Amber's Personal Finance Blog

October 1st is here, and I'm absolutely pumped to kickstart this month! Today marks day one of my financial reboot, and guess what? I didn't spend a single cent, not even on that tempting bacon!

As I dive into crunching the numbers, I can see that some spending categories were over the top, while others fell short. It's crystal clear—I need to step up my game.

One thing that's been bothering me is the delay in my student loan payment posting. It's infuriating because that higher balance keeps racking up interest, and the provider seems oblivious to adjusting it. SMH indeed!

Despite lounging in bed for most of the day, I managed to squeeze in a productive 20 minutes on the treadmill.

My goals for October are crystal clear: hydrate more, spend wisely, tackle that student loan balance, save diligently, and, most importantly, find joy in every moment! 🌟💪🏾💧💰

Yesterday was payday for me. I allocated my funds by prioritizing my financial responsibilities, including tithes, my student loan, and credit card payments. In light of forthcoming student loan obligations, I adjusted my bi-weekly contributions to my Emergency Fund to $150.

Here's a breakdown of my allocations:

- $361 for tithes

- $500 for the student loan

- $225 for credit card debt

- $178 for my electric bill (factoring in budget billing)

- $1,200 into savings, designated for various sinking funds such as Christmas, birthdays, HOA fees, home repairs, mortgage, Emergency Funds, and car-related expenses.

I plan to organize my cash envelopes today; typically, I do this on payday Fridays, but I was so tired  yesterday that I didn’t. 

I'm also looking forward to tomorrow, it’s the last day of the month, I’m excited to see how I did. This month, I've diligently tracked my spending. I believe I've  recorded all expenses in my MSMoney software, a tool I wish they'd bring back. I anticipate my financial figures will look quite positive.

My largest expense this month was the fence repair, which depleted my home repair funds. Nevertheless, I'm grateful to have had the cash on hand for repairs. Sinking funds works! 

I'd budgeted for a pedicure, $40 which included tip. I try to treat myself periodically.

Well the salon was unable to provide a pedicure so I opted for a polish change which was $15, I paid $20, to include the tip.

I am going to add the difference to to my savings funds, which is $20. 

I also returned an item that I didn't need and put on my credit card, total refunded $235. Why I make these impulse purchases I have no clue. As I'm typing this I think it's my ex. I think he's my trigger for impulse purchases. Though he didn't tell me to buy the item, I had been eyeing already. Either way it's returned. 

Looking forward to seeing my end of month totals and preparing for October. 

Today’s student loan balance is $31,941.17 of that $84.17 is interest. 

I paid $500.17 today, therefore $84.17 should go towards the interest leaving a balance of $415.83 to be applied to the principal. 

With the payment made today the balance  should be $31,441.00. Given that it takes 2-3 days to post any payments, I’m thinking by Monday my actual balance should be about $31,459, this includes the $6 a day accrual of interest. SMH 

Next pay date is October 13th, I’ll only be able to add about $200 to the student loan. That’s about 13 days, at $6 a day the interest would be about $178. So just over $100 will go towards the principal. SMH. 

I’m going to keep chipping away that this. 

I also paid an extra $25 on the Home Depot card. The interest is set to zero until 2024. 

I put my night guard after washing on my nightstand as a reminder to put it in before bed. If I don't do this I won't get up to go to the bathroom to obtain it. Well I thought I had lost it, SMH.

I searched high and low for that thing. Was upset because I thought I would have to buy another, which would be a couple of hundred bucks. 

Well guess what I found it, on the floor. My carpet is white, and the guard is clear. It fell between the bed and nightstand. I found it after week when I was looking for something else  SMH 

lol, unbelievable 

Just spent hours on a spreadsheet that I'm not even sure I did correctly. SMH. 
My mentor/trainer is of no help and it's been a struggle. His/her instructions are never clear and when I try to get clarification it's like pulling teeth.

I am trying not to complain, I am so thankful for this opportunity; however, it's tough and it's a lot to take in. 

Keep me in your prayers. 

I started a new job and role earlier this year and I've struggled. I've been praying that God provide me the knowledge, skills and abilities to do my job. 

