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Finances

November 2018 Debt and Spending Analysis

December 7, 2018December 8, 2018 Leila Leave a comment

The final month of 2018 is HERE!!! WHAT?!?!?

I did quite well in November (spending wise) and I think 2019 is going to be SO good regarding my finances.

It’s so nice to watch these numbers drop every month and I can’t wait to see a bunch of zeros under my balances!

I do have a question for you all…I plan on paying off ALL my credit card debt in December. After that, do you think it’s better to pay off my car loan first? Or start tackling my student loans?

All numbers are in the chart below for your reference.

I’m kind of leaning toward paying off my car first. And I’m pretty sure I could completely pay it off in 2019 so please let me know what you think!

DEBT PAYMENT/INCOME SPREADSHEET

*This spreadsheet does not include payments for my insurance (life, health, vision, dental)*

CURRENT FICO SCORE: 711

THE GOOD NEWS

My credit score went up 16 points

Wow! A big jump for my credit score and I finally hit 700 again!! I was able to raise my credit score from 593 to 711 in a year! My credit score dropped last year because of someone else (their car is under my name, they were missing payments, very dramatic, etc.). I took them to court and got the issue resolved to where it can never hurt my score again.

So of course, the payments being made on time + decreasing my credit card debt significantly were the main factors here.

I stayed under my food budget

Surprisingly, for the first time like ever…I was under budget for my food! I set a budget of $300 this month since there was Thanksgiving, but I only spent $212.95!

One big factor was that I was gifted a $50 gift card and used that for my groceries as well. So even if I did spend an extra $50 of my own money it only would have been $262 which still isn’t too bad!

My ad money increased/is increasing

My blog has been doing really well and I broke several of my personal records:

-I reached over 6K page views in 1 day in November
-I had well over 100K page views for the whole month!!
-I made the most money from adsense in one month ever (I only have ONE ad on each blog post btw!)

I’m not saying any of this to brag. I’ve been blogging for years and have been creating/writing for pennies all this time. To finally see growth and results is super exciting, motivating, and it’s something I’m proud of!

I finally invested in a few stocks

Another goal of mine was to start investing in the stock market. I opened a Robinhood account as well as an Ameritrade account. So far I have only purchased about $150 worth of stocks, plus I have received a couple of free stocks from signing up and referrals for Robinhood.

So use my Robinhood link for a free stock!

I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing, but the best way to learn is by actually doing it. I still want to learn a lot more about stocks/investing but I was just excited to start! Each month I plan on investing $100-$150 until I get out of debt and can invest more.

I opened a “high-yield” savings account

I opened a savings account with Marcus by Goldman Sachs earning an interest rate of 2.05%. Since my income isn’t taxed (I just pay my taxes at the end of the year), I figured the best thing to do with the money I save for that is to have it gain interest somehow. With this account I can make an extra few bucks every month!

THE BAD NEWS

I didn’t pay off as much debt as I wanted to

I paid off about $1,061 after interest took it’s usual hit. I used my credit cards for a few things so of course that didn’t help the situation much. At least it was over $1000!

It’s kind of cool to see my total debt drop by at least $1000 each month. Even if I stay at this rate I’ll pay off everything within 6 years which honestly isn’t terrible. I’m still aiming for 3 years or less though 🙂

I had to pay off the rest of my car lease fees

Last month I mentioned I had to pay $320 for the wear and tear of my lease. I still had the remaining $350 disposition fee. I tried really hard to get out of this (called them, went to the dealership, etc.) but it was so frustrating and I just paid it because I didn’t want it to go to collections.

Like I said before…never lease a car!!!

I locked my keys in the car

I locked my keys in my car 2 days into the month. I’ve never locked my keys in my car and if I would have had some patience I probably could have done it myself. Instead I called a locksmith. I was at work and he told me he would get there in about 15 minutes. So after a bit I made my way to the front entrance (it was cold out) and waited for 30+ minutes. My job is highly secured so he had to have his car inspected and get a visitor badge to be allowed on campus…this took an extra 10-15 minutes.

He unlocked my car in maybe 15 seconds and told me it would cost $135. I offered him $100 (lol). I kept haggling and we settled on $120. Once I was in my car I started crying because that’s $120 I can’t put toward my debt, but I quickly snapped out of it and realized that’s not the right mindset to have.

