July was the fastest month of 2019 yet!
Last month I mentioned that I was being too obsessive with my finances lately.
I put in the effort to not stress/worry about it so much and I believe I did a pretty good job.
While I still check my bank account daily, I didn’t feel the need to keep calculating everything out. I chose an amount of extra money I wanted to pay toward my debt for July and I paid at the start of the month.
This strategy made things easier because I knew I would have enough for everything else I needed to pay in the month.
I’ll be doing the same for August.
Overall, I’m adopting more of an abundant mindset. I don’t want to spend or think about my money from a place of scarcity.
Things are still going quite well, as you’ll read below:
DEBT PAYMENT/INCOME SPREADSHEET
Current FICO Score: 683
Current Debt: $59,804.91
Roth IRA Value: $2,138.33
THE GOOD NEWS
My total debt is under $60K
My debt is in the 50,000s!!! Woo hoo! It’s exciting to see that, especially considering I was in the 80,000s in 2018.
My goal is to get down to $50K by the end of 2019, it’s a big goal but I’m going to strive for it.
So many free things this month
July is my birthday month, so to start off with I received $150 in VISA gift cards which I used mostly for groceries.
I also took advantage of all the free things you can get at restaurants. I got free coffee at Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, a free pastry at Panera (which I gave to my boyfriend), and a free pizza at Uncle Maddio’s. I’m also grateful for the other gifts I received and the food that my family/boyfriend paid for for me!
It was a great birthday and I appreciate the time I spent with everyone.
I sold about half my stocks on Robinhood
I started using the app Robinhood last year to purchase a few stocks. I definitely recommend the app for purchasing stocks, however, I was buying stocks with a blind eye.
I had no idea what I was doing (I still don’t) so I bought shares of stocks from companies I don’t know anything about.
In July, most of my stocks had made a decent profit. I also had about 5 stocks that I received for free because people used my link (thank you!). Any stocks I owned that had a profit, I sold.
I only put in about $500 over the last few years, so from the stocks I sold in July I made a profit of about $67. I’ll be selling the rest in August if they’re profitable.
I still invest into my Roth, so until I educate myself on how to properly invest, I won’t be buying individual stocks. I figured I can save this money for now instead.
THE BAD NEWS
My credit score dropped significantly
Last month I mentioned that I did a balance transfer of my student loans to two of my credit cards. Those statements processed and my credit score dropped 43 points!
I went from a 0% credit utilization to 40%, so I obviously expected this. I’m not too concerned because I shouldn’t need to use my score for anything in the near future. I also plan to pay off the full amount due on my credit cards within the one year promotion period, meaning I won’t pay any interest.
SPENDING
Savings/Sinking Funds: ($1,660) I’m not including this in my “spending” total because it’s not actually spending. $180 went to my sinking funds which I’m SO GLAD I’m doing. The rest is for my taxes.
Investing: ($100) I automatically invest $100 into my Roth IRA each month.
Donate: ($50) Every month I want to donate at least $50. This month I donated to BarkTown dog Rescue.
Rent: ($1,316) The cost of my one bedroom one bath apartment near Atlanta, GA!
Renter’s insurance: ($16.66) I am required to have renter’s insurance for my apartment.
Trash: ($35) Valet trash is mandatory at my apartment. Dumb, I know.
Wi-fi: ($50) I have Google Fiber. It is $50 a month.
Electricity: ($65.58) My electricity bill. I used air conditioner every day because it’s so hot here in Georgia.
Water: ($30.66) I’m not sure why my water bill was higher this month but ti’s not horrible!
Food: ($197.05) This would be a lot higher if I included the groceries I bought with my gift cards! Those don’t count though 🙂
Gas: ($49.00) I got gas twice this month, and they totaled to $49 even!
Health: ($32.40) This is the cost of my Ritual multivitamin that I have a subscription to.
Car: ($382.55) My minimum car payment.
Student Loan Debt: ($301.14) This is my new minimum student loan payment. I didn’t put any extra toward my loans since they’re technically on my credit cards now.
Credit Card Debt: ($300) I put extra toward my credit cards (which are actually my student loans because I did balance transfers).
Insurance: ($147.15) This includes vision, dental, and life insurance. I have health insurance through work on top of my salary which is really nice.
Business: ($84.44) This includes paying for Tailwind, Canva, and GSuite. I used other services but pay most of them annually. I also hired someone to take over my Pinterest for August, which I paid part of already.
Google Play: ($0) I have canceled GP for now because I am using a free trial of Spotify for another 5 months.
Lor (Phone bill/car insurance): ($307) Lor = my sister. She pays my phone bill so I pay her for that. I also pay for my dad and step mom’s phone bills because my dad pays for my car insurance…the costs basically equal out. I got a new phone in May, so this includes the registration fee. The phone itself will cost me $15 less each month though. I also decided to start giving my sister $50 a month for our dogs.
Other: ($244.24) This category basically includes unnecessary spending. I was going to try to have another no-spend month, but I bought a bit more than June.
I bought:
-Things at Wal-Mart (I can’t for the life of me remember what I needed besides matches) – $9.66
-Group coaching with Natalie Bacon – $49
-Thrive skincare – $43.23
-Earrings from Etsy – $19.80
-Deodorant – $15.25
-Amazon (more deodorant, tanning oil, 2 books, 6-minute diary, vitamins) – $96.80
Excluding my savings and debt I spent a total of $2,625.18.
Let’s review my July goals
- No spend month again?? (only on groceries, gas, and necessities) FAIL
- Put an extra $300 to my debt CHECK
- Make over $600 from Mediavine FAIL (made $500 though!)
- Spend less than $250 on groceries CHECK
- Spend less time on my finances and focus on the JOURNEY (less checking Mediavine, no calculations until halfway through the month and the end) CHECK
August Goals
- Put an extra $300 toward my debt
- Make over $600 from Mediavine
- Post a few things for sale (make over $50 extra)
- Sell the rest of my stocks