August like many months this year has been busy. It got started with a bang with the wedding and now we’re also working on buying a townhouse. This was not a spur of the moment puchase, but we’ve been keeping an eye out for awhile while we were building our savings.

We carefully looked at the costs of home ownership before we went looking at specific places. Hopefully this will work out and I’ll share pictures in a month or so of our new place.

Before you buy a home, see if it makes sense.

Last month I was also a part of HP’s Better Together Back to School Giveaway. It was definately exciting and I’ve met some new readers on Twitter.

Our Financial Goals for 2009

How We Did in August on Our Financial Goals

Debt: I really need to work on this a bit more. Our current bills are pretty much the same which is good. I did search for home insurance options this month and found somecompanies with premiums 30% less than competitors. That counts for something, right?

Seriously, I will be working on reducing some of our expenses this week, so we can free up some money to build the savings a little more than usual.

Spending: We only we went out last month once with some friends. It wasn’t intentional; we just didn’t see something that intrigued us. I’m kind of proud of us. We’re now looking at eating out as a special event and inviting people over more often.

Savings: We’re trying to sock as much money as we can for house expenses and savings. We will not empty out our savings for this house. The plan is to have some money still in savings as a cushion.

Your Take

How are you doing with your 2009 goals? Have you had some unexpected changes?

Top Posts This Month

I wanted to share of our most popular posts this month.

• Deciding on Home Ownership
• Marriage and Money: Financial Game Plan
• Marriage and Money: Joint or Separate Accounts
• What’s Happening with Cash for Clunkers Program?
• Achieve More By Having Smart Goals

Thank you all for your support. This blog has grown thanks you telling others about it. Please keep in contact with me through email and Twitter, as I try to make the site better everyday.

Photo Credit:  Fabio

_{»crosslinked«}

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

• May 2008: Progress Update Photo Credit: ivanx A new month means an update of the progress we've made on my goals so far this year. I'm hoping that by sharing it, it holds me accountable. Let me first review my goals for this year: Income: I would like to earn $37,000 for the......
• Pay Off Debt First or Start Savings (Chicken or the Egg) Work on Debt Reduction or Build Savings? There is huge amount of personal finance tips on the web, in books, on the radio, and on the television. The problem for most people is what to do first. Should we start by investing? Should we pay off our credit cards?......

• 15 Products that save Time, Money, and Space The holidays are quickly approaching and that means shopping season is in high gear. Good luck going to a mall. It's too crowded for my taste. I'll be getting almost all of my gifts on Amazon and Ebay. For the rest, I'll pick up gift cards from the local drugstore.......
• Guest Post - Setting Your Savings Goal for Next Year (Once again, I have the pleasure of presenting an interesting and helpful guest post.  This time, you get some advice on how to set resolutions for the coming year.  It might seem a bit early (you haven't even fallen asleep after gorging yourself on Thanksgiving turkey, after all), but it's......