sung ming whang via Flickr
March was an amazing month for me. It was relaxing, adventure-filled, and hugely eventful.
But it’s tough to measure whether those good vibes from a huge life event had the same impact on my personal finance goals. Let’s take a closer look.
The numbers
Here’s what I did with money this past month:
What I’m proud of:
The most important number is definitely the change to my net worth. At the start of 2015, I set an ambitious goal to erase my negative net worth of -$47,000 by the end of the year.
By taking advantage of the 401(k) at work, living frugally, and paying down debt as much as possible, I’ve made huge strides toward this goal; Just three months in, I’m already 37% of the way to zero.
However, as silly as it may sound, I’m most excited about finally getting my student loan debt to less than $100,000. Yes, it’s a completely arbitrary milestone, but five figures feels a lot more manageable than six figures.
What challenged me:
I spent almost half of March traveling, which brings with it the temptation to spend. Thankfully, I was able to limit my spending by:
- Buying tickets far in advance and paying with frequent flyer miles whenever possible
- Staying for free with family or in inexpensive but spectacular AirBnB lodging
- Eating like a local (i.e. buying from markets and grocery stores rather than defaulting to touristy restaurants every time)
- Choosing activities that were free or almost free
In the end, I spent about the same amount while traveling as I would have spent if I were home in New York (though this may say more about the high cost of living in New York than how thrifty I am).
Lessons I learned:
I re-affirmed a long-held belief that a journey is often more important than its destination. In two weeks, I went on more hikes than I had in the last two years, and each time, I found that I appreciated the waterfall, volcano, or hidden beach at the end of the route much more for having taken the slow, hard path rather than a shortcut.
There’s a personal finance metaphor buried in there somewhere, I’m sure. Perhaps I’ll find that the collected lessons I’ve learned along the way in paying down this debt will be that surviving through the tough times will feel just as satisfying as reaching that $0 balance.
And perhaps not 
How was everyone else’s March?
The post April 2015 net worth update — HUGE life event and I’m FINALLY free of six-figure debt appeared first on Debt BLAG.