Monday, April 13, 2009

March Redux... finally!

So I took a couple categories off the posting format, because they kind of overlapped and weren't that useful. But here's the good stuff:

March:
No-Spend Days: 20/20
No Eating Out Days: 25/25
Extra Income: $222.09 ($30.21 rebate from Walgreens, $60 gc for rx transfer, $100 cash back bonus from cc, $31.88 interest)
Money Into Savings: $1605.87
Retirement Savings: $1100
Workout Days: 8
Books Finished: 3
Times Flossed: 6 (still going up!)
Letters/Cards/Contacts: 4
Progress on 2009 Goals:

  • continuing to reduce my Bank of Mom debt (turtling for now to rebuild savings/EF)
  • have kept my amazon.com card paid off each month – AND I got a $100 cash back reward from them this month for points I’ve accrued so far…without ever having paid them a cent in interest. TAKE THAT, CREDIT CARD COMPANIES!!
  • kept my credit union savings/checking account balances above $750 in each account to take advantage of the special rate – monthly goal MET!
  • met all of the monthly requirements for my Checking ++ account (although the reward rate was lower this month, 4.52% APY, boo! Still better than I can find most anywhere else, though! – monthly goal MET!
  • The 2008 Roth: I wanted to max this out as much as possible by April 15 (with the ultimate max being $5k), but that upper limit was starting to make me consider doing crazy things, like emptying my EF in order to reach a goal just because I wanted to reach it, and not because it would be the financially wisest thing to do. So I decided I would try for $2500 – half of the maximum allowed, and really a pretty awesome amount to have contributed since January of this year. And I did it! Goal met! (and that makes me feel really positive about my ability to get to a point where I can max out 2009’s, too!). Very excited about this one.
  • continued contributing to my SIMPLE IRA (w/matching)
  • kept my "Little EF" above $1,000
  • continued contributing to my "Big EF"
  • decided to go to Vegas with Mom & Dad, Airbear, and some other friends, so I have been putting more into my "vacation fund" so that I will not have to use a credit card to go on the trip! (Well, you know what I mean, I’ll still use the card for the awesome reward points, but be able to pay it off the same month.)
  • Renamed "Special Occasion Fund" as "Wedding Fund," because now it’s official… we got engaged on March 20! Now I’ll just have to start working on filling it… but the vacations are coming up in a month so I have to tend to those first.
  • continuing to post on the No-/Controlled-Spend thread, and got 20/20 no spending days and 25/25 no eating out days – goal (just barely) met!
  • I worked out 8 times this month, but they were very spaced out. I’m going to use the upcoming Vegas trip (swimsuit needed!) to motivate myself to do a lot better in April, including eating healthy. [FWIW I’m off to a great start on this already – 3/5 days worked out so far and 5/5 eating healthy!]
  • Worked hard to stay positive at work this month, and it was a challenge, I’ll say! Some distressing issues, and it’s wearing me down. I’m trying to do a lot of marketing, so I really do hope I will see some results from that in April. Crossing my fingers!
  • Checked my credit report, had a couple of address inaccuracies (really just typos, but you can’t be too careful) fixed, and got my credit score for the first time in my life. It was above 800!! I was so floored, and proud! I am certain it would not have been nearly that good a year ago, and it’s getting even better (since I had just applied for the amazon card not too long ago and had a couple cards closed at my request, which dings the score a bit). Exciting! Goal met!
  • Took a few more surveys.. definitely kept current on the MyPoints ones.. but I’ve been slacking off a bit with the others and missed several because I let them sit too long in my junk email inbox. Of course I might not have qualified for them anyway but I still should be trying. Every little bit helps!
  • Was better about being patient this month. I think :)
  • Sent my Grandma a St. Patrick’s Day card, and called her (and a dear but recently out-of-touch friend) to celebrate the engagement! Also emailed a friend in Japan I haven’t talked to in awhile. The "keeping in contact" goal was one I’ve had on my list of New Year’s Resolutions several times now and I definitely think I’m doing better at it this year. Accountability helps!

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