March Goals Update

March Goals

1) No breakfast/lunch/snacks/coffee during the work week - FAIL I started off fairly strong (I think the first 2 weeks there was none) but I lost control during the second two. Went out for breakfast 2X, lunch 2X, one drink, and 2 teas.

Financial:

1) Shopping ban - FAIL - I purchased a bathing suit, a spring/rain coat, and 3 tops, 1 cardigan.
2) Savings goals - Check - My RSP is over $25K and I put another $700 into other savings accounts this month.
3) Debt goals - Check - I paid $1300 off my debt, closed one credit card, and now my total debt is under $4K!
4) Increase my Net Worth - Complete - up +$14,511.01 (goal = $10,000) Hmm, how much should I increase this to?
5) Track spending and post budgets - Check - I need to verify the numbers but I'm pretty sure I kept track of everything.

Lifestyle:

1) Lose weight -FAIL - ??? I don't even want to know, so I'm not weighing myself yet.
2) Do something physical at least 4x a week - FAIL - Gym, what's a gym? With all my time and energy going into OT this month, the gym definitely took a back burner.
3) Eat better - FAIL - Stress eating, that's all I'm going to say about that ...
4) Read more books - Pass - Finally finished "The Kingmaker's Daughter" by Philippa Gregory.
5) Make more things - FAIL - OT, need I say more?
6) Sell/donate more - Check - I sold 3 wedding items this month and I've posted some more items online.

Blogging:

1) Post my weekly spending and bi-weekly budgets. - Check
2) Post at least one other post a week other than #1 - Check
3) Comment on other blogs and become more of the community - Check
4) Use twitter more (@morgainemoney) - Check
5) Post updates on my progress with the Shopping Ban and these goals. - Check - unfortunately :(
6) I will update my blog and sidebars with these goals (other than the Closing Costs since this is mostly T). And if I'm on pace or not. - Check

April Goals

All of the above PLUS ... Actually, stick to these goals! The diet and exercise especially. I feel so tired, lazy, and lathargic lately. Hopefully Spring is here and we can do more things outside :)
How about you? How did you do on your March goals? Was March a crazy busy month or more relaxing?

Morgaine

Competing Priorities

Now that my RSP is $25K and that goal is complete, I'm going to shift my focus. The problem is to where? My personality type is one that would prefer to focus on one thing and get it done, as it gets done faster and gives me more motivation (which is why I picked the snowball method of paying off debt). But, I may not be able to do that all the time, and I'll admit that I find it frustrating.

Here are my competing priorities (in no particular order):

• Pay my Aunt back the $4K I borrowed for my RSP
• Pay off remaining credit card debt ($3900)
• Save for house down payment outside of RSP (approx $5K)
• Re-establish Emergency Fund (at least $1K)
• Save for trip to Alberta in summer ($200, flight paid for w/Airmiles) - July
• Save for gifts/Christmas/misc (at least $500)
• Buy a bike ($150-250)

Ok, lets add that up (using highest totals and ignoring interest, just for example purposes) = $15,150. I will at the very least pay $400 to my Aunt and probably $400 to the credit card to bring it to $3500. The rest is going to depend on how much my next paycheque is. But let's say I pay off and save a total of $1000 in March, that leaves me with $14,150

After March we have 9 more months in the year (yes, already!) 14,150/9=1572.22 per month that I would need to pay/save (not including interest) each month for the rest of the year. That's pretty much a whole paycheque! Also, since some of those goals need to be completed before the end of the year, that number isn't completely correct, its more for example purposes.

I will have to give my budget a look over to determine how much I will be able to give to each of these goals and how to make the best use of my money.

I will post my budget at the end of the month once I have an average of money spent for the last 3 months. I also get my OT "bonus" at the end of the month so I will have a better idea of the total I have left to repay/save. I will then try to determine how to best fit these payments into my budget going forward. I will post that to this blog.

How about you? How do you deal with competing priorities?

Morgaine

Financial Goals Complete!

Yesterday, I sent my "Investment Advisor" (I picked my own fund, though) a cheque for $5,000 which will put my RSP at $25,155. In my yearly financial goals, goal #2 is to have $25K for down payment of house. That goal is almost complete! I won't consider it actually complete until the trade goes through.

This will also put my Net Worth at $21,202. My net worth at the beginning of this year was $7,261. This is an increase of $13,941 which puts me well over my goal #5 of increase my NW by at least $10K. I will have to increase this one. But, once I take the money out of my RSP to use for down payment, my NW will decrease but I will be adding a house to the NW calculation (and a mortgage).

So, that's 2 Financial Goals completed in the first 3 months of the year! Unfortunately, I also broke my Shopping Ban this month, but I will just keep moving forward with the goal. I also have to bring my EF back up after draining it to pay off my CapitalOne card this month.

But, in more good news, I officially have a higher positive NW than I had negative NW when I started this blog in 2010!

In January 2010 I had $3,000 in savings and $22,400 in debt now I have $25,100 in savings and $3,900 in debt! From -$19,400 to +$21,200 NW. What a reversal in 3 years! :)

Granted, I still have a ways to go, I have to get that last credit card to $0 and pay my aunt back the $4K loan for the RSP, but right now, I'm feeling pretty proud of myself.

How about you? Have you accomplished any of your financial goals for this year?

Morgaine