Six More Months ’till 30

Today marks exactly six months until I turn the big 3-0.

Surprisingly, I’m not TOO freaked out about the notion of only having six months left of my twenties. My husband and most of my friends are already in their thirties, so to be honest, I kind of feel left out!

Another reason why I’m not too sad about leaving my twenties is because I feel like I’ve accomplished the majority of things I wanted to do during this time: I graduated from college, I lived in another country for a year, I traveled a lot (both locally and internationally), I got married, and I even ran a half marathon. My twenties weren’t perfect; there were some low points in there and some things I would change. But for the most part, I’m happy with how I spent the majority of my twenties and everything I accomplished in this time.

My twenties aren’t over yet, though. I have six more months to accomplish a few more big goals of mine. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably already have a good idea of what these goals are, buuuuut let’s recap anyway:

Get a Big Kid Job

I’ve been looking for a Big Kid Job (full-time, salaried job with benefits) since I moved home from South Korea in March of 2012, but it’s been a lot harder than one would think. Not only is the job market extremely competitive right now thanks to the economy, but I changed my career path from teaching to non-profit work, so I had to start over from scratch when it came to gaining relevent work experience. Thanks to all the volunteer, intern, and temp work I’ve been doing for the last 2 1/2 years, I have a lot more non-profit experience now, but I have yet to find a Big Kid Job in the non-profit sector. I just had a phone interview for a non-profit BKJ yesterday, so hopefully I get an in-person interview, and then the job itself. It would be amazing to go from working two part-time jobs to one full-time job and FINALLY start my career.

Improve My Finances

At the beginning of 2014, I was unemployed with over $27,000 in debt and no money in my savings. I’m happy to say that, a year later, my financial situation is in better shape, but it’s still a work in progress: I still have debt to payoff and more money to save. I’d like to have all of my credit cards paid off and $3,000 in my savings account by the time I turn 30, which may or may not be doable depending on how disciplined I am with my spending in the next 6 months. (My spending habit is also a work in progress.)

Get In Shape

I’m about 20 pounds overweight, and I have been for the last 2-3 years. I have STRUGGLED to get back down to my normal, healthy weight on and off again since I gained the weight in the first place, but no matter how much I exercise and how much weight I lose, I always gain it back thanks to my less-than-stellar eating habits. However, I’ve recently gained new motivation for getting in shape: Chris and I decided we are going to “start trying” this time next year. You know, GET PREGNANT. While I’m excited about the idea of me getting pregnant and us starting a family, I’m also terrified of how my body will change during this process A.K.A all the weight I will gain! I can’t imagine already being 20 pounds overweight now, and then gaining another 20-40 pounds from growing a baby in my stomach. I don’t want to imagine it, and I most certainly don’t want this image to become a reality; therefore, I need to start getting serious about losing weight this next year. I know it might sound silly trying to lose weight before getting pregnant, but I don’t care. I need to start this process now before it gets even harder to lose weight post-labor. So bring on the yoga, running, and healthy eating because I have 20 pounds to lose, and I’d like to lose it by the time I turn 30.

I think I may have my work cut out for me. Three big life goals to achieve in 6 months! It won’t be the end of the world if I don’t accomplish these things by then, but it would make entering my thirties exponentially better if I do. I think the fact that Chris and I want to start trying in a year will really help me focus on these goals. We’ve always known we want to start a family someday, but now that we have a specific time frame in mind, I’m realizing I need to kick my ass into gear when it comes to starting my career, improving my finances, and getting healthy. My future depends on it!

What are some goals you want to accomplish before you turn 30? What was one of the biggest accomplishments of your twenties?

Debt Repayment Update: May

May. Let’s talk about May.

May was supposed to be the month I finally pay off my Visa credit card. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit this debt milestone.

