past couple of weeks, and I’m here to say that I have another wonderful post coming your way this upcoming weekend so keep a close eye out for that! In the meantime, I wanted to share a quick little tool to use.
A debt management tracker.
(Right click on the photo below, to save and print!)
If you’re anything like me, a visual reminder of your goals can really help keep you motivated and on track. Because each of our individual finance needs are so different, I’ve created this to be completely customizable to your individual needs.
Start by plugging in your loan’s maturity date. When does your financial institution expect you to have this paid in full?
You’ll then leave the “Payoff date” portion blank. You’ll get to fill this in at the end to celebrate you paying off the amount being paid in full!
I’ve created 12 different sections in this chart for you to fill in, as you go along. The first line, at the top and to the right of the chart, I would like you to write the total amount due of the loan. For example, Let’s say I have an $8,000 loan, I’ll write $8,000 on the top line. You’ll now start at the bottom, filling in a portion of this each month (using half of the box if you do your budget twice per month). Grab your favorite colored pencil or marker and go to town each time you make a payment toward this debt. As you move along, fill in the line next to that portion of the chart with the amount paid.
The hopes for this is that you are able to tackle one of your smaller loans, over the course of the next 12 months. You’ll notice you have 12 boxes to fill in so let’s see how much of that debt can be taken care of in the next 12 months, and/or how early you will be able to tackle that amount, given our 20% flex strategy!
I’ll be checking in with you later this year so keep this in a safe place to refer to each month. Later on this year we will have a finance accountability chat! Have fun and please let me know if you have any questions.
Want to learn more? Don’t miss my other post in this series:
Budgets and Sacrifices – a financial management program that works for us NOW!