Happy Dances of Joy!!

I have to admit, I've logged on twice to my bank account since dinner time. It is incredibly odd to go on there and see 'you have no loans' where the big ole loan used to be. It's gone. Poof. Farewell. I had them tap in to figure out how much the accrued interest would be since last payment, so that there would be no $30 dollar surprises at the end of the month. It's all good.

I was grinning a happy little grin when I left.

For those of you who follow Survivor, you are familiar with how the last episode goes. There are four contestants left. As they venture towards their final challenges they go past items that are meant to remind them of all the contestants who left the show before them.

So here is the memorial walk through this consolidated loan.

It all began in June of 2002.  I was finishing my first full time year of teaching and in a brand new school and my vehicle completely broke down. It was going to cost a fortune to repair and wasn't worth the money to do so. So off to the car lots I went to find a 'new to me' vehicle. With two young kids and a boatload of equipment to haul around, the minivan seemed the perfect choice. I believe the original loan was for about $12 000 but I honestly have no clue and I can't find the papers on it. Sad. very sad.

I was excited to learn though that even though this was my first personal loan ever, I did not need a cosigner. What a great feeling. I was in for, I believe, four years, though I honestly don't know. I signed that baby on my own and the first of my 26th of the month payments, began.

I dutifully paid each month as it was automatically withdrawn from my account. While I knew next to nothing about money and loans, I was smart enough to have this automatic withdrawl come out right after I got paid so there would never be a money mistake.

I did not know a blesssed thing about paying lump sums so I paid merely the loan amount while the interest ate away and my principle.

Things progressed nicely until the fall of 2004 when DS1 had the opportunity to go play hockey in Europe for two weeks in the spring of 2005. We were really excited about this and decided to make a family trip out of this. I needed the money to pay for the packages for myself and my boys. (Their father did not contribute  one tiny cent to that, and had HIS father pay for his trip over. Long story. Not commenting beyond I'm not bitter. honest. lol right)

I went back to the bank. I was just under $10 000 on this loan at this point. Putting the trip on this (all expenses were included) bumped the loan up considerably. But Europe!!! I'd never been and may never again. It really was a trip of a lifetime and I can't say enough about how this experience meant to me.

I also added on the $1000 for the new energy efficient fridge we bought. Our old one (very old) had completely died). It was so exciting to have a real functioning fridge that had room to store more than 1 milk!

Suddenly my loan was up to (I think) $22 000. The payments were stretched out over 5 years and I kept on diligently paying things down.

In 2008 I learned I was going to be having an exchange student staying at my house. My tiny tiny, house. My rundown and embarrassing house. The carpets were torn and stained. The bathroom had serious mold issues. My loan was down to about $9000. I bit the bullet (and I glad I did) and went back to the bank for a reconsolidation of my loan. The renos and new items to replace 20 year old items brought me back up to $18 000.

So the bathroom was completely gutted.

The living room carpet was torn up, laminate (sadly not hardwood) was laid by my husband, walls were repainted and furniture bought to replace the furniture with springs dangerously coming out. (That furniture is downstairs now, still 20 years old and still begging to be replaced down there too).  I added a kitchen table as we were using an old one from a garage sale with tearing chairs. Not a fancy table. Just laminate covered. But clean and new.

(As you can see, the pictures dont' really match what I bought, but it was all I could find in short notice :-)

So as of March 2008, my loan was for $18 000. A three year loan. Six months into it, I discovered Gail Vax-Oxlade and started to watch her shows and started to learn a few things about money. Things just started to click. I found personal finance blogs online and started to read other peoples' stories. I started blogging myself that summer and started making plans. In  January of 2009 I started aggressively paying down my loan, determined to pay it off early.

And early I did. I paid it off 11 and a half months early. I saved 'about' $1000 in interest, but that is  merely a guess.

It is so exciting to finally, yes I say FINALLY, have this 3rd generation consolidated loan gone. I feel like a grown up. I have learned things about money and will now put those lessons to work as I tackle the vehicle loan.

I appreciate all the blog support I have had. The readers, the commenters, the cheerleaders. Keeping this blog absolutely helped me stay on track and achieve this first goal!!