1st Quarter Update

It's hard to believe we're in our third month of the year already but I want to give an update on how our financial goals are progressing this quarter. If you remember from our previous post, 2009 Financial Goals, our goals for the year are:

• Pay off our auto loan (our last consumer debt)
• Install a sliding patio door off our dinning room.
• Fix our Garage door (it's been broken since we bought the house)
• Update our Bathroom
• Update our Kitchen (This does not include new appliances, although now might include a microwave, keep reading for an explanation.)
• Partially finish the basement
• Save 3 months worth of income in our Emergency Fund
• Completely stick to our budget at least 1 month (We always seem to go over in one or more areas but it evens out because we are then under in other areas.)
• Increase our net worth to $80K or more
• Be content with all our financial decisions throughout the year

I am quite happy to report that we have met 2 of our goals already!!

• Completely stick to our budget at least 1 month
• Increase our net worth to $80K or more

Last month we really hunkered down and got serious about following our budget and we were under in every single category. Most categories we were under by over $100. Very exciting! In addition to this, we've been able to put extra money towards our debts which has bumped up our net worth to over $80K. We're hovering around $83K at the moment but have been up to $85K over the past month.

God has been richly blessing us this last month, let me tell you. We've been able to make several hundred dollars from selling books and video games on Amazon.com. We've also gotten reward points from our credit card (used for work-related travel) which we cashed in and put towards debt. Last but not least, I won an award at work and was given an extra bonus of $50 for my accomplishments (not to mention a pretty snazzy binder). Even just today I got to work and there was a congratulations card waiting for me. Inside was a $20 Meijer gift certificate from my boss for passing my CISSP certification. Having a boss as cool as mine is is a blessing in and of itself, might I add.

All that said, we have had one minor set back this past week. Our microwave broke! Ah! I know a microwave isn't really a necessity but it can be missed once it's gone. We've been cooking things on the stove and baking things in the oven instead this week. I have a feeling we might even do some grilling soon as long as the weather cooperates. All in all, it has been a minor inconvenience really. My husband and I talked it over and agreed that a broken microwave doesn't really classify as an emergency, so we're not going to dip into our emergency fund to buy a new one. I think we're just going to hang tight for now and see what we can find at a garage sale.

As a side note: Aren't garage sales wonderful? It's one of the signs that spring is on its way!