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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.

My car loan balance.
My student loan debt balance.

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