My Home Down Payment Progress

For a couple years now, I've been using a bullet journal to keep track of important things happening in my life. One page of my current journal has a progress chart for my home down payment. Today I'm giving an update on that progress and how I track it on the sheet.

First off, notice the outer most rectangle. It measures 25 squares by 20 squares. Since the outer rectangle represents my ideal payment of $25,000.00, each square accounts for $50.

Each time I make a deposit to my high-yield savings account, I mark off a region and label it with a reason for that deposit. I started off on "9/20" with a $100 deposit. Some squares say CASH or $$$, which is money set aside from lottery winnings or odd jobs and usually held until I make my regular monthly deposit. The regions snake across the page, which leads to the bends in some of the shapes, like "BONUS" for example.

There are also two dashed lines. The bottom line represents $6,250, or 5% of $125,000. This is the minimum I need for just the down payment. The second line is another 5% to cover closing costs on top of the down payment.

So right now I have $3,400.00 saved towards a house. I can definitely see hitting my $5,000.00 goal for this year, but crossing the first line will depend on how fast I pay off my student loans.

Spending My 2020 Tax Refund

 My tax return was filed last week, and I am happy to report I'm receiving a federal refund of $857! What am I going to do with the money?

First, I'm going to cover the $160 I spent to pay the accountant.

Next, I'm going to take $140 for fun money. A proper office/gaming chair sounds good right now!

After that, I'm boosting my home down payment by $300. Note: this isn't an even split with my student loans, since my progress chart goes by $50 squares.

Finally, I will make an additional $257 payment on my student loans.

But what about my state refund of $9? I already spent that on a large soda and lottery tickets.

Doubling Down Financially

Welcome to my first post of 2021!

This year, I've taken on the theme of doubling down. This theme applies to many aspects of my life (weight loss, reading, etc.), but what does this mean for me financially?

First: Student loans. Once I get my three-month emergency fund locked, my loan payments will be 29% of my income.

Second: Home Down Payment. I saved about $2,500 in 2020, so I'm looking to match that in 2021.

Third: Filling My Big Pig. It's about half-way full already, so I can see completing it this year. That pig is going to be split four ways: food, exercise, dating, and most importantly the student loan.

Of course, it's early in the year, so any of these numbers is subject to change.

Bonus Check Breakdown

I've been fortunate to have a job that allows me to continue working from home during the pandemic. I've been doubly fortunate that said job pays a bonus during this time of the year. In this post, I discuss how that check is going to use, without going into specific numbers.

First off, I'm using a fifth of my check for fun money. I plan on taking a fifth of the fifth for playing the lottery. After that, I'm planning on taking my family out for dinner. I'll keep some cash on me should I think of something else to do/get.

Next, I should have plenty to pay off both credit cards. The payments I already had set aside for them will instead go to my emergency fund.

From there, the remainder will be split into three categories: my emergency fund, my student loans, and my moving fund. The emergency fund will see a good boost from this bonus, in addition to the money previously marked for my credit cards. Paying extra on my student loans will help me push down the monthly payment needed to pay them off in the original ten years. And of course, I'm continuing to push toward my down payment goal. 

How Much Was That, Again?

 In the previous post, I concluded that I would buy a house at the $125,000 price point.

$125,000?!

An ideal 20% down payment is $25,000, not including closing costs!

So I will need to save like crazy, try to find a higher paying job, and try to build a profitable side hustle.