January 2021 Finance Update [Debt = -$38,135.27]

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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!