December 2014 Month-End Recap

Here is a quick snapshot of my December goals.

Financial Goals

• Pay $616 towards debt this month PASS!
• I paid $1041 This month

• 	Extra	Dec 12	Dec 26	TOTAL
  Personal Loan	396.00	-	175.00	571.00
  Student Loan	-	60.00	60.00	120.00
  Credit Card	250.00	-	100.00	350.00
  TOTAL	646.00	60.00	335.00	1,041.00

  
  
• No credit card spending FAIL
• TWO no spend days per week Fail
• Build Emergency Fund Pass-ish
• Current E-fund is at $445

Personal Goals

• Finish a book PASS!!!
• Finished Serial and listening to Tony Robbins MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
• Exercise / Gym at least 3 times per week FAIL-ish
• Just became more active this month since I got my fitbit

November 2014 Month-End Recap

This was sucky month!  I am a bit disappointed that a little retail therapy went on this month, but I am glad I was still able to chop off $1,276 from my debt even though I added about $2,619 into the credit cards. I was able to pay off all the auto stuff are done : Car Insurance and Registration yay!

Financial Goals

• Budget $200 per week - FAIL!
• Week 23 - $155
• Week 24 - $2819 - $2619 (pet misc) = $200
• Week 25 - $325
• Week 26 - $622 - Ouch!!!!
• Pay $1200 towards debt PASS!
• I paid off $1276 this month - which is lower than what I have paid the past few months. It's because I had the car registration and paid off my car insurance for the year.

	14-Nov	28-Nov	Extra	TOTAL
Personal Loan	300.00	-	396.00	696.00
Student Loan	20.00	60.00		80.00
Credit Card		65.00		65.00
Car Stuff	300.00	135.00		435.00
TOTAL	620.00	260.00	396.00	1,276.00

• Pay off Car Insurance PASS!
• Paid $248
• Pay car registration fees PASS!
• Paid $135 and I also paid for a smog check for $48 - that was unexpected.
• Get a 0% balance transfer for veterinarian fees PASS!
• I finally have only 3 creditors left to pay!  

Personal Goals

• Run 5k on Thanksgiving PASS-ish
• Did not run - but we went to the gym and I logged in 2miles. Also, does the 5 hour Black Friday shopping count? There was a lot of walking involved lol
• Finish a book PASS!
• I finished Flat out Love by Jessica Park. Check it out! Its a cute easy read
• Bake/Cook something new Fail!
• I cooked and baked, but nothing out of the usual that I have done =(

October 2014 Month-End Recap

It was a hard month to accomplish my goals. Maybe because I became more laxer (am I using this word right?). Anyways, I feel like I am burnt out from this debt payment - or maybe because I had an 'unexpected' emergency this month that I feel like I am not going anywhere with this debt payment. It seems like this month is already shot - so on to the next!


Financial

Track daily spending PASS

•  I have been tracking my daily spending using an excel sheet which I think I might need to update. Just looking at different options online. Do you guys have any suggestions?

Do not use credit cards Fail

• I used my credit card to go on a little emotional shopping spree and some expenses at the vet - this brings the CC total to $220

TWO no spend days per week Fail

• There were a couple of weeks that I failed the two no spend days, but I was under the $200 budget. At the same time, I had a couple of weeks where I spent more than $200 and had two no spend days. I need to have a medium

Keep the weekly spending around $200/week Fail

• See above ^

Use cash for ONE week - budgeted $200 PASS

• I did not use 'cash' per se, but only used a pre-paid card

Pay $1200 to debt for the month of October PASS

• I was able to pay $2,809 because of the 3 pay period for the month of October. Below is how it was broken down to.

