This is a bit late but I wanted to share my juicy news first!
July was pretty great on all fronts, but also stressful. I had to tie up loose ends at my old job and keep everything together, giving 100% to my job and my freelance work, which I have to say was tough.
Side note: During the last week of my job, I got stopped by a street fashion blog during my lunch break. MY RESPONSE WAS PRICELESS.
I got a little break though right after I left, as my parents came to town and we all went to Seattle. It was nice to have an adventure that didn’t cost a lot of money.
I successfully started my cash challenge and the results were shocking — my spending went down 30%! I am going to keep up with it for a while as it really worked. Kinda bummed that apparently I suck with credit cards, but I think I will ease back into it and will just use it for necessary things, like my new health insurance (which is only $218 btw).
Now for a glimpse at the money…
This month I put:
$1,180 to student loans
$500 to EF
$100 to retirement
$75 to targeted savings
My student loan totals are now:
Undergrad $6,504.27
Grad Loans $31,471.48
Total: $37,975.75
I’m finally starting to feel like I’m making progress! This is a far cry from the $81,000 total I had amassed (23k undergrad, 58k grad).
Usually I’m a fan of the avalanche method of debt repayment, which means I focus on my high interest debt first. Considering my grad loans are a mix of 6.8% and 7.9%, and my undergrad loans are at 2.5% it seems like a no-brainer. At my highest, I was paying $11 a day in interest (UGH!). But, I saw that one of my undergrad loans was chillin’ at $636.25. I saw that and my inner debt huntress emerged.
I AM GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU! (I swear I’m not that violent usually)
So I paid it off and felt GREAT!
Another win for me is my retirement. OK, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this. Considering that I’m 29-years old, my retirement is pathetic. I started it at 26 in graduate school, added $20/mo, then stopped when I graduated and couldn’t find substantial work. Also note, NOT ONE of my jobs has ever had a retirement match, so I was never encouraged to start saving early. Even though, of course, now I wish I did. All this to say, my retirement account now has over $2,000! As I said, I know this is nothing to celebrate, but considering I’ve mainly focused on paying off $43,000 in debt, this was a nice milestone!
I’ve been saying for months I want more balance in all aspects of my life and this includes my finances. I can’t just focus on debt, so as I mentioned a few months ago, I’m putting $100 per month towards retirement. I can’t wait to be debt free and max it out!
July was such a great month and now I’ll be changing things up yet again. I have a fairly good idea of what my income will be in August as a freelancer. But everybody pays at different times, so I need to see when I actually receive payments to see how the budget shakes out.
My number one priority is getting out of debt, but I hope you understand that a close second will also be saving, so my EF is flush and also my retirement. I feel more balanced and happier this way.
Even though I may have to tone down some of the payments, I am already seeing a noticeable difference in my happiness. I am sleeping more, spending more time with my partner, and feeling a little more sane.
I also have a lot of ideas on where I want to go and projects I want to accomplish.
First one? Getting a site redesign! You will see the new and improved Dear Debt in the next few weeks…something that reflects my personality a bit more.
Lastly, I have to thank everyone for all the supportive comments about my new adventure in the freelance world. It truly means the world to me. It feels awesome to have people rooting for you and WANTING you to succeed. You all inspire me so much!
Here’s to a great August my friends! Let’s hustle and make that money! Pay off debt! Save! Live life to the fullest!
p.s. I won’t be around much this weekend as I’m working as a Brand Ambassador 8-hours a day, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! MONEY! It’s a pretty easy job, but there is a special sort of exhaustion with standing on your feet all day and chatting with people. Luckily, it’s a food festival, so I’ll get tons of free samples. HA!
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27 comments
You are doing so awesome, Melanie! And I love that you have retirement $2,000 in retirement savings. I JUST started saving through work, and that’s the only reason I have a “decent” chunk adding up. If I had to do it myself, I’d be struggling for $2,000.
I love that dress, utilitarian Melanie. 😉 Also, cannot wait until you get a site design. Are you doing it yourself, or going to pay someone for it? I spruced up my site a bit, but honestly it still feels amateurish because I find the colours, and overall flow hard to do.
I’m spending $100 on a custom design with this guy: http://graphiccookies.com/
He has $20 pre-made themes that are pretty nice, too!
It does feel good to have people supporting your efforts. I am planning for a site makeover also! You are doing so well on many fronts including your debt Melanie!
