Money Matters
als1982
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
January/February monthly check-in
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
2. Were you able accomplish them?
3. What were your greatest achievements?
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
2. Savings success
3. Net worth watch
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
HeartlandHustle | Personal Finance and Betterment Blog
Re: January/February monthly check-in
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
To keep paying off furniture, keep bills low, add to vacation and savings accounts, and work on small house projects
2. Were you able accomplish them?
We are still plugging away at these goals. We cut our furniture balance in half and should have it paid off well before the 0% interest is up in May. We've added to our 2 savings accounts, I've started painting the bathroom and am about halfway done. I was able to buy all the paint and supplies needed for the 3 rooms we are re-painting with a gym membership refund from our health insurance. We had a few unexpected purchases this month. I bought some cute roman shades for the kitchen (they look great and give more of a homey feel and add privacy!), and the dryer the sellers left died, so we ended up buying a new washer/dry set, but the credit card it's on isn't due until mid-March so we have plenty of time to pay it off. We also bought the dog 2 new winter jackets and I ended up buying a new car.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
Working on these small house projects and making our home a little more homey finally! We also bumped up H's 401K contribution to 9%, so I think we are both at the same number now! We need to open up 1 ROTH IRA this year still.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
The extra expenses. I'm worried we may not be able to get the fence in the yard done in the early spring-time like we wanted. Also, my dad started doing our taxes and we may end up owing about $1700, but I'm still missing 1- 1098, so we'll see what happens.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
Basically the same. Keeping adding to savings and vacation fund, keep on paying off furniture and washer/dryer, and keep working on house projects with the supplies we have. We also will need to pay that tax bill.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
Saving diligently, keeping spending in check and maybe having H pick up an overtime shift or 2.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Same ol, same ol
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff- Will need to finish paying off furniture and washer/dryer. Since I bought a new car, I plan on paying extra on each payment.
2. Savings success- H closed out his credit union account in his home town so we were able to bank the $1K that he had sitting in that account along with a couple hundred from our paychecks.
3. Net worth watch- Don't watch this
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My husband is such a sweet man...I love him with all my heart and he is my best friend and soul mate. We are so similar and just click well overall. I couldn't image life without him.
I love my fur baby as well. While he can be a pain in the neck sometimes, I couldn't image my life without him either!
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month? I guess building a new budget counts here.
2. Were you able accomplish them? Yes! We finally sat down on the 31st and took a serious look at all of our expenses and our budgeted amounts and re-did everything to reflect a more realistic financial plan.
3. What were your greatest achievements? H and I both increased our 401k withholdings to max them out for the year.
4. What were your biggest downfalls? Spending more money than our new net income allows.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month? Stick to our new budget 100%.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals? We use YNAB so my plan is to 1. Check the app BEFORE making a purchase and 2. to Immediately enter in any charges after making a purchase. In the past I've let receipts accumulate in my purse and haven't entered them in until days or weeks after the fact and then it's clear we went way over in our restaurant budget or something else.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month? I think it's pretty much stated above. Track everything. Check the budget before spending (something I don't typically do).
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff - On track to pay off my car by December. We unexpectedly had to buy a new one in late November after my old car was totaled in a wreck. We had the money to pay cash for a new car, but opted to use the cash to pay off our student loans since we were able to get a car loan for a much much lower interest rate.
2. Savings success - We have a healthy emergency fund. I'm trying to learn more about investing so I can work on building our equity. I opened a Roth IRA last year and plan to contribute to it as long as I am able.
3. Net worth watch - What is this?
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My H obviously
We don't really do Valentine's Day and I love that we're both very nonchalant about this holiday. If we have friends available, we'll invite them over for a game night and dinner, otherwise we'll just spend the day together. I hate going out to eat anywhere near Valentine's Day so we'll pretty much stay close to home in order to avoid traffic.
I like to get my dog a Valentine's Day treat because I'm a crazy pet mom like that.
Hi @labro! So glad to have you jump in!! Net worth is the total of your assets less any debts. Assets typically include your home appraisal, value of your retirement and other accounts, debts include mortgage, student and auto loans, credit cards etc. Some of us track that here, but definitely not all. I personally use Mint to keep an eye on this number.
