Starting today I’ve added a new graphic to my blog, and I’m calling it the Debt Payoff Meter. You can see it from just about any page on the site. It’s super straightforward – Each time I pay off debt (or each month, at least) I’ll update the meter to reflect how much money I’ve put down on the debt and how much closer I am to my goal of being debt free.
As of now, February 9th, my fiancée and I have just above $91,000 in debt remaining. I thought it was more around $90,000 as of my last post, but after double-checking all of the accounts it’s sadly just a little bit higher. Nevertheless, it is what it is, and my goal is to get rid of it as soon as possible. My aggressive repayment plan pegs us to be debt free by August 2018. That’s about three and a half years away. It’s a scary target and means we’ll need to throw as close to $30,000 down in debt each year as we can, but it’s certainly possible. And by all means I’ll try to get us debt free a lot sooner.
With our tax refunds going straight to the debt this year, rather than emergencies (like last year), we have a nice boost this month. We’ve also adjusted our tax basis so that we don’t get much of a refund next year. That means more money in today’s dollars to throw towards debt and less in the hands of Uncle Sam.
Overall, the goal of the meter is to keep me motivated and to provide a nice visualization to any fellow readers. If you’re following me, keep an eye on my tracker and help keep me accountable!
Sam D. Miller 
Sam, this is a great way to stay motivated. I’m looking forward to watching that green line get longer and longer each month.
Hey. Stumbled upon your blog. I am thinking of getting a meter for my blog too (paying off a 6-figure debt and been blogging about it at http://debtsquasher.com). Good motivator, although lately things have been looking bleak for me, what with continuous currency devaluation of the Canadian dollar against my US dollar grad school loan, so perhaps I should wait – haha…Am gonna follow your blog to help stay motivated and accountable :).
Nice! You should definitely add one too! And I’ll follow you – lets get these debts paid off!
Are you going to pay off your loans first and then get married? How are you not going into debt for the wedding?
My fiancée’s parents got married for $2,000 or less so our goal is to pay cash and have as cheap of a wedding but as nice of one, of course. The problem is that we keep putting it off instead of just picking a date. We want an outside wedding, have had some bad luck with one venue we had our hearts set on, and paying off debt is a bigger priority for our new family than paying for a wedding, but we certainly want to spend what we need to and enjoy our big day. Our plan is to finalize the location and date this month and figure out our costs. Luckily we have family hookups for most aspects of the wedding!
I love it and hope it goes well. And I love that her parents got married on $2000 or less. That’s my goal. I would love to see you document this in your blog