The road ahead is bumpy, but no longer mountainous, and somewhere, off in the distance I think I can see pavement.
This month, we weren't especially careful, and yet for most of the "discretionary" items, our spending was lower. And this includes several "social" events and a trip out of town. Our social life, such as it is, tends to go in phases. We'll barely leave the house for three months, then suddenly, have 3 events in 2 days. We're okay with that, but it does make budgeting interesting. In any case, our Dining Out expenses went down about 40%, but gas went up 46% (ouch!). We've also set some longer-term goals, such as savings priorities. You may have noticed the progress bar in the sidebar which shows our emergency fund goal, as well has credit card debt. The emergency fund is going up fairly quickly, and the debt one is rapidly dropping. We're thrilled with the progress on both of those. Unfortunately we're going to have to divert some of the savings for a while for a trip out of state in July. (My Brother is getting married in Oregon.) So we've got to pay for that. But before we leave, the Credit Card debt will be gone.
Our savings goals after we get back from Oregon will be to top off the emergency fund, then fund a vacation fund for our 5th anniversary trip, after that, a Christmas fund to cover gifts and any traveling we do for the holidays. Both of these funds will move back to the top of the list after the first of the year, as they will be annual. We'll top them off and then not touch them until we need them. After that we'll pay off one of the student loans (low balance, high interest). Then we'll set up a fund to pay for a headstone for Aiden. Then we start putting money away for the big goals. I've got a decent 401k right now, but we've put nothing away for TBWITWW since we got married. Our goal is to fully fund a Roth IRA for her starting next year. The final goal is a downpayment for a home. Hopefully with these goals in mind, we'll stay on track. I'm going to take some advice I've read and make a list of these goals and keep a copy in my wallet and a copy at my computer to remind me constantly what I'm working towards. I'll remember that every dollar I spend is one less to put towards these things.
Leave a Comment
Before leaving a comment, please ensure you have read and understand my comments policy and my privacy policy. Any comment that does not abide by the comment policy will be deleted immediately.