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month? File my taxes, spend less overall, and not use CCs much.
2. Were you able accomplish them? Yep! I still spent more than I wanted to, but I feel like I'm finally start to get handle on my CC spending... Of course that means I shouldn't use them at all.
3. What were your greatest achievements? Filing our taxes and putting all of that money in savings towards our e-fund. We have our e-fund a little over 50% funded!
4. What were your biggest downfalls? Eating out as usual. I started tracking it on a spreadsheet thou and actually seeing the number I'm spending every month on food has helped motivate me to stop spending so much.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month? Spend less eating out...
Would like to stay around $150 for the month (I know this is a lot more than most people, H and I are terrible!)
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals? Keep tracking it and get H on board with the plan. Plus better meal planning/prep!
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month? Just doing the above I suppose. All my monthly allotments/payments stay the same.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff-- SL is at $7600ish. I have one CC with 0% interest that should be paid off in March.
2. Savings success -- put our tax return in savings for our e-fund!
3. Net worth watch -- don't usually track
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
I'm a lucky girl, I have two.
My H and my pup! I just love H. He's my rock and really keeps me from losing my mind. We've been together 10 years (since we were 15!) and I'm just so glad to have him in my life. My dog is crazzzzy, but she brings me so much happiness. I can't imagine life without her. That expression "Whoever said diamonds were a girl's best friend never owned a dog" is definitely true for me.
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
Buy furniture within budget, hit $100K in our retirement account.
2. Were you able accomplish them?
We got the furniture, but thanks to the crappy market this past month, we still don't have $100K in our retirement account. Sigh. It's close though! I'm pretty confident it will happen this year, despite the market fluctuations.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
Cash flowing a good chunk of our furniture, so we were able to buy what we wanted. We also shopped well and really only hit our budget on one piece.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
I need to stop watching the stock market!
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
Stick to our budget, work on some lingering home projects that we have the supplies for already (or will be very cheap to complete).
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
Just track our expenses and do it.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
No plans for this.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
Same as always - $3220 for non-mortgage debt.
2. Savings success
Saved an extra $500 or so from January, and we also got our federal tax refund, which was about $2600 (gross). Still waiting on the state.
3. Net worth watch
Ha, we're actually down thanks to the market - negative $4,000 this month. Oh well, it will come back!
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My husband is my Valentine. I don't want to brag too much, but he's a rock star. He's one of those people who is good at everything. He's won awards for public speaking, baseball, golf, music, etc. In college he won an award at graduation for being the person in his class "most likely to make a positive impact on the universe." So far that's been true. Today, for instance, he's meeting with an ambassador to discuss foreign investment in Alabama. He's 28.
I'm incredibly proud of everything he's accomplished. But the best thing about him is that he's sweet to me. He does little things like make me lunch every morning. I catch him baby-talking the cats when he doesn't think I'm looking. He's very smart and incredibly funny. We've known each other 11 years, and he still manages to surprise me most days with his thoughts and commentary about whatever is happening in our lives. I am never bored around him.
My other Valentine is my dad. He's been an amazing role model. During my entire life he never missed a single music performance, school assembly, or dance recital. Even if he had to travel, he was the only dad who came to every. single. thing. He told me "no" a lot and taught me delayed gratification, but he also made sure I had books and sheet music and new pointe shoes whenever I needed them. He taught me about money from a very young age. He was a quiet but consistent proponent of women's rights while I was growing up, and he still is. He prepared me to work in a field that's dominated by men, and he helped give me the self confidence to do it. When I little, he made damn sure I wasn't treated any differently than the boys, and I watched him support my mom in her job. There were many times when he took on more of the house work or child care so that my mom could take the steps to advance in her career. I was aware of it, even as a pretty young kid. He currently has a female colleague who is about to have a baby, and he has worked out a plan that essentially gives her 6 months of paid maternity leave.
He's also a really interesting person. He's a developmental psychologist, but his research area is primatology - gorillas. He has been a researcher at Zoo Atlanta and Yerkes Primate Center since before I was born. He has the longest chain of research from a single captive gorilla group in the world and the first research on captive twins (they virtually never survive). My dad has done animal field research in Africa. On his last trip, he was there while a civil war erupted, and he had to bribe his way out of the country. He met my mom at a Charles Darwin birthday party and took her to the Okefenokee Swamp for their first date. He has a scar from a bad encounter with a panda bear, and he once brought home a lion cub to keep overnight.
