Saturday, January 30, 2010

Monthly Review... How did January Go?

Financial $$$ & Personal Goals End of January Re-cap

Pay off non-mortgage Debt • Pay off Tile Company -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return
• Pay off Home Depot -> $4,000.00 FTH Tax Return
I did my taxes today… It cost me $60 bucks (on next month’s budget)… but I owe the State $55… and I’m getting $8,700.00 back… I just can’t efile my taxes because I have to send additional documents to the IRA to prove I bought my new home. So I’ll be mailing these on Monday after Boyfriends daddy makes sure I attach the correct information.

Lower Mortgage to under $115,000.00
• @ $117,221.70 (2,221.70 to go)
I made my first extra $60.00 principle payment!

Get emergency fund to $8,200.00 (left to add $1,100.00)Emergency fund now sits at $7,100.00 (I added $100.00 to the account.)

Contribute $5,000.00 to Roth IRA ($4,750.00 left to add)
$250.00 was added this month and I’ll buy mutual funds with it once it transfers overt. My First Extra Check that I get (June I believe) will be used to buy ROTH IRA CD’s. My Second extra check will be half CD’s, half Mutual funds.

Car Fund (Save $250.00) (left to add $195.64)This month I added $54.36 since I only filled up the car twice. The savings account now has a balance of: $394.36

Increase Networth to $60,000.00
• @$50,306.00
This Month:
• I put $250 to the Roth IRA... Mostly consumed by the drop in the market…
• My employer 401a contributions: $28.48
• My Pension got a push: $123.08
• Paid down the mortgage this month by $197.07
• Both paychecks had 1 holiday each on them that forced a normal day of work into Overtime since the holidays fell on my days off… I got an additional $132.11 on both checks!!!!! Total Saved: $264.22 (this may get spent on annual bills not budgeted… but for now its saved)
• Additional money left over from my budget this month: $38.92

Personal Goals:

GET IN SHAPE
I succeeded in not eating any red meat this month! I lost 2 lbs this month... and with training for the marathon, I’m sure I put some muscle weight on…yup that’s right I decided to train for the LA MARATHON for Childshare, so hopefully training for that will help turn some of this flab into fab! The Food Journal didn’t happen because I decided to track my spending and to constantly be itemizing my life on paper isn’t healthy or sane… so I choose financial. But I did get a food scale and I use it to measure out just one serving of cereal when I have it. Small steps. =) Next month I’ll keep track of breakfasts… calories, etc…

Give More
Kiva- I made my first loan for 2010 after all my other loans came back in full. I also deposited my CC rebate check so I’ll be able to put back all the money I withdrew ($100.00), and an additional $25.00 for more lending.
Child S.H.A.R.E (fundraising, events, and time)—Had a meeting with a CS rep and decided to walk the LA Marathon. I won’t have much time to fund raise this year because of stuff with my condo warping all my time, but I did get a co-worker to agree to sign up for my charity (she runs it for fun every year)… and I worked out a way for the awesome Child Share Rep to come to my church and do a speech for the organization and encourage people to sponsor me and my friends who are walking together… Our walking group is now at 3… including my old roommate…………………….. it will be a long 26.2 miles.
LTG- =) I smile here. I’m getting into the swing of the all around giving, not just $$$$ but time, talents, and love which makes me happy. In addition to monthly giving, I tutor a member’s daughter in math and we kind of have this big sister little sister thing going which is fabulous. I’m also a member of the worship team and sing every other week , I attend a small group on Tuesdays and I’m trying to get more involved in the women’s ministry there.

Track my spending
I smile looking back on January and this goal. I saved every receipt sans one… I lost a target receipt for house hold supplies… but I decided earlier to not be so crazy about it all and to track it in categories, not by every item spent. I’ll post the January spending in another post. I’m also itemizing my grocery list to find out who has a better deal on what and to help me curb my spending even further now that I’m cooking for two a lot more.

Read One book a MonthI finished January’s book: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
I GIVE IT: 5 Stars/5 Stars
It was fabulous. Normally I can guess a plot and what’s going to happen long before it does, and this book was so fresh and inviting that it was a nice “friend” to curl up with. Even nicer, I spent $1.00 for it at the used book store last year and just now got around to it. If you want to read a blurb about it, here’s the Amazon link:

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