Financial Check Up - July

I think I say this every month, but where does the time go?  We're already into the second week of August and school will be starting soon.  It's pretty crazy how time slips away from us.  Here's how we did in terms of our budget.

Add three months to our emergency fund

No progress, we will be focusing on this fourth quarter (I think I said 3rd quarter last month but I meant 4th quarter).

Redecorate our living room

As I said last month, this was on our budget initially at the beginning of the year.  I've since took it off and added it back on, I guess I tend to be a flip flopper when it comes to redecorating.  I haven't done anything in terms of redecorating this month but when I was working on my storage space (you can read about that here and here) I think I found enough fabric left ofter from the last time I made cushions to make a few more.  That would mean that the only thing I would have to buy is paint, blinds, curtains and throw pillows (which I will probably make).  I'm on vacation the last week of this month so I will most likely focus it on then.

Reduce our debt by 34%

We are currently as 21.2% year to date.  While our goal is 34%, I'm hoping to reach 40%.  We didn't make as much progress on this as I had hoped this month, mostly because of our next goal.  I'm thinking I won't make leaps and bounds in August either because we will have a tuition bill to pay, I'm hoping to buy a freezer as well as I want to start picking up some Christmas gifts.  I do have a Christmas club funded, but if I get a good start on my shopping in our regular budget I will be able to use that money for other budgeted items.

Start a Christmas Club

Plan a family vacation in Q1 2012

We did it, we booked a family vacation for Q1 2012!  Of course, the down payment meant that I couldn't pay down as much debt as I would have liked to this past month.  The down payment was worth about 1.5% of our debt reduction so that gives you some idea how much it does affect our reduction.  I'm sure there are some people out there that think we shouldn't be spending the money while we still have debt, but life just goes by to fast.  The kids are growing up and we don't take many vacations as a family so we're all looking forward to this.  I like the fact that we don't have to charge the vacation, because otherwise we wouldn't go!  We booked the trip directly with the company and have until January to pay it off.  This allows us to pay cash for the vacation and not worry about a big bill when we get home.  I make a payment every paycheck, even if it's a small one so that I'm continually chipping away at the balance. 

That's where we sit for the month.  How about you?  Is your budget going as well this year as you had hoped?

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