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month? save $1,000, move $ from vacation fund for Disney
2. Were you able accomplish them? yes
3. What were your greatest achievements? Staying on budget and using some of our vacation money to actually go on a vacation!
4. What were your biggest downfalls? I did buy a Bernina- it's financed for 1 year 0% and it'll be paid off in December. I have used it a lot already and it's really great for quilting.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month? Stay on budget, save $1,000, get taxes done
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals? stick to the plan, auto transfer at each paycheck, efile once everything is checked over hopefully before we go on vacation.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month? n/a
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff - car ($20,861 0.9% interest 48 months) and mortgage ($92,387 4% at 15 years)
2. Savings success - $1,000 to savings, $3,600 from vacation fund to pay for Disney
3. Net worth watch - $335,240
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My valentine is my DH- he's amazing. Really good dad, super helpful around the house, crushing it with his new job and school district, and is very thoughtful/sweet with me. He's a great partner and my best friend. He also has an amazing head of hair that he's shaving off for Goin' Bald for Bucks at his school in honor of our nephew that has a brain tumor. My other 2 valentines are my little ladies- I always wanted boys before I became a mom but these 2 are so funny, sweet, smart, and challenging. They complete our family and I'm so glad that they are happy, healthy, and our little girls. Can't wait to watch them run around Disney and have a great time!
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month? Get a new budget going, fund our liquid e-fund
2. Were you able accomplish them? Yep. We've adjusted to the new budget; I might be getting a small raise next month 2-3%, but that won't drastically change anything in the budget. We were paying $600/month towards the front porch and we realized we were both feeling really pinched, so we lowered it to $400/month. I think it will be smooth sailing now.
3. What were your greatest achievements? Fully funding the $1000 that we wanted in the new e-fund.
4. What were your biggest downfalls? We didn't really have any, luckily! We have discovered that our water heater is going out and we will probably be replacing it in February, so that's kind of a bummer.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month? Fully fund our vacation fund for our July trip so we don't have to worry about it; get H's 457 rolled over into an IRA at Vanguard
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals? I've started on the IRA process already. We're going to be putting our tax return ($374) into the vacation fund, and we've been selling a few items as we de-clutter.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month? I would love if we can not only fully fund the vacation, but also cash flow the new water heater. I am not sure that's going to happen--we have the option of 0% for 18 months at Home Depot, but it will still give us something to aim for.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff--Everything is on track. My car will be paid off in October, and I'm starting to get the itch to pay it off early. That would interrupt our other savings goals though.
2. Savings success--We've made progress building our accounts back up. We still have our $2K CD e-fund, $1000 in a new liquid e-fund, and about half of what we want to have in the vacation fund and the shopping fund (will be used for a new dresser and a new shotgun for H). H has also adjusted to his new paycheck amount since we increased his 401K to 14%. Feeling really good about our progress so far in 2016.
3. Net worth watch--Don't track this.
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My H. I love him so much. We started dating when I was 20 and he was 34. I was just moving out of my parent's house, which was a really bad environment. H had already been through college, and growing up, and coming into his own, and all of that, but over the years he has given me the time and space and support to grow and realize my own dreams. I am more myself now than I ever could be before. He's been my #1 cheerleader--whether its been my decision to change careers, or go back to college, or open my own business--he's always got my back.
And he's super sweet. Although I don't complain about the time he spends hunting, because I know it's his passion, he plans weekends and date nights for us to be together, feeling like he has time to make up to me. He gives really good advice too. He's my best friend and my confidante.
Also, this might not seem romantic to most people, but here on the MM board maybe you can appreciate--he has always said that as he's planning for retirement, his #1 goal is to make sure I will be taken care of. Because of our age difference, the likelihood of him passing away several years before me is quite realistic. Therefore, he's always considering what my situation would be like as an elderly widow when making decisions about his retirement, life insurance, etc. It's why he has agreed that we can move to a warmer climate when I retire, because he knows that's where I would like to live if/when I'm alone. I know it's odd, but I find it really sweet!
