January 2019 Debt Update

This month we transitioned to a monthly income versus the weekly income we were used to. I did a few things to help prepare for the transition. First, I made sure to leave a slight buffer from our final December paychecks rather than adding more to our debt snowball. That way any bills due or expenses that came up before our first monthly paycheck were covered.

Second, I looked at the last 6 months of expenses, and totalled them up by category. I wanted to see exactly how much I spent on fuel, prescriptions {including OTC medications}, copays, etc., before I knew how much to expect to pay for the month as a whole.

Third, I recalculated how to reach our sinking fund goals with only for 12 paychecks rather than 52, but to also make up for what was already put aside in some of the sinking funds. Then I set up my 52 week savings trackers in our budget planner to reflect these goals.

And finally, I set up our 2019 Checkbook in Google Sheets, and modified it so that I can see how much is remaining in certain categories, and can tweak them as needed throughout the rest of this transition.

After all that aside, I think we did really good on this transition so far. There are some tweaks that will need to happen, such as with my fuel expense, but it’s something I’ve got set up in my budget planner and our Google Sheet to keep track of. This way it remains at the forefront of my mind and doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Throughout January, we paid $1,421.52 on debt.

Credit Card 1:  $413.52
Credit Card 2: $278
Student Loans:  $230
Mortgage:  $500

After all is said and done, I think we made a decent payment this month. In fact, it’s the largest payment we’ve made to debt within a month since November 2017! I’m confident that once we get into the monthly income rhythm, we’ll be able to make a larger dent in our debt even faster!

During 2019, we have paid $1,421.52 to debt.

I want you to remember throughout your debt repayment journey is a thing called life. There will absolutely be months where you’re crushing it, and months where life happens and you’re just getting through. In the end, all of that is completely okay! Give yourself the grace to learn from it, and to move on.

The end game is financial freedom, and financial security. The journey is all about changing your financial habits, learning to spend within your means, saving for the known, and having a little money on hand for the unknown.