February Financial Recap

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Photo by House of Sims'

February was a much quieter month in terms of shopping. Our end of the month saving totals were:

Coupons: $56.48
Rebates: $14.50
Sale Shopping/Coupon Savings Combined: $170.19

I think the totals are lower because I shopped less, and there were fewer fabulous sales like last month's Old Navy stock-up trip. I don't think I kept track very well, either!

As far as our 2009 financial goals, I don't feel like too much happened one way or the other. Here are the goals that we are working on this year:

1. Reduce gift spending by approximately 1/3, but not our gift giving.
We have Easter (some really great deals at Christian Book Distributors) taken care of for our daughter, plus a few other things put away for upcoming events. It is quiet for us in terms of family events and birthdays until May, June, and July so I need to be on the lookout for good things at even better prices! Our 5 year anniversary is in April, so I need to be thinking of something creative and fun to do for that!

2. Continue to prepay mortgage.
We continue to pay a set amount over and above our payment that allows an extra amount to go to principal each month.

3. Create a CD ladder for savings.
Just one CD, no ladder yet!

4. Continue to save for daughter's college fund and general savings account.
We put away the amount in February that we were able to in January for both our daughter's college fund and general savings account.

We had a few unexpected car repairs in Feb., plus we are waiting to hear on another one! I'll check back at the end of March with another update! How are you doing on your financial goals for this year?

Comments

Megan said…
Quick question - On goal #3, What do you mean by CD ladder? I am assuming you are talking about a certificate pf deposit, but what do you mean by the ladder part? You've got me intrigued!
Carly said…
Thanks for the question! A CD ladder is when you have money in more than one CD with different maturity dates. This explains it better than I can: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/sav/20010521b.asp. We've never really done more than 2 or 3 at a time and that was awhile ago.
Megan said…
Thanks for the info. I'll have to look into that.