Sure I lost $120, but I was safe, maybe I would have gotten in an accident if I left on time, and I had the money for it so it’s OK.

SPENDING

Savings: I’m not including this in my “spending” total because it’s not actually spending. My income is not taxed, therefore I transfer $1550 from each paycheck every month into my savings. For months I was using the app Qapital which I think is great. In July I started using the app Acorns. Acorns invests your money in stock for you which I think is so cool.  If you use my link to sign up you’ll actually get $5 invested for free!

*This month I just kept the $1550 in my checkings account since I’ll be paying my taxes at the end of the month. All the money saved was Acorns or investing.

Rent/Utilities: I live with my sister (and her boyfriend) so $600 goes toward the mortgage, electricity, internet, etc. $100 goes toward the money I owe her!

Food: Yay for finally being under budget for food!!

Gas: I drive 22 miles to and from work Monday-Friday so I have to get gas every weekend. $118-$130 is expected for gas each month. With a few extra days off this month I spent WAY less on gas! Plus gas prices are quite low right now and I love it.

Health: This includes my multivitamins and my gym membership. I also paid $100 for someone to create a 8-week custom meal plan and workout for me!

Car: My minimum payment for my 2015 Toyota Camry plus $350 for the disposition fee of my lease that I turned in back in June.

Credit Card Debt: Self-explanatory. I do still use my Bank of America credit card and Capital One Card for the rewards. I pay off my BOA card right after I use it. My total credit card debt will be $0 after this month 🙂

Student Loan Debt: I pay $288.37 every month. Once I pay off my credit cards I will throw extra to my student loans!

Insurance: This includes vision, dental, and life insurance. I have health insurance through work on top of my salary which is really nice. I spent an extra $92.32 because I switched to a new (more expensive) dental insurance which will work better for me.

Business: This literally includes just paying for hosting/my domain for this blog and G Suite (by Google), which is $7.99 and $5 each month. I am also now paying for a monthly membership to Tailwind ($15).

Other: This category basically includes unnecessary spending. I wanted to break this down to exactly what I spent my money on.
Google Play – $9.99
Alphalete (workout clothes) – $78.60
GymShark (workout clothes) – $83.40
Locksmith – $120.00

Excluding my debt I spent a total of $1,686.16. I think that’s my lowest spending month in awhile! 🙂

Let’s review my November goals

  • Spend no more than $300 on food (I can do this) – CHECK
  • Don’t spend ANY money on myself – FAIL (Black Friday shopping got me)
  • Make at least $500 in extra income – FAIL (I made about $282 which is better than nothing)
  • Pay off at least $1400 of my debt – FAIL (Only a little over $1000)
  • Actually buy a stock share(s) – CHECK (I bought ~$150 worth)

My December Goals

  • Pay off ALL credit card debt
  • Invest another $100 in the stock market
  • Make at least $500 in extra income
  • Spend less than $300 on food

