You know how in losing weight it's easier to target a close and small weight loss goal instead of targeting the ultimate goal? When I tried Weight Watchers, they suggested a target goal of 5 lbs instead of my healthy, and ultimate goal, of under 135 lbs (which is the heaviest for my height).
With my starting self-confidence (aka deflated ego), I thought 5 lbs was so easy to get rid of. I was honestly disappointed at the beginning when I was "forced" to start with losing 5 lbs. Though I managed to shed 5 lbs off and more, the process took longer than I expected.
Life happens, my priority shifts from time to time, and my hormones tell me what to do. So much self-control was necessary and I didn't have it in me to keep at it. I stopped WW after 4 months, mostly because I reached a plateau - I wasn't losing any more nor was I gaining beyond the ~3 lbs that my body would gain at certain times of the month and shed off in a day or 2.
So today, I've decided to try a similar approach. Our only debt is J's student loan, which is at $32,894 today. Its interest rate at 7.375% is not low enough for our $500/month to have a big impact on. For a couple of months now, I've been thinking of setting a small goal to get it below $30,500 by the end of 2012.
With our current monthly payment of $500, ~$300 of it goes towards the principal. By end of the year, it will be around $31k. This gave me the inspiration to target an extra $500 to pay. We already pay an extra month to it by adding 10% to the minimum, which is another way of paying bi-weekly.
J is really dying to get his student loan gone. It has been too long and I'm just as excited to get this off our backs! Good luck to us!
With my starting self-confidence (aka deflated ego), I thought 5 lbs was so easy to get rid of. I was honestly disappointed at the beginning when I was "forced" to start with losing 5 lbs. Though I managed to shed 5 lbs off and more, the process took longer than I expected.
Life happens, my priority shifts from time to time, and my hormones tell me what to do. So much self-control was necessary and I didn't have it in me to keep at it. I stopped WW after 4 months, mostly because I reached a plateau - I wasn't losing any more nor was I gaining beyond the ~3 lbs that my body would gain at certain times of the month and shed off in a day or 2.
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| Waitangi Park, Wellington, New Zealand |
So today, I've decided to try a similar approach. Our only debt is J's student loan, which is at $32,894 today. Its interest rate at 7.375% is not low enough for our $500/month to have a big impact on. For a couple of months now, I've been thinking of setting a small goal to get it below $30,500 by the end of 2012.
With our current monthly payment of $500, ~$300 of it goes towards the principal. By end of the year, it will be around $31k. This gave me the inspiration to target an extra $500 to pay. We already pay an extra month to it by adding 10% to the minimum, which is another way of paying bi-weekly.
J is really dying to get his student loan gone. It has been too long and I'm just as excited to get this off our backs! Good luck to us!
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