I didn’t accomplish my financial goals this month, not because I didn’t make enough money. (I made more this month than any other month in the last year.) I didn’t accomplish my goals for a few other reasons:

• It’s true what they say: when you make more money, you spend more money – Thanks to my second job, I’m making about $1,000 more a month. Because I’ve had more income coming in, I’ve been spending more on eating out, shopping, etc. Throughout the month, I justified my spending habits by telling myself…
• “I deserve this!” – When you work two jobs and are racking in 50 hour work weeks, it’s easy to get in the habit of wanting to “reward yourself” because of all your hard work. There were many times throughout the month when I’d spend money on eating out or shopping, and I told myself it was OK because I was working so hard. As it turns out, having this mentality is a reason why people are horrible at saving money.
• I abused the “treat yo self” excuse – May was my birthday month, so I used that as another excuse to spend money on shopping and eating out. While I truly believe I should be able to treat myself once in a while, I realized that there is a such thing as over-treating to the point where financial goals end up getting neglected.
• Debt fatigue is a real thing –  At the start of the year, I was super gung-ho about tackling my debt goals. Five months later and I could start to feel myself loosing steam. Because I had lost some of my enthusiasm for paying off my debt, I lost sight of my financial goals, and therefore, got a little spend-crazy.

With all that being said, here’s how I did on my financial goals for May:

1. Spend $100 max on eating out – FAIL. I went over my budget again. I didn’t spend as much on eating out as I did in April, but I still went over my $100 budget.
2. Replenish my savings – FAIL. While I did put a good chunk of money into my savings this month due to depositing 10% of each paycheck, I failed to replace the $500 I took out a few months ago in addition to my normal savings goal.
3. Pay off my Visa – FAIL. By the time the end of the month came around, I only had $300 extra to put toward my Visa card. If I really wanted to, I could take money out of my savings and put it toward my Visa in order to pay it off, but I don’t want to get in the habit of doing that whenever I come up short at the end of the month. I’m the one who messed up and spent the money I was supposed to use to pay off my Visa– my savings account shouldn’t suffer just because I want to feel the satisfaction of paying off my card.

Here’s my debt total as of May 1st:

• Visa Balance: $523.96 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,456.67 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $10,756.45 (Starting Balance: $13,750)
• Auto Loan: $10,890.37 (Starting Balance: $13,780)

Debt Total: $24,627.45

In May, I made my minimum payments and put $300 toward my Visa credit card which brings me down to:

• Visa Balance: $223.96 (Payment: $300)
• Mastercard: $2,429.13 (Payment: $78 )
• Student Loans: $10,659.74 (Payment: $150.20)
• Auto Loan: $10,673.18 (Payment: $263.47)

Total Paid in May: $791.67

Current Debt Total: $23,986.01

Here are my financial goals for June:

1. Pay off my Visa credit card once and for all – I only have a little over $200 left on the card. I can do it!
2. Put $300 toward my Master Card. This credit card is charging me an arm and a leg for interest every month. It’s time I start paying it down!
3. Set $100 budgets for spending money and for eating out, and stick to them- I’m embarrassed to say how much I spent on treating myself last month. Since June is going to be another expensive month, I really need to cut down on my spending.
4. Remember why I made this goal in the first place, and gain motivation to start hardcore paying off my debt again – Debt fatigue got the best of me this month. In order to find inspiration, I’ll go through the archives of my favorite PF blogs or read A Story of Debt again. Another good motivator is that I’m 29 now, which means I have exactly one year to accomplish my goal of paying off my consumer/student loan debt!

Every month, I’m learning more and more about the process of seriously paying off debt. One thing I learned this month is that the debt repayment process is more mentally challenging than I thought it would be. Not only have I faced financial challenges, like the months when extra bills pop up, but now I’m facing mental challenges, like when I convince myself that I “deserve” something or I should “treat myself”, despite the fact that I have debt to payoff. Something else I’ve learned is that it’s hard to pay off debt and save money at the same time. There are times when I look at the money in my savings and think, “I could totally use that to pay off some of my debt.” But I need to remember that saving money is equally as important as paying off my debt, and I should treat it as such.

