I just updated the side bars and I noticed - unless I made an error previously - that my student loan balance is going UP instead of DOWN. I have read about this happening to other people, but because I have diligently applied and been accepted for the Repayment Assistance program every six months, I thought my balance was actually going down.
This puts the pressure on me to shift my fast-track payment from the car loan to the student loans. This is starting to feel right, because the student loans are old, so old, from 1996 - 2005 and I don't want to deal with them anymore.
I am making an extra $20 a month car payment and now I am going to increase the student loan payments. I haven't increased the mortgage payment yet.
The big news is that I started a full-time job in August, and I saw my first, full, real paycheque on Oct. 28. I saw an increase of $588 in my take-home pay, which is nothing to sneeze at, but our expenses for before and after-school care will increase dramatically, as will the student loans payments. This is mostly because my gross pay increased by $1600, but of course taxes, etc. took most of it back.
So, once again, I'm finding that it is almost not worth increasing my hours at work, since I see only a small increase to help my budget along. Increasing my work week hours by 14 over the last 3 years brought me only an extra $1000 a month, and I don't actually see much of it due to increased payment obligations.
The benefit to increasing my gross income when I first did so back in 2013, was that I was finally able to qualify for a mortgage.
The good thing about the new job is that it is only a 12-month contract. After 12 months I might return to my previous two part-time positions, and my budget spreadsheet accounts for this.
I am still on-track for the following:
Aug 2019 - car loan paid off
Dec 2021 - student loans paid off
July 2022 - quit secondary part-time job (less seven hours worked per week)
Dec 2024 - RRSP paid back
Dec 2031 - retirement from uni after 30.5 years (aged 57)
Go me!
This puts the pressure on me to shift my fast-track payment from the car loan to the student loans. This is starting to feel right, because the student loans are old, so old, from 1996 - 2005 and I don't want to deal with them anymore.
I am making an extra $20 a month car payment and now I am going to increase the student loan payments. I haven't increased the mortgage payment yet.
The big news is that I started a full-time job in August, and I saw my first, full, real paycheque on Oct. 28. I saw an increase of $588 in my take-home pay, which is nothing to sneeze at, but our expenses for before and after-school care will increase dramatically, as will the student loans payments. This is mostly because my gross pay increased by $1600, but of course taxes, etc. took most of it back.
So, once again, I'm finding that it is almost not worth increasing my hours at work, since I see only a small increase to help my budget along. Increasing my work week hours by 14 over the last 3 years brought me only an extra $1000 a month, and I don't actually see much of it due to increased payment obligations.
The benefit to increasing my gross income when I first did so back in 2013, was that I was finally able to qualify for a mortgage.
The good thing about the new job is that it is only a 12-month contract. After 12 months I might return to my previous two part-time positions, and my budget spreadsheet accounts for this.
I am still on-track for the following:
Aug 2019 - car loan paid off
Dec 2021 - student loans paid off
July 2022 - quit secondary part-time job (less seven hours worked per week)
Dec 2024 - RRSP paid back
Dec 2031 - retirement from uni after 30.5 years (aged 57)
Go me!
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Thanks for commenting! I will have it published as soon as I can.