Phew, what a long strange year it was!

When we started 2015 we owned our duplex and an empty condo (sitting on the market since July 2014) in the U.S. and a rental flat (badly in need of refurbishing) in the UK.
Debt: $675,788
Retirement: about $224,000
Net worth: about $352,000

Besides the main mortgages on each property, we had a promissory note to the duplex seller, a 0% interest credit card with about $10K on it, and a couple of student loans. We had a bunch of money in the bank, but only because we knew the various home-related things we were going to do this year would clean us out and then some.

I'd gotten a raise in 2014, which was great, but NT was still waiting on a long-promised raise, AS was in the beginning stages of being a freelancer, and we were waiting on/anticipating several things: selling the condo, renovating the UK flat, refinancing the duplex, and the prospect of getting $80K from my dad for a pipeline deal he'd agreed to. And we badly wanted to renovate and decorate our shabby "new" home, but didn't know when we'd ever be able to.

We were doing OK in the budget, but things were pretty tight, and any extra money got socked away for all the upcoming house stuff instead of put toward debt or enjoyment or retirement.

So that's where we started. Then came a very eventful year:

January. NT finally got his $5K raise. Two people expressed interest in the condo but neither panned out. I hurt my shoulder sledding with the kids -- an injury that would plague me for months.

February. We adopted a second cat, Clue, who turned out to be FIV-positive. I started bugging our mortgage broker about possibly refinancing the duplex mortgage. I set an ambitious retirement goal but knew I wouldn't be able to work on it until a lot of other things fell into place. AS got offered her teaching gig for the fall. The two potential buyers kept stringing us along without an offer and gradually petered out.

March. We got an offer on the condo -- the day after my birthday! We sent about $22,000 to the UK property manager to renovate the flat (cleaned out our UK savings plus borrowed about $2000 from NT's mum). My dad gave me a surprise $2500 from an unrelated land deal.

April. Closed on the sale of the condo, paying nearly $30K for the privilege. Paid off the $26,500 promissory note to the duplex seller (taking out a $15K unsecured personal loan for part of it). Got news that the pipeline money would be coming through! Bought a new stove, one of our first improvements to the new home. Our cat Noodles ran away. The UK management company told us they needed another $1000 to finish renovations. We refinanced the duplex mortgage after much hassle and with a short-term high-interest loan from our checking account reserve line, but it lowered the payment by $400 per month. Went down to mere dollars in all of our accounts, but knew things would turn around rapidly.

May. We borrowed roughly $1000 from NT's mum to cover the last of the UK renovations. Noodles came back -- only to disappear again 2 days later, never to return. Paid off the reserve line loan. NT graduated college after about 8 years of part-time night classes! We chipped in w/ our downstairs neighbors to get a back fence installed. We fixed up our backyard, including pulling up pavers and laying down sod in part of it. Finally started putting money toward AS's retirement again.

June. The pipeline money arrived! Paid off nearly $40K of debt, becoming debt-free except for mortgage debt and the loan from NT's mum. Donated $8K to various good causes. Got our new fence. Made a down payment on our first major renovation: removing the archway and extra door in our living room and more. Put $15,200 away in savings to earn interest until tax time.

July. Bought new living-room furniture. Renovation was mostly finished! Spent freely on fun stuff for the first time in ages. Brought home a foster cat (Whiskers aka Whiskey).

August. Nearly maxed out AS's Roth IRA (couldn't do about $1000 of it because of a mistake on my part earlier in the year, but eventually contributed a commensurate amount to her SEP). Paid for the renovation which was finally finished. Had drama about getting AA to her old daycare for post-school care, but resolved it by paying our daycare lady extra to go get her. AA had her first day of kindergarten!

September. Started dealing with our not-up-to-code bathroom. AS started her teaching gig, using my novel from last year's NaNoWriMo as the material they would use to learn the publishing process. I created my first capsule wardrobe, which sounds like a silly thing to mention in this post, but it has basically changed the way I look at clothing. I'm still using the same capsule and I love it so much! Decided we couldn't live without our foster cat Whiskey, so we adopted him.

October. Spent a ton of money decorating the living room and dining room. It set back other savings categories but it was SO worth it. Having our main living spaces the way we want them is so pleasurable. Found out during a visit from my sister that my mom isn't doing so great, so scheduled an impromptu visit to Va. to see her and my dad (had a great time despite my worries about her declining health). Had a big Halloween party for the first time in years.

November. About a week in, I got sick, and it dragged on for three full weeks. Turned out I had flu, sinusitis and nearly got pneumonia. Somehow, I only took about 4 sick days. Also, I managed to still complete my NanoWriMo novel!

December. After my lost month of sickness, I proclaimed this month to be Family December, and put extra effort into having fun times with my kids and partners. AS's class finished, and as a bonus she printed several copies of my 2014 NaNoWriMo as a real book! Early in the month, NT fell while riding his bike and broke his collarbone. It was his turn to lose weeks of his regular life. Pain, painkillers, surgery, forced rest and the temporary loss of his right arm (yes, he's right-handed). NT got a $4K+ bonus and I maxed out my Roth plus made good progress on his. AS ended the year with $57,000 of gross income, a good deal better than the $37K she grossed at her old full-time job!

So here's where we ended the year:
Debt: $482,768 (down $193,020)
Retirement: $258,118 (up $34,118)
Net worth: $503,350 (up $151,350)

So, yeah! I hope to see better years of retirement gains, but I doubt we'll ever see changes in debt and net worth like that again!