June is going to be tough. Business at my restaurant job is slowing down, so my income from that job will probably decline a bit these next few weeks. I’m getting my wisdom teeth pulled this month, so that’s an extra $350 I need to budget for. Chris and I need to buy our plane tickets to New York soon, so I need to set aside money for that. June will be challenging financially, but I’m confident that if I seriously cut back on my spending, I can make it work.

How’s your debt repayment going? Do you have any financial goals for June?

Check out my past debt repayment updates: January / February / March / April

Working On My Life List

Four years ago, around the time I graduated college, I wrote myself a Life List: a list full of places I want to see and things I want to do before I die. I was pretty proactive about crossing things off my list shortly after I wrote it and for a couple years after, but once I moved home from South Korea in March 2012? I stopped focusing on my Life List. Instead, I started focusing on my career and my finances. You know, adult stuff. In fact, I’ve lost focus on my Life List so much to the point where I recently realized I only crossed off one thing on my list in 2013: my trip to Vegas.

Well, now that I’m very employed and making a decent income, I want to start focusing on crossing things off my Life List again. I’ve already updated it, now I want to choose a handful of things on my list to complete. Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish during the rest of 2014 while simultaneously working on my career and finances:

Run a half-marathon. Ever since I ran my first 10K, I’ve been thinking more and more about signing up for a half-marathon. Running a half-marathon is something I’ve been wanting to do for the last couple years. It’s also something I know I can do since I enjoy running– I just need to sign up for one, train, and do it! I want to run a half-marathon this year because I’ll be 29 soon, and I think this would be something really cool to do during my last year of my twenties.

Visit Yosemite National Park in California. Can you believe I’ve lived in Northern California basically my whole life and have never been to Yosemite? I’m hoping to remedy this over the summer by planning a weekend visit.

Visit New York again as an adult/Visit Washington DC so I can tour the White House and see America’s Monuments. I’ve never been to DC, but I want to go. I’ve been to New York, but as a poor college student, so I’d love to go back. Lucky for me, Chris wants to go to New York, too, so we’re currently planning a trip there for our belated honeymoon in September. I even convinced him that we need to go to DC for a couple days since we’ll be on the East Coast anyways and who knows when we’ll be there again?

Do you have a Life List/bucket list? Have you crossed anything off your Life List/bucket list recently?

Debt Repayment Update: April

April was a decent month for debt repayment despite the fact I had to pay my taxes ($417). What really helped me out was getting a side hustle halfway through the month.

Here’s how I did on my financial goals for April:

1. Open up a 401K through my work – PASS. It feels so good to FINALLY have some sort or retirement account set up and know that I’m saving for my future!
2. Check my credit score – PASS. I checked my score and found out that it’s gone up 13 points since the beginning of the year! My score is now in the mid-600’s.
3. Put a minimum of $600 toward my Visa credit card – PASS. My Visa is now 3/4 paid off!
4. Continue to put 10% of my paychecks into my savings account AND replace the money I took out of my savings – FAIL. No progress made.
5. Get a side hustle – PASS. I got a part-time job at a non-profit and I started mid-April!

Here’s my debt total as of April 1st:

• Visa Balance: $1,113.28 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,458.47 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $10,857.54 (Starting Balance: $13,750)
• Auto Loan: $11,094.90 (Starting Balance: $13,780)

Debt Total: $25,524.19

In April, I made all of my minimum payments and put $600 toward my Visa credit card which brings me down to:

• Visa Balance: $523.96 (Payment: $600)
• Mastercard: $2,456.67 (Payment: $73)
• Student Loans: $10,756.45 (Payment: $150.20)
• Auto Loan: $10,890.37 (Payment: $263.47)

Total Paid in April: $1,087

Current Debt Total: $24,627.45

Here are my financial goals for May:

1. Spend $100 max on eating out. I spent a little over $300 on eating out in April. That’s WAY too much! I could have put some of that money in my savings! In May, I need to calm down when it comes to eating out.
2. Replenish my savings. In March, I took a big chunk of money out of my savings to help pay off my debt. I still plan to replenish this chunk of money ASAP.
3. Pay off my Visa. I only have about $500 to go! I’m determined to pay off this credit card once and for all!

