September 2011 Monthly Review

Hey there.  Thanks for coming by.  This is the time of the month when I review my financial and health progress and share with  you all. To check out my yearly goals, see the tab at the top of the page.  This month was surely crazy as I was on the road for about 66% of it.  There is a balance on my credit card right now, but I’m sure that once my reimbursement check for travel comes in, I’ll be able to pay it totally off, so I didnt include it this month.  Also, I finally made a payment to my student loan!  It’s almost gone!

Student Loans

I made more progress on these!  My smaller loan is almost paid off, and hopefully I’ll have enough to pay it off when I get paid at the beginning of october.

Direct Loan $563  ($1,094) – I think I’ll be able to put this one to bed with either my october or november paychecks.  Once I pay the final bills for fincon and alaska (when I get them, of course) I’ll put whatever else to this.  I got really annoyed with this loan last week, and made a decision to pay it off.  I get a little help on this loan from my parents, so I’m waiting until the payment they sent in clears, then i’ll take it down.  Neither of these I can check until October 10 (!!) because the website has been down.  Dont even get me started on that.

Great Lakes Loan $11,544 ($82)  Just sent my regular minimum payment to this loan. This one is totally on the back burner, but seeing that just 1/2 of what I sent them goes to principal annoys me.

Truck Loan

Pretty self explanatory – the loan for my truck.  I got a huge boost on this loan this month from a hail storm we had in the area around mid july.  There was quite a bit of damage (many are getting new roofs) and there was over $6k of damage worth to my car.  When I got the check, the insurance rep said I could get the vehicle fixed or use the money to pay down the loan.  No brainer for me, and I wiped out 33% of the value of the loan.

Ford Credit: $10,065 ($294): After last months 5k+ payment, this is back to normal until my student loan goes away.  Nice to see the balance so low though!

Health Goals

I’ve also decided to track my health goals for the year.  This has been up and down all year, but despite the traveling, I’ve managed to keep it together this month.  This is usually gym visits, but I dont always like to go to the gym, so I’m changing it to workouts.  Usually when I dont go to the gym, I go running.

Week of August  28: 5 days
Week of September 4: 4 days
Week of September 11: 5 days
Week of September 18: 5 days
Week of September 25: 4 days

Goal Workouts: 20
Total Visits: 23

I did pretty good this month with my workouts.  I did quite a bit of hiking when I was in Alaska, and quite a bit of walking as well.  Normally, I dont count things like walking because I consider stuff like that “free” exercise, but I counted it out here because I was walking 4+ miles every day.  I figured that would be worth a notice.  Hopefully, you all had as good a month as I did – though I think my traveling will show up in the next monthly review.  I got quite a bit of christmas gifts, but I still spent quite a bit.

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16 thoughts on “September 2011 Monthly Review”

  1. Good job tracking your goals – and great job on the health goals. I’ve been consistently working out in the mornings for at least 20 years.

    I’m so jealous of your Alaska trip – would love to hear about the best places to go and see.

  2. I love when one card or loan goes to the wayside.

    You did fantastic with health goals. I need to set myself up with some of these.

    • The health goals are awesome, but it seems like they kind of take priority over the finance goals for right now, or it could be something else – not too sure yet. I’m going to need to run over the last 6 months (since I switched jobs) and see what the deal is with my spending.

  3. I cant wait to see the direct loan go bye-bye either. It has been a thorn in my side for quite a while, and I’m happy to see it go.

  4. Looks like you are doing well, especially with your health goals. I am sure feeling better is helping you manage everything else so much better. We too have been working out in the mornings and we love it. We just feel so much better when we get to work and we don’t ever feel the need to push it off like we would in the evening.

  5. Congrats on your progress paying down your loans, and also on your workouts! We have just re-vamped our budget, loan repayment strategy, and also our work out plan. I can’t wait to start making some progress. Seeing yours is extremely encouraging.

  6. Jeff,
    Kudos to you for your progress on your goals! I’m not just talking about the financial goals which is commendable, but your personal goals as well. It just goes to show you that if you have a plan and stick with it you can accomplish just about anything!

  7. Amazing Work Jeff! The way you feel about the great lakes is how I feel about my mortgage. I get so mad when I pay 10% of principal and 90% is interest!

    • Thanks evan – though I pay more to my truck each month, a much higher % goes to principal because the interest rate is sooo low.

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