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
2. Were you able accomplish them?
3. What were your greatest achievements?
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
2. Savings success
3. Net worth watch
$129,000--we got a little bump from our home appraising for $22,000 more than we paid for it 1.5 years ago, but the market has done quite a number on our retirement accounts (lost about $4,500 net so far and no growth for 3 months).
GTKY: Valentine
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
Just working on building up my savings... namely have enough to pay my portion of our car insurance bill.
2. Were you able accomplish them?
Yes! And have some a little left over. Pretty awesome as we had some vet bills that I chipped in a bit on, and some new brakes on my car. Also H sat down and did some research and found a new insurance company that is saving us about $400 a year across all our vehicles/camper. It doesn't affect me much since I only pay for my car's portion, but I was glad that he was finally realizing that a bit of work could result in saving some money.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
See above. I was also H finally acknowledged that our budgets are a little too tight, and that even saving $30 or $40 a month is *something*.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
I splurged a little on some new work clothes. I didn't entirely NEED them, but I'm aiming for a better position here, so I feel more confident when I have some nicer things to wear at work. We also spent too much on food.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
Just keep saving. Tax time is scaring me... first year as married, and I had about $12,000 in 1099 income from wayyy back in January of 2015 that I didn't pay taxes on, so I know I'm going to owe. I'll likely have to do a payment plan but I'd like to lessen the blow as much as possible by April.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
I'm going to work on our food budget first and foremost. It will help that H should be traveling all month... I'm content to eat very frugally, but he usually likes to have bigger fancier dinners, and works from home, so he needs stuff like snack foods around.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Umm, I guess see above?
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
n/a... not really a goal for me right now. H is plugging away at the landscaping debt but I can't remember where he's at with it.
2. Savings success
Just plugging away...
3. Net worth watch
n/a not worth tracking right now
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
Well, obviously my H. As I've mentioned in other posts, his spending habits are a bit frustrating, but I think he's slowly making progress. That being said, he's very good at managing his money in terms of never paying things late, and acknowledging the debt. His efforts with the car insurance really made me happy as I'm often the one who has to do all the research for everything. Money issues aside, he's a great guy, makes me laugh when I'm bummed out and even when I'm not, and is so friggen smart.
The other is our dog Deacon. We have 2 dogs, but Deacon is my Valentine this year because he's had some health problems this past month, but he seems to be on the mend. He's our old boy and we love him, H has had him since he was 8 weeks old.
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
To cash flow everything while having only half of my pay.
2. Were you able accomplish them?
Yes, thankfully. But damn was it hard.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
Cutting our eating out to $50.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Groceries. Man, it's killing me!
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
Cash flow a bunch of medical stuff. I need an eye exam, glasses, and contacts. H needs a deep dental cleaning that isn't covered by his dental insurance (why do we pay for it?).
Also going to cash flow DD's birthday party. I have more than enough budgeted and think we won't have a problem doing so.
And again, getting the grocery budget under control.
Then staying on budget for our expenditures in Hawaii. Our goal is $3,000 for everything (food, alcohol, entertainment, excursions, car gas, hotel resort fees, etc). We budgeted $4,000 just to be safe, but I would prefer to keep it under $3k.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
Our biggest saving grace is that we will be gone for 10 days. So we won't have 7 days of daycare, less groceries, less gas, and less eating out opportunities.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Groceries. Seriously.
We've decided that once the booze is gone in the beer fridge, we aren't going to restock it and unplug the alcohol fridge. This is big for us, but our budget and our waistlines will thank us.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
N/A Have none.
2. Savings success
Just the regular sinking funds.
3. Net worth watch
Haven't even looked. However, we put half of our lump sum in yesterday while the market is on the lower side, so we'll see how that ends up panning out.
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
H of course. He is seriously amazing. He works so hard to help provide for our family. His alarm goes off at 3am many mornings and he doesn't get home until 6pm some evenings, but you will never once hear him complain. He is also amazing with DD. Never thought I could love that man more, until the day she was born. I still sneak turning the video monitor on and watching him change her diaper or get her dressed on the weekends. Oh and he makes some delicious meals.
