2009 Financial Goals: January Update

Time to give an update on how we did financially the first month of this year. We didn't accomplish nearly as much as I had planned/hoped. We just weren't as diligent as we could have been but there were some successes as well. We knew saving money was going to be difficult the first few months of this year and we just didn't tighten the belt enough to make much happen in that regard.

You can read the full details of our goals here.

1) Pay off my husband's car.
Done!!!!! WooHoo!

2)Make monthly "car payments" into a car savings account each month.
We did not put any into this account in January since we paid off the car instead.

3)Build our emergency fund up to six months of living expenses.
No money added to this account this January.

4) Continue our normal contributions to retirement savings.
No 401k yet through husbands work. He got everything transferred from old 401k and set up an IRA with that money.

5) Paying extra on our mortgage.
No extra on January mortgage.

6)Save $1000 to cover all expenses for next Christmas.
Again, no savings however I did spend a little to save a little. $200 of that $1000 was going to go towards buying a new artificial Christmas tree since our old one bit the dust. I found one on clearance at Michael's 90% off. I paid $29.99 for a new 7.5 ft pre-lit tree saving us $170.

7)Finally, by the end of the year, we plan to evaluate our savings plan and find a way to begin saving for college expenses.
Not there yet.

I also spent a little to save a little on kid's clothes. I got some great clearance deals on clothes for next Fall/Winter. But because I did that I didn't have the extra money for savings. I have mixed emotions on this.

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