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Happy New Year!!

I can’t believe it’s already 2022! It doesn’t feel real yet.

I ended the year on a pretty strong note which feels really good. I feel good in general about where my finances are headed and I’m ready to be debt free in 2022!!

I hope you all had a great holiday. I ended up getting sick, but I’m feeling much better and I’m ready to focus on my goals again!

Let’s get into the details for this month:

General $ Updates

I reached over $12,000 saved for my student loans

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to reach this by the end of the year, but I did and I’m so glad!! I have over 1/3rd of my total debt saved up and ready to make a payment.

I saved $3,000 in my emergency fund (again)

My goal for the year was to have $6K saved in my emergency fund, but things came up and that didn’t quite happen. So I decided to reset and aim for $3K. I reached $3K again and it’s a great number to start the New Year with.

Student loan forbearance has been extended (AGAIN)

I was shocked to find out that student loan forbearance and 0% interest was extended through May 1st, 2022. I was eager to make my lump sum payment in February. I still don’t know if I’m going to continue to save or just make that payment anyway.

Debt

I started the month of December with my official debt at $36,000 and ended with $36,000. However, I technically started at $24,991.22 if you consider the money I have saved to pay those loans down. 

In December I saved an additional $1,061.22 for my student loans (bringing my total saved to $12,079.56) so my final debt for December would be $23,920.44.

I still have paid $0 in interest 😊

Spending

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

Groceries and Food out: I went over budget a bit in both, but I’m not stressing about these numbers.

Health/Beauty: I ended up spending more than I expected, but going forward this should be lower.

Personal: I told myself I would only be buying a new planner and notebook in December! However, I only bought a new planner because a previous client of mine was kind enough to send me a bullet journal!

Lingopie: One of my goals for 2022 is to REALLY learn Spanish. So I decided to take advantage of the sale Lingopie was having and signed up for the annual membership. Hopefully it’s a good way to learn.

Spotify: My Spotify membership doesn’t expire until February, but I wanted to take advantage of the 5% bonus on Wal-Mart.com that my Discover card was offering for Q4.

Income

Full-time job (microbiologist): $5,134.44

ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME

Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $534.16
Financial Coaching: $650.00
Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $392.72
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $150.23
Affiliates: $21.37
Etsy: $3.96

Online/Business Income Total: $1,752.44

EXTRA INCOME

IBotta: $34.60
Chase Cashback: $56.85
Discover Cashback: $166.66 (2 referrals)
LinkedIn Survey: $5.00
Nielsen Research Study: $100.00
Poshmark: $28.00
BOA Cash Rewards: $2.44

Extra Income Total: $393.55

Pre-Tax Total Income: $7,280.43

Net Worth

As of December 31st my net worth is $5,561.17!! Just last month I reached a positive net worth so to see it jump by $5K is amazing.

Roth IRA (VTSAX): $9,060.63 (up 5.7% compared to last month)
M1 Invest (VTI): $4,952.34 (up 16% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $120.89 (up 26.1% compared to last month)
WeBull: $528.19

Sinking Funds:

  • Taxes = $4,956.66
  • Emergency Fund = $3,006.03
  • Gifts = $0.78
  • Medical/Dental = $1.00
  • Car maintenance = $1,157.36
  • Travel = $284.63
  • Car insurance = $360.57
  • Project $0 to Profit = $14.02
  • Phone = $522.72
  • MacBook = $802.30

Credit Score

My VantageScore increased by 1 point to 789!

December Goals Update

  • Reach at least $11,400 in my student loan savings (Ideally $12K) CHECK
  • Make over $1,500 online CHECK
  • Reach $3,000 in my emergency fund again CHECK

January Money Goals

  • Reach at least $13,000 in my student loan savings
  • Make over $1,500 online
  • Get 2 new financial coaching clients