At the beginning of 2011, I sat down with my husband and put together a Financial Planning calendar.
Being June, we scheduled time in the middle of the month to do a mid-year financial check-up.
So, how are we doing?
Emergency Fund
Over the first three months of the year, we dutifully saved $400 each month, building our Emergency fund from $180 in January to $1,000 in March.
Debt Repayment
We had a slight set-back in January when my car’s head-gasket blew. We only had $180 in our Emergency Fund, and so we put the $2,200 bill on our Credit Card.
But, with our Tax Refund, and some extra earnings from my new job, we’re mostly on track to pay off our last credit card — we’ll just have one final payment in September, for around $150.
Major Events
Two-fifths of our big spending events have happened already: our anniversary, and my husband’s birthday. We paid for those just fine, although it was mostly with bonus money that came in, and not with savings. So that worked out, but I’d like to do better in the second half of this year and next year.
We have set aside $300 for the summer weddings we have to go to, which is excellent.
Savings Goals
We have been managing all of our big goals (emergency fund, debt payoff, major events), but not our small monthly savings goals. I.e., $35 a month for Christmas presents, $40 for Planned trips, and so forth. We have been saving $20 a month for Miscellaneous, but it’s not anywhere close to $145 a month. We’ll have to work on that, too, going forward and next year.
Where do we go from here?
In the next few weeks, I will find out the status of my internship, at which point we will have a more solid idea of what’s next.
Some of the things we would like to work toward:
Saving for our Honeymoon in 2012/2013
Getting a puppy, hopefully in November!
Going back to school with as little debt as possible, possibly starting this fall, or maybe in the Spring, depending.
Saving more consistently toward our smaller goals.
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