I feel like I’m starting to hit some debt milestones! My Visa credit card is almost paid off. My auto loan is down to around $10,000. My debt total is now under $25,000. The numbers are shrinking and it’s awesome to see that progress. As for May, I’m optimistic. I finally have a second job which is going to bring in about $1,000 extra a month. May is going to be a busy month at the restaurant I work at. I don’t have any big expenses in May like I did in March and April. I think these three factors are going to help me pay off my Visa this month and replenish my savings simultaneously. Let’s do this, May!

How’s your debt repayment going? Do you have any financial goals for May?

Check out my past debt repayment updates: January / February / March

My 2014 Debt Goal REVISED

A couple weeks ago, I read this post by Girl Meets Debt on how goals aren’t etched in stone. She talks about how every few months, we should revisit goals we’ve made for ourselves and recommit to them. This is especially good to do for the big, ambitious goals we made on January 1st to make sure we’re still on track to reach those goals. If not, we might want to revise said goals so that they’re more attainable.

I’ve been thinking about this notion a lot in regards to my goal for 2014: start getting myself out of debt. I’ve been thinking a lot about that goal lately and realized that paying off my $25,000 in debt by May 2015 is becoming less and less realistic due to financial obstacles that have gotten in the way of my progress (starting the year off unemployed, unexpected expenses, etc.). I’ve been really hard on myself when it comes to achieving this goal, and it can even be a little stressful at times. That’s why I’ve decided to revise my debt goal today in order to make accomplishing it more feasible.

When I set my goal on January 1st, I had $27,424 in debt that consisted of two credit cards, student loans, and an auto loan. My goal was to get this all paid off by the time I turn 30 in May 2015.

My new goal: pay off my credit cards and student loans by the time I turn 30 in May 2015. That’s $14,500 in 13 months. MUCH MORE DOABLE!

I’m really excited about my new debt goal. I feel like this will keep me on track to getting most of my debt paid off by the time I turn 30, yet still give me some financial freedom to put money toward other things in life, like…

• saving for my and Chris’ belated honeymoon that we’re hoping to take in August.
• saving so we can move into a house in November when our lease for our apartment is up (not buy, but rent)
• getting a dog after moving into our house
• getting my wisdom teeth taken out
• building up my emergency fund and 401K

So no more being hard on myself and stressing out over an unattainable goal! I’ve officially revisited and revised my 2014 debt goal; now I have a new debt goal in mind that I feel really good about and am even more motivated to accomplish.

Have you revisted and revised your 2014 goals yet?

Debt Repayment Update: March

Like I predicted, March was a really hard month for debt repayment.

It was hard for a number of reasons:

1. I quit my side hustle at the end of February and haven’t found a new one yet.
2. Business has slowed down at my current restaurant job thanks to tax season, spring break, and Lent.
3. March was EXPENSIVE. In addition to my usual monthly bills, I had to pay my car registration and a dental bill. There were also lots of celebrations in March: my best friend’s bachelorette party and wedding, another friend’s wedding (we couldn’t attend but we still sent the bride and groom a gift), my father-in-law’s 60th birthday, and a 1st birthday party for my cousin’s kid.

