I can’t believe the 2nd quarter is here. I have not written a blog post in a while because I was not motivated. But I am here with the 1st Quarter Update.
I am thankful for having the habit of budgeting. In the first quarter, I had to change my budget a few times because life happens. I paid off my car at the end of January and I had to decide what I was going to do with the extra money. If I follow the debt snowball method I would roll it over to my next debt which is my student loans. It hurts so much to give Navient an extra 369 on top of my $276 monthly payment. Even with the extra payment applied, it will still take me 3 years to pay it off.
Since I had some family emergencies that came up I held off putting the extra money on my student loans. I am glad I had the money to help out my parents in their time of need.
Family always comes first because the debt is not going anywhere as long I make the monthly payments. I know in the long run I overpaid on my student loans because of compounding interest and so many deferments I had over the years because I wasn’t working.
My goal is to make an extra $200 or $300 from my side hustle so I can put it on my student loans debt. Hoping it will be paid off by the end of 2024. I rather use my side hustle money instead of the money I bring in. I want to invest more money if I can.
In January finally, I opened my Roth Ira with Vanguard and I am putting in $50 every other week. I hope to put more but glad I started. Also, after we got our raises, I raises my 401k contributions to 16% which is about $200 a week from my check. Little by little I will get comfortable with maxing out my 401k.
Another goal of mine is to continue to add to my emergency fund. We have about 4 months of savings and would like to get it to at least 6 months of expenses. Also, I am saving so I can take a nice vacation with my husband. We have not traveled for fun in 2 years so I am ready.
I keep telling myself that Quarter 1 was practice but I am still proud of myself for what I did get done.
What goals did you accomplish in Quarter 1?
You made great progress even with unplanned things coming up. Thanks for sharing that it is ok to change things as we adapt to what’s happening in our lives. Keep working your plan. I’m sure you’ll pay off your student loans accordingly and hopefully your family can vacation before then!
Thx.