Sorry for the lack of posts

I have been traveling a lot the past two weeks and have not been able to keep up with my blogging. Next week I am hoping to post my budget to actual expenses and my May 2008 net worth information.

2008 Goals Review

I have taken a look at my goals for 2008 and it appears that my goal of having a net worth of $135,000 by the end of the year may be attainable if the stock market continues to slowly improve. My goal of $15,000 in emergency savings is probably not going to happen but I will be happy with having $10,000. I will be able to meet my goal of contributing $1,200 to my Roth and I have been able to meet my most important 2008 goal by paying off my credit card debt.

All in all, I am not doing too badly but I need to buckle down on the savings front.

Tax refund receivable

I am toying with the idea of including my tax refund receivable in my monthly net worth calculations. I figure that I will get at a minimum a $4,000 refund from both my federal and state returns for 2008. That equates to $333 a month to add to the receivable. It is money I am assured to get so I don't see a problem with including it in my net worth.

Many people will say that it is better to have less withheld from my paychecks. I have actually reduced my withholding to keep an additional $100 per month that I have added to my bi-weekly automatic savings. As of April 30th my tax refund receivable was $1,332.

GPS Navigator Deal!!!

This past Saturday I went to Best Buy and bought my girlfriend a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS navigator. I feel like it was money well spent because she is so bad with directions. Anyway, the regular price was $219 but it was on sale for $169 then I had a 12% off coupon and $20 in Best Buy Reward Zone certificates.

The entire purchase including sales tax, a carrying case, and a 2 year extended warranty was $195. I think I got a really good deal!

It was an unexpected purchase for the month of May...I did plan to purchase her one later in the year but she is getting ready to go on a long drive so I wanted her to have it for my piece of mind.

I took the train to work today

In the next 12 months I plan to move in with my girlfriend who lives approximately 20 miles from my work location so today I did an experiment and to the train to work. All in all it was not bad. I think it took a little longer from a time perspective but it was less stressful not having to deal with traffic.

When I start doing it regularly I will buy 20 trips at a time and they will cost me $1.50 each way as opposed to the $1.75 it regularly cost. Yesterday I filled my gas tank up and at $3.79 per gallon it cost more than $50. Not too long ago it cost me less than $30 to fill my tank. That alone is a good reason to take the train to work.

Currently I pay $110 per month for parking in my building. I think by July I will stop paying the monthly parking and use a daily lot at the rate of $5 to $7 a day when I drive in to work. Now I take advantage of the pre-tax parking program so the parking really only cost me about $92 per month but I can also take advantage of the same type of program with the public transportation cost. If I take the train 20 days to work and make 40 trips then the regular price at $1.50 per trip is $60. Using the pre-tax program would make it about $50.

Something to think about.

April 2008 Net Worth

I broke the $110,000 level in April primarily due to the $5,496 increase in my retirement accounts. I contributed $1,312 and the rest were gains. The accounts still have a long way to go to catch up with last fall and undo the losses that I have experienced over the past 6 months.

I had to borrow from my savings and I hope to put much of that back in the month of May. We will see. My student loan balance finally fell below the $10,000 mark. Hooray!

All in all I hope to have more good months like April soon.

Free at Last!!!

Today I paid off the last $373 owed on my Citibank Mastercard. I am officially free of credit card debt. I still use my Skymiles Platinum American Express for everyday purchases so I can earn miles toward free flights but that card is paid off every month.

I am wondering what portion of credit card users pay off their balances in full each month? I have had my Citibank card since 1990 and this is the first time in 18 years that I have not had a balance on either my Citibank or some other credit card. Wow!

My next debt goal is to pay off my car loan with my next year's tax refund. Once I pay off my car loan in 9 or 10 months it will free up an additional $510 per month that I can put towards my savings goals.

April 2008 Spending

The month of April showed that my spending was less than my income by $845. That is a little misleading because I took $1,000 from my savings during the month. My payroll taxes decreased because I changed my withholding, my grocery bill and utilities were lower because I have been spending significant time at my girlfriend's house. The allowance amount is artificially low because it was offset by a $337 employer fitness reimbursement for the bicycle that I bought last month. I am still spending more on pets than I planned to. Most of it is food but $74 related to pet sitter costs. All in all for the year I am over spending my budget in total and need to tighten my belt.