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Saturday, March 28, 2009

March Wrap Up - April Goals

March is almost over. Spring is on the way but as I sit here at the computer its pouring down rain. I suppose that is better than the snow that just keeps combing back. I decided to post my monthly wrap up early because I have the time this weekend and not much will change. Its month/year end at work so I will be busy the next few days.

The hubs went back to our friends house to finish up my car after working on it last night. The new (to us) engine is in but a coolant hose and clamps have to be replaced. Thankfully no more smoke coming out the back of the car when it is started up. We had to use a credit card for a few car parts and the hubs treated his friends to dinner for helping us out. Their help saved us about $2500 in labor.

I have put snowflaking on the back burner for now. We still spent a lot on eating out and coffee. I'm not giving up on reigning that in though. Since it worked so well for groceries and gas I have decided to give us a weekly allowance for this as well. We shall see how that works this month since I have been pretty successful with our other allowances. One thing that helps is making dinner at night of which the left overs become lunch the next day.

I have tweaked our budget/debt reduction/savings plan strategy - again. After all of our expenses have been covered (including fun money) we have roughly $500 per month that can be put towards extra debt or savings. Some months less than others because of expenses that come up like taking the dog to the vet, car tabs, Costco membership, etc. So, the bucket of money in April will go towards debt, in May towards savings, June debt, July savings - you get the idea. I like this plan because we are working on the two most important things at once, decreasing our debt and increasing our savings.

March/April Goals

Finances
Debt reduction: March $1000 - actual $1009.97, April $1212.92
Pay off credit card: March Old Navy - check, April Macy's
Savings: no (BMW tires), April no
Eating out/Coffee: March $180 - actual $102.44 and $145.88, April $120
Groceries: March $400 - actual $355.74 (need to shop today), April $400
Odd expenses: purchase two new tires for hubs BMW - check

Health
BJ dog park ever weekend: March 2 times
Walk every Sunday: March 2 times (illness and scheduled day off)
Walk pier every Thursday: March - epic fail
Wii fit and elliptical 3 days a week: March 2 weeks - epic fail
TV viewing during work week 8 hours: March - check
Computer time during work week 5 hours: March - check
Drink 8 glasses of water a day: March - epic fail

Hand Crafting
Work on and possibly finish one or more of the following: SD tabi socks, SS fingerless gloves, Lady E or Headband - March fail, April tabled as evidenced by lack of interest over the past few months

Decluttering and Condo Projects
Stuff behind couch: using area as temporary storage for items I am keeping and need to find/make a home for
Stuff along TV wall in master bedroom: fail (working on it today)
Buy and install new master bedroom door - fail

101 Things
Complete 101 Things list - check
Cross off two items and blog about it - check (Sushi and my list)

Happy April!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Debt settlement is a method of debt elimination for less than the amount actually payable to the creditors. In this process, you stop paying monthly installment to your creditors and instead save the money. When you have saved at least 50% of the total amount, you start negotiating with your creditors for a defrayal. This process is also known as Debt Arbitration or Debt Negotiation and it can be a good bankruptcy alternative.
Become Debt Free

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