I have reached 18% of one of my savings goals. That may not be one-quarter of the total, but it’s quite good considering all the borrowing (from myself) and paybacks I’ve been doing lately!
I had to borrow money from my own savings to buy my netbook, but I’m happy to say I have paid it all back.
I don’t even think I posted about this goal previously. I have a goal of $3000 for one of my accounts. A short-term goal I had noted for myself was to reach $500 by the end of April. Since it’s April 5th and I am already at $440, I’d say I’m going to meet that mini-goal!
Recently I wrote about my ancient, overheating laptop. I was unsure about whether I should buy a full-sized, regular yet still portable laptop to replace my current 7-pounder, or whether I should just buy a netbook for now since it addresses several of my computing needs for a smaller price. As it turns out, my sister had an old laptop that quit working correctly. She never got it fixed, but I am going to take it to a local place to get an estimate. If I can get it fixed for a decent price, I may have a new-to-me laptop! It won’t be very portable (it has a 17″ widescreen!) but it will replace my 5.5 year old model. Depending on how much it will cost to fix it, I may have enough money to buy a netbook! On Monday, I will try to get an estimate. Further updates to come!
I am happy to report that I have reached one of my main financial goals! I have now reached my goal amount for my emergency fund!
This will allow me to increase the amount I am putting towards opening a retirement account (my next major goal). I am still contributing money towards my other financial goals, but reaching even a smaller goal is truly a motivation! I now have only three goals to distribute to each paycheck instead of four (donating, debt, retirement). I’ve already been thinking of goals to add for the future, but I’m going to wait until I reach another small goal.
Sadly, my debt has increased. This trend will continue until I can get financial aid. While it is discouraging to see the percentage paid off shrinking, I must remember that I have been keeping the interest accrued around zero.
Having already made this semester’s rant about the price of textbooks, I’m going to spare you the figures and get right to the point. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to pay for this semester’s books. I need them sooner than I can afford them; my loan refund check doesn’t arrive until February. Since I know I’ll need to read them before Valentine’s Day, I was going to borrow some money to pay for my textbooks, repaying using the refund check. Then I realized something. I was amazed at myself for forgetting my emergency fund! I had enough money in that account to pay for my textbooks.
The reason I didn’t think of using that money sooner was that I didn’t consider this financial need an emergency. A need, yes, but not a real emergency, because I did have other options. However, I realized it was ok to “borrow” the money from my emergency fund because I would be depositing the borrowed amount as soon as I get my refund check. I know I’ll pay myself back, too. I’m getting close to fully funding it, which is one of my goals for 2009.
Very recently, I made great progress in meeting one of my overall PF goals. I pledged to become more organized, and that is one reason I started this blog. I use it to keep track of what I’ve done and to plan what I’m going to do. I haven’t been posting publicly lately, but the private entries have kept me from forgetting my specific goals.
The progress I made was indeed an organizational feat tackled. One of the first things I wanted to learn to do when I started watching my finances was balance my checkbook. I bet that even people who don’t do much else in the way of PF do balance their checkbook. For some reason, I could never understand exactly how to do it, probably because I tracked my checking accounts online. When I tracked them online, I never got a matchup in my PF software.
Well this is a problem no more! Each penny is accounted for, and to celebrate my clean slate, I made myself a tracking booklet to keep in my purse. Now I have no excuse for not tracking my debit card purchases!
I realize it’s not September, but I won’t be making October’s debt payment until the end of the month. I’ll post a new graph then! (with hopefully more than one percentage point paid off!)
Let’s take a short trip back in time to explore my budding interest in personal finance. Earlier this year, I wrote a journal entry that documents an event that inspired me to begin paying attention to my cash flow!
Finance updateMy latest kick is that of getting back on track with my personal finances. What probably inspired me was the mistake that the city water office made that cost me over $1,000 when they paid someone else’s account TWICE using MY checking account. Thankfully I had decided to open my checking account statement RIGHT AWAY that day, and the $800+ charge jumped out at me.
The next day was Saturday, but I went to the bank anyways. It was open ’til noon, so I sat down with the guy in the office and explained the situation. He was nice enough to get right on the research and took my cell phone # so that he could let me know Monday what he found out. Well, to sum up the resolution to this wakeup call, a lady from the city called, apologized, and assured me that a repayment check (for both charges) was on its way. She said this would never happen again. Oh, it won’t, I assured myself. I will be watching my statements like a HAWK and possibly ending my direct debit account with the city.
At least the situation was fixed, and I am now motivated to do something about my personal finances.
As always when I get interested in something new, I begin to do research. Who knows how long my intense interest will last, but at least I will have learned something during my research that I will always be able to use.
Well, thank goodness I found that $800 charge that jumpstarted my PF interest! Who knows how many months the city water office would have kept incorrectly withdrawing money from my account? As it turned out, my interest has lasted, as shown by the PF course I’m taking as well as my occasional blogging.
I now have concrete goals and a determination to complete them. I can safely say that my interest in PF is not passing.
My first assignment for my online PF class required me to keep a week-long spending journal. Each transaction was to be marked want or need. I found out that I spent twice the amount on wants than I did on needs–yikes!!
The latest assignment is to do a budget–something I’ve struggled with in the past. I tend to fill out one on Quicken (and I did the same on MS Money when I was using that before) but never really check if it’s working or not. I update it with only a vague idea of how to do so, and I know it doesn’t help my spending at all because it’s a tool I don’t know how to use. I hope this will change after I complete the assignment, and I will have a budget that is relevant and helpful.
