Woohoo, I've finished moving money around (for now haha), and have made the second payment from my tuition reimbursement for the summer to 401k loan 1.  That's $2625 chopped off of that balance, the second part of that was $1275, and should be reflected by Wednesday or Thursday, so before I do my monthly summary. 

Things are all still chugging along very nicely.  I'm quite happy with my progress this year, and am playing with next year's goals.  

A few posts ago, I referred to an expensive piece of fitness equipment that I was going to purchase - that timeline has shifted a little bit - not purchasing until November, possibly later.  I am buying a fancy spin bike that begins with a P.  I managed to get my company signed up for their Corporate Wellness program, and will get a great discount on the bike itself, as well as on the monthly membership.  I will be cash flowing the bike, and hopefully not touching savings to do so (snowflakes galore lol).  I wanted to make sure to prioritize the tuition reimbursement payments to the 401k loan before I took any steps on a big purchase like that.

Yesterday was payday, which is always exciting, even if I am not starting off broke like I used to!  

I briefly mentioned this in my last post, but I received my tuition reimbursement for the summer semester with my last payroll.  There was a bit of a mix-up, and they taxed it when it is not supposed to be taxed, so that was corrected with this payroll.  I was able to send a big chunk of that reimbursement to 401k loan #1, and will send the remainder by the end of the month after I move some more money around.  That will go a long way to getting that loan paid off - as of right now, between regular payroll deductions and about half of my tuition reimbursement for the fall semester, it's looking like that will be paid off in January.  I will then shift my focus to paying off loan #2, and if all goes to plan, then that should be paid off by June 2022.  I will happily accept the increase to my take home pay for a while before I take out a loan to cover my plastic surgery, which is likely going to be no sooner than Fall 2022.  Have to wait and see - the plan there has shifted a bit and will lead to it being further out than I originally thought.  I wish it was tomorrow, but all things considered, will work out better this way.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful payday - paid a bunch of bills, moved a bunch of money around to various places.  I have 2 bank account bonuses pending - one should be in my account within the next week and a half, the other is a 3 part bonus from a hyper local credit union that I think will come sometime in October.  I haven't decided if I am going to try for any more bank account bonuses this year, I've had a very good year in this area ($3000 in cash, not including points that were converted into gift cards for a few), and may hold off so that I can save a few for next year.  Not many more that I am eligible for anyway.

School is very busy this semster, I am taking 15 credits, and only now at the start of Week 3 am I starting to fall into a rythym.  I am doing better in the math and statistics classes than I expected to.  Just gotta get through, then one more math class and I am done with math classes for the rest of my life!

I'm still doing plenty of plotting and planning, but now it all seems to be falling into place with the systems I have created and have been diligently working inside.  

I keep thinking to myself that I should write an entry, then I decide I don't have anything interesting to write about.  But then I go to do one of these entries and realize I have too many topics haha.  Oh well, I'm wordy sometimes.

August Spending:

Hopefully this month is the last month that spending is this high (she says naively....).  Actually I know that's false, I am going to be ordering an expensive piece of workout equipment this month, just waiting for some checks with extra funds to arrive to cover it.  But hopefully that's the only out of the ordinary spending.  

Rather than going category by category...my total spending for the month was $3,074.36, and my YTD spending is $15,323.63.  I do not include bills in my spending, I have minimal control over these in the short term so they're pretty static.  My categories are Alcohol, Car/Gas, Clothing, Dining/Entertainment, Education, Gifts, Grocery/Household/Toiletries, Medical, Miscellaneous, Office Supplies, Personal Care, Pet, Subscriptions, and Travel. 

My highest category is usually grocery, and this month was no different.  Personal care was also pretty high, as I had a pricey hair appointment, and also stocked up on some of my expensive hair products while I was at the salon.  Dining/entertainment was also pretty high, but that included a few different outings.  I was on vacation at the start of the month, and had a friend come to town, so we were out and about.  Looking forward to September being a boring, quiet month.  

August Summary:

There was lots of action this month, what with transferrring the consolidated balances to a new personal loan.  I went back and looked at July's summary entry, and not sure what happened with the screenshot in that one, but oh well.  

Everything is still going in the right direction, and should continue to do so for the rest of the year. 

I have some big chunks of money coming in September that will (mostly) go directly to debt.  I received my first tuition reimbursement check yesterday, and although it was incorrect and needs to be fixed (it was taxed and should not have been), once that is resolved, it will be sent in full to 401k loan 1.  Still waiting on a rebate check from the state for what every other state calls a homestead exemption, my state calls it the STAR rebate.  That should have been received already, so I am going to have to call them next week if it doesn't come this week.  That's going to be split between savings and non consolidated credit cards.  There are a few more things coming, but not sure when.  Everything has been asigned a purpose! 

I'm really looking forward to seeing where I'm at in 2022 and beyond.  2022 is going to be very focused on continuing to pay down this new personal loan, my private student loan, and the remaining 401k loan (in prep for taking another to fund surgery midyear).  I would also like to see about refinancing my mortgage, but I need my liquid savings to increase before then, and my credit score to go up.  2023 will depend on what happens in 2022, haha, but should be more of the same, with contuining to attack the non-mortgage debt.  My car also gets paid off that year, and I will hopefully be able to start throwing a lot of money into a new down payment fund (fingers crossed for another promotion that comes with a sizeable raise by then!) 

My goal is to, by the end of 2024, be in a position to buy a new home.  To do that, I will need my debt to be as low as it can be considering that I will still have a mortgage and student loans....I need to have saved $50k or so.....and my credit score needs to have returned back to at least good lol.  Not sure if I will be trying to do a bridge loan for the remaining down payment or what.  I'm looking in the $500-$550 range.  Once I sell my current home, any net proceeds I receive will be likely sent as a lump sum to the new mortgage, and I'll either recast it or refinance, depending on the numbers.