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You are here: Home / Budget / July Monthly Update: Better late than never edition

August 17, 2015 by: Lindsey D

July Monthly Update: Better late than never edition

july2015monthlyupdate

Hi everyone, it’s mid-August so it seemed like a great time to post a monthly update for July. Here’s the latest on life update:

Business Moving and Shaking:

One of my goals for this year was to grow my business income. It was one of those “to do” list deals that sat on a shelf in my mind but never seemed to move past the idle thought stage. There was always something more important to focus on.

But that had to change after our financial situation became more precarious back in March. Since that happened, I’ve been out there finding new and creative ways to maximize money in and minimize money out. I’ve been a lot more successful with the first – a little less with the last.

  • Here’s  the skinny on my phat wallet (God, I’m way too white for that phrase):I’ve more than doubled what I bring in through freelance writing since March
  • I’ve created my own tutoring business and more than doubled what I made with the tutoring agency
  • I’ve started the process of getting Cents, Sense & Sensibility (CSS) up and running. I’ve finally figured out why an editorial calendar is so useful and I’m in the process of getting in some help to run things. This is still net zero though.

Mad Stacks of Cash:

  • Here are my side business earnings for July:
  • Tutoring: $800
  • Freelance Writing: $770
  • Blog Earnings: Nada, nil, zilch (this will come though)

Big Debt Pay-Off:

So this is kind of a big deal. My husband and I have been talking about how much our debt was costing us. We weighed the pros and cons of maintaining our investments versus keeping around the debt. As it turns out, the debt cost us more than our investments were making us so we made a decision.

We took out $22,000 from investments and settled out my balance to student loans. We paid out my student loans! I now a big fat zero to everyone!

studentloanbegone

This will save us over $600 a month in payments and free up money to go elsewhere. We still have other debt that we have to deal with but getting rid of this has been freeing for me. It seems like there are possibilities everywhere – all I have to do is reach out and grab them.

To Do List for August:  

  • I’m going to continue looking for more freelance work so I can bolster my numbers. I’m not really sure how to do this but I’ll keep applying for staff writer positions as they come up.
  • I’ll also work on figuring out how to keep the blog up and running with regular posts, newsletter mail-outs, and being more active on social media.

That’s it for now, friends. Until next time!

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Photo Credit: Free Images/Robert Aichinger

 

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ShannonRyan
ShannonRyan 5pts

I'm glad you're feeling "free" and feeling less stressed has a way of making opportunities appear. That's fantastic that you've been able to double your tutoring income and I'm sure that will continue to grow.

Lindsey at Sense
Lindsey at Sense moderator 5pts

@ShannonRyan Hey Shannon, I am finding that a lot of it is mindset. I know debt truly does limit options for a number of reasons but it is important for me to remember that some of it is in my head. I guess it's just about finding out which is which and keeping it straight while when I'm making decisions! Cheers. :)

Hi there! I’m Lindsey

Hi there! I’m Lindsey

Someone once said to me: “You have to look after your nickels and dimes before you can save your … READ MORE

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