Independence Day Comes Early!!!

It's finally the end of June and I have A LOT of progress to report finally! At the begining of this month, I posted that my goals were to:

1. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster

2. Stop Payday Loans Forever

And I am happy to report that, drumroll please....

I succeeded in both of my goals!!! It is such a relief to know that the money I earned this month actually went towards ME and what I needed to pay and didn't just dissapear out of the bank before I could even make a sustainable budget.

But, and here's the thing I've been sitting on for a while now. In the process of making these goals, I had to take a good hard look at how much my financial mistakes have cost me. And it's pretty damn shocking. So, please try not to judge me too harshly when I reveal the numbers:

This chart shows how my money has been spent from March 13 (the earliest I could look up online) to today. And it includes:

$2,375 in LOAN repayment. $100 of which was repaid to Friend A. $240 I eventually got back. But I did end up paying a grand total of $2035 to Payday Loans in three months time. And it's FINALLY OVER. My last payment posted on Friday. I am so happy I finally got out of the disastrous cycle. Now, I will have SO much more money to devote more wisely each month.

I also managed to avoid the Evil Overdraft Monster fees at my bank. Something that I've paid, wait for it, $741 to since March 13th, representing 7.41% of my spending. $741! That's more than a month's rent down the drain. Never again!!

Now that I have finally been released from the shackles of payday loans and regular bank overdrafts I am looking forward to planning a Master Budget that's more realistic and building an Emergency Fund so I never have to borrow money again!