Before I go into how much debt I was able to pay this month, I’ll talk about my financial goals for March, first:

1. File my tax return and put whatever I get back toward my debt – PASS-ish. I filed my return and it turns out I OWE money. This is another reason why debt repayment was hard this month.
2. Go on a spending freeze. FAIL. While I didn’t spend nearly as much on treating myself as I did in February, I still bought a few things for myself in March (e.g. shoes, a Kindle book, new toiletry bag, etc.)
3. Put a minimum of $500 toward my Visa – PASS-ish. I was able to put $400 toward my Visa credit card this month ONLY BECAUSE I used the money in my savings account to do so. More on this later…
4. Put at least $200 into my savings – PASS. I was able to put exactly $200 in my savings this month. However, that money ended up going to my Visa card…
5. Look into another side hustle – PASS. Early in the month I decided that I do, in fact, need to work two jobs in order to expedite my debt payoff process. I’ve had an interview for a potential second job that I’m still waiting to hear back from and I’ve been searching for second jobs in my free time.

Now onto the numbers. Here’s my debt total as of March 1st:

• Visa Balance: $1,500.77 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,490.89 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $10,954.97 (Starting Balance: $13,750)
• Auto Loan: $11,310.30 (Starting Balance: $13,780)

Debt Total: $26,256.93

In March, I made all my minimum payments AND put $400 toward my Visa credit card which brings me down to:

• Visa Balance: $1,113.28 (Payment: $400)
• Mastercard: $2,458.47 (Payment: $80)
• Student Loans: $10,857.54 (Payment: $150.20)
• Auto Loan: $11,094.90 (Payment: $263.47)

Total Paid in March: $894

Current Debt Total: $25,524.19

Like I mentioned earlier, March was a tight month, so I ended up using money from my emergency fund to pay off a good chunk of my Visa credit card. This was a hard decision for me to make because I know the importance of having an emergency fund, but I decided to go with using that money for paying down my debt anyway. The compromise that I made with myself was that I would use the money from my EF to help pay down my Visa this month, but I have to replace the money I took out of my EF in April, which means I really need to get better about pinching my pennies!

Here are my financial goals for April:

1. Open up a 401K through my work. It’s rare for a restaurant to offer a 401K option for their part-time employees, so I’m stoked that my job offers this for all their employees, whether they’re part-time or full-time. I fully plan to start taking advantage of their 401K option because I should have started saving for retirement like yesterday.
2. Check my credit score. I’m trying to get in the habit of checking my credit score every three months. Now that we’re almost in April, it’s about that time. Last time I checked back in January, I was in the low 600’s, so hopefully it’s gone up a little!
3. Put a minimum of $600 toward my Visa credit card. Since I only put $400 toward my Visa card in March, I want to put $600 toward my card in April to make up for that last $100.
4. Continue to put 10% of my paychecks into my savings account AND replace the money I took out of my savings. I put a huge dent in my emergency fund in March, so building it back up in April is going to be a priority for me.
5. Get a side hustle. This needs to happen if I want to expedite my debt repayment process and reach my goal of being debt-free by May 2015!

Again, March was a tough month for debt repayment, but I’m glad I was still able to make some progress. I started this year out with $27,424 in debt, and now I’m down to $25,524. Debt repayment is a slow and steady process, but I’m learning a lot from it, like how paying off debt is a two-steps-forward-one-step-back process. I’m going to have good months, and I’m going to have months where extra expenses pop up and I’ll have to dip into my EF. But all that matters is that I stay focused and keep taking steps forward.

How’s your debt repayment going? Do you have any financial goals for April?

Check out my past debt repayment updates: January / February

Debt Repayment Update: February

February was a pretty good month for me. Let’s just say that paying off debt is MUCH easier when you have a job!

First, I’ll start with the progress I made on my financial goals for February:

1. Put $500 toward my debt in addition to the minimum payments I’m already making. PASS-ish. I put $440 extra toward my debt this month.
2. Put at least $200 in my emergency fund. PASS. I was actually able to put $290 away in my savings this month. Ten percent of a paycheck can really add up!
3. Get my Mastercard balance under the credit limit. PASS. It feels so good to have my balance be UNDER the credit limit. That particular credit card was out of control for a while and I’m glad it’s not anymore.
4. Find a second job. PASS-ish. I got a side hustle but then quit. My last day at that job is today.

