Struggling to be debt free

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 ca...

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              ...

 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.

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 th...