Based on Tinapbeana's comment on my last post, I jotted down some notes on what would happen if I paid off my car loan right now from my VA account:

$9199.72 - total amount owed on the car if I continue making monthly payments

$8674.31 - total amount owed on the car if I pay it off now

$2102 - total amount left in the VA account if I used it to pay off the car loan

14 - number of school loan payments I could get out of the VA account after using it to pay off the car loan

$3788.12 - amount I could add to my account over 14 months by not having to make car payments

$525.41 - difference between the total of the remaining car payments and the current payoff amount

$4313.53 - total amount I could save over 14 months if I paid off my car loan today

28 - number of school loan payments I could get out of the savings from not having to make car payments over the next 14 months

(thanks for the idea, Tina!)

I thought I'd list out my finances here, just for fun. One of my big problems is that my income varies wildly, depending on how many hours I'm able to work each week. I work for an inventory company, and there are a variable number of jobs available each week, each with a variable number of hours.

Currently, my income varies from $400/month to a little over $700/month. Soon, however, I will be supplementing this with a paid blogging position, which will bring in $250/month plus bonuses. So, my income will range from $650 to $950 per month.

For expenses, since I live with my mom, all I have is my car payment ($270.58), car insurance ($147.16), and school loan payment ($150.52). Lastly, gas is usually about $20/week. This adds up to $648.26 per month.

So, the amount that I have left over each month ranges from almost $0 to over $300.

I know I mentioned money I'd received from the VA for school loans in my previous post, but I'm hoping to either use that as 'extra' - either for paying down my loans faster, or to make the payments from directly if I can't afford to pay from my regular account - or using it directly, and paying extra toward my car loan from my regular account. I haven't quite decided yet.

What I do know, however, is that if I just make the minimum payments on my school loan, the total amount I will wind up paying back will balloon from $23,000 to $35,000. And I *don't* want to pay that much when I know I don't need to!

One positive thing about my situation: I have roughly $11,000 I received from the Veterans' Administration, as my father is a disabled veteran. I don't dare use this money all at once right now, however, as the remaining payments would eat up the rest of my paycheck.

Instead, my plan is to just make regular payments from that account until I get a better job, then put as much as I can toward my loans. I may try to pay a little over the minimum, but probably not more than $50.

Also, thanks to everyone who's commented on my blog already!

My name is Michael Payne, and I have recently graduated from ITT Technical Institute with a Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems Security. Unfortunately, I have no job-related experience in IT, and haven't been able to find a job in the field. (I am employed, however.) I also have just over $23,000 in school loans, and a $9,000 car loan.

I'm still living with my mom, which means I have no rent or anything, but when I'm making $600 to $700 per month, and my bills (car insurance, car payment, and minimum school loan payment) total over $550, there's not a lot of extra money to put toward debt reduction.