Revised Financial Plan

An unexpected event + new understanding of loan issues + WIFYR registration = reworking of my previous plan outlined in this post.

It's frustrating, but that's just how finances work.

I'm just over 30% finished with Step 2 since my laptop issue. I desperately want to finish that, but it's going to have to take a back seat for a moment.

First off, I totally forgot about saving up to attend WIFYR next year. I'm going to attend one of the Five-Day Workshops. In it, I get the chance to participate in a group reading of novels that's overseen by a published author as well as a group pitch session with an agent. It's a golden opportunity to get my foot in the door for eventual publishing and it will motivate me to write. Unfortunately, it's $505 but it will be worth it. So for the next while, any extra money is going toward paying that off.

Next is the unexpected financial obligation, which I'll put all extra money into once WIFYR is paid off. Only THEN will I be able to get back on track toward my Month Ahead. So the revised format looks like this:

(1) [COMPLETED]
(2) -$505 (WIFYR)
(3) -$$$$  (Unexpected)
(4) $2,600  (32.1% completed)
(5) $15,600 (9.1% completed)
(6) -$$$$  (Student Loans)

(1st)  [Completed 6/30/2016]

(2nd) Plasma/OT/Babysitting ~~> WIFYR Registration (finish mid-January)
          Loan Extra ~~> Student Loans

(3rd)  Plasma/OT/Babysitting ~~> Unexpected (finish February)
          Loan Extra ~~> Student Loans

(4th)  Plasma/OT/Babysitting ~~> Month Ahead Budget (finish April--June)
          Loan Extra ~~> Student Loans

(5th)  Babysitting ~~> Emergency Fund
          Plasma/OT/Loan Extra ~~> Student Loans

The reason why my MAB completion time has a wide window is because I can only plan out/sign up for overtime no more than two months in advance. Chances are extra overtime will cut my time significantly.

There's also the matter of tax refunds, but that will be going into one of my student loans. Ideally, I'll be able to finish the one I'm snowballing on, which will give me the opportunity to pay off two, possibly three next year! As previously mentioned, in  2015 I paid off my Wells Fargo college loan, this year I paid off my credit card debt, and next year I should pay off 2-3 Federal Loans.

Fingers crossed!

Unfortunate financial hiccup

Regrettably, on November 30th my laptop died.

I'm certain I've had it for at least (if not more than) 5 years. I planned to buy a new one with my tax refund, but my laptop had other plans. Being a writer with various other hobbies, my laptop is somewhat of a livelihood for me. I needed another one straight away.

Thankfully I'm blessed with a computer-savvy dad and brother-in-law, so the experience of choosing a new laptop wasn't stressful. Plus, my brother is going to be amazing and pull off all my old files so I can avoid a company overcharging me for it.

Finance-wise there is good and bad news. The good news is that because I've been working on Step 2, I had enough to cover the expenses. The bad news is that I lost 55.84% of what I had been saving. I'm now at 24.2% of my goal.

I'm not going to lie, it's a depressing setback. I was hoping to start off 2017 budgeting on last month's income but those dreams are no longer possible, especially now that we're in the holiday season.

Yet it's moments like these that remind me of why I'm doing this in the first place. I can't imagine how stressed out I would be had I not a savings to dip into for this emergency. All I can do is keep moving forward and continue to hone my financial know-how. It will get easier as time goes on.