Welcome to my January 2021 financial progress report, the first of the year!

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

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $45,557.03

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

Updates for This Month

January has been a whirlwind of a month for me. Just check out this post where I completely thought-dump all my concerns, fears, and insecurities about my financial and personal life.

Some updates since then:

On one bright side, I’ve finally spoken up and successfully been flexed off one of my projects at work to be able to continue with my main project. This is great as I won’t have to be in so many meetings throughout the day.

I think just the lack of alone time at work (I was in literal back to back meetings at every hour for 8 hours/day straight last week) was making me tired and I’m sure it showed in my work. It’s great to feel like I can finally breathe again. Zoom fatigue is so real!

I’ve also taken a deep dive and have gained some clarity in the home buying process. I am now more sure of what I want in a home so that has been a nice turnaround from my last update.

Plans are open to change, but I’m about 70% sure that I will move out of my current neighborhood into a newly developed area a little bit outside of the city.

It’s the option that gives me the best of both worlds. I will get to enjoy a newly built home and be the first occupant while at the same time keeping costs on the lower side (still a bit above what I had initially planned to spend) by moving a bit out of the city.

Of course I am highly banking on being able to continue working from home or at least have a hybrid office/WFH schedule once this pandemic is over.

As of now, I don’t see any reason why the work I do can’t be done from home as it has been since I started so I hope that my company will see it the same way.

Student Debt

I’m continuing to focus all my income on down-payment savings so I am still only making the $880.77 minimum payments to my private student loan. I’m also continuing to take advantage of the COVID-19 forbearance on my federal loans so I have not made any payments there since March of 2020.

January Budget

Fixed Spending

Nothing much here, just the usual expenses. I currently 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

Gas – Definitely still reaping the benefits of work from home on lowering my gas budget. I did drive a bit more to go to my side job and running trail on the weekends hence the gas spending.

Entertainment/dining out – Celebrated friends’ birthdays with increased dining out spending.

Groceries – Under budget. Just bought the usual necessities.

Shopping – Only splurged on Lush soaps this month.

Miscellaneous

Gift – Gave my mom a belated Christmas present on something she really wanted. It’s quite pricey but worth it. This is the culprit making me over-budget this month.

Pharmacy License Renewal – I was due for my license renewal which came with a hefty price. My company should reimburse the cost once I receive my new license.

Savings

I’m holding off on making Roth IRA contributions while I focus on increasing my down payment savings. In addition to the $1,000/month that automatically goes to my savings account from my paycheck, I am saving up everything else in my checking account.

Goals for Next Month

I’m hoping more than any financial progress, that I’ll have some more clarity next month in solidifying my home-buying goal and what area/home I’d like to purchase.

So far I’ve gotten a pre-approval so who knows, if things keep moving fast, I may just have something next month.