Awesome, can’t wait to see your new design. Thanks for the support, love! 🙂
I’ve done a lot of brand ambassador-ing, or what I like to call, “stand there and look pretty”- it’s surprisingly exhausting. Congrats on joining the freelance world. Waiting for payments is definitely a change from the traditional world, especially with all the different payment schedules and timelines. I feel like I spend hours just trying to track what money has come in and what hasn’t 😉
Haha I’ve done some of that — but this time, I’m stuck in a polo shirt and khakis. As utilitarian as I am, I don’t think ANYONE looks good wearing that. And yes, I’ll be herding cats trying to fetch my payments. 🙂
Doing a budget with freelancing is interesting, that’s for sure! I’ve been avoiding using cc’s right now myself because money is so tight that I don’t want to be in a situation where I can’t pay if off at the end of the month. Good luck with everything, and don’t work too hard this weekend! 🙂
Yeah, it will be interesting! Let’s be on the cash train together!
Sounds like you had a pretty great July! Congrats on slaughtering one of your loans and getting your retirment account over $2k. Keep it up girl!
Woo hoo! It really helps inspire momentum.
Glad to hear that July was a good month for you, and it’s great that you were able to eliminate another loan even if it’s lower interest than some of your other loans. I’ve actually been doing the same recently with one of my loans – I just want to get rid of it!
And congrats on the retirement account milestone as well, it’s still great progress no matter how you look at it. Just being able to set a little bit aside each month is the important part and it’s even more impressive considering your employer’s never offered a match or anything of that sort.
It felt so nice to get rid of it! In regards to retirement, even though $2k is low, it feels better than nothing!
Awesome job in July, Melanie! Keep up the amazing work!!! 😀
Thanks, Morgaine! I’m going to try.
Awesome progress Melanie! Congrats on paying off the smaller loan. I can’t blame you for being tempted to do that, regardless of the avalanche method. Woo! And I hear you on the retirement funds – I never had a job that offered a 401k, and I really wish I had. I hope you enjoy free samples this weekend!
Congrats on a successful July and paying off one of your loans. It’s a great feeling, huh? Can’t wait to see the new site!
Melanie, you sound effervescent (hope I spelled that correctly!) You just sound super energized. Which is awesome. Keep doing what you’re doing-it’s working for you.
You’re way to go Melanie, just keep pushing! And I think it’s good to work as a Brand Ambassador, good job for you!
Just love that dress and pic of you! So cute! Congrats on your progress, that debt’s going down! … As in you are taking it out 😉
Congratulations on the debt going down, the retirement going up and the freelancing going well! I’m happy for you!
Well, I’m 35 and I have a grand total of $4000 in retirement savings so I think you are already doing better than me! I’m going to be working until I’m 85 at this rate 🙂 Seriously, I think it is great that you’re doing even a little bit towards that now — as far as I can tell from my reading, the most important thing is just to start it, even if you can’t do much at first.
Yes, I understand completely how it feels when you pay a great amount of debt. In one word, you feel ‘relieved’. That’s what I felt 5 years back, when I was on the verge of ruining my financial life as well as my life in entirety. That’s when I decided to buckle up and give debt a fight. It sounds impossible but it’s true I paid of my astronomical debt amount in 4 years and now I’m accumulating and also making investments. Though the investments I’m doing now are small but at least I’m debt free. At least I sleep well now. Believe me.
Wow, I can’t wait to be in your shoes!
Loving your new design! 🙂 Congratulations on your debt pay off so far! I would LOVE to see my loans at $80k :/ I’m pushing along but while paying $1600 / month isn’t so bad for me, it’s got me on the 10 yr pay off. I am trying to put a lot more on them so I can cut that in half. We shall see…
Thank you! You’ll get there. $1600 a month is tough. I’m struggling to do $1300, but we’ll see if I can keep that up. It’s tough to keep going at that rate for so long. 🙁
Congrats on kicking a$$ Melanie!!! I am a big fan of the balanced approach when it comes to student loan debt repayment. Yes, it is nice to get out of debt, but there is also a real big positive to building wealth. I see it all the time with my clients. I can’t believe, though, how far you have come in your debt journey in a relatively short period of time. Keep up the great work!
Definitely not too late to give a July recap! I work in finance so July “close” seems to go on and on for weeks with various reports and whatnot.
Anyway good luck with the redesign and it looks like you really are crushing those student loans. I still want to look into graduate student loans for my wife to see if we can take advantage of low rates (as explained in my post today), but I also realize the psychological impact that a high debt figure can have (we have a lot of undergrad debt already).