March 2019 Financial Progress Report -

5 Shares

DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. I MAY RECEIVE A COMMISSION FOR ANY CLICKING AND PURCHASE MADE THROUGH ANY LINK WITHIN THIS PAGE. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO

Welcome to our monthly Financial Progress report series. We started recording the progress of our journey to Financial Freedom in February 2018. Our Financial Progress report has allowed us to document our journey and hold ourselves more accountable. We are amazed to see the progress that can be made by finding different ways to decrease our debt, make more money and save more.

Each month after we have received all our financial statements and updated all our financial data, we then compose our financial progress report for the previous month. This typically falls within the middle of the month as some bills fall on the 1^st of the month and many others towards the last days of the month.

In our Financial Progress reports, you can expect to see an outline of our debt, savings, expenses, and income. Also, we will include a small snippet of what we did or what we need to do to improve each area. As time goes on, you can expect these progress reports to evolve and improve as we learn more about taking control and cultivating our money.

Budget

We currently use Dave Ramsey’s Everydollar website as our main budgeting tool. Below you will be able to see the main categories that we have broken our budget up into. There are additional sub-categories within these main categories. The last time we updated our main categories was in April of 2018. Since then these categories have served us well in the ability to see trends in our spending habits. As we move through our journey to Financial Freedom we will adjust our budget categories. When was the last time that you reviewed your budget categories?

In our June 2018 Financial Progress Report, we provided a small snippet of the methods behind our monthly budgeting and tracking. Each month we review our previous month’s expenses and evaluate where we need to adjust the amount we budget for. To keep track of our monthly bills so that they are inputted in our budget correctly, we keep a list of all our fixed bills, their amounts, and their due dates. We make sure that our bills are listed in order from the earliest due date to the last due date in the month. Then, as we pay each bill, we will check off by dating each item paid.

Right now my SO and I’s earned income is on a bi-weekly pay period. This provides us the need to stay organize and continue keeping track of every bill and expense that needs to paid between pay periods. Doing this ensures that we are paying bills on time or sooner which also saves us money by avoiding late fees and unnecessary interest.

To keep track of every bill in between pay periods, we make another list that breaks down our bills by their due dates into a weekly due date list. Even though my SO and I are both paid bi-weekly, our employers are on different pay cycles. What this means is that each week we are getting a direct deposit from either company. This does help us tremendously in how efficiently we are able to manage our money. Keeping track of our spending on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis gives us so much knowledge and insight into our spending habits and staying accountable to our money goals.

Now that you have some background knowledge on how we budget, let’s take a look at our overall monthly progress towards Financial Freedom!

Debt

February 2019 Total Debt: $125,821.30

March 2019 Total Debt: $125,435.42

Credit Card Debt: $15,689.10

Car Loan: $0.00

Student Loans: $109,746.32

February really gave us the motivation we needed in March to make more money moves. We continued to pay down debt at a higher rate than normal. We started out March with $16,074.98 in credit card debt and ending the month with $15,689.10. Based on these numbers we were able to pay off $385.88 towards debt and even better is that we finally are below 16K. No matter how slow our progress may seem, we know that we are heading in the right direction.

We were also given the opportunity to lower the amount of interest we pay towards our debt. The opportunity allowed us to conduct a balance transfer at no cost. So we consolidated two high-interest credit cards into one low-interest credit account.

Due to the amount of time, it will take for us to pay off these high-interest cards, we will save money on interest by consolidating. Additionally, we expect the new credit account to have a far lower minimum payment than the two cards had combined. We have been paying around $105 combined on just the minimum payments for both cards. Our plan is to continue to pay the same amount to the new credit account regardless of the minimum payment. By keeping the same payment amount, we will remain on our monthly budget and it will not impact our current debt snowball amount.

