End of January Financials

It's a new month.  I feel like I did not accomplish anything in January and I am very stressed.  January was a hard month, I had trouble staying on budget and seemed to be constantly over spending or adjusting my budget.  This was partly due to an ill family member and work concerns. 

I did earn $5.40 on my savings account in January- that is the highest amount that I have earned since I have opened it.  I currently have $7,801 tucked away in my savings account.  Additionally, I have $11,000 in my emergency fund/bank account.

Also, I am still up in my retirement account as compared against December 31, 2016.  That was surprising despite the turbulent stock market lately. Many of the news articles that I have read indicate that there may be a stock market sell off in February- I hope I have enough cash to get some great sales if that does happen.  I need to get to work on my mid- February budget.

My mortgage is down to $216,172.  I really wanted to get it down into the $215,000s, but just couldn't squeeze the money from anywhere else in the budget.  I really need to come up with a plan to get this darn thing down.  When I sell in a few years I really want to have quite a bit of equity so I can avoid pmi on my next house.  Right now I am paying an extra $100 a month on the mortgage.  It just seems like there are so many competing concerns for my little paychecks!

My goal for February will be to get my taxes done.  I just received by W2 and I need to collect all of the other paper needed.  Any tax return will likely go towards paying off that furniture bill.  Oh speaking of that I did put an extra $152 payment on that in January- was hoping to make a bigger payment than that but $1,152 for one month's payment is still pretty good.  I imagine my tax return will be pretty similar.

Okay, I gotta get to work.  Have a wonderful day!