January Savings/Debt Repayment Percentage

My savings/debt repayment percentage for January was only 3.7%.  That is quite a drop from the previous months percentage of 55%.  The drop was because I didn’t make any debt payment and made only the minimum $50 contribution to my IRA.  Until I receive my student loan money I’m not going to make any debt payments or extra contributions to my IRA.  This is to make sure I have plenty of money on hand for living expenses and any unexpected expenses.  Once I have my student loan money I plan on paying down my private student loan and maxing out my 2007 IRA contribution.

January Income

Here is a breakdown of my income for January.

Job Income

$1104.36

Online Income

$191.62

Surveys

$5

Interest

$14.92

Total

$1315.90

 

My income was down quite a bit because I only worked half a month due to returning to law school.  I did manage to increase my online income a bit.  Since I don’t count any money made as income until I actually receive it there will be quite a bit more money that was earned in January that will be reflected on February’s income.  In fact I’ve already made more this month than in January.  With no job income I need to keep increasing my other methods of income.

January Expenses

Here is a breakdown of my expenses for January.

Household

$390.49

Utilities

$150.99

Transportation

$112.23

Food

$119.73

Entertainment

$61.83

Books

$129.42

Total

$964.69

 

I’m happy that the total was under $1000 but I do have some areas in need of improvement.  My goal for food is $100 a month and I’ve been going over that.  The main reason I’ve been going over is that I’ve been buying too much junk food and fast food.  That makes going over doubly bad.  It will be the main area I concentrate on for February.  My utilities were too high with my gas bill being over $100.  I’ve already taken steps that should cut that down significantly.  I won’t have a book expense this month unless I decide to buy some study aids.

The category of transportation was down quite a bit since I only worked half the month.  Also I didn’t need to do any repairs or maintenance.  That will change this month since I plan to have some work done on my car.  Household and entertainment expenses should be roughly the same.