Financial Update: August 2018

September has officially arrived so it's time for a financial journey update. In this series you join me in tracking my side hustle income, debt payoff, notable savings moments (or downfalls) and more. August was a really good month on this journey as I was able to pay off over $1,000 in debt!

​First up... side hustle income. For tracking purposes, only income that hits my accounts during the month is counted here rather than income earned that I will receive at a later time.

$93.00

This is income that was earned with VIPKID in July of 2018 as I am currently enrolled in their monthly paycheck option rather than biweekly so I see my pay around the 15th of the next month. I only made a little this month as I taught a mere 9 classes (about 4.5 hours) in July due to scheduling and the fact that I had taken a bit of a sabbatical from teaching for a while. 

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$25.45

I opened a PoshMark account in order to review it here on the site (coming soon!) but was only able to sell two items in August as I went to Quebec for work last minute. I'll be continuing to sell items in September to help both declutter and make a few dollars.

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$10.00

I went through the items I have in my room and found tons of, mostly small, items that I simply don't use or really want. I didn't have enough for a garage sale so I decided to throw the items up on Facebook Marketplace to see if anyone in my area would take them off my hands. Similar to what happened with PoshMark I only sold one item due to my trip but every little bit counts on this journey. I would love to get rid of the items that I pulled out so I will be keeping them on Marketplace as well as adding them to Bookoo.

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$104.60

EasyShift was my most profitable side hustle in August, mostly because this includes a July payout that sat for a week in my PayPal account. 

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Total Side Hustle Income Banked In August:
​$233.05

This month didn't see a lot of extra side income hit my bank account but I did have an 'extra' paycheck come in. My employer uses a biweekly system which means that I receive 26 paychecks per year. This was a pain to figure out how to budget for at first but now I find that it works much the same as a semi-monthly (or any other) budget... simply budget for what you need to pay before you get paid again! Since my budgeting & debt payoff is still in its infancy after restarting I was not able to take full advantage of having an extra check since I needed most of it to pay my early September bills. I anticipate feeling the 'extra' check surplus a bit more in September for this reason.

Notable Savings
The first things I did this month was cancel a couple of subscriptions that I simply didn't need. 

• Ipsy: $10.83
• DirecTV Now: $10.83

I don't have cable, and haven't for years, but I do subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu as well as Amazon Prime- though not for the TV & movie part of the subscription, that's just a perk- so I really don't have a need for DirecTV. Especially with my current schedule, its not being utilized enough to justify the monthly expense. Ipsy was simply a need verses want discussion with myself. That nearly $11 per month translates to $129.96 annually that could be helping me accomplish my goal. Little bits here and there add up quickly so I cancelled the subscription. Between the two I saved $21.66 per month going forward or $259.92 annually that's going straight towards making my financial goals a reality.

The next item on my to do list this month was to lower my phone bill. I was getting pretty frustrated seeing my 'unlimited' plan slowly creep up in cost each month- not by a lot but a consistent increase nonetheless- so when the advert for a plan similar to the one I am already on but cheaper came up I jumped. While in the store I also inquired about cancelling the data plan I have on my tablet. Unfortunately that later was not possible without fees (always read the fine print people, I obviously missed something when reviewing the terms of purchase) so I simply lowered the data plan and manually turned off the data usage on my tablet so that I won't go over. The net result of my visit was $11.40 savings on my next bill with a larger chunk to be saved going forward. 

The final thing that saved me a substantial amount of money this month was actually my last minute business trip. While the trip was exhausting and meant not attending an event I was really looking forward to as well as rescheduling two doctor's appointments I count it as a success. I learned a ton, we accomplished quite a bit and I was able to make a little progress towards my goal as an added bonus. A win for sure! Since I wasn't in town and therefore needing to drive into the office or around town on errands I was able to save money on both fuel and tolls in August. Further, I was able to slim down my food and entertainment budget lines. There was a few hundred dollars saved here!

Progress Update
OK, progress update time! This month was great, as you read at the beginning I was able to pay off over $1,000 in debt this month. Here's the stats:

Student Loan Principle: -$204.92
Car Loan Principle: -$352.21
Credit Card Debt Change: -$709.56

Total Difference In Debt for August:
​-$1,266.69

My assets went up by $381.92 this month through retirement and home purchase savings plans. Both are quite small at the moment as most of my money is going towards debt to get my credit score as awesome as I can before I purchase a home. 

My net worth is still negative but went up $1,606.63 and my credit score by 2​ points. *

*I am using Credit Karma for estimating my credit score change and Kelley Blue Book (private sale, rounded to the next ten thousand miles up) for the change in worth of my vehicle in these calculations.

The debts you see represented above include:

• My vehicle
• Credit Card(s) 
  • A lot of it is from right after I got divorced, moving costs and etc.
  • I have a few other cards but they are paid off monthly at this point if I use them at all
• Student loans for my Masters degree

Assets are:

• The worth of my vehicle should I sell it privately
• Retirement funds
• Savings

Total Debt Paid Off Since June 1, 2018:
$3,635.68

Total Debt Paid Off In 2018:
$ 4,685.93

I'm looking forward to seeing these numbers change for the better as I get closer and closer to my financial goals. It's exciting! Check in next month to follow my progress. I hope these posts encourage you in your goals, whether they be financial or otherwise... if you put your mind to it you can do anything! Set a plan and start a journey to your dream life today!

P.S. I'm so close to my current goal (that's been posted on the home page) of $5k paid off before December that I'm going to raise it to $8k! It feels awesome to see that I'm making progress. Full speed ahead!