My mentor knows his/her stuff; however, this person isn't a trainer. Today my mentor provided me a task, and at  first I thought Lord how am I going to do this? But by the Grace of God, I was able to figure it out. I said a prayer, took a deep breath and relaxed  

I am thankful that I had the opportunity to practice a few tasks over the last week, which contributed to me being able to complete the task assigned. While working on it, I stumbled a bit and called a friend, who helped me to solve the problem. 

Honestly I don't feel comfortable asking my trainer. Though this person appears to be nice, I just don't get that. It's something about this person that makes me skeptical. Or maybe I'm just nervous. 

Either way, I'm very thankful to God and will continue to pray that He provides me the skills, knowledge and abilities to do my job. 

Tomorrow is pay day and I’m so looking forward to paying on my student loan. Who would have thought, one would be so excited to pay on a student loan, smh. 

Today’s balance  is $31,935.17, interest accrued as of today is $78.17. My goal is to have this thing paid off by the end of 2024. 🙏🏾

Other news I finally got my fence finished, cost $3800, who’d think that a fence would be so expensive, but these are times. I’m just thankful that I was able to pay cash. 

I can't wait to be debt free, I know it's doable; however it's been a chore. 

I decided to give social media a break, and it's been really hard. I never really paid too much attention to how much time I had spent on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook until this week. 

I will admit, I do miss surfing both platforms; however, the break has done some good. 

While taking a break, I've focused more on work, got my workout in, decluttered, did my Bible study, practiced my Spanish and completed some other miscellaneous items. It's been a pretty good week. 

I am thankful that I did this. I think I'm going to schedule a social media free week every month. 

I've taken a break from social media, so I've been binge watching The Dave Ramsey Show. Though I don't agree with Dave 100%, I do follow some of his practices. 

I just heard a caller call who had over 300k in debt, most of it student loans, and another who was almost 80 with student loan debt.

 
I pray this is not me, 70+ with student loans that have ballooned out of control. I'm so waiting on Friday so I can make another student loan payment. 

Scary 

OMG, in the span of 5 minutes I received about six calls to buy my home, during dinner time. 

This is so annoying. I really wish there was some legislation regarding selling contact information. This is insane. 

My number is listed on the Do Not Call Registry, but the calls don’t stop. 

Just needed to vent 

I have a mentor (new job) who knows his/her stuff; however, when it comes to training it like s/he has zero patience. 

I asked for a quick call to clarify an action item and s/he sent me the exact same action item. Now I’m twiddling my thumbs to try and figure it out. So I sent a very nice response that I know what the task is; however, where is the client seeing the error. 

S/he did respond and I was able to make the update. 

Long stride short not everyone is meant to be a trainer/mentor. 

Other news, I was so worried that my client was going to do away with my role (side hustle) they actually reached out to me about potentially coming on full time. It goes to show not every action is a negative one. Though I won’t leave the job that I’m on currently, I am hoping to work something out and increase my monthly rate, which will be great to add to the student loan. 

Lastly I submitted my student loan payment for reimbursement, I’ve paid just over a $1,000 for this quarter and my new job provides $350 towards my payments. I’m so thankful for this 

Today’s student loan balance is $31,917.19 and the interest accrued since 9/18 is $60.19. In one week I’ve accrued over $60 bucks in interest, by the end of this week this amount will double. Shameful 

Friday is pay day and I plan on paying about $300, the issue with this is the payment won’t post until the following week, that means I’d be accruing interest on an unpaid balance. Not that it makes a whole lot of sense difference it just bothers me. I’m really trying to get this thing down. 

I’ll say it a 1000x,  I am so thankful that I continued to pay on it during the pause. I think if I hadn’t my payments would be through the roof. 

Different news, I went out and purchased items I didn’t need, so now I have buyers remorse. I’ll be returning these items this weekend. I really have to figure out what my triggers are. 

Today’s student loan  balance is $32,111.59, of that $24.16 is interest accumulated since 9/11.

Today I’m paying $254.59, $24.16 will go towards the interest as of today; however,  I added an extra $12.04 which should cover the next few days of interest.

 Hopefully the new balance  will be $31,857 by time the payment post, which I'm anticipating Monday🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾. 

While paying today I noticed a box that read "don't push my payment forward though I have no payment due."  I've never seen that before, when I clicked on the link, nothing appeared. I'm assuming that when you make extra payments your original due date is pushed forward. This could be why my payment is showing due in November vs October, however there is no statement for October, strange. 

