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It's February so that means it's time to looking at how we did last month with our money.
You may remember that I’ve signed up for MoneyStepper’s 2015 Savings Challenge to help us tighten up our finances.
The two main goals of the challenge are:
- Grow Your Net Worth
- Save % of Your Net Income
For 2015 our family will do our best to increase our net worth by 25% and have a 15% savings rate.
To do this we will be saving more in the joint accounts and we will be paying off the last student loan.
January Net Worth and Savings Results
So how did we do? I'm happy to say that we started off pretty well considering everything that happened this month.
Inching Up our Net Worth
We increased our net worth 2.5% in January. I'm on my maternity leave so for the next month our income will most likely be dropping.
Thankfully I buffered some work so I hope that it won't be changing too much.
My first goal after the leave is to figure out a new work schedule. With two little ones at home, this will be a challenge.
After the dust settles and we have a better idea of how our monthly budget will be, I think you'll be seeing some significant growth and changes by the spring time.
Keeping our Focus with Savings
Our year to date saving rate was 8%. We had a huge event last month – the arrival of our baby girl.
It was a much shorter labor than the first time, but the costs look about the same. We received a letter from the hospital with the charges for the labor, delivery, and recovery.
The grand total? $9,500.
The good news is that it's not the bill, so we'll have to wait to see what our insurance pays.
Still, we will see a big chunk of our money leaving us shortly. That means we'll be more careful with expenses in February.
Here's a perfect situation where automatic savings can be a huge help.
Beside tucking that money away where we won't be tempted to touch it, we're also earning some extra interest on it.
I can easily transfer the money back into checking if I need to spend it without any fees or hassles.
I'm starting off with my personal checking account to see if it works wonderful as advertised. I'll share my results on the next update.
Thoughts on Our MoneyStepper Progress
Now you have a better idea of how things are looking from us. I'd like to hear about you and your family? How are things going so far in 2015?