As we continue down this journey to debt freedom we are actively learning and adapting solutions to our money woes. Every few months we like to evaluate our current debt repayment strategy. We are currently still utilizing the debt snowball method and it is giving us results. However, as we approach our credit cards with similar balances it is important to us that we continue to evaluate our debt repayment method. We are total believers of the debt snowball method, but we also understand there are different methods available that could potentially save us time and money.

When it comes time for us to review our current debt repayment strategy we head straight over to undebt.it. We love using their free debt snowball calculator to track our journey! You only need to have a list of each of your debts, their current total balance, your monthly minimum payment, and your current interest rate. After you provide that information, the calculator will do the rest. You can determine which method will help you reach your debt freedom faster. It is hard to say where we would be on our finance journey if we had not stumbled upon undebt.it. They have helped us gain more focus and clarity when it comes to our debt free journey.

Needless to say, we are excited about the progress we have made so far in 2019 towards our debt. It still feels surreal that we have already paid down more than $4,000 in the last year towards our debt. However, we are not stopping there. We are hoping to be credit card debt free by 2020. After we reach that milestone we will be focusing on aggressively tackling my student loans. When did you start feeling the momentum of your debt free journey?

Savings

February 2019 Total Savings: $7030.19

March 2019 Total Savings: $8829.78

Emergency Fund: $5,756.60

C’s Retirement Fund: $3073.18

March was another great month for seeing growth in our savings. We contributed more towards our emergency fund with our tax refund and also increased my retirement payroll contributions. Currently, our emergency fund includes our sinking funds as well. While we have narrowed down the different sinking funds we need for the next year, we are still not quite ready to get them separated into their own accounts. We are in the process of reviewing a few online savings account options. Eventually, we would like to move some of our long term savings and sinking funds into one of these accounts.

The last month we have been discussing how to automate our savings more as well. We are considering what the best methods are such as setting up direct deposits through payroll or setting up automatic transfers through our bank. We would love to hear what others are doing to automate their savings!

Overall, we are excited about the possibilities that continue to develop as we work to increase our savings contributions.

Expenses

Total Expenses: Largest Spending Categories

Savings: 18%

Food: 14%

Health & Fitness: 10%

Debt: 9%

We definitely saw a shift in the ranking of our monthly expenses. This proves to us the need to be flexible each month but still remain on budget. Much of this drastic change is still an effect of us receiving a surplus of extra income in February. Our largest expense category in February was debt as we worked to aggressively pay down our debt. In March our largest expense category shifted to our savings category as we focused more on contributing to our savings accounts. We have so far to go on this debt-free journey but have already seen tremendous progress just this year.

Our Food category remained as our second largest spending category with a higher percentage than I would like to admit. We had many evenings where we would get home later than normal and didn’t plan appropriate meals. Therefore we spent more than we intended on dining out last minute. We are continuing to learn the importance of planning ahead so that we can avoid busting our budget. However, experiences such as these also help us think about ways to make smarter money decisions.

In fact, the experiences we have learned from on this journey allowed us to make smart money decisions last month. You may have noticed that our third largest spending category changed to Health & Fitness. We are actually pretty proud of this category shift as it proves to us how planning ahead allowed us to cash flow additional Dental Services. Before this journey, we would have just charged the services to our Care Credit card and continue to make payments for a couple of years. Luckily, this journey to financial freedom has begun to make us wise in how to take back control of our money.

Overall, March proved to us that we have the ability to breakthrough old money habits. This month also made us realize how much we need to adapt to the art of meal prepping to help our food spending. It is clear to us that having an increase in income and a lack of planning makes it easier for us to spend in certain categories. We also realize that this additional spending creates more work in tracking our expenses.

Tracking our expenses manually humbles us as we calculate all of our bad and unplanned money decisions. The process forces us to be self-reflective on how and where we are spending our money. We have expressed the desire to automate the process of keeping track of our spending to gain more energy and time. However, we wonder if by automating this process we will lose valuable insight on how to improve our spending habits. How do you gain insight into your spending habits so that you can improve them?

