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About Me:

Amber

South Floridian on the "Get Rid of Debt" cycle for a second time. 💰

My journey begins with tackling Baby Step 2

Started tracking my progress on 4/21/2017, but did not get serious until August 2017

November 26, 2018 I bought my home 🏡
February 11, 2025 I bought my car 🚗

===================
Sinking funds
* Fun/vacation $119.27
* Christmas club $206.33
* Sorority $166.46
* Gifts (e.g. birthdays, showers) $114.15
* Car maintenance/insurance $615.37
* HOA $1238.20
* Home Mortgage $2,713.63
Monthly payment $759.74
* Home Repairs $257.55
* Prof. Certification renewal $21.25
* Medical/HSA $171.93
*Car Payment Acct $1192.91
Baby step 1 (EF) $11,048.47
Baby step 1b (Reserved car payment) $1450.45
Rollover IRA $22,322.37
IRA Previous balance $25,459.86
401(k) $35,588.02
Roth IRA $152.58

—————————-—————————
Started May 2019
Net worth beginning -$183,166.24

Net-worth
7/31/2023 $51,814.80
7/14/2023 $54,344.13
6/7/2022 $39,799.17

—————————-—————————
Debt

2/11/2025 Car
Original balance $41,000
New Balance 36,000
Monthly Car Payment $591.28

11/1/18
Original Mortgage: $140,000.00
Mortgage financed: $119,500.00
New balance: $98,280

10/2022 Student Loan Consolidated Original Balance: $35,622.23
New Balance: $8077.30
Interest accrual $1.62 as of 2/5
Daily interest rate $1.62
January 2025 Balance was 24,155.10

Consolidated student loans on 10/18/2022
Student Loan 2: $55,202.21
* Initial Account 4 balance $28,711.66
• Current account bal #4 bal $0
* Initial Account 2 balance $13,873.23
• Current Account Bal #2 bal $0

Student Loan 1: $28,046.16
* Initial Account 1 balance $8,141.53
* Current Account #1 balance $0
* Initial Account balance $19,904.63
• Current account #3 balance $0

CC12: BOA Travel
Org. Balance: $2050
New Balance: $0

CC11: Home Depot
Org. Balance $2600
New Balance $0

CC10: Sams club Starting balance $10,150.69
New balance: $ 0

CC9: BoA starting to balance $0
New Balance: $0

CC8: Macy's Amex starting balance $0
New balance $0

CC7: JCP starting balance $2,608.12
New balance $0

CC6: Macy's store starting balance $0
New balance $0

CC5: HSBC starting balance $2,115.00
New balance $0

CC4: Target starting balance $1,992.32
New balance $0

CC3: City Furniture starting balance $1,821.31
New balance $0

CC2: Citi 2 starting balance $9300
New balance $8,300
Balance transfer

CC1: Citi 1 $0

Archives

Array
(
    [Feb 2026] => /2026/02/
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    [Oct 2012] => /2012/10/
    [Aug 2012] => /2012/08/
    [Jul 2012] => /2012/07/
    [Jun 2012] => /2012/06/
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    [Dec 2011] => /2011/12/
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)

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Date Started: Feb 13, 2006
Entries: 2,620
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Home > Yay I’ll be Getting a Bonus

Yay I’ll be Getting a Bonus

November 11th, 2025 at 06:36 am

First I want to share that I just paid $200 on the student loan.

Drumroll please, I'm so excited, I'll be getting a bonus on Friday. I'm so tempted to schedule my bonus payment for the student loan, but I'll hang tight. I'll be able to pay an additional $1200 on the student loan which will get me just under the $14k. I think by the end of the year I'll be done.

Side note. My part time job allows me to sock away a $1000 a check. I'm trying to beef up my savings. I wish I could drop this on the student loan but the way things are I need to boost my savings. My first job has had multiple layoffs since I've been.

Our HOA is going up to $440, smh. I had saved with the anticipation to pay it for the year, adding a little. Though I have a nice chunk save which will allow me to pay about 10-months at once, I'm still a little bump.

that's it for me. See ya later

Posted in Reaching Financial Freedom, Debt, How I... Contest | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Yay I’ll be Getting a Bonus”

Michelle Says:
November 11th, 2025 at 11:29 am 1762860576
1762860576

Congratulations, Amber!
Lots of ideas Says:
November 11th, 2025 at 07:51 pm 1762890713
1762890713

Imagine the savings goals you can set for 2026!
And leave some room for spending plans too - you have worked so hard!
mumof2 Says:
November 11th, 2025 at 11:38 pm 1762904315
1762904315

that is awesome...well done
savvyfinanceguide Says:
November 12th, 2025 at 12:52 am 1762908724
1762908724

Great progress Amber! It's so exciting to be so close to paying off your student loan. Keep going!
Suemn Says:
November 12th, 2025 at 02:42 am 1762915321
1762915321

Way to go Amber! That's a good idea to increase your emergency fund in case of a job loss. You have worked so hard on paying off your student loan and credit card debt.
Tabs Says:
November 13th, 2025 at 05:53 am 1763013221
1763013221

Congrats!
PatientSaver Says:
November 13th, 2025 at 10:14 pm 1763072041
1763072041

Good job!

Ah, those were the days, thinking back to different jobs where I'd get a bonus. Not all of them, but some. The anticipation alone was something!

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Amber's Personal Finance Blog

Trying to stay away from debt

Yay I’ll be Getting a Bonus

7 Responses to “Yay I’ll be Getting a Bonus”

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