February 2022 Financial Goals/Debt Update

@maezee (41988)
United States
February 21, 2022 8:16am CST
I have been writing updates on my financial journey...From financially irresponsible / in debt - to an eventual goal of saving up a small savings account + a down payment for buying a house. Right now, I am debt free (MOSTLY!) - I only owe my sister $400 for an upcoming trip in April. (My last semi-expensive trip for a while, though!) This past month has been challenging and I haven't seen my stats change as much as I'd like, but I had one great expensive: paying taxes! It was my first year itemizing taxes, working 2 part-time jobs that took out zero taxes, but also had lots of medical expenses. In the end, I owed $1,276.00. I had that much in savings, so I paid it all up front. Upcoming expenses: *My laptop doesn't turn on. I am thinking about buying a brand-new one (I keep buying cheap refurbished ones that have problems or only work for a short period of time)-I found a new Dell that's $500-$600 that I may buy eventually - not yet, but might need one soon or before the summer. *I owe my sister $400 - she paid up front for some lodging for an April beach trip to South Padre Island. It's not on a credit card and she doesn't charge interest or have an exact deadline, so that's great. But I still would like to pay it off right away. *I also will be continuing to get vision therapy throughout the year, and this costs $170 per visit, and I might need 20 more visits this year. I have a tiny bit of HSA money left, but this will be a huge expense later on in the year. Goals for Feb/March: I will be working less overtime at the main job and working more at the fire department, so I hope to make more money there and do some Shipt orders on the side as well. My goal is to have debt to sister paid off ($400) + an additional $500 to savings (totalling $2,000). Here's a synopsis of progress over the last several months: Nov 2021: Credit card debt: $5,500 Savings: ~$900 Dec 2021: Credit card debt: $2,800 Savings: $400 Jan 2022: Credit card debt: $0 Savings: $670.00 Feb 2022: Credit card debt: $0 Savings: $1,500 Taxes paid: $1,276 Debt (owe my sister): $400 March goals: $2,000 total in savings, pay off debt to sister ($400) Really proud of myself so far throughout this whole ordeal. I still love gambling but have reduced the number of visits dramatically, I have spent less money on food, snacks, eating out. Cut back on Starbucks or fancy coffees. Cut back on needless shopping (I still do some). Cut back on clothing and thrift store shopping. Cut back on drinking, too. I have been actually working on losing weight and taking time to exercise too. Haven't weighed myself, but probably have had a small loss of about 5 lbs or so. I am super busy with all the jobs, appointments and other responsibilities, so this keeps me away from spending money too - sometimes! Do you have any financial goals for this year, month, or even week? How are things going on your end?
6 people like this
6 responses
@snowy22315 (180663)
• United States
21 Feb 22
That is fantastic you got your credit card debt paid off. I am working on that too.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (180663)
• United States
22 Feb 22
@maezee I am sure it is.
@maezee (41988)
• United States
21 Feb 22
It is a VERY good feeling to be able to solely focus on saving instead of paying down debt/damage control.
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47317)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
21 Feb 22
You're definitely making progress. I do have some financial goals. I do want to put some in savings and make sure it stays there. Our credit cards are paid, which is good, but we do owe a bit on a line of credit. So once we get our taxes in, we're hoping to use whatever we get to pay it down. Either way, we're making some progress.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41988)
• United States
21 Feb 22
Yay! That’s great news. I am sure line of credit debt is much better interest rate than credit cards-which is great. One of my problems with savings accounts is like you said…. Making sure that savings money stays there!
1 person likes this
@dodo19 (47317)
• Beaconsfield, Quebec
21 Feb 22
@maezee Yes, the interest rate on the line of credit is so much lower. As much as we want to pay it off, there is that. It is hard to just leave it there for sure. It's tempting.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (89882)
• Arvada, Colorado
21 Feb 22
You are a great woman Maezee..you just keep doing the right thing. Yes, slowly but surely paying off some debt here.
@TheHorse (218781)
• Walnut Creek, California
22 Feb 22
I just want to work enough to be "cash flow positive." That's been hard during the pandemic.
@JudyEv (339930)
• Rockingham, Australia
22 Feb 22
Good for you and good for cutting down on gambling. That can really fritter away a person's money.
@LindaOHio (178568)
• United States
22 Feb 22
Kudos for getting your credit card paid off and putting money in the bank. You have a solid financial plan. We don't really set goals. We just save as much as we can and don't carry any debt.