Income

February 2019 Total Extra Income: $5204.00

March 2019 Total Extra Income: $21.02

With the surplus we received in February, we found ourselves again not putting much focus or energy into earning extra income. We got distracted by work assignments, raising children, television shows and socialization. While we put little effort and time into our extra income, we did gain in other areas of our lives. After reviewing our extra income earnings, we were reminded of how effortless Ibotta can be during our hectic months.

This app has always been consistent in allowing us to earn extra income each month. We love that our family receives cash back on our everyday grocery shopping trips. Since we started using Ibotta over a year ago we have earned just over $250. Are you interested in learning how you can maximize your Ibotta’s earning potential? If you decide to start taking advantage of cash back through Ibotta, we invite you to join our team here. By joining our team and redeeming one offer within the first month, you will earn $10.00!

Ibotta: $20.10

Mystery Shopping: $0.00

User testing: $0.00

Online Surveys: $0.60

Quora: $0.32

Misc: $0.00

Monthly Goals

Every year we set out to reach certain milestones. We learned in 2018 that if we really want to reach our long term goals, we must start setting monthly goals that reflect our long term goals.

Every month, we try to break down the 5 biggest areas that are priorities for us for the year into smaller and measurable goals. Many of these areas for this year are financial, personal development, health and fitness, family, and career. Each month we intend to share our results of the goals that we set for additional accountability. Below after we post the results of our past month’s goals, you can expect to read a snippet of our successes and our setbacks during that month.

In March our 5 goals focused on paying down debt, enjoying new activities as a family, read another half of a book, continue an exercise routine and promote Etsy listings. By the end of the month, we were able to successfully complete 90% of the goals we originally set out to achieve. We managed to decrease our debt and enjoy some outdoor activities as a family this past month. I devoted more time to reading which allowed me to finish my first book from my 2019 book goal list and start a new book. The new book that I started in March is not on my original 2019 reading list. It was actually assigned to me by my boss and I have found it to be very relatable for both my salary job and my side business.

Additionally, I was able to stay accountable to my fitness goals this past month. Slowly I am feeling the positive impact that exercise is bringing to my mind, body, and soul. I really missed this part of my life as I transitioned into being a new mom again and then a new manager. Exercising has allowed me to reduce my overall stress and gives me time to reflect and improve decision-making skills.

During my last workout session as I reflected on my March goals, I realized I failed to create actionable steps in promoting my Etsy listings. While I desired and declared the goal, I didn’t go through the proper steps needed to allow the goal to reach its full potential. What I mean is I didn’t actually make a plan on where and when I would promote my listings. Every time something happened that needed my attention, I would push this goal to the back burner. Due to my lack of planning, it was easy for me to tell myself that this goal can wait until next time. Since I understand where I went wrong, I did not let the lack of results disappointment. Instead, I am using it as motivational fuel for next month.

We have really enjoyed using this process to commit to monthly goals. It aids in keeping us on track and allows us to break down those big dreams into smaller achievable ones. We look forward to continuing to do this each month. Check out our Instagram feed if you’re interested to see where our focus is going in April!

Recap

Overall, March was a month of growth in our personal finances. We managed to make a decent dent in our existing credit card debt. Additionally, we increased our overall savings and cash flowed expenses we have never been able to do before. This month we learned the consequences of failing to plan which has really only motivated us to continue working towards our goals. Each Month after each month we have been learning how to adapt to the continuous changes that take place in our lives. While this process may take time, we still feel that we are making progress in the right direction.

Previous Financial Progress Reports:

We are so thankful for the support that we have gained from the debt-free community. Additionally, we have improved our accountability by reporting on our progress. This has really allowed us to remain determined and confident in our abilities to keep meeting goals. April will possibly bring new experiences that we learn how to adapt and plan for. We are certain that we will continue to make progress towards our journey to Financial Freedom.

How do you hold yourself accountable to your goals? Comment below to share your responses.