This week I only had to pay for my own lunch at work 1 day as I was treated to lunch by the company for the other 3 days. The company was closed Friday so I was at home today for lunch.

We seem to have cut back our spending unintentionally this month as after all the bills are paid and our monthly extra expenses are covered I have been left with a large amount than I thought, so I'll be putting that money towards paying down the CC. We had several unexpected expenses added to the CC this month, so I'm pleased to be able to pay some extra towards it. We will not have it paid off by the end of March, which was my original goal at the beginning of the year. However I hope to have reduced it to just over 1000 EUR by the end of the month. It's still better than it was at the beginning of the year and on top of that we have made bigger strides in both our retirement and long term savings already this year, so I guess that I should not feel too bad about not reaching that goal.

While reading someone else's blog today I came across the below documentary which I would like to share with you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-dib6hSlcU

I am wondering if we ever did reach the 15%?

So far 2008 has been throwing sh*t at us and most of it is sticking(excuse my language).

If I read around the blogs I get the general feeling this year hasn't started out very good for many people. Please feel free to leave your comment at the bottom of this post to let me know how your 2008 is going so far, because misery loves company...

Today I came across a blog of a couple that were both in their late twenties which caught my interest as there are relatively few young people who blog about their personal finances. However, the similaritites between my situation and this couple ended there, as they seemed to be so much further with their savings and in particular their retirement savings seemed to be the most important part of their current financial situation. They were saving a little over 20K a year towards their retirement to reach a goal of 3M at retirement. Even then they seemed to be seriously doubting whether or not that would be enough for them to retire on comfortably at 65.

This extreme difference between their view on their savings and my own, lead me to realise that everyone is different when it comes to their personal finances. My BH and I want to save a decent amount for retirement, but are not willing to go without everything in order to save for it. Whereas some of the happiest people on this site did just that and have succeeded in retiring at a very young age. However, if I was to aim for the same goals that this couple were, I'd be in a constant state of panic as the goals are literally unobtainable for us. So rather than slide into a downward spiral into depression about the state of our finances and inparticular our retirement savings when compared to these supersavers, I am going to take responsibility for our choices and aim for an attainable goal given our circumstances. That is the only way that I can ensure we both maintain a healthy state of mind.

In this case, I choose not to keep up with the Joneses, but I do wish them the best of luck!

It is only 2 days into the month of March and all my financial plans for this month have already gone up in smoke. Mostly because I always count my financial month starting from the day I am paid which is the 25th of February, rather than the start of the calendar month. Also because the money we expected to be deducted from BH's salary this month to go towards his pension, was not deducted, which just means we'll have to pay an additional month's contribution if the money is deducted next month. I am doubtful whether the month will deducted next month as it seems the company who is handling BH's pension is very unreliable. This makes it very difficult for me to put a plan into place. Also this month we helped BH's parent financially, which was an unexpected expense and one that may become a regular on our monthly budget depending on how a few things play out.

So the CC will not be paid off by the end of March. In fact we also had our microwave oven break down the last month, so the debt open on the CC has gone up to 1156 EUR after a 100EUR payment made in March (On my sidebar I register the current total paid off since the beginning of the year). Due to the unexpected expenses that have come up, I'm not sure when we will have the money to pay off the CC now. I just hope it is not too far in the future.

On the upside, there has been an additional 794 EUR added to the pensions this month as we found out that BH's company was actually contributing to his pensions plan for the last 6 months, so at least there has been the compulsory contribtuions going in.

Also for this month I participated for the first time in my company's saving plan, which meant I sent 56 EUR pre-tax to a savings account. About 18 EURs of this is money would otherwise have been paid to tax. We also received 155 EUR refund from last year's gas and electricity bills. This money has been transferred to our high yeild savings account(4.5% interest rate) as a start on our long terms savings.

We have also received an unexpected tax bill, which I should have been aware of but had forgotten about. So that's an additional 410 EUR. We can pay this one off in 2 installments, the first is due before 30th March and the second is due by 31st May. We are currently discussing how we should pay this particular bill.

In the meant time, my plan for March is to try and keep control of our spending as much as possible. Prepare our savings for when the pension contribtuions are deducted from BH's pay and use any extra money to pay off the CC.

_________________________________________

Despite all the uncertainties, I wanted to take a look at how we are tracking against the goals I set for us at the beginning of the year as no matter how badly we seem to be doing right now, we need to keep our focus on the goal, as you never know when your luck may turn.

I am going to track these goals pro rata or based on the fact that we are 2 months into the year so should be 2/12 (two twelfths) of the way to the total goals.

- Goal was to pay off CC in full.
Starting amount was 2140.14 EUR
Current amount is 1156 EUR
This would require 178,35 EUR paid per month.
Expected for Feb 356.70 EUR.
45.98 % paid off or 5.5/12.

- Goal was to contribute 4800 EUR to pensions.
Current amount is 981 EUR.
This would require 400 EUR per month
Expected for Feb 800 EUR.
20.44 % contributed or 2.5/12.

- Goal was to save 3000 EUR for long term savings.
Current amount is 210 EUR.
This would require 250 EUR per month.
Expected for Feb 500 EUR.
7% saved or 0.84/12.

- Goal was to save 2000 EUR for EF.
Current amount is 0 EUR.
This would require 167 EUR per month.
Expected for Feb 334 EUR.
0% saved or 0/12.

- Goal was to pay off 480 EUR for student loan.
Current amount is 89 EUR.
This would require 40 EUR per month.
Expected for Feb 80 EUR.
18.54% saved or 2.23/12.

- Goal was to earn 40.09 EUR interest.
Current amount is 4.55 EUR.
This would require 3.34 EUR per month.
Expected for Feb 6.68 EUR.
11.35% saved or 1.36/12.

- Goal was to increase net worth to +6,739.14 EUR.
Current amount is -2,532 EUR.
This would require 1032.43 EUR per month.
Expected for Feb -3,585.14 EUR.
25.17% saved or 3/12.

______________________________________

These totals have actually made me feel better, because although I am very behind on some of my goals, my overall net worth goal is 1 month ahead of where I expect to be. This is mainly due to my concentrating on paying off my CC card. Once that baby is paid off I'll snowball the money to my savings goals and should be able to catch up quite quickly. So despite the current misfortunes we are on track in the bigger picture. woohoo go us!