2019 - The Year End Recap

Disclosure: This post may contain third party affiliate links. When you click on an affiliate link within a post Broke Dolly may earn a small commission which helps support the blog and content (at no cost to you). Please check the disclosure and privacy policy pages for more details. Thank you so much for your kindness and support. 

Initially I was going to call this post my 13th monthly progress report but then I got thinking and I decided calling it my 13th monthly progress report was both misleading and just not special enough.

Why is it misleading? Well because we're here because last December (a WHOLE YEAR ago!) I decided it was a good idea to start a blog to track my financial progress.

And a year is twelve months! But since my first monthly progress report was written as of 12/31/2018, I screwed up my numbering system and I can't deal with the fact that we're always going to be slightly askew so we needed to differentiate this post from my other monthly progress reports.

And hey, I made it a whole year! This post deserves a little special recognition. We've certainly discovered I'm not the best blogger in the world but I'm proud of myself for continuing to write my monthly updates. It really is nice to see my progress in black and white.

So we're celebrating this little occasion and we're calling this post..

Wait for it..

"2019 - the Year End Recap"

Oh! Now that's fancy!

I'm actually going to reference back to that first monthly progress report during this post, so maybe you'd like to take a trip down memory lane with me. If so, here's that first month's progress report.

Maybe you don't want to go that far back and you'd just like a quick refresher? Here's November's progress report.

All caught up? Cool, cool.

Now let's take a look at how 2019 is ending and 2020 is beginning.

Here's a breakdown of my debt:

Mortgage: $147,400

Car Loan: $6,700

Student Loans: $6,350

Credit Cards: $2,800

That’s $900 less than November and $4,450 less than last December.

I've mostly focused on my progress month to month and haven't focused much on the overall numbers. It's nice to see that I really did make some progress here.

But... There's always a but isn't there? Well, we started off with the good news.

Here's the bad - I don't expect that to carry over once we add in my renovation fund.

And that's because my renovation fund requirements have actually grown this year.

Renovation fund requirement: $12,050

New Grand Total of Debt: $175,300

Overall, I've paid off $1,250 of debt since November but I've added $4,400 to my grand total since last December due to poor planning on my renovations.

That's definitely a bummer. But I knew it was going to happen. I can only hope I make better decisions and pay down more debt in 2020.

Now let’s take a look at my savings:

Savings account: $2,150

P2P Lending account: $200

Investment account: $200

Grand Total of Savings: $2,550

So a couple of things happened this month.

1) I finally put some money into my savings account. It was long overdue and I’m ashamed at how little I’ve saved this year. I hope next year will be better.

2) I shifted money from my P2P lending account to my investment account because my P2P lending account has banned me from investing in new loans.

I know what you’re thinking but it wasn’t anything I did. I swear! It was some sort of state regulation that prohibits me from investing in new notes. Not thrilled about it but I’m hoping they clear things up so I can go on about my business as usual as soon as possible.

I added $150 to savings in November and $300 since last December. I’ll say it again, I should have done so much better with my savings this year and I’m going to try to focus more on my savings in 2020.

If I keep saying it, it’s sure to stick, right? I sure hope so. $300 is just so abysmal.

Unfortunately, 2019 saw me go further into debt.

Sometimes I guess year end recaps aren’t all good. Sometimes you just have to admit your failings and move on.

2019 may not have worked out how I had wanted but I’m optimistic about the future. I’m hoping that 2020 allows me to pay down debt and become a more disciplined saver.

Have you paid off any big debts in 2019 or have you reached any big savings goals? I’d love to hear about it if you have. Success stories keep me motivated to not give up even if I have an off month (or year, in this case).