Amber's Personal Finance Blog

I have 18 days left until my next student loan payment. With daily interest at $5.85, that adds up to $105.30 in total interest. To bring my balance below $31k, I'll need to make a payment of at least $300. It's a bit challenging but definitely achievable.

I've already adjusted my budget, so I should be on track. Fingers crossed for a successful outcome!

Today was payday, and here's how it all unfolded:

I managed to save $1,147.50, which accounts for approximately 41% of my take-home income. It's worth noting that roughly half of this amount is earmarked for future expenses through sinking funds, but I'm still quite content.

Another chunk of $516.13 was allocated towards debt repayment, accounting for about 19% of my take-home pay.

I also set aside $490 for my everyday spending fund, which I manage using cash envelopes. This amounts to around 18% of my income.

An additional $240.52 was directed towards various bills, such as internet and phone, making up less than 1% of my take-home pay.

I allocated 10% towards tithes as part of my financial plan.

To top it off, my payment posted, and I'm thrilled to report that my student loan balance has now dipped to $31,106.85, with only $5.85 of that being attributed to interest. I'm incredibly close to breaking the $31,000 mark this month, which is a source of great excitement.

All in all, it was a  successful day on the financial front.

It's that time of the week – payday Friday! And guess what? I was so pumped to have the funds I budgeted for this week's student loan payment, that I couldn't resist paying it early. No more agonizing weekend waits for the funds to post! 💰💃

Drumroll, please... According to my calculations, my new balance on Friday should stand at $31,148.22 for the principal, $17.70 in interest, totaling a jaw-dropping $31,165.92. 🎉 It's all part of my plan to achieve my goal of paying $1,000 a month! 😄

But wait, there's more thrilling news! The client I was anxious about possibly losing has thrown a game-changer my way.

They want me full time, and if everything falls into place, I'm ready to hire an assistant to help manage the workload.

This means the potential for an additional six-figure income this year, and even after paying the assistant, I'm looking at around $75k! 🤑 of course I'll have to set aside for taxes  

If the blessings keep flowing, my student loan could be a thing of the past by June next year.

My excitement is off the charts! 🌟💫

In the world of personal finance, making decisions about where to allocate your money can be a bit of a puzzle. One might argue that I should have applied this extra cash towards my student loans, but there's something about paying extra on my mortgage that I just can't resist. I've been doing it consistently for over a year now, and today was no exception.

Earlier today, I made an additional payment of $60.35 towards the principal of my mortgage. It might seem odd, but I've always had this habit of rounding up to the nearest hundred. So, instead of the paying  $57.35, which would have been $300 to wards the principal, I opted for $60.35

To some, it may sound like a financial quirk or even an addiction. But for me, it's a source of comfort. I don't feel quite right when I don't do it. Each time I make an extra payment, I see that principal amount decrease, even if it's just by a little bit. Though the actual amount should have been $57.35, but that extra $2.65 makes a difference in my mind.

In a world where financial decisions can be stressful and complex, paying extra on my mortgage has become my peace. It's a small, simple act that brings me a sense of satisfaction and control over my financial journey.

Checked my student loan balance and today it’s $31,381.61, of that interest is $23.61, on average the daily interest is about $5.90 a day. By Friday next week, the interest accumulated would be about $76.70, smh. I’m thankful that I can make payments, about $600 a month, but I tell you this sucks. Goal is to have this loan paid off by the end of next year. 

Changing gears, this was supposed to be a no spend month and it’s costing me. 

A while back I asked a friend to install a screen door, well the friend finally showed up. I’m thinking no more than a hundred bucks, well the friend initially quoted me $130, not bad. This friend had to leave and come back because something was needed, my new cost $200. That’s right $200. This was not a necessity but a want. I’d asked about it months ago and since the friend showed up I said okay. WTH. It’s my fault for not asking upfront the cost. I’ve learned some very hard lessons this month. One ask up front the cost before any work is done, even if it is a friend. 

I didn’t count yesterday as spend day wind today I’ll be paying for the screen. 

Edited to add that the screen looks good. 

I don’t know where I got mixed up but my software didn’t match the balances of my account and what appeared online. In many cases I had less. It all started when my account was hacked and I had to create a new account using my software and I wasn’t balancing but checking my accounts online. Either way I’m back on track. 

I also started declutterring all the paper I have accumulated over the last couple of years. I’ve scanned and shredded so many items, that I can’t believe I allowed this to get do bad. I decided to do a little at a time so that I’m not overwhelmed.  

I’m just glad to be back on track with things 

My student loan payment of $109.75 hit today so my new balance is $31,369.81. I’m hoping to get the balance below $31k by the end of the month. 

I also read that the Biden-Harris administration just approved another round of student loan forgiveness.  It includes forgiveness for 51,000 borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment plans; I am enrolled in this program,  fingers crossed that I get the forgiveness, if not I’m still happy for those who do and I’ll keep paying. 

Other financial news today was a no-spend day so I added $4 to my challenge fund. 

The exterminator came out and didn’t charge me. He was here last week and it was $25 but I saw roaches again so he came out and re-sprayed. I offered $20 for gas and he declined. Now I’m wondering if I should add this to my challenge fund. 

Today was a great day at work, I’m so thankful that things are falling into place. 

Today marked a day of a lesson learned on finances,  I had to call the plumber to fix my garbage disposal, which resulted in a $40 bill for simply pressing the reset button. It turns out, my initial suspicion might have been right, but with an electrical issue and a disposal problem, I felt it was best to call for help. I am still counting today as a no spend day  Lesson learned!

Shifting gears, I managed to squeeze in a workout session, successfully checked off all the tasks on my to-do list, and I'm gradually growing more confident in my role. It's all about balance and progress. 💪🏾💼 

Day 2 and I didn't spend a thing, I'm so happy. I was really tempted to buy a few items but remembered that I had committed to not spending on things I didn't need. 

I went to Aldi to get grapes, their grapes are always seeet and a lot less. Any way I  was heading to Walmart to pick up a few other grocery items when I decided to purchase the bacon from Aldi. It was $3 less than what I would have paid at Walmart and $4 less than Publix. I hope it's good. 

Headed to Walmart and picked only what I needed. 

Cheers to another day of not spending. 

Exciting news! My student loan payment has finally posted, and guess what? My new balance is a thrilling $31,441! 🎉 

Since my payment on 9/29, the interest accrued is  $17.75, which means my loan is now accumulating under $6 a day in interest. 💰 

There's more good news! I received an unexpected check for $200. I immediately put $100 towards my student loan, $25 into my emergency fund, treated myself to $20, and the rest went towards paying down my credit card debt. 

Next Friday is payday and I’m trying to see how I can trim the budget to get $300 to pay towards my student loan. 

It feels fantastic to make progress on my financial goals! 💪🏾💸

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