The $76K Project: Reboot

(Originally posted on The $76K Project on 6/24/2018) Exactly one year ago today, I launched The $76K Project with this post:  Introducing the $76K Project   (man, I come up with such inspired titles!) In it, I wrote the following: I'm putting all this out there in part to help myself stay motivated and in part because I know we're not alone. People don't talk about their debt, and if there's anything I've learned from our experience, it's that the choices we make with our money don't always reflect the reality of our financial situations. We are not the only ones who've spent what we don't have and in the process dug ourselves into a deep hole. At the time, we were more than $76K in debt and coming to terms with what it would take to get it paid off. Fortysomething was working a sometimes lucrative, but sporadic, contract gig, while my 8-to-5 job paid so little that it barely covered the rent for our small, noisy apartment. We were implementing a bud

(Originally posted on The $76K Project on 6/18/18) A few days ago,  I shared that Fortysomething and I will likely be able to pay off our third and last credit card by the end of the month . We're over halfway there: "only" $4300 to go. To be honest, I am nothing short of obsessed with getting this done, to the point where I am needlessly checking account balances twice a day. In the meantime, we've been going back and forth on what to do next: immediately go all-out on paying off my $10K in student loans? Stock up the emergency fund,  then  focus on student loans? Ramp up investments? After much discussion, we still haven't made a firm decision. My guess is that we'll probably try to knock out my student loan debt as quickly as possible, then increase savings as we pay down Fortysomething's student loan, which currently stands at a little less than $40K. We *may* also start shopping around for a home loan, just to see whether we could find a mortgage with

(Originally published on The $76K Project on 6/9/2018) I can't quite believe it yet, but it looks like we might be able to eliminate  our $9000+ in remaining credit card debt   by the end of this month.  This is our third and last credit card. Our original plan was to pay it off by mid-autumn. This is turning out to be an unexpectedly auspicious month for us, though, and so we're putting those payoff plans into overdrive. Here's how our financial stars aligned in June: (1) Fortysomething received a generous work bonus.  The school he works for offers bonuses as a way to supplement low-ish salaries and incentivize teacher retention. We knew he would receive one at the end of spring term, but the amount varies each year, so we had no idea what that would look like. This year happens to be a good year. Every single penny of the bonus will go towards paying off the credit card. (2) Fortysomething is side hustling like a boss.  He was initially planning to relax for most of the