In addition to all of the above, I was also able to pay Chris back some of the money I owe him from when he bought our new sectional and coffee table at IKEA in January. Total I owed him $750; I paid him back $290 of that in February.

Now for the actual debt. Here is my debt total as of February 1st:

• Visa Balance: $1,964.66 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,517.54 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $11,056.85 (Starting Balance: $13,750)
• Auto Loan: $11,474.64 (Starting Balance: $13,780)

Debt Total: $27,013.69

In February, I made all my minimum payments AND put $440 extra toward my Visa credit card which brings me down to:

• Visa Balance: $1,500.77 (Payment: $480)
• Mastercard: $2,490.89 (Payment: $80)
• Student Loans: $10,954.97 (Payment: $150.20)
• Auto Loan: $11,310.30 (Payment: $263.47)

Total Paid in February: $973.67

Debt Total: $26,256.93

I did pretty good with debt repayment in February, but the truth is, I could have done better. Instead, I treated myself with some shopping and treated Chris/family/friends when going out to eat. You see, it’s been a long time since I could really do that. Last May, I started working a contracted job that paid very little (we’re talkin’ college student salary). Then once the job ended in November, I was unemployed for two and a half months. During this depressing time of not having much income, I made a list of things I needed or wanted to buy for when I had a good paying job. Well, needless to say, now that I have a good paying job again, I crossed a lot of those items off my list in February! Some things I bought for myself in this month:

• Black flats because my old ones were falling apart
• New bras to replace a couple old, ratty, worn ones
• Workout/lounge clothes
• A blender and a microwave for our kitchen
• I’m getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow because I haven’t gotten it done since October (only because Chris paid for it)

I know it’s a lot of semi-unneccessary expenses, but these are things I’ve been dying to buy for the last six months or longer. Plus, it had been a long time since I treated myself, so I just needed to get some shopping/impulse purchases out of my system!

As for March, it’s going to be a tough month for debt repayment due to additional necessary expenses. I have to pay my car registration which is $179. Also, I have a bachelorette party weekend and a wedding weekend in March which are both going to add up quickly due to gifts, gas, hotel, food, etc. Even though money is going to be tight in March, I’m still hoping to make the same progress I made in February, if not better. Here are my financial goals for March:

1. File my tax return and put whatever I get back toward my debt. Fingers crossed I get a lot of $$$ back!
2. Go on a spending freeze. I bought a lot of stuff for myself in February. Now that I’ve gotten the urge to splurge out of my system, I think I should lay off the unnecessary spending in March.
3. Put a minimum of $500 toward my Visa. I would love to put $1000 toward that particular credit card this month, it just depends on the car registration/wedding expenses and how much I get back from my tax return.
4. Put at least $200 into my savings. I’m going to continue putting 10% of my paychecks into my savings account.
5. Look into another side hustle. I’m not sure what I want to do for another side hustle,  or if I even want a second job again. February was exhausting to be honest, and I didn’t have a lot of time left for much else between working two jobs. I think if I get a second job, I’ll try to get one where I’m not on my feet and running around throughout my shift, because that’s what I do during my main job at night.

I’m happy with the progress I made this month: one of my credit cards is no longer maxed out, I have some money in savings, and I got to treat myself! I can’t wait to make even better progress in March.

How’s your debt repayment going? Do you have any financial goals for March?

Check out my past debt repayment updates: January

Debt Repayment Update: January

Since January is almost over (Where did this month go?!), today I’m going to share the progress I’ve made so far with paying off my debt. I haven’t made a ton of progress so far since I didn’t start working until mid January and I’m still waiting to get my first paycheck (This Friday!). But I want to get in the habit of tracking my monthly progress, and that all starts with January.

