Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. If you click a link and purchase an item I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions are my opinion. Read the full disclosure here.

One month down already!

January was a very productive month for me and my finances aren’t looking too bad either.

I will say that I did feel some negativity around my finances but I tried my best to not let it distract me in any way. To feel better I ended up saving more money lol

I’ve also been doing a lot of reflecting and I’ve realized that I really need to work on my income in order to reach my goals. I’m so grateful for the money I earn and the growth I’ve seen in my business, but I know that I can earn way more in a new career.

I am aggressively working toward this and I know it will pay off soon!

Let’s get into the money stuff:

General $ Updates

I reached over $13,000 saved for my student loans

Yay!! Another milestone! $13K is amazing, but going forward I REALLY need to buckle down and put more to my student loans. I really should be averaging about $2K/month to debt.

I switched my renter’s insurance policy

I was paying $13.83/month with Statefarm. I then received a renewal letter and they were going to be raising the price which is odd because they usually lower it.

I decided to get a quote with Geico since I have my car insurance with them and they offered $77 for the whole year (same coverage)! This is a $90 annual savings. I paid it in full and I’m very happy about the switch!

I’m now saving for my student loans in my Marcus HYS account

For the last year I have been saving for my student loans in my M1 Spend account which was earning an interest of 1% APY. I got this account as part of M1’s Plus membership because it was free for a year.

Personally, I don’t think the annual fee is worth it for me at this time, so I moved all of my savings over to my high-yield savings account with Marcus.

I broke my crown

I had a root canal in 2019 and of course a crown on top of that. A few weeks into January I was eating a protein bar and things felt a little too crunchy. It was my crown 🙁

I ended up going back to the dentist who placed this crown and he is replacing it at a discount ($355.50). As I’m typing this, I have the temporary in and will get my permanent in another week or so.

I’m glad it was cheaper than I expected, but I’m still upset it even broke.

My full-time salary was lower than expected

I didn’t realize that the cost of my insurance was going to increase for 2022 by over $17. This means my paycheck was $17 smaller than usual.

I made over $1K from YouTube

On the other end…I beat a new record and made over $1,000 in YouTube revenue!! This was money earned in December. I am so grateful for this!!

My boyfriend and I booked a trip

TO HAWAII!! So far this trip is costing about $4K total, but I’m grateful that my boyfriend is covering the bulk of it.

We wanted to take a bigger trip this year for our 5 year anniversary and I am so excited!

Debt

I started the month of January with my official debt at $36,000 and ended with $36,000. However, I technically started at $23,920 if you consider the money I have saved to pay those loans down. 

In January I saved an additional $1,025.44 for my student loans (bringing my total saved to $13,115.02) so my final debt for January would be $22,884.98.

I still have paid $0 in interest 😊 I did gain $10.02 in interest through M1 Spend and my HYS account.

Spending

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

Roth IRA: I sold >$300 worth of stocks on WeBull and decided to put $300 extra to my Roth IRA! I actually put that extra $300 to my 2021 contribution and I also contributed $300 for 2022.

Renter’s Insurance: This is “in the red” because as I mentioned above I switched to Geico and paid for the whole year. I did get a small refund from Statefarm as well due to the lapse.

Groceries: My plan was to spend exactly $1,500 on groceries through January, February, and March so I can optimize my 10% cashback from my Discover card. However, things didn’t work out perfectly. I should still make it all work out though.

Health/Beauty: I was shocked to see how much I’ve already spent in this category. Over $350 was from my broken crown and the rest includes a doctor visit, vitamins, and supplements.

Personal: I was doing pretty good in this category until the final week or so of the month. However, everything I purchased is an investment in my wellness. I bought a sunrise alarm clock, a mouse pad, 2 pillows (for sleeping), 2 pillow cases, and 3 books. I did use a $25 Amazon gift card to cover the books.

Travel: As I mentioned above, we’ll be going to Hawaii! The $544 that you see here is the Turo car rental alone.

Courses: I ended up purchasing 2 Salesforce course that were on sale. I think this is a pretty good deal.

Income

Full-time job (microbiologist): $5,117.32

ONLINE/BUSINESS INCOME

Google AdSense (ad revenue from YouTube): $1,079.29
Financial Coaching: $437.95
Buy Me a Coffee/Venmo: $207.51
Mediavine (display ads on LivinglikeLeila): $188.48
Affiliates: $18.95

Online/Business Income Total: $1,932.18

EXTRA INCOME

Fetch: $25.00
WeBull Stock Sell: $308.82
Chase Cashback: $15.56
Discover Cashback: $105.23 (1 referral)
BOA Cash Rewards: $20.73

Extra Income Total: $475.34

Pre-Tax Total Income: $7,524.84

Net Worth

As of January 31st, my net worth is $3,134.59.

I also started calculating my net worth differently by counting excluding my taxes owed/tax savings all together since it doesn’t really make since to use it. Below is an updated graph (this includes changing the calculations for last year as well).

Total Assets = $39,134.59
Total Liabilities = $36,000
Net Worth = $3,134.59

Roth IRA (VTSAX): $9,084.39 (up 0.3% compared to last month)
M1 Invest (VTI): $5,693.98 (up 15% compared to last month)
Coinbase: $512.70 (up 324.1% compared to last month)
WeBull: $280.89 (down 46.8% compared to last month – sold stock)
Fidelity: $147.96

Sinking Funds:

• Emergency Fund = $3,608.15
• Gifts = $75.83
• Beauty = $86.04
• Car maintenance = $1,258.11
• Travel = $0.76
• Car insurance = $450.84
• Project $0 to Profit = $14.03
• Phone = $573.06
• MacBook = $902.83

Sinking Funds Total = $6,969.65

Credit Score

My VantageScore decreased by 22 points to 767, unfortunately. I had over $700 of charges on my Discover card and paid them off as soon as they appeared, but that amount was already reported to the credit bureaus.

January Goals Update

• Reach at least $13,000 in my student loan savings CHECK
• Make over $1,500 online CHECK
• Get 2 new financial coaching clients NO, I got 1 new client though!

February Money Goals

• Put at least $1,500 to my student loan savings (over $14,500 saved)
• Make over $2,000 online
• Get 2 new financial coaching clients