I can’t believe we’re already halfway through 2021! Unlike last month when I thought May flew by like a blur, June felt long. I felt like I did a lot this month which surprised me that with the exception of some miscellaneous spending, I’ve pretty much stayed on budget for most of my regular expenses. That breakdown along with a disappointing net worth update will be coming up later in the post.

Home Update

Last month, I broke the news that I am currently under contract on a new home that is still in construction. Well, this month I finalized the customization I wanted in the home including the floor, cabinets, and countertops. While I had a lot of fun imagining my dream home at first, the process definitely stressed out this wishy-washy gal when it comes to making decisions.

I will definitely do a thorough reflection on the home buying process, especially on buying a new construction home in the future, but as a preview to that, I will mention how taken aback I was by how much money I had to spend on basic customizations to the home on top of what I’m already going to pay for the home itself.

Student Debt

Not much progress in paying down my student loans especially as I’m expecting my mortgage interest rate to be higher than my student loans so I’m not in any rush to pay it off. I’m just continuing my minimum payment of $880.77 to my private 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.

Student debt paid this month: $880.77

Student debt remaining: $41,516.42

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

June Budget

Fixed Spending

As noted since February, my parents and I agreed that I would postpone any monthly payments to them while I am in the midst of the home-buying process. I will instead continue to save up and resume payments once the home-buying process is complete.

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

Variable Spending

Gas – Ugh gas is so expensive! I’m still working from home but with gas prices creeping up, I can’t imagine how it’ll be when I have to go back to office. At least my new workplace will be a closer commute than my prior job. I’m sure I’d be spending about 4x that amount had I still commuted to my old job.

Entertainment/dining out – Right on budget!

Groceries – Minimal grocery spending as I dined out quite a bit.

Shopping – Minimal shopping this month. Just some personal care items.

Miscellaneous

I definitely took a hit in miscellaneous spending this month. My 6-month car insurance premium was due in June. Since my parents take care of utility bills, I take care of their car insurance along with mine hence the pricey premium.

I did a two-month trial of the paid version of Strava and I love it so much. Seeing in-depth data on my running keeps me motivated so I figured if $60 for a yearlong subscription is what it takes to keep me running then it’s worth it.

I also gave gifts for some close friends’ wedding and birthdays which really adds up.

Savings

I’m still automatically allocating $1,000 to my savings account each paycheck. I also restarted my Roth IRA contribution this month. I plan to go aggressive and contribute $2,000/month for the next two months to max out $6,000 by the end of August.

Not seen on my budget is me trying to play catch up on contributing to my pre-tax 401k. I’m on par to max it by the end of the year but I definitely feel the hit on my take-home pay.

June 2021 Net Worth

Since it is mid-year, I figured it would be the perfect time to do a check-in with a net worth update.

Yup you saw it right, a measly $10k gain in 6 months. And a butchered 6-month graph from Personal Capital.

A couple things happened. One, with me moving money between my bank accounts in order to get ready for my home purchase, things got glitchy on Personal Capital hence that crazy (wishful) spike in January.

Two, for the longest time, I stupidly didn’t realize that Personal Capital would allow me to input manual entries. Since my personal loan to my parents is just between us and not under any institution, I thought there’d be no way to account for it on Personal Capital.

While playing around with Personal Capital, I realized I could just add a manual entry with the loan amount into the liability category. This ended up reducing my net worth and dropped me down to barely $100k net worth by the end of January.

Last but not least, my deposit (different from the down payment) for the home wiped out another ~$10k off my net worth.

December 2020 Net Worth: $127,163

June 2021 Net Worth: $137,927

Year-to-Date Change: +$10,764

The last time I reviewed my net worth was in December of 2020 at my 2020 Year in Review in which I increased my net worth by $100k in a 1 year span.

My goal for 2021 was to again increase my net worth by $100k which goes without saying, I am NOT on track for. I’m currently only 1/10 of the way to that goal.

I’m hoping the next few months will bring some respite from the money bleed I’m currently suffering. That is, until I hemorrhage out my down payment when I close on the home at the end of 2021. 

Goals for Next Month

I have a lot of goals in mind that unfortunately aren’t going to all happen. On one hand, I really want to save up more aggressively and at least hit my soft goal of getting to $200k net worth by the end of the year even if it’s not a complete $100k increase in net worth.

Yet, I have been on a travel drought (as I’m sure we all have) and I am just itching to start traveling even if it cannot be my dream international travel but at least domestically. Of course, this doesn’t exactly fare well with my first goal of saving up since travel does cost more money than staying put (at least in my experience).

I’m likely to prioritize traveling over hitting some arbitrary $200k net worth by the end of the year. So I’ll be focusing on making some travel plans since everyone around me seems to say they want to travel yet make no attempts at all at making an actual plan.