Green Panda Treehouse

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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 year.
• Spending: I’m going to continue cutting back on eating out to twice a week, including weekends.
• Investing: I’m going to enroll in my company’s 401(k) and meet the employer match. I’ll also continue to contribute to my Roth IRA.
• Saving: I will have $2,000 in my emergency fund by September 1, 2008. I would also like to put our income tax return into our house fund toward paying down the car loan.
• Debt: I would like to pay off my car loan by July 31, 2008. I would like to have my car loan out before I have to start paying student loans.

Here’s how I’m doing:

• Income: I am happy with this goal and unless something major happens, I’m good to go on this one.
• Spending: April took a lot of money out of my budget and I spent my emergency fund getting settled in the new city. I have rebuilt it back up to the pre-move amount.
• Investing: I’ve been investing n my Roth IRA still. The balance is starting to rise again. I use index funds and they were fluctuating a bit.
• Saving: I’m glad that I’ve automated my savings. The hectic pace of the move has distracted me on keeping tabs on everything.
• Debt: I’m still pushing back the car loan pay off to August 31,2008 as this move depleted some money from our savings. Whenever we get the stimulus check, we’ll put it towards the car loan. Any income from the blog is also going to go towards this debt. Thank you for all your support.

April has definitely been a month of adjustments. My work schedule is 1/2 day on Monday and regular hours Tuesday through Friday. I really my job and I love my coworkers. We went salsa dancing Thursday with some coworkers and had a blast.

We got the cars registered and I have to get an inspection done on Wednesday. My car failed today due to a sensor light. It should be fine the second time around. I’m hoping May will be a great month for my goals AND just overall.

I just want to congratulate my brother-in-law who’ll graduate Friday and my best buddy from high school who is graduating Saturday. They’ve both worked hard and I wish them the best. I’m looking forward to celebrating with them.

Photo Credit: It’s Greg

A lot has happened in March! We moved out of state last month and I started a new job. I like the new city, but I miss our friends. Since it’s the beginning of a new month, I wanted to give an update of the progress so far.

Let me first review my goals for this year:

• Income: I would like to earn $37,000 for the year.
• Spending: I’m going to continue cutting back on eating out to twice a week, including weekends.
• Investing: I’m going to enroll in my company’s 401(k) and meet the employer match. I’ll also continue to contribute to my Roth IRA.
• Saving: I will have $2,000 in my emergency fund by September 1, 2008. I would also like to put our income tax return into our house fund.
• Debt: I would like to pay off my car loan by July 31, 2008. I would like to have my car loan out before I have to start paying student loans.

Here’s how I’m doing:

• Income: My new employment will put me close to this goal. If continue working on the blog and doing some side jobs, I should be good to go. I’m grateful for the regular and visiting readers. If you have any feed back or suggestions, let me know.
• Spending: March was a great month for me. I saved on eating out in no small part to the generosity of friends and workmates who took me out. I’m hoping to keep I contact with everybody.
• Investing: Here is the bad news. New job means I have to start over again on the SEP IRA and wait a year to qualify. I’ll focus my retirement savings on my IRA.
• Saving: With my raise I should reach this goal. I’m continuing to automate my savings to protect myself from me.
• Debt: March was a great month for killing debt. My husband and I put the income tax refund toward the loan and we knocked 20% off the loan! Thanks to Jamie from Paid Twice, I’m snow flaking little savings towards this car loan. I’m pushing back the car loan pay off to August 31,2008 as this move depleted some money from our savings and I want to build that up a bit.

March has been good and I’m hoping April continues the trend. How have you’ve been doing with your goals?

Photo Credit:  It’sGreg

It’s March already! I’m waiting for the weather to be consistently warm instead of this 20 degree fluctuation we keep getting in this area. Work has definitely been keeping me busy. Since it’s the beginning of a new month, I’ve decided to do an update of my 2008 goals. Here are my goals:

• Income: I would like to earn $37,000 for the year.
• Spending: I’m going to continue cutting back on eating out to twice a week, including weekends.
• Investing: I’m going to enroll in my company’s 401(k) and meet the employer match. I’ll also continue to contribute to my Roth IRA.
• Saving: I will have $2,000 in my emergency fund by September 1, 2008. I would also like to put our income tax return into our house fund.
• Debt: I would like to pay off my car loan by July 31, 2008. I would like to have my car loan out before I have to start paying student loans.

Here’s how I’m doing:

• Income: I haven’t reached my monthly goal. I’m working a bit more, so I have seen a small increase in my income. I’m also working on improving this blog and making it a win-win situation.
• Spending: I did really well in February. I went out an average of once a week for lunch. I was diligent on saving leftovers and it is paying off. I also saved money on gas, as I didn’t have to drive around to get my food. I work on a rural area, so this helped out.
• Investing: I did enroll in my company’s 401(k). I’m currently putting in enough to get the company match. I’m also making minimal payments to my IRA. Once I eliminate my high interest debt, I’ll go ahead and divert some in my retirement accounts. 
• Saving: I’ve been automating my emergency fund deposits, so I’m doing alright. The tax return refund is now going to be used to pay down the car loan.
• Debt: I’m better now that my car loan payment is a bit more realistic. It felt good to reach my goal, instead of failing like I did in January. I also placed that coffee cup up and while I would love to use it on some sugary caffeinated drink, the money will go towards killing the car loan. Please do not free obligated to donate. I just put that there so I’m covering all my bases on destroying this loan. 

As you can see I still have a lot of work to do, but life is like that. If you have any suggestions to help me reach my goals, please share. I hope everyone’s Monday is starting out alright.

How about you? How are your financial goals going so far this year?