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I've been vegan for 5 years as of yesterday. It's I've been vegan for 5 years as of yesterday.  It's still the best decision of my life.  I've gained the most strength and look my best as a vegan.  It's also worth mentioning I was vegetarian for 13 years before going vegan, which is why I had to bust out a double bi in photo 3 lol  So yes, I do get enough protein despite not eating animals 😏  As a vegan I've also learned to cook better, eat more types of foods, and have discovered amazing restaurants, recipes, and vegan alternatives all without harming animals.  I never want to push veganism on anyone, but I encourage everyone to explore this lifestyle.  Personally, having an animal suffer for my food, clothes, and products just isn't worth it. Being a perfect vegan isn't necessary, but even small changes can make a large difference.  My sister (@loka1089) made this shirt for me for Christmas by the way!!  #vegan #bekindtoeverykind #veganfortheanimals #veganweightlifting #vegangains #strongvegan #veganwoman #vegananniversary #GoVegan #veganbodybuilding #anythingyoucaneaticaneatvegan #LivinglikeLeila
Happy March!  An update on my February goals:
▪️Pay off my car ✅✅✅🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️  ▪️Jump rope for at least 2 minutes daily ✅ (Well, I missed ONE day but otherwise I enjoyed this challenge a lot)  ▪️Start 'Phase 2' of my training program ✅ (it's more intense than I expected but my strength and body are improving!)  ▪️Finish reading 2-4 books ❌ (I finished 0. I stopped reading a fiction book because it was boring. I've been taking my time reading The Brain That Changes Itself because it requires focus lol)  ▪️Stick to my usual habits better ❌ (Feb was tough for me honestly. Sometimes I have bouts of intense fatigue and lack of motivation which I believe is associated with PMDD. Idk honestly)  March is usually a pretty transformative month for me, so here are my goals:  ▪️Put at least $600 to student loan savings
▪️Make over $1K online
▪️Finish The Brain That Changes Itself
▪️5 minutes of abs daily (new challenge!)
▪️Walk 10K steps daily again
▪️Stick to my habits/routine (for real this time!! I'm feeling better 😊)  #NewMonth #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #blogger #youtuber #goals #february #habits #march #personaldevelopment #strong2021 #fitness #vegan #fitnessgoals #health #healthy #LivinglikeLeila #DebtOverIt
I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the l I just wanted to say a big thank you for all the love and kind words on my previous post ❤🥺  It amazes me that I have this growing community of support and I'm so grateful for it.  I know paying off a car and paying off debt isn't a big thing for everyone, but it's a huge part of my life and I genuinely appreciate that everyone is proud of me and celebrating with me!!  I do hope my progress and my openness on my finances encourages more people to look into theirs and improve it. Improving my finances has made a HUGE difference in my life.  No, money may not buy happiness. But when shit is in order you have less stress, more clarity, and more faith in what's to come👌  These blue light glasses are from @tijneyewear 👓 (gifted)  #thankyou #financialindependence #finance #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #DebtOverIt #blogger #financialcoach #debtcoach #personaldevelopment #neverstopimproving #LivinglikeLeila
I paid off my car today 🙂 27 months EARLY!!! T I paid off my car today 🙂 27 months EARLY!!!  This car should have cost me about $22K, but it ended up being about $30K!!! I'll break down why that is in a future video.  But for the first time in my adult life I am paying $0 in interest right now 😭  I started my debt free journey in June 2018 with $82,200 of debt... I'm now down to ONLY my student loans of $36,200. Which are in forbearance and at 0% interest right now.  This is like a little preview of the debt free life 🥺  Not to mention, my minimum car payment was $382.55 and if I invested that monthly, it would grow to over $200,000 in 20 years.  You may be able to afford that car payment, but it comes with a HUGE sacrifice.  My debt free journey has changed my life and I'm so, so excited for my financial future. 🙏💰  #cardebtfree #finances #debtoverit #cardebt #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #money #finance #studentloandebt #financialfreedom #financialindependence #firemovement #financialindependenceretireearly #TransferTuesday
'Living like Leila' will always be my first born b 'Living like Leila' will always be my first born baby business, but as my personal finance business has significantly grown I've realized I just want LLL to encompass Me.  If you haven't noticed, I am VERY multi-passionate. I love fitness, finance, personal development, veganism, plants, books, food, planning, habits, business. I literally lose sleep at night because I CONSTANTLY have ideas lol  So I know this IG and my LLL YouTube covers everything under the sun, but that's exactly what I want it to be. It's just a digital journal of my life and even though it can be a lot, it's just a reflection of my life and the things I value.  This has allowed me to put less pressure on myself for the content I create, and I truly just enjoy it all as a hobby now.  So I understand that some of my content may not resonate with everyone, but I appreciate ya'll being here 😊❤  And as a side note, if you decide to start an online business...niche down to ONE topic. It will go a lot further, at least from my experience 👀  #multipassionate #livinglikeleila #vegan #personaldevelopment #books #debtfreecommunity #finance #debtfreejourney #business #onlinebusiness #habits #fitness #life
Post-filming, pre-workout selfie ✌ hence the mes Post-filming, pre-workout selfie ✌ hence the mess.  My January finance update and February budget will be up Friday 😊  Also these are the best leggings ever from @ptulaactive  #ptulafamily #ptulaactive #ptula #youtuber #health #fitness #vegan #fit #igfitness #blogger #debtfreecommunity #debtfreejourney #debtoverit #budget #finance #livinglikeleila
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