Earlier in the year, I shared my family’s financial goals for 2009. To keep us on track, I plan to review them quarterly (I find the accountability helpful). Here’s where things stand:
1) Make contributions to savings/debts before spending other money. With this goal, we wanted to be better about setting aside money to pay off debt or save (see #4 and 5) before spending money on unimportant expenses like eating out and other splurges. I think we were more attentive in January and February than March. In March, we had the twins’ birthday party, guests visiting several weekends, and an inflated sense of “we’ve got money” due to a large surplus in February with the income tax refund. There’s room to improve in April.
2) Continue to track our daily/monthly spending. I’m still doing the same thing, just jotting down daily expenditures on a calendar taped to the fridge, then putting the info into an Excel spreadsheet to compare month-to-month. I have to say, I’m kind of tired of it, but I know it’s important and worth the effort.
3) Keep our emergency fund intact, and begin investing it in a CD Ladder for increased interest. The plan to invest in higher-rate CDs is not as relevant now that the rates have dropped because of the economy. I don’t know if it’s worth it to move part of our savings to a CD that only makes 2.0% while losing accessibility, but I suppose I should do a little more research.
4) Plan for a “new to us” car purchase in early 2010. I’m keeping track of how much of the allotted $500 each month goes towards repairs or service, and it’s only $42 for the past three months! Since I don’t drive the minivan much, it takes me 9 months or so just to get to the 3,000 mark for an oil change or service. I know that I’m due for both service and car registration during the next three months, so this amount will not be as high next review. $1,458 to the car fund so far!
5) Make a major impact on our biggest debt–our mortgage. Our goal was to put an extra $1,000 a month towards our mortgage, and we’ve done it three months in a row without feeling a pinch. One reason was the big income tax refund, and the other is the extra $500+ I’ve been making each month. I’m glad this is on track and am eager to see the progress we make this year.
Way to go Gina!
It sounds like you are staying on track and doing a great job. For number 2 have you thought about changing from tracking spending to a budget before the months starts? I used to track our spending (for several years)along with using a budget. I switched two years ago to just a budget w/ a cash envelope system for several of the categories. It made my life so much easier.
My 2 cents on number 3 is to NOT do the CD Ladder. From our life experiences I can tell you that when you need to tap into those funds you don’t want to have to jump throw hoops or not have access for a couple months. What would happen if some drunk hit you and the kids while driving your minivan and it’s totaled along with health issues? What if someone in your house has a major health emergency? The roof gets taken off during a terrible wind storm? There have been several times where we had to come up with a couple thousand dollars fast. We had 3 ER visits within two weeks and the boiler died all within one month’s time. It cost us around 7k in unexpected expenses. None of those things could wait and I would never want to take a loan out and pay interest while the money is “tied up”.
I hope this helps!
Wow! That’s awesome! Here’s a site that my husband found us to help save time on tracking expenses. http://www.buxfer.com/
Its free to sign up and its a great way to keep track of all your transactions for all of your accounts since it keeps everything in one place. Its great!
Thank you so much for all of the time you save me with your blog!
Nice that you are on track! Our big financial goal was to do the budget TOGETHER and to KEEP tight to it! So, far so great!
Not bad to be almost mid year!