September 2020 Debt and Spending Update

Happy October!!

I can’t believe we have less than 3 months left in 2020. It’s just going faster and faster.

For general updates, I’m still working from home but my Covid response has ended. I’m still so, so grateful to be working from home and still employed.

I have been working on other things in the background though.

One major thing is that I began Financial coaching. I have been LOVING it.

I currently have 4 clients whom I am working with for free through the end of the year. I wanted to do this for free to see if I liked it, to gain experience, and to get an idea of how I want things to go. I definitely plan on turning this into a business by 2021 though.

I’ve been working on other things too, but we’ll see where things go.

Finally, I’m grateful to say that I’ve hit a new milestone again! Let’s get into the numbers:

DEBT PAYMENT/INCOME SPREADSHEET

CURRENT FICO SCORE: 765
CURRENT DEBT: $44,766.54
ROTH IRA VALUE: $4,049.41
NET WORTH: -$31,636.54

FINANCIAL UPDATES

I paid off over $1,700 of debt

My goal was to pay off at least $2,000 of my debt which I wasn’t quite able to do. I had some larger expenses, therefore, I didn’t have as much left over money as I expected.

However, I’m still proud I paid that much!

My total debt is under $45,000

Last month I got under $47K and this month I’m under $45K!! Woo hoo!

I love reaching milestones.

My credit score increased by one point

Due to paying down so much of my car, my credit score went up. Only 1 point, but I’ll take it!

September was a high spend month

There were 2 major areas I spent a lot of money on.

The first was my phone. My family decided to switch to Verizon because Sprint has awful service. However, I was leasing my phone through Sprint and still had 4 months left. Therefore, I had to completely buy out my phone (because I don’t want a new one) which cost me $397.25.

Second was travel. My boyfriend and I booked a trip to Colorado for late October! We booked our flight, Airbnb, and Turo (rental car). We split everything 50/50 so this cost me $446.01 total.

However, I used $180 from my travel sinking fund and I also used a $105 reward credit from Capital One!

I also spent quite a bit in “beauty.” I stocked up on some natural deodorant and purchased some personal hygiene products from Pacifica (body wash, face wash, shampoo, etc.).

I still went over my food budget

Last month I decided I would increase my food budget to $325. In September I STILL went over this.

From now on I’m going to take this very seriously. Since I have clients now, I want to be an example for them. I will be filming my grocery hauls and meals every week for my YouTube channel!

I began financial coaching

As I mentioned above, I began financial coaching. I have 4 clients each with different incomes, debt, and stories. I love it.

This has been so fun for me and has inspired me in many ways. I’m excited to turn this all into a business.

SPENDING

Taxes: ($900) I put this money into my High-Yield Savings account until I have to pay taxes.

Sinking Funds: ($400) My sinking funds include car maintenance, vacation, gifts, medical/dental, and my emergency fund.

Investing: ($100) I contributed to my Roth IRA (VTSAX with Vanguard)

Donate: ($50) Every month I donate at least $50. This month I donated $50 to Barkville Dog Rescue. Please donate if you can!!

Rent: ($1,346) My rent for a one bed, one bath apartment near Atlanta, GA.

Renter’s insurance: ($15.50) 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: ($55) I have Google Fiber.

Electricity: ($66.79) My electricity bill. 

Water/Sewage: ($35.64) My water/sewage bill.

Food: ($394.83) This is all on groceries and food out.

Gas: ($19.76) I got gas once and haven’t been driving much.

Car: ($1,782.55) My minimum car payment + an extra $1400!

Student Loan Debt: ($0) As I mentioned, student loan interest and payments are deferred right now. I decided not to put anything toward my student loans.

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.

Health: ($42.60) This includes my Ritual multivitamins and some Vitamin C.

Phone bill/car insurance/Dogs: ($50) My sister 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 pay an extra $50 to help her out with our dogs. My dad and stepmom paid off their phones so I offered my dad the $50 difference each month but he said to save it, which I’m so grateful for.

Business: ($85.78) This includes paying for Tailwind and GSuite. In September I also ordered merch samples!

Spotify: ($9.99)

Gifts: (-$15.66) I actually didn’t buy any gifts in September but I did return one.

Phone Payoff: ($397.25) I paid off my phone since I switched to Verizon.

Travel: ($446.01) Flight, Airbnb, and Turo to Colorado!

Bullet Journal: ($8.00) I bought a small bullet journal because I wanted to try it out!

Beauty: ($93.18) Natural deodorant (from Schmidt’s), body wash, face wash, shampoo, lip balm, armpit scrub, vegan collagen eye cream (from Pacifica).

Parking: ($6.00) A few hours of parking at a local shopping center/walking area.

Excluding my savings and debt I spent a total of $3,288.82.

As always, I upload videos every month with all this info on my Personal Finance YouTube channel!

SEPTEMBER GOALS CHECK IN

• Pay off $2,000+ of my car loan (X)
• Spend less than $325 on groceries/food (X)

OCTOBER GOALS

• Pay off $1,000+ of my car loan
• Spend less than $325 on groceries/food
• Get my Personal Finance YouTube monetized