It's Almost Labor Day & Goals

Today is the last day of August, boy time does fly when you get older.  It seemed like it was just the beginning of the year and now we are almost in the last quarter. I feel the need to get motivated and get started on some goals.

I have some goals for September:
1. Finish out my retirement contributions for the year- just $1,305 more to go
2. Read a book- any book, maybe 2
3. Exercise every week- 3 times a week
4. Review my budget, long term goals and short term goals.

As for labor day, I plan to spend the weekend with family.  Nothing special, maybe some bbq, walks and naps.  Anyone else doing anything fun or exciting?

As for the money front there is nothing exciting going on- had a dentist appointment earlier this week and that will cost be about $42 out of pocket after insurance and a credit I had on my account.  I should have just enough in my medical sinking fund to cover this expense once I get the bill.  I'm kind of excited to see how big I can grow my medical expense sinking fund. 

Also, I am putting an extra $290 on my mortgage payment this month.  I'm excited because, hopefully, by the end of next year I will have my mortgage paid down low enough to drop the PMI payment.  That will be an extra $115 that will go towards principal!

On the downside, the property taxes are probably going up this year due to increased property values and a proposed increase in the millage rate.  Increased property taxes will result in an increased escrow payment which results in a larger mortgage payment.  Boo.  I might just make an additional escrow payment at the end of the year so I can see if I can avoid a larger payment. 

As for the life front, I have new neighbors that have barking dogs.  They usually start barking at about 5:45 a.m. After work they start barking from about 6:30 until about 7:30 or 8:00. 

Lastly, I would like to do something to help the victims of hurricane Harvey.  I haven't decided whether to just donate to the redcross or do something else.  What kind of assistance are you providing?  Any suggestions?

Net Worth

Here's where the numbers stand.

Savings-
 $10,905 Emergency Fund
 $9,038 Online Savings Account/$3,747 of that amount is for my Car Replacement Fund
  $17,639 Retirement- Roth IRA
$695 Taxable Brokerage (Retirement)


$311 Travel Fund (Work)
$357 pet fund 
$34 medical fund
$413 furniture fund
$81 Slush fund 
$280 Savings

Home-
$292,687-per zillow

                  Total (not including home): $39,753
                  Total (including home): $332,440

Liabilities-
Mortgage $212,577

             
                   Total (not including mortgage): 0
                    Total (including mortgage): -$212,577
 


                                     Total Net Worth(not including mortgage): $39,753                                             Total Net Worth(including mortgage): $119,863

Net worth, not including mortgage, increased by $3,757 from July(last net worth update)
Net worth, including mortgage, increased by $12,481 from July(last net worth update)

Things are moving in the right direction, slowly, but surely.  My net worth should be up over $125,000 but the end of the year (Hopefully). 

2017 Roth Maxed

 I have maxed out my 2017 Roth!  I have been tracking my contributions all year and they are as follows:

4/14/17- $1,004
5/15/17- $1000
6/15/17- $1,000
7/15/17-$1,378
8/15/17- $1,118

So now I will work on getting another $2,000 into a taxable brokerage account.  This morning I transferred $695 into my taxable account. My hope is to contribute $9,500 into retirement for the year.  I did $2,000 into my 2016 Roth, $5,500 into my 2017 Roth and hope to get $2,000 into a taxable account.

Next year, I plan to contribute $10,000 towards retirement and I plan to add $500 a year to that total each year until the number becomes completely unrealistic. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I am saving enough fast enough.

Mortgage Payments

Thanks for all of your helpful posts on retirement savings.  It provides some comfort to know that most people feel that if you just keep saving it will work out in the end!

In other news, I am excited to announce that for the first time since I obtained a mortgage I paid more in principal payments than I did in escrow payments (without counting my normal extra $150 payment to principal only)! My principal payment was $437.85 ($587.85 including my additional $150 principal payment), my escrow payment was $437.21. Additionally, my interest payment fell to below $600.  I "only" paid $599.53 in interest this month!

My real goal for the year is to pay more into principal (including extra payments) than interest for the year.  My year to date totals are as follows:

Principal $4,087.89
Interest $4,231.32

I'm getting so close!  I suspect I will have to make a slightly larger, principal only payment at the end of the year to make sure that I pay more in principal than interest,