Welcome to my September 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: $2,633.65

Debt remaining: $67,469.81

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

September marks the start of the final quarter of 2019 (quarter 3 net worth update at the end of this post) and I want to end the year strong. I’ve been aggressively contributing to my company 401k in hopes of maxing out the $19,000 limit for 2019. And so far I’m on track.

My company matches a (small) percentage of my contribution each paycheck so I don’t want to max out my 401k too soon. If I max out too soon that means I won’t be able to take full advantage of the matching since they’ll stop matching when I can no longer contribute.

So what does this all have to do with my loans? It has everything to do with it! Since I’m contributing less to my 401k starting this month, I have a larger take-home pay to use on my student loans.

Checking out my debt statement for September, I was able to up my $2000 contribution to $2,500 + minimum payments.

That extra $500 came from extra take-home pay that wasn’t going into my 401k since I’m reducing my 401k to a bare minimum only to meet company match for the rest of the year.

I’ve set a new goal: $2,500 + minimum payments will be the standard of loan repayment going forward until the end of 2019.

September 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

So much for the landmark occasion last month of going under budget. This month, your girl is back to overspending. 

I went on an amazing getaway over Labor Day weekend with some friends but of course it came with some travel spending. The $177 on this budget was actually only the leftover expenses. The majority had already been charged and paid for in July when we made most of the advanced bookings.

Unfortunately, the spending didn’t stop when I got back home. I’ve been getting weekends off from work this month which was a double-edged sword.

On one hand I’m constantly complaining about having to work weekends and not being able to enjoy my time with friends and family when they’re off. 

But I have to admit, working weekends really does curb my spending as I mentioned here (#3 on the list) on how I used to be able to curb my spending.

My friends and family love going out to eat (and let’s face it, I love it too) as part of our hang out activity. 

So more free time on weekend = more hang out time = more eating out. That equation explains my constant over-budget restaurant category.

Miscellaneous

I renewed my healthcare provider insurance which comes out to $111 for the year which to me is a great deal for the peace of mind I’m getting.

It’s hard to believe how time is flying (yet at the same time going so slow?). In a blink of an eye I’ve graduated pharmacy school over 2 years ago (but have yet to pay off my student loans). 

Will I make it in paying it off in 3 years as I originally dreamed? Likely not, but with a lot of tenacity and definitely lower spending, I may just make it by the end of 2020.

Savings

My goal till the end of the year is to contribute $1,000/paycheck to my high-yield savings account. It’s about time I stop living in anxiety and actually build up a fully funded emergency fund.

Check mark for this month, I contributed $2,000 total in September to my savings account.

Goals for Next Month

My goal for September was to put down $2,000 to my student loan payment and $2,000 to my savings account which I exceeded. I put down $500 extra to my student loans.

I have ~$13k left on the loan I’m currently focusing on (highlighted in yellow) which the realist in me know won’t be paid off by the end of the year.

But I am definitely optimistic that my student loan balance can get out of the $60k’s mark by the end of the year.

To get into that $59k spot by the end of December, I’ll need to pay off another $8,000 in 3 months, which means I have to pay ~$2,670/month. That is quite a stretch, especially since I’m still keeping my goal of contributing $1000/paycheck to my savings account.

Luckily, October happens to be a 3 paycheck month. So, hopefully I’ll be able to muster up $3,000 in October and go back to $2,500 payments for November and December.

Quarter III Net Worth Update

Last month I was super excited to share my 3rd quarter net worth update. Well folks, I was in for a disappointment.

October 2019 Net Worth: -$6,453.98

…still in negative net worth.

The exciting news I would’ve loved to share was to get into positive net worth by this time. But it wasn’t meant to be. Honestly it was entirely my fault in judgment.

Seeing my net worth last month, I thought I would finally cross over the positive line, but silly me forgot that one of my Personal Capital accounts always glitches and is off by ~$6,000.

But that still doesn’t take away that I’m coming awfully close to that $0 balance! Short of a total market meltdown, I am poised to be in the positive net worth territory by 2020.

In comparison to last quarter:

July 2019 Net Worth: -$25,269

I increased my net worth by $18,815 in the past 3 months. This was less than my last quarterly increase of $20,713, so not going in the right direction.

This was as expected as I’ve been splurging a lot this last quarter and the stock market didn’t exactly take me on a bull ride.

All set and done, I am definitely looking forward to curbing my spending and hitting that positive net worth territory which I’m hoping I’ll accomplish by end of October!