Monthly Debt Elimination Progress Report

Since my last post I decided that I needed to track how close I am to meeting my debt elimination goals. I made another spread sheet that shows me what my debt balance should be on the first of a given month and where I actually am. Below is a screen capture of my first report. This first progress report is for January 1st, February 1st and March 1st.




I am a little bit disappointed to end up almost $730.00 behind my debt elimination goal. The main reason for this is that I had an expensive month in February. There are a few expenses that are worrying me, the main one, is the gas expense for my car $225.00/month should have been close to what I would expect. Possible explanations for the discrepancy maybe some kind of mechanical problem (I hope not because I already had an $800.00 problem in February that thanks to Visa is only being paid in the month of March along with car rental) or I am underestimating my commute, I will be investigating this closer because $400+/month is too much! I also had high entertainment and miscellaneous expenses, my wife and I will need to take a closer look at why we spent so much.

I'm afraid that March will not be a better month with my car troubles of February. For a better view of what has happened on the budget see our envelope budget below.


There is some positive news, my wife and I should get a tax return of approximately $4700 between both level of governments. The main reason is because of a substantial investment loss in some rental units that my family and I bought. Obviously applying this to my debt repayment will help but the advantage will be consumed unless I can lower our expenses.