Well I know I’m going to drive myself nuts trying to keep up with the interest. So I’ve decided that every pay period, which is twice a month, I’ll just pay the interest, about $90, and when my payment is due, I'll just pay that. 

At the end of the month my side gig pays me, I’m unsure if this gig will continue, either way I’ll have an extra $500 to throw at the loan 

I really wished the pause would have continued however I understand that things needed to end. I also wish Congress would do something about this reverse amortization, interest is killing us. 

I am always amazed at the folks who are against student loan forgiveness, it's ridiculous that you make regular payments for 10+ years, based on income in many cases and your loan balloon's out of control, these very people have no problem with congress men and women having their PPP loans forgiven, or auto and airline industries being bailed out.

It’s shameful that these loans do not have the same standard consumer protections as other loans

Either way we have a right to our feelings. 

I received an unexpected check in the mail for $66, through it at my student loans. Every little bit helps. 

So I did the math, I'm averaging about $6 a day in interest on my student loans, that's $180 for the month. 

My monthly payment is $319, this is tentative, I haven't received the notice as to what my actual payment would be. If this is true, about $139 will go towards my principal a month. To stay a float and ahead of this thing I have to pay an extra $200, at least a month. 

I reworked my budget to pay $180 a month, $90 a pay check, since I'm paid semi-monthly. 

I still have my side hustle, so I'm budgeting my monthly payment and extra with my side hustle gig funds. 

Things are tight, but I think I can do it. 

I saw this article posted in a Facebook group and thought I would share, it sheds the light on student loan debt. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/02/10/student-loans-balance-increase/

Paid another $29.25 towards my student loans because I hate odd numbers. Next week I'll pay an extra $41. 

I wish I could drop more on this loan but for now I'll pay extra no matter how small, when I can. 

I’m so anxious about my student loans, why I don’t know. In the three year period when loans were on pause, I continued to pay, never missing a month and paid off two. 

Now that interest has resumed I’m freaking out. I have checked my balance, the interest rates daily and it’s given me pure anxiety. I pray I don’t end up with another inflated loan. 

It really sucks because once interest starts accruing it’s difficult to pay down the principal. I’m thankful that I was able to get my balance down, but I’m nervous it’s going to balloon out of control with the interest. 

I'm participating in a savings challenge, rather than saving the money I'm throwing it at my student loan, $41 was paid towards my loans today. 

It's just a little over the anticipated weekly interest incurred. November is my first official payment, I honestly thought it was October, either way I'll keep chipping away at it. 

Between September 1st and the 4th my student loan interest has accumulated $18.15 in interest. That’s about $4.53 a day, or about $135.00 month. I’m not sure if this is right since Monday was a holiday. It’s  ridiculous how the interest works on these loans, but here we are. 

I’m thankful for the three year freeze, and am thankful that I was able to pay off two loans, I can’t imagine much my loan would grow had I not done this. Not many people were able to take advantage of the freeze and pay towards their loan. 

I pray that I can get things under control. My goal is to pay the interest accrued at the end of each week, in attempt to make things manageable. I can’t think of any other way. 

Let me know if you have any ideas. 

Other non financial news, after three years I contracted COVID from an infected colleague who traveled while feeling not well. I feel much better but I'm still a little down. SMH

Anyone else here line dry their clothes? I was doing this and stopped, but decided to get back at it. I'm not sure how much I  would be saving on my electric bill by doing this though. 

I hung my clothes out to dry and they dried in about a hour. It probably was shorter than that, I was on a work call and forgot about them. 

For those of you who line dry your clothes, is it worth it? And how do you get the outdoor smell out of your clothes ? 

I had a few things come up so I couldn't make my semi-monthly payment of $160, towards the student loan. I paid only $100. 

This is one thing that freaks me out, what if I can't make the payment when things kick back up again. I pray all goes well. 

I am making a little less, but I like the new job. Sometimes it's not about the money but our peace. 

Inflation is definitely here, my grocery bill has skyrocketed. I use to budget $200 a month, now it's about $80 more s month. Thankfully me not driving into work helps, what I save in gas goes towards my food bill.

That's it for now.  

I’ve been sharing with others that the interest on student loans, and repayments are scheduled to start back up with interest accruing first in September, followed by the  first payment due in October. 

