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Home > Progress in September - Musings

Progress in September - Musings

September 9th, 2008 at 11:26 pm

I'm reading everything I can and watching a lot of Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, the Big Idea, etc., to get additional ideas to save more money now that the kid is back in school. I'm saving fairly well each month, but feel like I should be doing more, saving more.

Budget: I've reviewed my spending plan for the millionth time this year, constantly trying to cut expenses and force savings. We hope to be able to cut down on utilities and groceries this month.

Current savings: I already have automatic savings allotments in place. I already save all my change and use the change for various savings goals (the kid, the grandkids savings accounts, Christmas shopping). The new thing I've started (after reading a blog or article in savingadvice.com about 'the cost of saving change') is to save as many of my one-dollar bills as possible and not spend them, then deposit them into various savings accounts as well. I deposited $8.00 in my emergency fund this week. Yay me.

Interest rate: My 6 month CD (principal $2500) matures in November and I'm searching for another CD that may pay more interest. I also plan to add enough to make the principle $3000.

Education fund: My son's education fund will be near $0 after this school year, much to my dismay. I'd hoped he would have made better decisions to use the money more wisely, but at the same time, I'm glad he's attending school and that I was able to help.

Retirement savings: I'm trying not to look at my IRA and 401K balances, praying that they heal themselves from the losses over the past year. I'm still contributing the same amounts.

Mortgage: I have a new plan to pay extra on the mortgage--I plan to save about $80 each month (which was the monthly payment of the second mortgage which we paid off earlier this year) into my money market account. I'll track those deposits and withdraw that accumulated amount at the end of each year to send in to the mortgage company as an extra principle payment. It won't be a lot this year, but it's better than nothing and I hope to shave a few years (and interest) off the loan by doing this consistently.

Emergency fund: I have too many money goals at the same time. That's why I feel like I'm not making a lot of progress. My emergency fund is a combination of my checking account cushion, the savings account cushion connected to this checking account (which I'm also using as my 'freedom account' to pay for large expenses that creep up on me) and a money market account. Totals are $500 in checking and $1500 cushion in the savings account. There's approx $8,000 in the money market acct, part of it the 6-month CD I was talking about. My goal for emergency funds is $18,000 so I have a ways to go. (Gee whiz!) PLUS I want to save for our next car purchase. I feel like I should focus more on this, but we'll see. Too many money goals... I feel like I'm a hyperactive saver...I'm all over the place...

2 Responses to “Progress in September - Musings”

  1. baselle Says:
    1221024464

    Excellent that you are saving those dollar bills. That's what helps me "turbocharge" my savings (if you can call $40/month turbocharge!)

    I find, like you, that if I have too many projects and goals that I get frustrated. Two goals for me, tops. Things you can try:

    See if two goals can be strategically combined in one. For instance, the classic duo: Roth IRA and an emergency fund. Roth is post tax - anything you put in you can pull out w/o penalty, its just the interest or capital gains that you have to keep in. In other words, 18K in a Roth can be your emergency fund.

    Rate your goals, and when you "finish" your top ones, go onto the next goal. For example, after saving your 18K in emergency funds, take a breath, congratulate yourself, then any interest that 18K earns immediately goes to the next goal. Sweep the money out of the account if necessary.

  2. fern Says:
    1221075697

    unless you have a lot of discipline, i wouldn't let the mortgage prepayment $ accumulate in the MM for a whole year. You may be tempted to spend that chunk of money on something else.

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