So, I thought it would be useful to do a recap of my current academic, employment, and financial situation at the end of each month, so I can track my progress over time.

This month, I opened the door to many employment opportunities and more or less stayed on top of all of my academic responsibilities. As for my progress on the financial front, I'll let you be the judge!

This month, I:

• applied for summering positions at 15 law firms in my hometown;
• budgeted a year-end surplus of $3,680, which means that I will only owe $3,420 for my second year of law school (which cost a total of $25,000+);
• applied for a PT law student position with the federal gov., and successfully wrote the exam (it turns out that the time commitment is actually only 15 hours/week instead of the 25 hours/week initially advertised); and
  
• came up with a solution to my make-it-and-break-it New Year's resolutions pitfall: I will be challenging myself to reach one major objective each month, instead of one ginormous one all year.
  

So... Starting tomorrow, I am on the hunt to live on $80 of groceries all month. I'm a little frightened at what exactly this means I will have to eat... It will take some planning on my part, but it will be well worth it. Plus, a challenge is always fun! I am, after all, a student and would rather invest the money and watch it grow than to spend it away and watch my balance on my line of credit grow.

Also, if I end up being offered the PT job (following the interview, of course), I could potentially end up being completely debt free for the current year of law school with a little extra padding in my savings account, which is unheard of among my peers, as most are scraping approx. $10,000-15,000 in debt each and every year - even those from wealthy, financially supportive families.