Progress: I lost interest in this. My numbers on those posts were low and I got into a stretch where I ended up buying lunch a lot...but I will say I am making more of an effort to remember to bring lunch.
Goal: Devise a budget and work with my husband to stick with it.
Progress: I created a budget and tracked our spending for a couple of months. We spend less than we make and we really don't enjoy tracking every penny. The leaks were where we thought they were and we just aren't real motivated to plug them.
Goal: Unless we end up needing to buy a car this year; do not take any money from savings; live on current income.
Progress: If you average our one-two times a year bills (mostly insurance and tuition) and divide by twelve, you end up with about $2,000/month, with more due at the end of the year than the beginning. Right now my checking account balance is $4150.00 higher than it was six months ago. I have about $15,000 in those big bills left to pay this year, so I'm $1,000 ahead.
Goal: Add $300/month to our Prosper or Lending Club accounts as savings for another car.
Progress: Two out of six ain't bad, is it? Acutally, I have purposely not worked on this goal because the next car purchase is in sight--we are buying my college girl a car at the end of the summer. It will give her a chance to get used to driving on a regular basis in the small college town rather than in suburbia. She'll also be able to drive herself to job interviews and otherwise prepare for life on her own--and she is moving off campus this year too.
Goal: Continue our 401K savings at the current level.
Progress: One of those out-of-sight, out-of-mind things. Yes, since we didn't change the paperwork, we've met this goal--and since I had a lot of overtime in April, it got a nice extra boost.
Goal: Add $100 per month to each of our Roth IRA's.
Progress: We owed money at tax time so I put $1,000 each in our regular IRAs to take care of that problem, so in some ways we are ahead ($2,000 vs $1200) but I'd like to get more money into those Roth IRAs too.
Goal: Renovate my den with the last money from my dad's estate.
Progress: Still waiting on the IRS
Goal: A second honeymoon for me and my husband.
Progress; Done! We had a great time in New York City last month.
Goal: Earn at least $50 per month from freelance writing.
Progress: So far this year I've earned over $688 so I'm ahead on this. In June I was over $300 and this month I will easily be over $100. I am managing to find the work; the question is how much will I have time to do once school starts, and how motivated will I be to continue. Suffice to say that I'm not getting rich with any of these assignments; most pay at or below minimum wage when everything is taken into account. On the other hand, I do them in my pjs when I would otherwise be wasting time, and I generally enjoy doing them--and my rate is trending higher.
How are you doing with your 2016 goals?
*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich, Disease Called Debt and Little House in the Valley*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich, A Disease Called Debt and One More Broke Twenty-Something*
http://diseasecalleddebt.com/extreme-saving-no-new-clothes/ 1. How We Avoided Buying New Clothes for a Whole Year http://brokegirlrich.com/the-little-costs-of-friendship/ 2. The Little Costs of Friendship http://familymoneyplan.com/interview-brokegirlrich/ 3. Behind the Screen Interview #7
Congrats on the side hustling success! It sounds like you're in a real safe place financially. It's so nice once financial goals won't make or break you, but are just better habits you're trying to install in yourself.
ReplyDeleteYes, I is nice not to have to worry about things. I'd say the easiest way to do that, if you make enough to be able to make those choices, is to choose a lifestyle below your paycheck. It is much easier, IMO, to "settle" once for less house and the lower payment that goes with it than it is to have to worry every month about whether something will break because your house payment is so high. Cars are another area where we spend a lot less than many people in our income bracket.
DeleteCongrats on tracking specific goals for the year. Don't you hate how unexpected things come up and throw your goals off course. That happened to me as well this year. I bought a house which is great (and knocked a goal off my list) but with the house comes a lot of added expenses. Good luck to you the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the house, and yes they can be money pits but it is nice to have a place that is your own.
DeleteGreat job on tracking all these goals and congrats on your side hustle progress. I have to say that I haven't been doing so well on following up on my 2016 goals. My wife had the idea that we'd track them at least monthly when we go over our budget report, but it seems to have slipped both our minds. Guess we'd better dig out those goals and see where we stand!
ReplyDeleteNice job tracking your goals this year. I tried tracking them over the past years and usually gave up around this time of year, so I said, "Forget it!"
ReplyDelete