It’s starting to get colder, the creep of winter is in the air!

Oh Hello November. So nice to see you!

Seriously, I’m really happy it’s November. This October was a little crazy. Between my new staff writing gig, my freelance income picking up, my photography class in full swing, a recent crackdown on productivity at work, and my half marathon training, I have been running around like crazy. November is going to represent a fresh start where I make a new attempt at staying organized!

October Money Sucks

It wasn’t so much stuff that was sucking my money away this month as it was events. Here are all of the events that sucked my money away in October:

• My birthday party
• My anniversary
• A trip with the fiancé
• A Halloween party and associated costumes
• Stuff for the wedding

Sooo needless to say November is going to be a quiet month party wise while we gear up for Christmas.

Total Debt ($-23,186.26) (-5.4%)

BIG difference on the debt front this month. I was able to put my usual $400 extra student loan payment down, along with my minimum payment of $301.46. I also got to pay an additional $1200 onto my student loan from my car insurance settlement, and paid my usual $206.50 car payment. All of this combined for a whooping $2107.96 in payments this month. Woohoo! That means three debt rollovers this month! My student loans now stand at about $14,200, my car has $8,979 left owing, and my total debt is down to $23,186! This also marks the third consecutive month of paying over a grand towards my debt. I’m so happy I’m able to keep this streak up!

I’ve got to say, now that my student loan debt is below 15k, I feel like I can really see the end of it in sight. This month I’ll have half of it paid off, and who’s to say that I won’t be able to pay the other half off in another 12 months? It would take an equal amount of dedication as I’ve put into it in the past year, but I think that’s doable. It’s something to think about, anyway.

Networth ($-9,023.81) (-18%)

Since I haven’t spent the left over $800 from my car insurance settlement, for the moment I’m able to see what being only negative four figures for net worth is like. It feels nice! I can’t wait until I’m permanently in this arena, not occasionally dipping into it when I have a peak of cash like I have been so far.

Going Forward

Next month should be a good month for debt repayment as I’ll have some freelance income coming in to boost my payments. Photography class is winding down, but I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do some bartering and have some dog obedience classes starting up. I’ve also got the beginnings of marathon training to attend to, and let’s not forget that I’m getting MARRIED in 233 days. This weekend I’m going to sit down and plan out the next month, otherwise I think I might drown.

Goals

Since I’ve blown my official goals for 2012 out of the water, each month I’ve been setting a few unofficial goals to keep myself busy. Here’s how I did on last month’s goals:

• Be Organized – FAIL. I got lazy, I didn’t stay organized, and I paid the price.
• Paint the Bedroom – FAIL. We spent the money on booze for our various parties instead. It was worth it to have a very fun month though.

This Months Goals, I’m going to keep simple:

• Run 30km - I’m picking this to motivate myself to really get into half marathon training. It’s a nice and easy target.
• Get 50% of Christmas Shopping Done – If I leave this any longer, I’ll be scrambling. I love online shopping, but I won’t be able to take advantage of that if I leave things too long!

So that’s my monthly recap. How was your October? I want to know!