December and 2018 Financial Wrap-Up

I

can pull the plug on 2019. Yikes, financially, it was one of our lowest savings years in a long time. I hate that I can't really determine where my original math was so off-over confidence that DH's earnings would be more stable and I'm sure leaks all over the place. We are finishing in the black, though looking below, it's easy to see we made no progress on home upgrades and barely made a dent in the college fund. I have no regrets on taking the trip. Had we waited, things would have been just that much more, plus, even with out budget blip, we really only spent $552 over my early estimate. Remember, this was five people, two week, and three countries. We'll be content with local travel for the next few years and I am determined to plug the holes. 

Original Plan


1.      Fully fund the Roth                                              $13,000

2.      Once in a lifetime family vacation                        $15,552 ($3,000 added +$552 overage)

3.      College Fund                                                       $12,000

4.      College and Show Choir Road Trips                   $  1,500

5.      All State Camp                                                    $     650

6.      Home Upgrades                                                  $  9,000                                                                                                                                  $51,702

Annual Savings Goal          $38,702 ($51,702 priority budget-$13,000 from savings)

Actual Action

Roth                                          $13,000

Taken from Savings                 -$13,000

Vacation expenses paid             $15,552

Pre-paid college deposits                 400

College/Show Choir trips paid   $ 1,495

All State Payments                    $   650

Cash Savings Increase             $  3,220 

Total Savings achieved             $21,317

Underachieved target:  $17,385 

I'm still laughing or perhaps that is crying. I'm not sure anymore. All I know is besides the trip, we had some very expensive months that I can't really put my finger on, plus several dips in earnings that I was not counting on. 2019 is a new year. I received my first paycheck of the new year yesterday so now I know roughly my take home will be about $1,600 more than last year. We can put an additional $1,000 in our 401K so over the course of the next 30 years, God willing we'll be here to enjoy it, that $1,000 will double multiple times without us missing it from our month to month cash flow now. That's a financial wrap on 2018. Cheers to seeing more green in 2019.