Welcome to my August 2019 debt progress!

If you are new here, every month, I post the progress I’ve made on paying off my student loans. I’ve done this since I first started paying down my loans in July 2017 and it has been so worth it.

I do this to hold myself accountable and to share my debt progress with others who are also facing debt payments of their own.

Debt paid this month: $2,133.65

Debt remaining: $69,912.50

I house every month’s debt progress from the very beginning here if you want to check out the progress so far.

Debt Updates for This Month

Alright, alright… after spending the entire summer being in the $70k’s debt, I’ve finally made it into the $60k’s mark! Yay!

Before I dive into all the gritty details of my debt progress, let’s go back to a little recap of where I left off last month. At the end of July, I was in a dilemma (to be honest, when am I ever not in a dilemma…). 

I was feeling the angst of still living at home and so hungry for the taste of owning a place that I could call my own. I was alarmed to find that I had very minimal amount in savings which in retrospect was understandable as I had been aggressively paying off my student loans these last 2 years.

I debated between continuing to aggressively pay down my student loans versus aggressively saving for a down payment for a home. Turns out, I like moderation.

True to my nature (and my indecisive self), I’ve decided to split straight down in the middle. So for this month and for the foreseeable future, I’ll be putting down $2,000 + minimum payments to my student loans which comes out to ~$2,134 per month. 

Starting this month, I have also designated a high-yield savings account (I use American Express Personal Savings account) that I plan to contribute $1,000-$2,000/month as my emergency fund and down-payment fund account. 

I’ve got a long way to go before this savings account can reach my target goal of $60,000, but it’s a start. 

So let’s check out my debt statement sheet. Nothing too special, except that I’ve put in just enough to get out of the $70k mark and into the $60k’s! I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel extra accomplished every time I go down these $10k digits.

August Budget

Fixed Spending

Nothing much here, just the usual expenses. I live at home but pay rent to my parents and am also paying back my personal loan to them at $500/month.

Other than that, my cell phone bill and Netflix make up the rest of my fixed spending.

Variable Spending

Another landmark occasion! For the first time since I created my budget, I’m actually under-budget. The only other time I was “under-budget” was when I added $2,000 to my March 2019 budget in anticipation of my overseas travel so that was kind of a cheat. But this time it’s real. No gimmicks, I simply went under-budget!

I processed a return for one of my items from last month so that definitely off-set my shopping costs for August leading me to a net $0 shopping month. 

Other

Nada! No miscellaneous purchases or travel this month!

Savings

I maxed out my Roth IRA last month so from here on out until the end of the year, this heading will now be “Savings”. 

As I mentioned earlier in the post, every month I’ll be contributing between $1,000-$2,000 to my high-yield savings account. This month I was able to put in $1,500.

Goals for Next Month

My goal for September is to continue my plan of putting down $2,000 to my student loan payment and $2,000 to my savings account.

I am definitely still holding hope that my student loan balance can go into the $50k’s by the end of the year which may be a possibility as October will actually be a 3-paycheck month for me.

That’s a wrap for my August 2019 debt progress. Other than that, I will continue on the grind. I am super excited for next month though, as in addition to my September monthly update, I’ll also be doing my 3rd quarter net worth update! And boy do I have some amazing news to share on that!

*Fingers crossed that the news will stay amazing next month*