This is how we went with of $19K challenge.



So we went over our budget but we still did better than 2008. In 2008 overall we spent $19,890.73 ($500 better) for all our living expenses excluding mortgage.

Our 2010 challenge will be very similar to 2009. I will post that next.

and we've only got $107 left in our 19K challenge (all bills has been taken out already). Half of it will probably be spent for fuel. Also we will probably need some groceries. And then we are planning to go out this weekend which would cost us around $40-60. And a possible new year's eve celebration, possible cost???

It is very likely that we will go over our $19K challenge/budget this year, but it won't be much. Lucky the christmas expenses will be taken out of the xmas fund .

As can be seen on my side bar our Sept Exp was through the roof. A lot of our expenses are due in Sept and because it is the start of the warmer season everyone wants to go out. There are a lot of birthdays and celebrations that happens in Sept too. Christmas and New year babies.

We are now in the red with our Entertainment budget for the year and there are still 3 months to go. We really got to do better this month or we will never make our $19K challenge this year. Spent a bit more on groceries but a lot of it will use in Oct. So I expect to have a very low grocery bill this month but we might be getting visitors so who knows how well we will go.

Good news was that we still managed to have 8 NSDs last month.

I decided to put everything extra into the Holiday Fund, which was $1260. There should be enough money in it now for our upcoming holiday.

Anything extra in the next 3 months will all go towards the Household Fund, that is quite deflated at the moment and there are a lot of work we need done this summer.

July recap:
* Had 10 NSD.
* Spent a bit too much on junk/miscellanous stuff.
* Utilities (Gas & Electricity) were through the roof.
* Everything else were not too bad - just a typical month.

- Just updated my sidebar -

This is a bit late, was going to update my sidebar last week but had some computer problem.

Well, we did goal #4 last month and even had $150 extra, which I put in the holiday fund. I want to put at least another $1,000 in the holiday fund before our holiday in few months time.

I don't think I will bother putting in any money into next year's christmas fund until Dec. Once I put in $1K into the holiday fund I will put in as much more into the Household fund. I want to do more house repair this year rather than waiting for next year.

Our $19K challenge is still doing well but the grocery and entertainment budget is still looking very bad. Overall, we are ahead of our challenge. So we are halfway there and so far so good.

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.

I met all my financial goals last month but didn't make a dent on the other stuff. We spent $1,820 out of the $19K challenge. About $1,200 of it was for our annual car and home & content insurance. It was a very good month overall.

I am particularly very happy about our $100 grocery challenge for the month. I guess the most obvious goal for this month is to make sure we keep the grocery expense within our normal grocery budget (which is about $230p/m). BTW we did our first grocery shopping for the month today and spent just over $120. I tried not to get too much meat, just in case we get another blackout. We lost our power the other, luckily it was for just over an hour (unlike some households who didn't have power for 2-3 days in a 40+ deg celcius heat).

Another good thing that happened last month is I managed to put more than double what I expected to put in the Household fund. yea!

And 17 NSD for the month! A record for us.

Anyway, here's my goal for the month of Feb:
* Declutter Spare Bedroom (Started)
* Put junk into boxes in garage
* Do some painting
* $1K into Saving/Invest
* $900 into H/hold fund
* Grocery budget under $240 ($119.56 left)
* 10 NSD for the month

I really hope to be able to get some of these non financial goals done this month.




1 Feb - 5:30pm

It's a really nice Sunday afternoon right now, we are just relaxing gearing up for tomorrow's back to work day . Lunch was riccotta and spinach in filo pastry with a side of salad (mostly from the garden - lettuce and rockets were from the garden).

We got the statement for our annual car insurance (due in a week or so). It is less than what I anticipated it to be, which is fine by me . It will only be $686.60, under budget by $23.40 (great start for our 2009 challenge). Last year the increase for this insurance was around $50 more than the previous year, but it only increase by less than $10 this year...yipee!

Oh today should be a NSD. 3 days in a row for us!

3rd entry for today, I'm trying to make up for the last week of not much blogging.

I finally finalise our 2009 budget, I had to make some small changes. We are hoping to only spend $19K this year on these items.



*Amount increase from last year.

-I'm trying out a new title for my blog, still not sure if I'll keep it this way though.

But this is not finalise yet. Right now this is what our challenge for next year look like. Deep down I really think it is doable, I think it is realistic enough.


*Amount increasing next year.

I will finalise this at the start of next month. DH right now is actually in the middle of finding out whether we can lower some of our fix expenses (mainly insurances). He is currently doing the research and ringing up. Every cent counts right?