Though I can only worry about myself ( I haven’t stopped paying), I’m still anxious about this happening. I’m scared, anxious and  nervous and I don’t know why. Maybe because no one is talking about it. I’m in different financial groups, follow financial gurus and nothing.  It’s almost as if no one is expecting this to start, strange. 

 I recently paid $96 dollars to round things to an even number, I hate odd numbers on any of my debts, don’t  ask me why. 

In preparation for repayment , I signed up for auto pay which saves me a very small amount on interest. I have to remember not to make any payments next month (September).  The reason why is that my first payment of $318.68 is scheduled to hit on October 15th. Since I get paid bi-monthly, (for a while I would pay $160 a pay date for a total of $320 for the month), I want to make sure the funds are available when payments starts. 

 If I skip the September monthly payment that I normally make, the funds are surely to be available on the 15th of October. 

I can surely make extra payments, and I want to, I just need to figure out how much and when. I’ll be reviewing my budget. 

I'm praying for those in Maui, this is so heartbreaking 

This isn’t a post about finances but how I’m feeling. I looked in the mirror and I wanted to cry. I have put on so much weight. This is the most I’ve ever been. I’m so disgusted. 

My goal is to hit 10k a day, starting today and I did that. It was a struggle and I’m sore but I got it in. I also ordered a few healthy meals. I hope this works 

I can't believe how big I've gotten. 

Though eating out appears to be less expensive, in some cases, than eating in, I have managed to eat at home since August has started. 

I'm hoping to reduce my food bill this month. I shopped yesterday at Trader Joe's, which is far less than our local grocery store. 

Things have gotten so expensive. It's times like these that I really miss my dad, he grew all sorts of fruits and vegetables, I don't have a yard to do so. I think I'm going to look into a raised garden. 

Well on my way to visit my friend I felt water dropping in my foot. I’m two hours away from home. I pray this is not something serious. I’ll call the mechanic on Monday. 

wendy to check in at the hotel and my reservations were not made. It looks like I never hit saved. Thankfully we got a room. 

When it rains it pours 

I’m going to visit a friend who has cancer, as I mentioned before, fear often holds us back. It’s a two-hour drive and I’m fearful to take the ride alone so my ex is going. I’ve got to jump out on faith and just do things. 

I rented a room for one night, which cost $82. I could have stayed with my friend but she has cats and I can’t stand them. 

I was lucky to get a room at a reduced rate using a few points. Well my ex wanted to go early, and leave yesterday, I told him if he wanted to go early, he need to foot the bill for the room, which was 100+ dollars and I needed the money upfront if I was booking. 

Well as you can see we aren’t going early. One he doesn’t have the money, and two, I’m no longer footing the bill for anything he suggests or wants, nor am I  waiting for him to reimburse me as he always says. I was always booking the trip and he’ll give me the money back supposedly but it’s either I never see the money or he’s short when he pays me.

I foot the bill for a trip to NY a while back that he was supposed to pay me back which I never got. This is not happening to me again.  Nope. 

I bought my home a few years ago, and ever since I’ve started making payments, I always pay a little extra extra towards the principal. Sometimes it’s $10, $800, $60, it’s always something. I swear this was/is the best decision I’ve ever made financially. My goal is to have my mortgage paid off early, and I think it’s going to happen. 

When mortgage rates were low, I refinanced. I was nervous as hell to do so but I did. I did some research on why I should, spoke with two friends who are financially savvy, I think I also posted here. Either way I got some good advice, and understood why it would be beneficial to me yo do so. 

I ended up getting my rate down to 2.75% and reduced by $200 a month. The money saved from the refinance,  I used to help throw at my student loans. 

I’d shared with my sister to refinance her mortgage and shared why it would have been beneficial, she refused. Once before she’d done this and locked into a balloon mortgage and lost her home (2008). I told her she was wiser now and to ensure that the rate was fixed. She now regrets not doing so, especially with rate hikes in Florida’s homeowners insurance. That’s a different story. 

I can’t help but wonder how fear hold so many of us back, myself included. 

Once I get these student loans gone, I’m going to throw that amount at my mortgage. I can’t wait to do so. I honestly think I’ll be debt free including my mortgage in 10 years. I’ll see. 

today I'll make my September mortgage payment (I like to pay early), for now I’m going to continue to add extra to mortgage, I’m averaging about $60 a month.