The Race

I bought my car, Kami, in May of 2009.  When I bought her I had the goal of paying her off within two years.  Some travel, overspending, moving expenses, educational expenses, and miscellaneous expenses later, it's been two and a half years and I still owe several thousand dollars.  Since my rent is now twice what it used to be, and my commute is longer, and I'm taking classes, I don't quite have the amount of disposable income I had a year ago.  This means that if I pay a great deal extra on my car payment, I am no longer able to put any money in my savings account, which has also been depleted by the travel, the overspending, moving, classes, etc.  If I were a shrewd financier, I would say that I should be throwing all my money into my savings account, because that earns interest, whereas my car loan is a no-interest loan (I know, I got a steal).  I did the math once, however, and if I followed that oh-so-crafty plan, I'd come out of that five year loan about $100 richer in interest.  $100 is not worth having a loan hanging over my head for extra years.

So I've decided to get rid of this loan.  I'm going to throw all disposable income at it, neglecting my meager savings, and try and have it paid off by the end of the year.  After that I should be able to build up my savings account much more quickly, without having to split my income between my loan and my future.

This is pretty much my car, except mine is "carmine red," which I've given up claiming is red.  My car is purple. Sigh.
Picture Source

The race has begun.  Can I control my spending, budget my money, and minimize incidental extra expenses for months and months?  Can I pay off my car loan before those incidental extras (renewing car insurance, registering my car, spring break, etc.) eat too far into my already reduced savings?

I mean to try.  I'm saving receipts, I'm making careful grocery lists, I'm using Excell spreadsheets, and I'm ignoring the long mental list of "stuff I want."

So, bring on the next eleven months.  When the world ends/doesn't end at the end of 2012, I plan not to owe the bank a cent.