Well, let's see how I've done since late October, when I posted this list of future expensive purchases:
1. Halloween party. Done! Party was a success, and once I got back my deposit for the keg, I was able to finish saving for:
2. CSA. I already had almost $450 in upcoming surplus, so the keg refund brought me to the $500 I need. Once I get paid Nov. 15, I'll send the check off, guaranteeing fresh local produce every week next year!
3. Xmas! At last count we only had $37 in the gift fund, when we would like $600. Well, we've started putting our exercise incentive money into an envelope as soon as we get it, and then transferring into the Christmas fund. Also, we're each getting a $25 gift credit cards for various reaons, so as we each receive ours, I put $20 that I would take out for spending money into the Xmas fund instead. Any extra money I get goes into this until it's fully funded. So far: $145 in the bank, $15 in the envelope and a $10 survey payment I'll add in today. $170!
4. Birthdays! Nothing saved in this yet, but I'll start on it as soon as Xmas is over
5. A new dishwasher! Well, I have $35 in the home improvement fund, but we may end up getting paint first and sprucing up the bedroom, so I may not have anything saved toward this. That's all right, the old one will do for a while longer.
6. England! I've booked everything, and as predicted, the airfare, hotel and rental car (plus insurance and gas) will just about wipe out the $5000 I'd planned to spend (with maybe $300 left for food and fun). I'd started a vacation fund for our next vacation, but it looks like we'll need it for England, so after Xmas and birthdays, this is my main priority. So far we have $75 in there. I don't have a set goal for how much to accumulate at this point, but I think we'll need at least $500 more to not be struggling to pay for all our meals; it's a 10-day trip, there are three of us, and the dollar is mighty weak against the pound these days!
Still a long way to go, but it's nice to see we've made progress on some of these goals.
Update: So many things to save up for!
November 12th, 2007 at 06:39 pm
November 12th, 2007 at 07:46 pm 1194896812
November 12th, 2007 at 10:36 pm 1194906963
This will be my fourth visit. NT is from England, and this will be his first trip back since he got permanent residency in the U.S. So we gotta do it, even though we could probably afford 3 domestic vacations for the same price! :-) Besides, England is awesome. I hope to live there someday in the distant future.