Financial Goals Check-Up: Mid-Year Finances

Way back at the beginning of the year, I made four personal finance goals for this year. Now that the year is just about half over (where did the time go?), I’m thinking about how I’m doing, and whether I’m making progress on my goals. I thought I’d share some of the results of my mid-year financial check-up :

1. Rebuild emergency fund : This was done, but we dipped into a little bit when we bought the Prius . We weren’t planning on buying a car so soon, so we used some of the emergency fund money to make a down payment. The good news is that we are still working on it, and will still probably meet this goal before the year is out.
2. Save up four months’ worth of expenses : We’re moving kind of slow on this one. With some of the unexpected things that have come up, plus the fact that putting in a yard is more expensive than we thought — not to mention the fact that one of my main clients is cutting back dramatically — I’m thinking that by the end of the year we’ll have something closer to two months of expenses saved up. Not as great as expected, but we do what we can…
3. Save up for our yard . Happily, this has been done. We wanted to do our yard without resorting to debt, and we have done this. We only have the grass left (seed in back, sod in front), and it’s been budgeted for.
4. Refinance the home . Unfortunately, I don’t think this is going to happen. Buying the car increased our debt, while dinging our credit. Plus, my income situation is going to be an issue. But we’ll still see if we can get a good deal somewhere on a refi.

Going forward, I am going to focus on the savings aspects of my personal finance goals.

How are you doing on your personal finance goals for the year?

image source: Newton Free Library via Flickr