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Happy September!

General $ Updates

Expensive medication sucks

I recently switched to an ACA health plan. I’m not paying too much because I accepted a $340+ tax credit, but it’s obviously not the best plan.

For those who don’t know, I also have Crohn’s disease (I was diagnosed in 2021). I’ve been on a medication known as a ‘biologic’ since then which costs thousands per month without insurance. Even before quitting my full-time job I was switched to a bio similar of my medication so that’s what I’ve been taking for a few months now.

With this new insurance it seems it will be costing me over $242 each month. I’m trying to figure out ways around this by making lots of phone calls. It’s quite frustrating. Hopefully I can get things resolved asap, otherwise I’ll just suck it up and pay that until the end of the year and switch to a little bit better of a health plan for 2025.

I pulled from my emergency fund

I didn’t really have to pull from it, but my income was lower for the month and I wanted to get one month ahead on housing. I pulled $2,428 from my $14K+ emergency fund. In the month I had also added some to my emergency fund, but not enough to cover it all. You can see my updated savings amounts below in the post.

My bf and I traveled to Wyoming

We booked a week long trip to Wyoming back in December! I honestly thought we had paid for everything, but we still had to pay for half of the Airbnb. I paid with my Capital One Venture X card and then used points to completely cover the remaining $800+!

I also forgot we would need to pay for parking at the airport and our checked bag flying to Wyoming and flying back home. I also used my Venture X card to completely covered the checked bag!

Spending

Some main things to point out about my spending in August:

401(k): My 401(k) was supposed to start for my second paycheck in August, but because of pay roll timing, it won’t be starting until September.

Sinking Funds: I was only able to save to my car insurance sinking fund.

Donate: Same as last month I didn’t actually donate any money, but I did pay for quite a bit for my foster dog.

Dogs + Cat: As I mentioned above a lot of this was on my foster dog. I send $180 to my sister for our dogs and then I bought some food for a neighborhood cat.

Car Maintenance: I got 4 new Michelin tires, a wheel alignment, and an oil change. I pulled from my car maintenance sinking fund to cover this.

Travel: This was on the Airbnb mostly and then our checked bag ($35 each way). All of this was covered with credit card points!

Parking: We now park near the airport (Park n’ Fly in ATL) and get shuttled to the airport. It’s very affordable and convenient in my opinion!

Personal: No personal spending!!

Income

ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME

Teachable: $4.17
Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $22.72
Etsy: $107.16
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $159.42
Coaching: $400.00
Affiliates/Sponsors: $900.00
Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $1,207.05

Online/Business Income Total: $2,800.52

EXTRA INCOME

BOA Cashback: $6.97
Rakuten: $13.62
Upside: $18.29
CITI Cashback: $22.46
Chase Referral: $50.00
Poshmark: $57.66
HYSA Interest: $212.84
Upgrade Referral: $350.00
Capital One Venture X Cashback: $910.97

Extra Income Total: $1,642.81

*Total Gross Income: $4,443.33

*I decided to start putting my gross income from all sources. This number does not reflect my taxes.

Net Worth

As of July 31st, my net worth is $115,991.73*. Up about 0.9% compared to last month. And my highest net worth ever!!

*Does not include the value of my car (personal preference) or what I have saved for my taxes.

Roth IRA (VTSAX): $37,567.35 (up 3.7% compared to last month)
401k: $37,071.97 (up 4.4% compared to last month)
SEP IRA (FXAIX): $426.09 (up 2.4% compared to last month)
Vanguard Brokerage (VGT and VTI): $10,011.93 (up 2.3% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $31.30 (Down 15% compared to last month)

Sinking Funds:

• Emergency Fund = $12,265.60
• Gifts = $1,110.26
• Health Insurance Tax Credit = $2,505.50
• Car/Car maintenance = $3,172.73
• Travel = $6,161.51
• Car insurance = $383.17
• Business = $3,631.99

Sinking Funds Total = $29,230.76

Checking Balances as of August 31st: $1,652.33

I do not have any debt/liabilities.

Credit Score

My VantageScore is at 815.

August Goals Update

• Make over $3,500 from business income ❌
• Save to the following sinking funds: Emergency Fund ($100), Gifts ($75), Car/Car Maintenance ($100), Car Insurance ($125) ❌
• Invest $150+ ❌

September Money Goals

• Make over $3,500 from business income