🏔️Monthly Debt Climb Recap – September 2025

📊 Current Debt Overview + Progress Table

Here’s where I stand on my journey to zero debt as of September 1, 2025. Below is a side-by-side comparison with last month, showing exactly how much progress I made.

I reduced my total debt by a relatively small $902.55 which is the smallest 0.007% progress for any month so far. The month of August was all about living life! I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to put a lot of money towards my debt but looking back I’m glad I put something rather than nothing or even worse, adding more debt.

🗓 What Happened This Month

The Good

I knew at the start of August I wasn’t going to be putting a lot of money towards my debt and for good reason. My 36th birthday was at the end of August and every year around my birthday I like to enjoy life…who doesn’t?! If I’m being honest, I do feel bad whenever I use cash to spend on things that may not seem worth it. Even if I save for it, there’s that voice in the back of my head telling me I shouldn’t.

Now that it’s the first of September I can look back on August and smile. Mainly because I didn’t add anything to my debt and did a bunch of fun stuff! I went out for my birthday, took a golf trip with the fellas, bought myself some stuff, and genuinely enjoyed life. The anxiety is still there but every time I’m balanced and allow myself to enjoy life with CASH rather than DEBT I always feel better about it after. Plus it has the added benefit of making me really think “Is this REALLY what I want to spend my money on?”

The Bad

I’ve spoken about this in previous monthly recaps but I’m realizing that the mental part will be the biggest obstacle to overcome.

The managing the money part gets easy once you find a system that works for you. There’s only so many ways you can manage money and guess what the most effective part is…having and using a budget. Boring, I know.

I have leftover money right now that I could put towards my goals but I could also just as easily buy a new video game, or comic, or meal with my lady. I’d much rather do the latter than use it to pay off debt but I know I’d beat myself up a little for not putting it towards debt.

Funny how that works out.

The Best Lesson Learned

At the end of the day, money is a tool. That tool can be used for whatever you want it to be just make sure it’s truly what you want. When I started this journey I knew I wasn’t going to go down this path and be deprived. Some months I won’t do as much fun stuff as others but I’m not going to be a hermit.

That’s no way to live life and at the end of the day money is just a number on a screen and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t have a tip screen when you get to the pearly gates.

💡 Tip of the Month

Money always burns the fastest for me when I’m eating out. It’s so easy to not realize how quick another drink, an appetizer, and a drink for a buddy to “celebrate” something adds up to more than you expected. This tip is going to seem obvious but it needs to be said…

ALWAYS GET YOUR OWN TAB! It’s easy to hold yourself accountable when you let everyone know up front that you’ll be on your own tab. That way you know when you’re ordering something you can keep a mental tally running and stay within budget.