Monthly Update

Pay off student loan - 27.4%  (Up .6%)
Roth 2013 - 27.6% (Up 18.8%)
Pay back savings - plumbing - 24.1%  (Up 11.6%)
Windows - 7.9%

On the surface it looks like I'm humming along sort of as planned.  In reality, my tax refund didn't go at all as planned...lol.   By the the time I covered the electrician, the chest freezer, the boarding bill that will be coming for vacation, and an unexpected vet bill, there's really not much left for windows.  I also rounded out my Roth for 2012.  But that's okay.  No regrets.  For the record, chocolate poisoning for a small dog can run in the neighborhood of $1000 so put your chocolate far out of reach :)  If you're anything like me, you know your dog's abilities but occasionally you get a little um, complacent. 

I need to sit down and consider my spending.  In the past I've been able to rather easily manage to put $350+ into my Roth each month.  I haven't been able to do that since December.  I know I covered some big bills but they were expected and I should have been able to plan for those.  And that was in January or something.  So I probably have a money leak I'm ignoring..  Plus I have another big once-a-year bill coming in May that I should be planning for and I'm not.

Happy Easter, happy spring!

Monthly Update

Pay off student loan - 26.8%  (Up .3%)
Roth 2013 - 8.8% (Up 4.4%)
Pay back savings - plumbing - 24.1%  (Up 11.6%)
Windows - 7.9%

Woohoo!  Finally a little bit of progress on my savings and the windows.  Little bit on the Roth too.   My state tax refund came in handy for starting the windows fund.  My federal refund is due in this week.  I was hoping to put all of that toward windows too but I think I'll take some to do a little electrical work and then a little more to get a chest freezer for the basement.  Also vacation plans are shaping up and to be honest I'm a little afraid to see the boarding bill for 3 furballs.  Last time I went on vacation there were only two, one of which stayed with relatives.  So in summary, ta ta for now, windows..lol.  Oh well, sooner or later.

But really, I was looking at the big picture this morning and I'm happy overall with where I'm at.  So if the windows take longer than I wanted them to, not a big deal.  Life's good.

Monthly Update

Pay off student loan - 26.5%  (Up .9%)
Roth 2013 - 4.4%
Pay back savings - plumbing - 12.5%  (Up 3.5%)
Windows - 0%

So I skipped a month when I did my yearly look back.. this constitutes 2 months.  Thus far things are not going well in that area.  I took from my monthly cash flow to cover 6 months of car insurance and my summer share of a CSA.  It didn't really hit me until now that that's where my money went this month :)  I guess that is good news - it means I didn't fart away several hundred on small meaningless things..lol.  There's also that smaller impact of higher taxes this year.  So hopefully next month is better.

I also received a bonus this month that is not reflected in any of those goals.  I squirreled it away for a goal not posted here.. something fun if not realistic, so it is back-burnered until I pay back my savings and put windows in.  Yet I wanted to save my bonus that way because I feel bonuses should be enjoyed.

Another high note, my taxes are mostly done and looking promising.  I should have a nice chunk of change to do with as I please.  I was intending to start saving for windows with that, but I may just wipe out that savings goal first. 

Happy New Year!

A touch early 'cause I never make it to midnight.  Too old for that stuff :)

2012 goal: Put $4000 into my Roth.  Done!  Woohoo!

2013 goal: Put $4500 into my Roth.

I was hoping to aim higher in 2013 but I would also like to put the windows in this year, and who knows what will happen with the whole cliff situation.  Best wishes to all!

Dividends

I love this time of year.  Aside from all of the Christmas cheer and feasting, there are dividends!  For me anyway :)  My yearly (and quarterly) dividends come.. almost like a Christmas present to myself.  Growing slowly but surely each year..

Monthly Update

Pay off student loan - 25.6%  (Down .2%)
Roth 2012 - 88.3%  (Up 8.9%)
Pay back savings - plumbing - 9%  (Up 3.5%)

 Tires goal is gone, one way or another :)  I actually didn't need tires just yet, probably not for another year.  Someone made a big goof.  At least, I hope that's what it was, an outright lie would just make me angry.  

The student loan is slipping backwards because of the gap between payments..  I must have paid early a couple of times and now I'm backing off for a bit.

Finally a bit of progress on paying back savings and some decent progress on my Roth, I'm gonna get there yet this year.  It is a good spot to be in.  And in another month I'll have to make a concerted effort to decide on new goals for next year.  How time flies!

Monthly Update

Pay off student loan - 25.8%  (Up 1.1%)
Roth 2012 - 79.4%  (Up 5%)
Pay back savings - plumbing - 5.5%  (-)
Tires - 0%

I was hoping for better this month.  Oh well.  I'm planning on putting the tires on this month so I should be knocking that goal out one way or the other, ha :)  That third pay check should come in handy for that.  There is also a wedding this month that could get costly but so far I'm planning on skipping the hotel/dog boarding experience so that will make it easier in the finances department.

I did treat myself to a toy.  The Nexus 7 just price dropped when they rolled out some new models so I picked up one of those.  I haven't played too much but so far I'm loving it.  Somewhere between an iPad and a Kindle.  So far I'm just playing games but I will be exploring the eReading side also.