In this issue of The Payoff Challenge:
Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Submit your debt payoff totals for this week!
Dollar Designator: A simple envelope system budget app
Weekly Action: Check Unclaimed Funds
My Home Payoff Update
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Community Debt Payoff Snapshot
Congrats to everyone who paid off debt this week! Let’s put this into a fun comparison.
We paid off a total of $2245 last week! This is the same as the child tax credit. Which is REAL nice in April if you’ve got a kid or two.
$1122 was the average paid off, which is almost the cost of Apple’s new iPhone 18. Wow, lots of dollars for a phone.
$1122 is also the equivalent of 288 gallons of chocolate milk.
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!
Sponsorship
Here’s a Guilt-Free Budget App!
Based on the envelope system, Dollar Designator makes it incredibly easy to spend and save within your means.
Just make envelopes and split up your income and expenses across them. It’s that easy!
Check out my how-to video right here:
This is a budget app I had a direct hand in bringing to you all, so I’m really excited about it. You can try it completely risk free (no credit card required).
Intro Offer:
The first 100 to sign up will get it for only $24.95 for the first year. Again, when you sign up, you’ll get a 60-day free trial which doesn’t require a credit or debit card.
Caleb’s Actionable Strategy
Check For Unclaimed Money
Apparently, there’s over $70 BILLION in unclaimed funds in America! That’s money that companies or governments owe people like you and haven’t been able to get it to you for one reason or another.
Action: This week, check if you have any money that is unclaimed through your state.
This last week, I got a piece of mail from Amazon asking me to fill out a document to have a check sent to me (for a sale I made on Amazon many years ago). If I didn’t get it filled out and sent back by the end of September, the money would be sent to Ohio’s unclaimed funds account.
Of course I filled it out and sent it in, but I started to wonder if there was any more funds I could claim. So I checked MissingMoney.com (unsponsored) and sure enough, there’s $0.04 that Chase Bank sent into Ohio’s fund for me!
Now, it might not be much (or maybe nothing) but you might as well check if you have anything you can claim. I found several family members are also owed money from the unclaimed funds.
Member Spotlight
I Want To Celebrate Your Wins!
But I need your help to do it. Get featured here for your wins!
Any amount of debt payoff is worth celebrating here in the member spotlight.
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).
283 days left
Mortgage Balance on January 1st, 2026: $70,000
Current Mortgage Balance: $49,000.00 (▼$245.18 since last week)
Balance paid off since start of challenge: $21,000.00
Source: Paycheck, a bonus, savings, interest, an Escrow surplus payment, 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
Nothing crazy this week, just extra from our savings. And I had to pay it to an even number this week.
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
