March flew by and it feels like I spent every single night working on prepping the old house for rent, and moving into the new house. The actual moving day was the 18th, but there was so much prep work, then the first week we were in the house we were waiting for the painters to finish, and I'm still finalising the tidy-up and landscaping of the old place to get it ready for rent.
It feels like so long ago that we moved house because it's been so busy, but as I type this it's been less than three weeks. I'll be so glad when I hand the keys to the real estate agent, and
March Goals Update
Investing Goal: $110,000 in Vanguard
The goal is to have $110,000 in my Vanguard account by the end of the year. I started with $78,424, which means I want to gain just over $31,500. I hope that $5,500 will come from growth and dividends, and the remaining $25,000 will be investments.
Full year
Opening Balance: $78,424.57
Deposit: $3,700
Dividends: $1,214.86
Market Gains: $6,745.52
Dividends: $1,214.86
Market Gains: $6,745.52
March
Opening Balance: $87,858.52
Deposit: $1,475
Dividends: $0
Market Gains: $751.43
Current Balance: $90,084.95
Rolling along nicely. After pausing the investments in February, I let them run again in March. The February pause gave me the necessary cash balance to pay for house renovations, so now it's nice to be investing again.
Dividends: $0
Market Gains: $751.43
Current Balance: $90,084.95
Rolling along nicely. After pausing the investments in February, I let them run again in March. The February pause gave me the necessary cash balance to pay for house renovations, so now it's nice to be investing again.
Spending Goal: Under Control!
The goal is simply to have my spending under control, and for March it is looking pretty good, all things considered.
Here's what I spent in March, which includes the save-to-spend amounts.
Category | Spent | Budgeted | 12 Month Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | $720.61 | $938.17 | $226.61 (up $13.87) |
| Under Budget! It's slightly cheating that this is under budget since I budgeted for a full months rent and only paid half. I did however, pay a bunch of bills, so that wasn't very fun. Expect to see the average of this category going up over the next year until I've actually got 12 months history for paying 'rent'. Details post over here about how we bought a house, but I'm paying rent. | |||
| OG Investment Property | $712.63 | $1,190.83 | $1,324.91 (down $145.32) |
| Under Budget! Just the mortgage. My favourite kind of month. | |||
| Home turned Investment Property | $976.43 | $1,042.33 | $1,226.51 (up $8.25) |
| Under Budget! Sliding in just under budget! This will not happen next month :p All I paid for this month was a load of bark chips for the front, which I had already been saving for. We're oh-so-close to having this property on the market, I can see the money coming in! | |||
| Personal Bills | $126.60 | $126.67 | $137.02 (down $1.69) |
| Under Budget. My annual 'let's charge more for the same cover' starts in April, so this will jump a couple of dollars then. | |||
| Groceries | $203.84 | $190 | $202.90 (up $6.45) |
| Over Budget. Not really sure how I ended up overspending considering I was away for three days, and we spent one junk food during the move because we didn't have the energy (or organisation) to clean. | |||
| Pets | $50 | $50 | $62.28 (down $1.23) |
| Under Budget. Eggs out, food in, and I've started saving to build a new chicken coop for the new house. The old one is falling apart, and we're planning a fancy build with two seperate outdoor spaces for the hens, that will be alternately Chicken Space, and veggie gardens. | |||
| Roller Derby | $235.05 | $175 | $227.07 (down $12.32) |
| Over Budget. Honestly, is anyone surprised when I report I overspent on derby? I replaced my old helmet (much cheaper than brain damage!) and spent three days interstate for a tournament. | |||
| Travelling | $110 | $122.50 | $75.83 (up $9.13) |
| Under Budget. Still trucking along saving for a future holiday. Still no actual plans to go anywhere... One day :) | |||
| Comfort Food | $35.60 | $40 | $47.77 (up $1.30) |
| Under Budget. Conssidering the work parties, and the house move, I am amazed. | |||
| Other | $40.00 | $187.00 | $267.57 (down $2.62) |
| Under Budget. Ummm. What? I was ready to fall on my sword about stupid spending here, because I impulse purchased video games twice, but apparently I did well on sales. I also got a dirt-cheap mates-rates professional haircut. My first actual haircut in over two years! | |||
| Total | $3,264.43 | $4,062.50 | $3,802.95 (down $119.66) |
| Under budget overall, with only 2 out of 10 categories over. Awww-yeah! How did that happen? Look at that! Honestly a lot of it comes down to automation and habits, because I felt like I wasn't really on track this month, but when it's a no-bills month even my not-great months are pretty good. | |||
Bonus Goal, if we can: $10,000 worth of an Asia focused ETF
A very small update on the bonus goal. My cash holdings barely moved over March, I'm still waiting to get tenants into my old house, and since we moved mid-month the painters are only just finishing up. Once I have paid them, had the house professionally cleaned (there's too much cat fur embedded in the carpets to do less) and laid lawn, then I can start giving this goal my attention again.
Nice update. I just haven't figured out how to subscribe to your blog...
ReplyDeleteI miss a lot on social media so it's nice to just catch up through my email notifications
Hey JD - scroll allllll the way to the bottom of the page, and there is a really simple no-frills section called 'Follow by Email'. It's down below the comments - probably pretty easy to miss :)
DeleteFinally got it. Had to change it to the web version.
DeleteGreat start to the year with your investment goal LadyFIRE - and keeping that budget under control! Automation and habits are by far the best ways to keep your finances on track!
ReplyDeleteAutomation is the magic - I don't notice it happening and yet here we are with the numbers to prove it!
Delete