15th of January

Yesterday was the 15th of January.   Halfway through the month.  1/24th of the way through the year.

If you want to save $5000 in 2011, you should have set about $200 ($208.33, specifically) aside so far. $50 will net you $1200 this year.

So far my year is pretty much on track. 

2010's medical bills are paid off (not counting the $5.28 question), with no more on the horizon.  Not only that, but I know there were a few small bills I paid out of pocket, so I when I do my taxes and pull all those receipts, I will actually pay myself a bit back from my HSA.

My spending is about where I want it to be - I actually spent a little bit less then budgeted in the first 15 days of the year - and there are pickles in the pantry.

There's a few purchases coming up that will probably hurt - not because I don't have the money for them, but because I am simply not used to spending it on anything other then bills.   The toaster is about dead - which really isn't so bad, given that I have had it so long I believe it cost me $1 per year.  We're re-doing the office, and talk of bookshelves and a new office chair has been floating around our home for a week now.

Tomorrow morning, $416 will be automatically withdrawn from my account - this is the amount that goes to the ROTH IRA to fully fund that ($5000 per year) - and even that amount, which is nearly 25% of my monthly take home pay, won't make me blink.

I wouldn't say I have $200 toward my regular savings from the first 24th of the year, but my budget is such that there is more left over at the end of the month then there is at the 15th, so I am telling myself I am on track there, too.

I've spent the weekend focusing on some not-really-financial things.  Health-wise, I am not 1/24th of the way toward my 2011 "weight loss goals" (is anyone?), so I spent some time setting my plan and goals there.  Organization-wise, as I mentioned in another post, is a constant process, so there's always a few things to give away or sort through....haven't gotten to anything in 2011, though, unfortunately.

We're 1/24th of the way through the year.  The laundry is done, the dishes are done.  Lunch is packed for the Monday morning that will come too early, and there are groceries to aid us in eating healthy and stress free for the next week.  So I can look around, relax a bit, and listen to the bed when it calls my name.