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Welp, January flew by!!
I had a VERY good month in regards to finances and in general! I am so grateful that the first month of 2021 started out on such a strong foot.
I paid off a good chunk of debt and I FINALLY made over $1,000 from my online businesses!!!
Let’s get into it:
Debt
I started the month of January with $40,623.13 of debt and ended with $38,135.27.
Wow. I am not only under $40K of debt I’m under $39K!!!! In January my debt decreased by $2,487.86 and I only paid $10.38 in interest.
Since my student loans are in forbearance, all this money went to my car loan.


Spending

Some main things to point out about my spending in January:
Groceries/Food Out: I budgeted $300 for groceries. I went over budget by $8.84. But I didn’t spend any money on food out!
Health: I went over budget by $19.08 because I purchased vitamins and a pack of toothbrushes that I didn’t expect.
Dogs: I budgeted my usual $50 for dogs but ended up buying dog food and such for them so I went over budget by $64.45. I won’t be sending $50 to my sister for February though.
Personal: I budgeted $100 for personal spending and went well over that!! I spent a total of $366.01 on a Kindle book and the rest was clothes/shoes.
I purchased half of the clothes used and the other half (and shoes) new.
These were things that I knew I would buy in 2021, I just didn’t want to do it all in one week. BUT it’s interesting because now I just feel different about shopping. Like I’m not eager to spend again and I plan on saving up for the other things I do want to buy.
Income
Extra income was great in January! For the first time in my “business” endeavors I have made over $1,000 in one month!!!
Full-time job (microbiologist): $4,937
Stimulus Check: $600
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $345.41
Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $329.54
Financial Coaching: $200.00
Buy Me a Coffee: $196.15
Affiliates: $89.67
Venmo (support): $50
Teachable (my courses): $26.38
Sponsor: $16.00
Chase Flex Rewards: $27.20
Bank of America Cash Rewards: $29.32
Mercari: $29.32
Poshmark: $6.05
Business Income: $1,203.15
Extra Income: $687.38
Pre-tax total = $6,827.53
New Worth
As of December 31st, my net worth came to -$22,453.44.
Roth IRA = $5,299.98
Sinking Funds:
- Taxes = $1,104.70
- Emergency Savings = $4,072.29
- Gifts = $250.76
- Medical/Dental = $251.41
- Car maintenance = $335.64
- Travel = $171.10
- Personal spending = $0.75
- FinCon = $225.18
Credit Score
My VantageScore according to Credit Karma is 763. There was no change.
Overall Updates
My total debt is under $39,000
Milestones every month are AMAZING!!!
I received the $600 stimulus check on January 1st
What a great way to start the New Year!! I put $200 to my debt, $200 to my Roth IRA, and $200 to my emergency fund!
I made over $1K in the month from my businesses
I BROKE A PERSONAL RECORD!! I finally have made over $1,000 in a month from my online work and it’s super exciting!
The highest I ever earned before this was $791.85 in August of 2019!! I’m looking forward to what is to come.
I have 4 financial coaching clients
I am so excited and grateful to say that I am now working with 4 paying clients!! It is so fun to help people get out of debt and on a better financial path.
January Goals Update
- Put over $2,000 to my car loan CHECK
- Spend less than $300 on food/groceries (budgeted $5 for food out) SO CLOSE, $8 over
- Make over $1K from my online businesses CHECK!!
- Reach over 2,200 subscribers on my finance YouTube channel CHECK!!! Exceeded this by over 1,000!
Money Goals for February
- Pay off my car!
- Make over $1K from my online businesses
- Reach over 5,000 subscribers on my finance YouTube channel
- Find 2 more clients before March
It’s amazing what happens when you set a goal and work hard to achieve it, Great work!
Thank you and thank you for all your support! 😊