Here’s my total starting debt as of January 1st:

• Visa Balance: $1,984.30 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,541.56 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $11,160.08 (Starting Balance: $14,000)
• Auto Loan: $11,738.11 (Starting Balance: $13,780.65)

Grand Total: $27,424.05

In January, I made all of my minimum payments, which has brought me down to:

• Visa Balance: $1,964.66 (Payment: $44)
• Mastercard: $2,517.54 (Payment: $78)
• Student Loans: $11,056.85 (Payment: $150.20)
• Auto Loan: $11,474.64 (Payment: $263.47)

Total Paid in January: $535.67

Debt Total: $27,013.69

Ugh! As you can see, my interest charges are not helping my debt get any lower. Thank goodness I have a job now so I can start paying more than the minimum payments. Here are my financial goals for February:

1. Put $500 toward my debt in addition to the minimum payments I’m already making. I plan to put this $500 toward my Visa credit card since I’m using the snowball effect to pay off my debt. If I’m able to do this, that means a little over $1,000 toward my debt in one month. Eventually, I want to start putting $1,500 toward my debt a month.
2. Put at least $200 in my emergency fund. I think I’ll be getting around $500 a week at my restaurant job, and I get paid weekly, so that means putting around $50 (10% of my paychecks) in my savings every week.
3. Get my Mastercard balance under the credit limit. It’s $17 over and that’s just sad. I plan to remedy this as soon as I get my first paycheck this Friday.
4. Find a second job! I have an interview today for a second restaurant job, and I’m still waiting to hear back from the temp job I’ve been interviewing for, so I’m hoping that I’ll have a second job by the beginning of February.

Even though I didn’t make a ton of progress in January, I’m still excited about the baby steps I’ve made and my financial goals for February. This is only the beginning of my journey; it’s going to be long, but so worth it by the time I’m done.

How’s your debt repayment going? Do you have any financial goals for February?

2014: The Year I Start Getting Myself Out of Debt

For 2014, I’m setting one goal for myself to focus on and accomplish: start working on getting out of debt. I’ve been mentioning this goal of mine every so often on my blog for the past month. Now that it’s 2014, I’m ready to finally talk about this more in depth.

In December, I wrote a guest post on Girl Meets Debt that goes into detail on how I got into debt in the first place, when I realized I need to get out of debt, and my relationship with money. If you want, you can click on the link and read that first. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

In the guest post, I wrote a little bit about how I plan to get out of debt; however, I want to elaborate more on my plan in this post for my own reference and accountability. Plus I have some good resources I’d like to share with any readers who are also looking to get serious about paying off their debt, too.

First of all, here’s a breakdown of my total debt as it stands today:

• Visa Balance: $1,984.30 (Credit Limit: $2,000)
• Mastercard: $2,541.56 (Credit Limit: $2,500)
• Student Loans: $11,160.08 (Starting Balance: $14,000)
• Auto Loan: $11,738.11 (Starting Balance: $13,780.65)

Grand Total: $27,424.05

My goal is to seriously start working on paying off all of my debt starting today and have all or most of it paid off by the time I turn 30 in May 2015. I’d love to have all of my debt paid off by that age because it’s the age when Chris and I want to consider starting a family. Ideally, we will have no debt by the time we have our first kid, so in order to make that happen, I need to start paying off my debt like yesterday! Here’s how I’m going to do it:

