August 2024 Money Progress Report

What a whirlwind of a month it has been. Especially financially 🙃

Let’s just say… I had no budget for August, and I made it my “cheat month”. Meaning I swiped everything into my credit card since I returned back from my trips. I know, it’s bad, but it was really hard because a girl’s gotta eat and get to places, y’know?

I did pay off my usual amount for my loan and Discover credit card for this month. However, I had some good financial moments and some bad ones.

So I ended up saving up to $3000 to spend while I was in Paris. This was going to be towards food, taxi rides, souvenirs, and anything else I wanted to spend. What I didn’t know was how affordable almost everything was in the EU. By the end of my trip, I basically had an extra $1000 so I put that towards my emergency fund.

But one of the biggest hurdles that I had to overcome this month was my back bumper falling off of my car after years of it being held by duct tape. I finally had it replaced for almost $800.

Not the price that I was expecting, but I’m actually glad that I delayed myself from going to the shop to get it done because it gave me time to save up money in my car maintenance fund. I saved up for my 6-mo insurance, but I also put in extra money just in case for any future oil changes, tires, etc.

I was hoping the replacement would be under $500, but it wasn’t the case. I’m grateful for past Jem for thinking ahead with the car fund since I spent so much on it, so as much as it pains me to see the $800 go, it was saved up for a reason.

Starting in September, I’m going be strict on my budget again and try to recover from all the expenses that I put in my card. I also announced in my recent newsletter that I’m going to take a break from publishing on social media to rest and regroup with everything.

I’m pushing myself to work harder financially and hopefully, the extra money that I’ll be saving for the rest of the year will help me pay down my debt faster.

Q4 Financial goals

Earn an extra $100/mo to pay off debt

I have so many options to do this so easily, but I need to put myself in the right mindset. I currently pay about $400/mo towards my personal loan and Discover card, but I want to push myself to another $100 so it’ll become $500/mo. I think it’s doable, but let’s hope that I can also pay a little more too.

Finish my media kit and pitch to 3 brands

I actually had worked on a media kit earlier this year, but I never got around to finalizing it. I need to do a few more edits and I’ll be more confident to pitch a bunch of brands to do UGC content.

Apply for freelance writing jobs

I’m going to be brave and try to do some writing jobs. I want to provide a service and I feel like taking a stab at doing some blog writing or some sort of writing job will help me get there. At least the blog can help me out as a portfolio

Sell my stuff

I’m learning to let go of a lot of material things. It’s so hard to do, but I know it will help a lot with the clutter. I don’t plan on moving again in the near future, but knowing that I have less things to stuff in a Uhaul or in my car sounds very appealing to me until I find a permanent home.

Learn and buy index funds

This is one of the biggest goals that I want to accomplish for myself. I have my old 401k that I rolled over to an IRA account and now I need to do my research. Following and reading up on HerFirst100k is pushing me to get there because I was never taught about these things. I was just told to put money in there and boom, you’re set for retirement. Since no one is stepping up to help me, then I need to step up for myself.

I know I got this and I have 4 months to get all these things off my list. Let’s go do this thing.

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