My favorite thing about him is that we can dream together. About anything. Life with our kids, a vacation, owning a home at the lake someday, retirement, job opportunities, the next house remodel project, anything.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
Acquire tenants for the other side of my duplex and the 2-bedroom unit of the new duplex.
2. Were you able accomplish them?
Nope
. Previous tenants for my house left the place filthy and trash. Fixing all that took longer than expected. But I finally posted my ad over this weekend and have some showings lined up.
At least got an AirBnB booking for this weekend that will be a $500 net gain.
My H and I went to the 2 bedroom unit for other duplex this weekend and made a list of what is left to get it rent ready. It's a long list, but everything is fairly quick and cheap.
3. What were your greatest achievements?
The AirBnB booking from above.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
Procrastination and not staying on top of things in regards to getting my rentals ready.
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
$2,000 toward my HELOC.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
Focus on putting off major purchases and not spending unnecessarily.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
Focus on finally finishing the new duplex. I'm praying by March 1st I'll have tenants in all three of my rental units. Or at least the one I am currently advertising, plus the 2 bedroom that is almost done.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
Continued paying my credit cards off in full, but no progress on my HELOC. Made a couple large payments on the HELOC, but had an unexpected $3200 repair bill at the new duplex.
2. Savings success
Same - no progress, but no withdrawals
3. Net worth watch
About $240K, not much progress for the time being
GTKY Bonus
Tell us about your Valentine! This could be your spouse, professional or personal passion, a good friend or pet - whoever or whatever is closest to your heart.
My Valentine is my husband. We had actually been living together for 12 years when we got engaged. At the time, I was excited to finally be marrying the man I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but really didn't think it would be any different. I was wrong. Getting married totally changed the dynamic in our relationship, but in a good way. It strengthened our relationship and we became a team. We started talking about our future together, instead of just the future in general.
Even after all these years, my husband and I exchange compliments and "I love yous" all the time. But it isn't just words. He is always thinking about how he can make my life and our life easier and happier. He researched laptops and digital cameras when I needed a new one. He's the one who thinks to put the heater on an hour before we go to bed, even though I'm the one who gets cold.
And it's not just the small things. I really wanted a deck out of our back bedroom. He built it for me. With the duplex we bought, I might have been the one who found and analyzed the deal. Used my credit and equity in my home to buy it. But he was the one out there every single day working on the rehab himself as well as managing our workers and contractors. He also lets me drag him to every potential house I'm thinking about so I can get his feedback!
He is intelligent, thoughtful, and kind. Who knows when to set me straight when I'm being...as he calls it...a "whackadoo" (stressing too much over something minor). But also how to be a supportive shoulder to lean on when I'm genuinely upset and/or sad, whackadoo-ness or not.
I'm also charmed that he loves our two fuzzy Valentines as much as I do. When our dog stand on her hind legs, he picks her up or dances with her. When our cat mews at him, he picks her up or motions for her to jump on his lap.
January
1. What were your financial goals for the month?
To stay on track and not have to touch our savings.
2. Were you able accomplish them?
We actually ended up putting over $500 into savings!
3. What were your greatest achievements?
Staying the course with a slightly tighter budget and savings some extra. Though admittedly the savings was more related to my husband working extra hours than any budgeting skills.
4. What were your biggest downfalls?
No downfalls this month...for once! We did find out that we owe for our federal taxes, but only $1300. Unfortunately because we can't touch other savings since we are house hunting we have to pull the money from what was our car downpayment savings (I would rather do that than touch the e-fund).
February
1. What are your money goals for this month?
To stay the course. Hopefully save another 3-500.
2. How do you plan to be successful in your goals?
I am finally (finally!!) tracking my purchases every single day. it makes such a big difference.
3. How do you plan to improve or challenge yourself financially this month?
I want to challenge myself to use the pantry/freezer better to start getting through our food. We are moving in mid-late March so now is the time to eat it down.
Status of Ongoing Goals
1. Debt payoff
Typical student loan payment, thats our only debt right now.
2. Savings success
The goal was to not take from savings, and we put $500 to savings. That's on top the "scheduled" $458 to my IRA, the $135 we save towards insurance (we pay lump sum), and the money towards car maintenance/clothes/birthdays and xmas sinking funds. Those are all different funds and total around 3-400.
3. Net worth watch
We don't track our net worth.