Let’s Throw Some Money at Our Problems: November 2017 Monthly Check-In
It’s the end of the month!
If you’re joining us for the first time, we like to report a specific balance at the end of each month to have a public record of our efforts to pay down our debt or reach our savings goals. You can read about our decision to publicly keep track of our debt here.
Pull up those balances!
Nicole
I’ve paid off all my debts, so let’s see how I’m doing on my savings goal. I’m continuing to save 15 percent of every freelance check (pretax), as well as keeping a $3,000 checking account buffer that gets spent down during low cashflow months and paid back during higher ones.
November was a low cashflow month and I had a lot of moving expenses, which meant I drained my buffer AND transferred an extra $1,000 from savings to checking. December should be a high cashflow month plus I’ll get my security deposit and last month’s rent back from my landlord, so I’ll pay that $1,000 back to savings as soon as I can.
I’d like to end the year with as close to a $3K checking buffer as possible, but with Christmas expenses I don’t think I’ll get that buffer back up until the beginning of February.
October 2017 Savings Balance: $10,178.75
November 2017 Savings Balance: $9,878.96
Current checking account balance: $2,000.34
Mike
I’m paying off a private graduate student loan currently serviced by Discover. The interest rate on this loan is 2.5 percent, and the minimum monthly payment is $147. The original balance on this student loan was $22,377.
October 2017 Balance: $1,753.05
November 2017 Balance: $1,351.30
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