12 Charities in 2011 - February

I almost forgot to post my February charitable donation. I donated $25 to my local public radio consortium.

In case you haven't heard, public radio stations are in danger of losing their federal funding - television's P.B.S. is at risk too. I can't imagine a world without P.B.S. but figured my donation would have a greater impact at the local level.

I rely on public radio to give me some of the more nuanced local news that the newspaper can't deliver on such a timely basis. They're also always hosting community events and bringing the arts to the people, so I felt it was time for me to give a little back for all that I receive.

You can give to National Public Radio or your local public radio too if you want to preserve this important public resource.

Monthly Student Loan Debt Roundup

I took a mini break from blogging as I've been so busy with work and some side hustles as my friend J. Money over at Budgets Are Sexy calls them. Hopefully a few will pay off. I'll keep you posted. :-)

Also there's some family financial news in the works (no we're not having a baby!) that I will share when it becomes official. Cross your fingers for us.

But I couldn't not do my monthly student loan debt roundup as I so look forward to seeing the numbers go down every month. Right now my current student loan balance is $121,418.12 - the lowest it's ever been!





I'm also happy to report that Defaulted Student Loan's balance is now at less than what I borrowed - woot woot! That makes three loans out of six that I've actually beaten back the capitalized interest they don't seem to tell you too much about when you take out the loans. Hopefully the Private Undergrad Loan will hit this milestone this year as well.

Getting married meant I lost most of my interest deduction on our taxes (boo) so out of the thousands of bucks in interest I paid last year, I think I got to deduct $400.

Where it Went 1/19 - 2/01

I'm Sallie's Niece and I like clothes. This is actually a new thing. An inspiration to lose weight. Turning 31. The doldrums of winter. Anyway, I hate most of my wardrobe and have been working to systematically replace all of it. If only the budget were limitless.

So with that small caveat in mind, here's how I did with my money compared to the budget I set:

Budgeted/Actual

Perkins Loan - 200/200

Mexico Trip - 630/630

Credit Card - 200/300*

Health - 85/46

Groceries - 0/22

Misc. - 153/168

This spending includes $58 in half.com payments from my decluttering project.

*So yes I sent $300 to the credit card but that was basically the amount I charged on it. :-(

I had this business idea to bring in more money so I spent $35 on exploratory costs for that. It's on hold now as I'm too busy and broke to devote to it what it needs.

I also spent $90 on my new niece, $30 of which I will be paid back for. Damn cute baby clothes.

The rest was spent on clothes for me, which sounds like a lot but since I was at the outlets I got some great deals. And it's all clothes for work pretty much so I can get a lot of use out of them.

Anyway, since the credit card balance didn't go down I sent another $300 to it today, which will be detailed in my upcoming budget post.

Net Worth January 2011

January was a pretty good month. I increased my net worth by over a grand, woo hoo. My current net worth is -$$108,441.

Cash: This has stayed the same. I do have some cash sitting in my bank account I need to send to the credit card but I'm waiting until payday.

Retirement: My 457 account balance stands at $8,920. I have approximately $5147 in my pension (refundable until vested). And finally I have contributed $1000 in my Roth I.R.A. and I am waiting to see my first statement. This makes for a grand total of $15,067 saved for retirement.

Student Loans: These are at the LOWEST THEY'VE EVER BEEN at a whopping $122,218.97.
Credit Card: The extra paycheck pay off plan will soon be in effect.