If you read my 3rd blogiversary post, then there are likely no surprises here. But for the posterity…to the numbers!

July 1, 2019 – Student Loan Balance(s): -$128,663.26
July 1, 2022 – Student Loan Balance: -$69,998.37
August 1, 2022 – Student Loan Balance: -$67,197.82
Total Payments: $3,000.00
Net Difference: $2,800.55
Not bad. July was an eventful month that saw the end of my work with University B, at least temporarily, and my resignation and completion of my two weeks’ notice with Organization C. As I shared in my resignation post, I expected that at some point I would feel anxiety or regret about my rather abrupt departure but it just hasn’t happened. Throughout my last two weeks with Organization C, the choices and behavior of leadership continued to affirm my decision, and all I really felt yesterday, my first day of being unemployed, was relief.
Because I live on last month’s income, on August 1st I was able to sock away quite a bit of money into savings and have an otherwise normalish budget for the month. That won’t be the case in September as I will not have income from University B or Organization C in August. Organization C pays on the last day of the month for the current month, so my August 1st budget reflects all earned income from Organization C except my paid-time-off (PTO). While I could probably do some quick math and try to figure out what my PTO payout will be, the finance administrator for Organization C shared that she would be cutting a check for my PTO during the first week of August so I am content to wait and see. It’s my expectation that my PTO should cover a good portion of my bare-bones September budget, which necessitates that I earn $2,000.00 in income after taxes and that work in September for University B and gig work should pay for October and every month thereafter. It is my hope that I don’t have to dip into my emergency fund at all and that while I am underemployed, I can also maintain some of the additional savings for unexpected expenses.
While quite a few of you left kind words of support (and I am so grateful for you all), I know other readers are less impressed, perhaps even disappointed, with this choice given my financial history and how little I have in retirement savings. I get it. I do. But there is a lot going on, some of which I don’t plan to share just yet, so I hope you stick around.