The Jar so Far: Monthly Progress Paying Down Debt.

Paying down debt the fun way…with pasta

We didn’t think to start taking a pic of the progress until we got a few months into it and noticed we really were making a dent.

And then I didn’t think to start this site and document the progress until it hit me that…hey, we can really do this.

So here’s the eponymous jar of freedom, follow along as we pay down our debt and it gets progressively emptier. Here it is at roughly $780,000 (which is broken down in this post):

When we started to notice progress, we thought it would be fun to take a pic every month on “pasta day.”

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May 2021: It’s time to recalibrate

After a refinance on our rental property, and the fact that Mrs Jarhead is setting aside her student loan payments until the Covid interest-free period expires, we decided it was time to recalibrate the jar. at 1.75% on the rental house, I just don’t think we can justify making a bunch of extra principal payments. We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do for debt vs investing in the near term, but here’s what $733,000 worth of debt looks like, as of May 1st 2021:

As of June 2021, we’re down to $728,000 in the jar, but it’s going to be slow-going for a bit. Rolling closing costs into the refi and suspending student loan payments during the interest-free period (she’s still setting the money aside!) mean we’re not knocking out as much month-to-month right now. We’ve also started focusing on taxable investments to let us retire early without having to wait ’til age 59½.

Check back every month to see the jar empty out as we keep paying down our debt!

If this is your first visit, please check out our ‘start here’ page for the whole introduction, and leave us a comment!

How’s your jar looking these days?