Mid-May
Here I start a blog to keep me accountable for the progression/regression of my financial situation and then when things start looking especially regressive I ghost on my own blog.
It did look bleak at the beginning of the month because I was still waiting on money from my last contracted project... over half of the money that I made in the month of April essentially. Also, isn't twice a month a little much to be posting? If all I'm posting is a list of debt paid/accrued? I'm thinking so, so henceforth my second monthly post will be more relevant to anyone who isn't me, something that I've learned while trying to budget, which I suspect for this next will be all about me trying to work out an affordable payment plan with the feds.
Debt
1. Current credit card bill (BoA Mastercard): $919.83
2. CareCredit: $1700
3. ConServe: $765.10
4. Amex Gold Card: $3500
5. Loan from parents: $1300
6. Fedloan: $134,506.46 (laughs, cries)
Invested and Saved
1. BoA savings: $1749.42
2. Acorns: $337.23
Everything save my Fedloans are heading in the right direction. Pretty damn positive that I'll be able to wipe out ConServe by (end of) June. And when I do, I will dance a little, probably buy a bottle of champagne, if I knew how to saber the cork, I would also do that.
My big take-away from April/May is that no matter how much I budget, the only real way to get out of debt is to make much more money than I am. Having contracted work helped in a big way in getting that Mastercard back in under 1K territory. (Ideally, if I'm going to follow the never-more-than-20-percent rule for perfect credit, that Mastercard would never have more than 360.)
I have some work with another publisher, not an incredible amount mind, but another $600 this month (projected) could put my Mastercard balance where it should be.
Therein my biggest frustration with debt as it affects me and my generation: cost of living and education is ridiculous. The debt I have represents more or less a decade of an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree, and internships. And I went through all that schooling, of course, hoping that I would find a job in the field of [redacted]. I don't have a job in my field; I have only just started getting contracted (aka freelance) work, and at this point I'm so far behind that saving for retirement or a house is like... lol.
It did look bleak at the beginning of the month because I was still waiting on money from my last contracted project... over half of the money that I made in the month of April essentially. Also, isn't twice a month a little much to be posting? If all I'm posting is a list of debt paid/accrued? I'm thinking so, so henceforth my second monthly post will be more relevant to anyone who isn't me, something that I've learned while trying to budget, which I suspect for this next will be all about me trying to work out an affordable payment plan with the feds.
Debt
1. Current credit card bill (BoA Mastercard): $919.83
2. CareCredit: $1700
3. ConServe: $765.10
4. Amex Gold Card: $3500
5. Loan from parents: $1300
6. Fedloan: $134,506.46 (laughs, cries)
Invested and Saved
1. BoA savings: $1749.42
2. Acorns: $337.23
Everything save my Fedloans are heading in the right direction. Pretty damn positive that I'll be able to wipe out ConServe by (end of) June. And when I do, I will dance a little, probably buy a bottle of champagne, if I knew how to saber the cork, I would also do that.
My big take-away from April/May is that no matter how much I budget, the only real way to get out of debt is to make much more money than I am. Having contracted work helped in a big way in getting that Mastercard back in under 1K territory. (Ideally, if I'm going to follow the never-more-than-20-percent rule for perfect credit, that Mastercard would never have more than 360.)
I have some work with another publisher, not an incredible amount mind, but another $600 this month (projected) could put my Mastercard balance where it should be.
Therein my biggest frustration with debt as it affects me and my generation: cost of living and education is ridiculous. The debt I have represents more or less a decade of an undergraduate degree, a graduate degree, and internships. And I went through all that schooling, of course, hoping that I would find a job in the field of [redacted]. I don't have a job in my field; I have only just started getting contracted (aka freelance) work, and at this point I'm so far behind that saving for retirement or a house is like... lol.
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