In this issue of The Payoff Challenge:
Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Submit your debt payoff totals for this week!
Weekly Action: Buy Secondhand First
Money News: Do you read this?
My Home Payoff Update
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We’re halfway through the year!
How’s your payoff going? What do you need to do to hit your goal by the end of 2026? This also means we are less than 1 year away from our goal of paying off our home. Which means there’s gonna have to be a lot of strategy in the next 12 months.
Now let’s jump into this week’s payoff snapshot.
Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Congrats to the everyone who paid off some debt this week! Let’s put this into a fun comparison.
We paid off a total of $569 last week! This is like the cost of replacing a washing machine when it quits. I’m still holding my breath on how long ours will last. It real old.
$189 was the average paid off, which is how much I pay for one full year of my Mint Mobile phone plan (hey check it out and put the savings towards your debt). It get’s me unlimited talk and text plus 6 gb of data (enough for most of what I do).
$189 is also the equivalent of 51 gallons of chocolate milk. Bailey just got me a gallon of chocolate milk for our anniversary. I can only imagine 51 of them.
Numbers only move if people act—which brings us to this week’s check-in!
Weekly Check In!
How Much Did You Pay Off This Week?
⏱ Takes under 60 seconds. Any amount. Any debt.
This isn’t about how big the number is—it’s about progress. If you haven’t made a payment yet, consider this your nudge to go make one right now. Missed a week? Just submit the total since your last entry.
Submissions will be included in future week’s Snapshots!
Caleb’s Actionable Strategy
Buy Secondhand First
This one is me talking to myself. I always have the tendency to just purchase new regardless of what it is.
Action: This week, if you need to purchase something, thrift it from Goodwill, Marketplace, or Craigslist.
Of course I’m not talking about unnecessary things (booooo). But if you need some clothes or something for the kids, check out what’s available from other people in your area.
Literally it’s so easy to just order from Amazon. I wanted to do this the other day but Bailey said we should just check Marketplace. And sure enough, what I got was 40% off what it would have been new online.
Member Spotlight
I Want To Celebrate Your Wins!
But I can’t do that if you don’t tell me about it. So fill out this short form about the debt you’ve paid off and your current wins!
Any amount of debt payoff is worth celebrating here in the member spotlight.
Personal Financial News
Do you read this section?
If so, let me know right here.
Basically, I feel like every week when I do research for this section, it’s mostly negative news. I’ll share it if you all think it’s helpful. But I feel like negative news is not necessarily what I want to be included in this newsletter. This is all about the positivity of paying off debt, not the reasons people can’t afford food or fuel.
And I don’t want to give people excuses for why they can’t pay off their debt. I want to give you every reason to believe you can pay off your debt.
Caleb’s Challenge Update
Progress We Made Towards Our Payoff
Goal: Pay off our remaining mortgage ($70k) by our 10-year anniversary on June 17, 2027 (less than a year left).
360 days left
Mortgage Balance on January 1st, 2026: $70,000
Current Mortgage Balance: $59,733.70 (▼$201.26 since last week)
Balance paid off since start of challenge: $10,266.30
Source: Paycheck, savings, interest, Etsy poster sales, selling scrap metal, a bicycle, a TV cabinet, and a laptop
*This includes monthly principal payments as well as additional payments.
Current Mortgage Balance
I sold a payoff poster on Etsy this week so it’s going to the payoff along with some savings! Also crazy, we are officially less than a year away from our goal of paying off our home.
Refer a friend and receive my quick-start guide for saving money TODAY on your existing expenses.
That’s it for this week! I already can’t wait for next couple week’s editions as we start getting numbers to include. If you have any feedback, respond to this email or drop me a line at [email protected].
Till next week!
Caleb
