Ok what the heck I think May has been the fastest month yet!!
I didn’t pay off much debt this month, mostly because I refinanced my car so my car debt had already decreased a bit. And also because I traveled so I spent more than usual.
I still feel pretty strong financially, but of course not a day goes by that I don’t think about my debt.
In May I finally completed purchasing all of my apartment furniture/decor.
My dad actually ended up buying me a couch, which I’m so grateful for!
I bought a small kitchen table, a coffee table, and the finishing decor touches. My apartment looks amazing and I love it so much!
So no that that is over, there is no need for me to spend extra money. I plan on having a no spend month for June (besides gas and groceries of course). I don’t see any reason to spend this month so I think it will work out!
Anyway, let’s jump into my May debt and spending:
DEBT PAYMENT/INCOME SPREADSHEET
Current FICO Score: 749
Current Debt: $62,308.60
Roth IRA Value: $1,823.48
THE GOOD NEWS
I put extra toward both my debts
I put an extra $300 to one of my student loans, which now has about $1400 left to go. I also didn’t have to make a car payment until June, but I wanted to get ahead so I went ahead and paid this month too.
My car loan total increased from April to May because of the refinance. The 10-day pay off is higher than the actual loan amount, so that is what this reflects. I’ll still save money in the long run.
I made a decent amount of extra income
I got paid out from MediaVine for March and luckily it was a good month! I also made a bit from affiliate sales and my new Etsy products!
THE BAD NEWS
I spent way too much
Between furniture shopping and traveling, I spent way more than I wanted to. I ate out a lot (including at the airport which is very expensive) and paid for a rental car and a Lyft ride. You’ll see everything I bought down below. June will be better!
My “Pets” sinking fund is now empty
One of my dogs (who now lives with my sister and her boyfriend) was limping so my sister took her to the vet. She may have a torn ACL, so for the vet visit it cost a few hundred. I only had $300 in my sinking fund so I transferred all of it to my sister. However, I’m SO glad I had the sinking fund to pull from rather than my checking account!
SPENDING
Savings/Sinking Funds: ($189.63) 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 (I use Qapital for sinking funds), and BOA automatically transfers some of my money to my savings for me. This month I didn’t transfer and tax money to my Marcus account because I have to pay taxes early June!
Investing: ($200) I automatically invest $100 into my Roth IRA each month. I tried to purchase 4 shares of Beyond Meat during their Pre-IPO, however, I was too late and couldn’t pull my money back out of the Robinhood app. I ended up just purchasing 2 shares of something else, and I’m waiting for those stock prices to go back up so I can sell them and get my $100 back. At this time I don’t want to invest in the stock market anymore than I have.
Donate: ($50) Every month I want to donate at least $50. This month I donated to You Lucky Dog Rescue. According to their website, a $50 donation will cover the cost of heart worm prevention for 6 months!
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: ($57.45) My electricity bill. I used air conditioner almost every day because it’s been so hot in Atlanta!
Water: ($22.64) Not too bad of a water/sewage bill!
Food: ($444.89) I expected my food spending to be pretty high considering all the times I bought food or coffee out while traveling.
Gas: ($44.77) I got gas twice this month.
Health: ($127.40) My Ritual multivitamins are about $35 and I finally got a 90 minute massage!
Car: ($385) I didn’t have to pay anything toward my car for May but figured I would get ahead anyway. My minimum payment is actually around $382 but I’m just going to round it up to $385 each month.
Student Loan Debt: ($588.37) I pay $288.37 every month. This month I was able to put an extra $300 to one of my loans.
Credit Card Debt: ($0) Still credit card debt free
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: ($244.93) This includes paying for hosting/my domain for this blog and G Suite (by Google), which is $12.99 and $5 each month. I also pay for a Tailwind membership ($14.99). Unfortunately right at the start of May I found out my blog was hacked.
I lost access to the backend of my blog so I had to pay for malware removal. It cost me $199.99, but luckily it’s for a year-long membership so if any issues arises again I’m covered!
Google Play: I pay $9.99 to listen to any music ad free.
Lor (Phone bill/car insurance): ($220) 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. That will be about $220 each month.
Other: ($1110.50) This category basically includes unnecessary spending. I wanted to break this down to exactly what I spent my money on.
Certified Mail (My amended taxes) – $8.55
Tax Service with Accountant – $150
Home Goods (coffee table and other little things) – $155.48
Two screw drivers – $2.72
Meow Meow Tweet Deodorant – $15.25
Zaful bikinis – $69.02
Kitchen table – $218.02
Turo rental car – $286.24
Amazon (home decor and probiotics) – $172.52
Yellow Claw ticket (in August) – $31.91
Lyft – $0.79 because I used my credit card reward points to cover this!
Excluding my savings and debt I spent a total of $3,897.38.
Let’s review my May goals
- Put an extra $250 to my student loans CHECK ($300!)
- Spend less than $250 on groceries FAIL (Huge fail)
- Make over $600 from Mediavine CHECK (I made about $650 in May, but I won’t get paid for that until August)
June goals
- No spend month (only on groceries, gas, and necessities)
- Pay off Student Loan 1-02 (about $1400 left)
- Make over $600 from Mediavine
- Spend less than $350 on groceries