From the desk of Mr. Broke on Purpose

Closing out the month of July may have people recovering from a 4th of July blowout or a much-needed vacation with the family. For me, the month of July marks one full revolution around the sun. That’s right my birthday is in July, not to mention our wedding anniversary. Unlike most people, I’ve never been a “birthday turn-up” kind of guy. Compared to the people who celebrate their birthday for a full three weeks, I’m lame. You know the people that are like “my birthday is next week turn up; my birthday is this week, turn up; my birthday was last week; turn up,” type of people. I’ve never been big on my birthday. I’ve always appreciated the kind words and any gifts I’ve received. But I think the excitement of celebrating my birthday escapes me.

So looking at my birthday this year is very difficult. I’m asked by my loved ones that question that makes me freeze like a deer in headlights. “What do you want for your birthday?”.  My reply is now and always has been “I don’t know.” Add the fact that now we are living Broke on Purpose, and my “I don’t know” reply becomes even more convoluted. I say that for one main reason. I can’t expect anyone to buy me a gift when I selectively buy gifts for others. In a previous post, we talked about explaining to family members and friends that we would not be giving Christmas gifts because we decided to start our Broke on purpose plan. I think that would be hypocritical to not give a gift to someone but to expect a gift from them in return. Let me be honest; there are tons of things the irresponsible side of me would love to receive for my birthday. But the responsible side of me simply won’t allow me to think about it, let alone ask for it.

So now to answer the question at hand, What did I get for my birthday this year? I spoke with Melody and asked her to take me to a nice dinner and revamp my underwear drawer. I know this sounds crazy, but it is something I needed. I don’t want to get into details, but I started to notice some of my pairs starting to show signs of wear and tear. I think the upgrade to some quality underwear is a “grown man” gift. I’ll admit, it’s not as glamorous as a nice watch, but this is what I asked for, and this year I can say I got exactly what I wanted.

This month it was a struggle to stay on the budget, and we ended it with $65.37 in the account before payroll hit.  There were several unexpected items that came up that ate at the excess in our budget that we normally would have put towards debt. No matter how well you plan something is always going to come up and somehow we didn’t budget for the dogs needing to get their shots. We also had several runs to Home Depot and Lowes for various home improvements things that came up. While we do have an emergency fund, we try to only use it for a true Emergency, so we’ll use what we have as excess in the budget first.

This month we paid $3,395 towards the current student loan on which we are focused.  This is sort of a big deal for us as it brings us below the 50% mark. Melody mentioned in previous posts that our goal is to pay off this particular loan by mid-September and we it looks like we are on track to do so. It’s important that we stay on schedule we paying off these loans are Melody’s Grace period is over in December and currently, they have our starting student loan payment at $554 a month.

Amount towards debt: $3395

Remaining Balance $ 5761.00

Amount paid since living Broke on Purpose (28 months): $88,952.00

We’re only $12,000 away from reaching $100,000 paid off which is basically the half way point for us in this whole debt payoff thing. It doesn’t seem like it’s been 28 months as paying off debt has become our routine with a slight reward every month when we celebrate our wins. If you’re thinking of getting started or have been going back and forth in your mind with how this whole thing may be pointless because it takes so long remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, athletes didn’t become great overnight, and it’s not about the end point but the journey along the way.

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