Stacking Pennies . . .

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)
-I have it planned and have gotten rid of everything undesireable, but am reallocating my target date retirement fund more slowly (since I'm comfortable with that investment)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)
-Check.

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a "stay on track" goal
-Check

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.
-Check!

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it's my weakness!)
-Failed on this. Try again next month! Should be much easier as the boy will be leaving town.

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.
-Check! 780 Q/630 V, writing, no clue. The only thing that matters for me is the quantitative part

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.
-Check. No response to the jobs, but I'm not in hard core job search mode just yet.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)
-Hmm, not so much. This was partially due to program changes and a reorg that has made work a little slower. It would be silly to stay extra when I don't have 6 hours of extra work.

So, it seems I did ok overall, but still could improve. I think if I miss goals, that either means I'm being ambitious or I'm not striving hard enough to meet them. This month may have been a bit of both.

Moving on to. . .

September Goals
1. Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA
2. Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)
3. Contribute 450 to student loan payback account
4. Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits... slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)
5. Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.
6. Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Goals 3 and 4 are a quite ambitions, especially when taken together, but I did some calculations of what I will need to do to acheive my year end goals, and I need to do some drastic savings, so those goals encompass an overal goal of being frugal this month. Really, I almost expect to fail on those, but I would LOVE to meet them, so I won't adjust down.

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)
-I have it planned and have gotten rid of everything undesireable, but am reallocating my target date retirement fund more slowly (since I'm comfortable with that investment)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)
-Check.

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a "stay on track" goal
-Check

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.
-Check!

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it's my weakness!)
-Failed on this. Try again next month! Should be much easier as the boy will be leaving town.

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.
-Check! 780 Q/630 V, writing, no clue. The only thing that matters for me is the quantitative part

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.
-Check. No response to the jobs, but I'm not in hard core job search mode just yet.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)
-Hmm, not so much. This was partially due to program changes and a reorg that has made work a little slower. It would be silly to stay extra when I don't have 6 hours of extra work.

So, it seems I did ok overall, but still could improve. I think if I miss goals, that either means I'm being ambitious or I'm not striving hard enough to meet them. This month may have been a bit of both.

Moving on to. . .

September Goals
1. Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA
2. Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)
3. Contribute 450 to student loan payback account
4. Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits... slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)
5. Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.
6. Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Goals 3 and 4 are a quite ambitions, especially when taken together, but I did some calculations of what I will need to do to acheive my year end goals, and I need to do some drastic savings, so those goals encompass an overal goal of being frugal this month. Really, I almost expect to fail on those, but I would LOVE to meet them, so I won't adjust down.

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)
-I have it planned and have gotten rid of everything undesireable, but am reallocating my target date retirement fund more slowly (since I'm comfortable with that investment)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)
-Check.

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a "stay on track" goal
-Check

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.
-Check!

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it's my weakness!)
-Failed on this. Try again next month! Should be much easier as the boy will be leaving town.

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.
-Check! 780 Q/630 V, writing, no clue. The only thing that matters for me is the quantitative part

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.
-Check. No response to the jobs, but I'm not in hard core job search mode just yet.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)
-Hmm, not so much. This was partially due to program changes and a reorg that has made work a little slower. It would be silly to stay extra when I don't have 6 hours of extra work.

So, it seems I did ok overall, but still could improve. I think if I miss goals, that either means I'm being ambitious or I'm not striving hard enough to meet them. This month may have been a bit of both.

Moving on to. . .

September Goals
1. Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA
2. Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)
3. Contribute 450 to student loan payback account
4. Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits... slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)
5. Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.
6. Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Goals 3 and 4 are a quite ambitions, especially when taken together, but I did some calculations of what I will need to do to acheive my year end goals, and I need to do some drastic savings, so those goals encompass an overal goal of being frugal this month. Really, I almost expect to fail on those, but I would LOVE to meet them, so I won't adjust down.

1. Finish reallocating my 401k (as much as possible without incurring short term trading fees)
-I have it planned and have gotten rid of everything undesireable, but am reallocating my target date retirement fund more slowly (since I'm comfortable with that investment)

2. Contribute 700 to my HYSA fund This is sort of an e-fund, but more just a general savings fun (100 more than auto deposits)
-Check.

3. Keep 401k contributions at 13% and contribute the pre-planned 100 to Roth (basically a "stay on track" goal
-Check

4. Contribute $550 to the student loan payback fund.
-Check!

5. Keep restaurant spending below 100 (seems easy, but it's my weakness!)
-Failed on this. Try again next month! Should be much easier as the boy will be leaving town.

6. Study for GRE more, take it, and rock it! =) Not financial, but personal development at least.
-Check! 780 Q/630 V, writing, no clue. The only thing that matters for me is the quantitative part

7. Apply for 3 or more jobs and continue to update resume.
-Check. No response to the jobs, but I'm not in hard core job search mode just yet.

8. Work over time 2 weeks (at least 6 hours)
-Hmm, not so much. This was partially due to program changes and a reorg that has made work a little slower. It would be silly to stay extra when I don't have 6 hours of extra work.

So, it seems I did ok overall, but still could improve. I think if I miss goals, that either means I'm being ambitious or I'm not striving hard enough to meet them. This month may have been a bit of both.

Moving on to. . .

September Goals
1. Continue 13% 401k and 100 to Roth IRA
2. Replenish travel fund with $100 (and likely, drain it again to buy a ticket to LA for october)
3. Contribute 450 to student loan payback account
4. Contribute 875 to HYSA (275 more than autodeposits... slighlty cheating since i expect some of that to come out of todays paycheck)
5. Spend less than 100 on restaurants and less than 30/week on grocery.
6. Finish and send in grad school application, stay up to date in class

Goals 3 and 4 are a quite ambitions, especially when taken together, but I did some calculations of what I will need to do to acheive my year end goals, and I need to do some drastic savings, so those goals encompass an overal goal of being frugal this month. Really, I almost expect to fail on those, but I would LOVE to meet them, so I won't adjust down.