	3-Oct	17-Oct	31-Oct	Extra	TOTAL
Personal Loan	500.00	500.00		396.00	1,396.00
Student Loan	100.00	100.00	100.00		300.00
CC#1	100.00	100.00	100.00		300.00
CC#2	100.00	100.00	100.00	25.00	325.00
CC#3	100.00	100.00	188.00		388.00
Car Insurance		50.00	50.00		100.00
TOTAL	900.00	950.00	538.00	421.00	2,809.00

Put in $100 to the Christmas fund this month Fail

•  Its coming up and I know I have been thinking about putting something in here - but I still haven't done anything with budgeting for the holidays

Personal

• Work out at least 3 days every week  Fail
• I pretty much barely worked out this month. sigh!
• Read / Listen to a new book Pass
• I listened (bought the audio book) Pursuit of Perfect and read Flat out Love
• Learn to cook something new this month Pass
• We made this simple healthy recipe 

How did your October goals go? Were you able to PASS all of them?

September 2014 Month-End Recap

Getting back into the groove of things. September was kind of disappointing, but on to the next month right?

• Track daily spending PASS!
• Excel sheet has been updated to adjust to Septembers expenses. Might need to readjust this for October.

• Keep the weekly spending around $200/week FAIL-ish!
• Should I just do an average? Below were the results each week
• Week 14 $143.50
• Week 15 $98
• Week 16 $287
• Week 17 $142

• Use cash for ONE week FAIL!
• I completely forgot to do this. bleeeh!

• Allocate $1200 to debt for the month of September - PASS!
• Paid $1,841.74  into total debt last month. Yay!

• Do not use credit cards FAIL!
• I used the card with the airline points to get Jay's FL ticket and an extra payment for my FREE ticket - yeah you still gotta pay something to use points *sigh*. He's paying me back in cash so this will be paid off soon.

• At least ONE day of no spending per week PASS!
• I need to adjust this - this wasn't as challenging this past month

• Work out at least 3 days every week FAIL
• I started getting so motivated going to the gym the first couple of weeks of the month - then the busy weekends happened. Blah! No more excuses

• Read / Finish a book PASS!
• Audiobooks should count right? I listened to Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)". She is just hilarious! I just want to rewatch The Office again

How were your September goals?

July & August 2014 : Month-End Recap

I am combining both SUMMER months. My goals will usually stay the same each month - unless there is already something planned.

Below were the previous goals

• Keep a weekly spending budget of $150 FAIL
• I wasn't able to keep the budget of $150 and still not able to maintain the $150 a week. Some changes were made and I will need to see what I can do to budget my weekly expenses. I know, I know I just need to stop spending - but I have one too many excuses!

• Track my daily spending PASS-ish
• Ever since I got back, I was able to get back on track with tracking my daily spending - but I wasn't able to do this the two weeks I was gone
• I have a spreadsheet that I keep to log my expenses

• Do not use credit cards FAIL
• I unfortunately used my credit cards for a couple of things for this trip wooomp womp 

• Target debt payment amount this month will be $500 PASS!!!
• I paid $2,636 total from the last two months - whooooo!
• Btw that total should be $1000 for August - still a pass *high five*

• Have at least ONE day of no spending per week PASS
• I completely kept conscious of this and it was harder while on vacation

How did your SUMMER go ? Can you believe FALL is almost here *snoopy dance*

June 2014 : Month-End Recap

Goodbye June - Hello July!

• Weekly spending budget of $150 (FAIL)
• I totally failed this one... most of the weeks I have been going over - but there's always room to improve!
• Track my spending – I can use my cash or debit card (CHECK) 
• Yay - I cant believe I did this for a month. You can check out the weekly posts here.... I am looking to conquer you July!
• Do not use credit cards (FAIL - ish)
• I used CC#2 for a small purchase, but paid it off right away. I left my debit card in my other purse.
• Have a monthly debt payment target amount – I want to target to put least $1k into my debt this month.(CHECK) 
• I paid $1,353 this month - whooooo!!!
• Have a monthly savings target amount – I want to hit $1k of my emergency fund … (CHECK) 
• $1,000 is now currently sitting pretty on my savings account - which is not accumulating interest.
• Have at least ONE day of no spending (CHECK) 
• I don't think I was clear on this, but I wanted at least one day of no spending per week. I will definitely continue this next month

How was your debt progress for the month of June?