1. Get a job. Then get a side hustle. Now that the holidays are over, I’m hoping that the pace of my job search will pick up and I’ll have at least one job by the end of the month. As for the side hustle, I know it sounds like a lot to work two jobs; however, I’ve been reading a lot lately how twenty-somethings are so broke and desperate to pay off their debts (myself included), getting a side hustle is becoming more and more common. And why not work two jobs? I’m not in school anymore, so I definitely have a lot of time on my hands to work a lot. Yeah, working a lot means I’m not going to have a lot of time for my friends and family soon, but I’m not going to work two jobs forever– just until my debt is paid off.
2. Throw $1,000-$1,500 at my debt every month. If I want to reach my goal of getting $27,424 paid off in a year and a half, I’m going to have to throw AT LEAST $1000 at my debt each month. Ideally, I’ll be paying $1,500 minimum each month. It really all depends on how much I’ll be working and making at my two jobs.
3. Use Dave Ramsey’s Snowball Effect: pay off the the smallest debt first, then work my way up. This is a great way to gain momentum and make progress the fastest. For example, it will take the least amount of time to pay off my Visa card first. Once that’s paid off, I’ll already have a small victory. This will encourage me to keep going and move onto the next biggest debt, which is my Mastercard. That card should also be paid off in no time; once it’s paid off, I’ll be down $4,500 already and two of my debts will be completely paid off. Boom!
4. Save 10% of my paycheck. Even though paying off my debt will be my number one priority for the next year and a half, I still want to work on building a $10,000 emergency fund. This will take awhile since I won’t be putting much into my savings at first, but once my debt is paid off, I’ll be able to increase the percentage to 20% of every paycheck, or maybe even more!
5. Budget, budget, budget. This is why I’ve always been so bad with managing my money: because I never knew how to create and stick to a budget. I’m already pretty good about recording what I spend; now I just need to get in the habit of setting a spending limit for myself and, you know, not going over that limit.
6. Save money in any way possible. I’m going to become quite the penny pincher this next year. I’ve gotten in a good habit of eating at home most of the time and only going to Starbucks once a week. (I used to buy lattes everyday. So expensive!) Now I’m working on using coupons and paying attention to sales if I really need to buy something. I’ve even created a change jar so I can literally save my pennies.

So, that’s how I’m going to get started on this ambitious resolution of mine. While I don’t plan to turn into a personal finance blogger, I will be posting updates on my debt repayment progress every month, so stay tuned for those if you’re interested. Finally, here are links to some of my favorite personal finance blogs and inspirations:

• Broke Millennial
• Girl Meets Debt
• Red Debted Stepchild
• Ashley wrote an e-book on how she paid off her debt in a little over a year by working two jobs while going to grad school and buying almost nothing during that time. Such an inspiration. She’s also a great writer, so check out her book!

What’s your goal for 2014? Do you have any personal finance advice to share?

August Highlights and September Intentions

August Highlights

• Participating in The Color Run with my family and friends. This was my first Color Run ever and my first 5K of the year, so it really got me motivated to do more fun runs/5ks throughout the rest of 2013 and eventually run a 10K. It turns out there is a zombie 5K happening in Sacramento during Halloween weekends, so I just might sign up for that!
• Deciding to go to Las Vegas for Chris’ 30th birthday. We’ve booked our flights and hotel, now I just need to finalize our weekend itinerary. Chris told me he wants to be surprised when it comes to where we stay and what we do in Vegas, so I’ve been having fun researching and brainstorming fun stuff for us to do while we’re there. Any tips on things to see, places to eat, and activities to do?
• Officially signing up for Tough Mudder! There’s no turning back now, I’m registered and paid. On Sunday, September 29th, I’m going to crawl through mud, run through fire, and swim through an ice bath. WISH ME LUCK.
• Going on some fun date nights with Chris: Indian food, sushi, movies, ice cream, etc. The only problem now is we’re broke!
• Attending the “Gatsbyesque” party during Midtown Cocktail Week. It was so fun to dress up in costume, drink some gin, and basically feel like we traveled back in time for the night.

September Intentions

• Save every dollar I earn for Vegas.
• Read two books and blog at least two times a week.
• Lose 10 pounds of fat and gain upper body strength.
• Focus daily on job searching: work on my resume and LinkedIn profile, update my references, practice my cover letter writing, join a new professional organization, volunteer with a new non-profit, practice my Microsoft Office skills, attend networking events, etc. The clock is ticking on how long I have at my current job (two months), so I need to spend most of my free time making sure I have a new job lined up by the beginning of November.

What did you love in August? What are your plans for September?