Goals Review - October 2006
Staying in budget requires consistent reflection — monthly goals should receive the same consideration. For next month, I’ll make a more dedicated effort to check my progress throughout the month.Goal: Remain within the new household budget.
Progress: This one is hard to pin down because we’re getting used to using YNAB and you must allocate all of your income into categories. Because of this and because of some over and under spending, I reallocated (“rebudgeted”) funds to make sure the numbers worked out correctly. I guess the positive thing is that we under spent by a few hundred and have $300 leftover to up the credit card payments for next month.
Goal: Set up individual contribution to company retirement account.
Progress: I met and passed this goal. I had to enter an amount versus a percentage on my contribution form. Instead of deducting the odd number 10% worked out to bi-monthly, I rounded the number up. My retirement contributions are actually 10.59% of my annual salary (works out to an extra $200 a year).
Goal: Support the partner’s move to contributing to his 401K plan.
Progress: I didn’t really meet this goal. I tried to offer support but just last night, when he was asking some questions about his options, I just frowned, commented I was too tired to respond, and went to bed. It has been a very tiring month.
Goal: Continue reading financial books and sharing them with the partner.
Progress: Same as above, I spent too much time catching up on sleep. I do have notes for an upcoming book review compiled, but nothing that is really of any help for the partner.
Goal: Limit dining out to no more than $100.
Progress: I thought that we were going to make it, for a few weeks at least. What pushed us over was one expensive meal ($50+) and the last week of the month. However, I’d say that spending only $180 on eating out is pretty damn impressive for us!!!
Goal: Max budget of $200 for upcoming camping/event weekend.
Progress: Wow, I really thought I’d set this budget for $0. Because, really, why do I need to buy things for this trip every single time when I’ve been doing it for more than 5 years, at least twice a year! Despite this, we went over budget by $40 – this was predicated by poor planning and neglecting to bring cold and wet weather clothing and buying a brand new tent.
Goal: Establish debt repayment plan and savings investing schedule by Oct. 30.
Progress: I forgot about this goal. I’ve kinda established a basic debt reduction plan, but since reducing our interest rates, I’m going to need to adjust it accordingly.