May was expensive month but thanks to tax refund we managed to fully fund the EF for the year (so Goal #3 is Done - few months ahead of schedule!). We now have have 6 months EF worth of living expenses (not including mortgage payment). I think this is enough EF for us for now, we will re-evaluate it again next year.

We have also started funding the Car Fund (Goal #4), I am really really really hoping to fully fund it in June. I think if we do well this month, that is be very good with our spending, we should be able to do it. Plus I should be getting the $900 stimulus payment, which should be enough to achieve goal #4. Things that we could cut down are: groceries, entertainment, allowances, no buying clothes and other useless stuff. Oh well, here's to hoping.

Eventhough we spend a lot in May we still had 10 NSDs. $19K challenge is still doing well, the only thing that I'm trying to pull back is the grocery spending. But I guess that's what the miscellanous buffer is for


BTW, I kind of noticed that not many people are blogging these days (esp some of the regulars). Is it because it's now summer in the US and people are out and about more and don't have much time for blogging? Or is it because we are in the middle of the year and people have kind of lost focus on their goals (I hope not)?

I for one got too busy in April to blog (was away and had people over) and I only really average about 2/3 blog entries a week, I live a pretty boring life.

Well I do hope that everyone are still working towards their goals for this year. Good luck to you all.

We are finally getting our tax refund soon, so we will be getting $3K extra money this month. Also I should be getting the $900 stimulus package soon (DH doesn't qualify ). So by the end of this month we should be able to have a fully funded 6 mnths Emergency Fund (Goal #3). woohoo! Few months ahead in time.

I just checked my ING account, which has our xmas fund of $1,000 in it. I deposited that money back in January and it is now at $1,013.64. I anticipate to earn about $35- $40 by christmas, that should buy the ham or a gift for someone.

We actually achieved goal #2 at the end of last month, so we achieved that 1 month ahead of schedule. And we have also started goal #3. This was mainly thanks to DH bonus this year. It was a very small bonus but still it helps.

I'm so excited, DH got paid yesterday and it included some back pay of about $1,500. This means we might be able to fully fund not only the Xmas Fund but also the Emergency Fund this month. And should be able to put a bit more in the Car Fund.




I also just got a check from my health insurance, they are contributing $49.95 towards my $400 bill for the anesthesists. I'm still waiting for the Medicare check before I can pay the bill. Hopefully they will contribute a bit more, the more I can get from them the less I will have to pay out of pocket. But every little bit helps.

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On the news today, here in Victoria (Australia) we just reached a record high price of over $1.50 per litre of petrol. The highest one was actually $1.52(+). Converting that into US Gallon, it will be around $5.75 per gallon!!! Aren't you guys glad you are not driving your car around here? And I am just so glad that we converted to LPG!!

Okay finally got all the final totals for December. We managed to save 25% of our income this month. It was actually more but I decided to put $200 into the Car Fund, $50 in the EF and $250 into upcoming Medical expense.

So these are the final numbers for 2007 goals:
1. Pay $11,500 off cc by July.
Total Paid = $10,014 (83%)
NG: Pay $12,000 off CC in 2007.
Updated:25/11/07

2. Pay off Personal Loan ~ $3,000 (around $2,100 left).
Total Paid = $2034.50 (100%)
NG: Pay off Personal Loan by July.
PAID OFF 19/07/07

3. Contribute $1,000 to Ret Fund.
Current Total = $1,750 (175%)
DONE June 07

4. Have $3,000 EF.
Current Total = $2,000 (66%)

5. Have $5,000 Saving.
Current Total = $13,375.72
(267%)

6. Have $1,000 Car Fund.
TTD = $2,050 (205%)
Deduct = $247.00 (Service & Batt)
Deduct = $550 (LPG & Parts)
Deduct = $575.40 (Car Rego)
Current Total = $677.60

7. Have $3,000 Holiday Fund.
TTD = $3,600.00 (120%)
Deduct= $540.33 (April Holiday)
Deduct= $2,888.69(O'seas Holiday)
Current Total = $128.18

8. Have $1,000 Xmas Fund.
Current Total = $655 (65%)
Xmas Spending = $633.62

9. Put $5,000 into Investment.
Current Total = $5,198 (103%)
DONE Dec 07

This is our overall financial performance for 2007:



EDIT: For some reason I my pie chart is not showing. SO I will just write it out.

Debt Repayments - 33%
Household Expenses - 13%
Transportation Expenses - 5%
Insurance Expenses - 3%
Educational Expenses - 5%
Other Expenses - 10%
Superannuation (Retirement) - 2% (this does not included our employers compulsory contribution which should be 9% of our pre-tax income).
Shares (Investments) - 7%
Mini Savings - 6% (these are cash savings for near future expenses, I really see this as an expense as well not as a saving.
SAVINGS - 16%

Hopefully this year we will have a higher percentage in the saving and investment items

Well, it has been a great year, and we hope to have an even better year in 2008.
I’ve been blogging for almost a year now. One of the best things I did this year was to put my goals in my blog where I got to see it almost every day. I didn’t quite achieve all my goals; however, I was aiming really high.

What have we achieved this year?

Credit Card debt – we managed to pay off more than 2/3rd of our CC debt. We could pay it all off now but choose not to. For us it makes more sense to put the money in the mortgage redraw account instead because of its higher interest rate. Will most likely get rid of it by the end of 2008 (maybe?).

Personal Loan and Retirement – The personal loan was paid off half way through the year. We used to pay $40 a week for this loan. We now used half of that amount to fund my retirement account, which the Australian government match it by 150%. Unfortunately, they only match up to $1K, that’s why I only put $40 every two weeks.

Emergency Fund – Sad to say that we only achieved 65% of this goal but might still have a bit of money to put in at the end of this month. I guess this wasn’t high in our priority list mainly because the saving in the redraw account of our mortgage can also be thought of as our EF but I really don’t want to think of this way. I really don’t want to touch that money unless we really really really have to. I’ve decided next year I’m going to set up a regular deposit into this account, plus any extra money I could find until it is fully funded.

Long Term Saving (Redraw Account) – It’s looking like that after this month we should have almost $14K into this account (although I will probably take some money out to put in the medical fund and other slush funds that need extra funding). So overall, we should have at least $13K into this account, which means we more than double my saving goal! We should be able to double this amount next year because DH will be receiving a big bonus and a severance payment after the work his working now finishes. The great thing is he already has a new job line up.

Car Fund – Although we more than achieved the goal, I would have really like to have a bit more in there to start saving for our next car. Also, our car insurance should be due next month (haven’t received the bill yet but I think it will be coming soon), which means this fund will be deflated even further. I think next year I will have a separate account for the car registration and car insurance as the Car Fund (for repairs and money towards the new car).

Holiday Fund – we are 20% over the budget but no regret what so ever. Next year will be more than this year we are already planning a nice couple of holidays. We will have to budget $5-$6K for it, I think. Of course, will try to spend less than that.

Christmas Fund – although was not fully funded we managed to have a great Christmas without going over the budget.
Investments – this went beyond my expectation, I really didn’t think we would have been able to achieve this one but somehow it did. This amount is not even including interests and/or dividends that we received.

Overall, this year our Net Worth surpassed the $100K mark.