DO something Sunday: Update your debt chart, March 1st 2015

March 1st is already here, holy balls.

As promised, I’m here today to deliver the progress made during the short, frigid, and depressingly grey month of February.

We managed to reduce our debt by $777.30!

That may seem like decent progress, but it’s still less than what I expected. Since I am still not employed, we are living off of Cody’s income, which is only $3,040 BEFORE taxes. My only income this month was a measly $300 selling things on eBay. I did recieve $100 from family as a gift, and we returned bottles for $37. All in all we had about $2540 and change to live off of for the month. When I was working we made more than double that, so it’s definitely been struggle to budget and create a different (but better) lifestyle.

I was horrible at keeping track of where our money went this month – once I got so far behind I just kicked up my feet and watched it fly away. Bills, student loan payments, and small necessities were soul crushing enough, but we also had to make multiple trips to see my lawyer 3 hours south (not cheap). Cars of course never work when you want them to, so a part for my rusty-trusty Malibu grabbed $120 out of my pocket after a trip to Traverse City to see family. Oh, not to mention the vet bill for Louie’s immunizations. Today, in the bank account, we have $.01. Not a joke, just sad. We do have $50 in cash, though – if that makes it look any better!

But at least it went down! I’m more blessed than many.

March should be a bit better. We hope to live off of cash only this month, and like I stated, we have $50 to get us through for food until payday this Friday. Plus, since we gave up eating out for Lent, we should save a lot of money on food and alcohol this month. I plan to STICK TO writing EVERY expense down this month, so please hold me accountable if I do not add that sheet to April’s more in-depth debt update. I want and need to know how we spend EVERY PENNY, that’s the only way that old habits can be broken. Hopefully eBay will remain a small source of side income this month as well, as I continue my journey to minimalism (less crap!). I also plan to call all of our providers/utility bills, etc (even some for a second time) to see if any rates can be reduced or eliminated. Like last month, cutting Comcast down from $160 to $39.99 was insanely awesome!

And most obviously, I am still job searching and will probably apply to some part time jobs and freelance while my search and current predicament continues (FEEL FREE TO HIRE ME! ha ha). We have also been in the process of opening a small home business, so hopefully that can get up and running by next month to further help debt and start our entrepreneur dreams! Our start up costs were pretty low so far, God forbid let’s keep it that way. Once it’s ready, I’ll definitely share that side of us with you guys!

Hopefully those of you who are struggling with debt made some progress last month as well. Feel free to share your stories and tips! We are all in this together!