Things are pretty boring financially speaking for us these days. We are plugging along with our plans to pay down an additional portion of our debt load to offset our increased living expenses and decreased income from my wife staying home. This has been part of the plan since we bought our new home that substantially increased the amount of total debt on our balance sheet.
Last year we identified our Rental #2 property with a 30yr fixed mortgage @ 6.5% as the first target of our debt reduction. We refinanced that into variable rate equity lines significantly reducing our current carrying costs and have been focused on paying it down with all free cash (while making no changes to our retirement savings, investments routines).
We currently have about $14,000 left @ 4.25% on our IELOC and $25,000 @ 3.25% on an HELOC. I hope to have the the $14,000 paid off this year and want to continue paying down the $25,000 once that’s complete. Once we pay down the $25,000 HELOC to about $15,000 or so we’ll begin to look into our next steps. At the rate we are progressing that’s likely 24 months or more out.
Of Course if the stock market suddenly becomes much more attractive or we identify a more compelling investment we may shift gears to utilize our monthly free cash for other purposes. For now its focused on debt reduction.
