The light at the end of the tunnel

Some fantastic news to start the year.

This morning I went to the bank and paid £2260 off my loan.

This puts me at 45% of my 2009 payoff target (5k) already!

I asked the nice cashier lady to check what the balance on this loan was. There was then some faffing about as she couldn't initially work out how to access this info, and then she had to confer with a colleague as to whether the amount shown would include the payment she'd just recorded, or not. Poor thing, she already looked to be having a hot flush and my request really didn't help! However, I cannot feel guilty about this as I am in too good a mood, since my capital on the loan is now down to £13481!

I am a bit crap about working out APR and so on, but basically this loan was over a 7 year term, and I took it out last December (consolidation of other existing debts and better interest rate.) So within the first 13 months I have paid off 36% of the total value of the loan, when I would normally expect it to be around 20%... I think. No... wait. Damn. Like I say, I'm not totally sure of myself when working out APR and I don't have the documents with me to check the exact interest rate on it. But, whatever the exact amounts, I'm bloody happy!

I am now seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. In fact I can see it in my mind's eye so vividly that it's almost a physical picture! I've stopped thinking of debt as being a permanent state and just an extra expense every month to live with, and started seeing it as a temporary, unwelcome state of affairs which I can actively manage.

Obviously this isn't a regular month's payoff! This is an accumulation of several months' saving, Xmas bonus, money I'd budgeted for Xmas but didn't spend, and my online December pay. I won't be able to do this regularly! However, I'll be keeping the pressure on myself and not getting complacent. My budget for the rest of this year plans for £500 overpayment a month, except for September (holiday in Kefalonia) and December (Xmas budget.) Hence, my goal for this year being £5k. I shall be doing my utmost to exceed that goal by as much as I can!