I’ve got 99 problems and money is involved in all of them. I suppose I should look at all the good things I have and consider myself lucky, but then how do I feel the enjoyment of bitching? After a pretty tough 2012 and looking at a looming financial horizon, what with G-Bug three years away from graduating high school, I wanted to get on a more disciplined path. I’ve taken much of the doom & gloom reporting about retirement and the saving habits of the average American to heart and wanted to avoid being another statistic.
For New Year’s, I gave myself a moderate resolution of having an additional $360 in savings by the end of 2013. For someone who lives from check to check, socking away $15 from 24 out of 26 paychecks in a year seemed a decent place to start. I also wanted to bump up my 401K contribution rate to 5%, the top level where my company would match (100% match for the first 3%, then 50% match for the next 2%). There are also a few debts I wanted to pay down in 2013, so I felt I had a good plan in place to save some, pay some, and be on my way to build up a good nest egg by the time G-Bug goes to college.
I took time to put together a rudimentary family cash flow plan to track and time all expenses I was responsible for paying as well as my pay days. I would have to borrow repeatedly against my overdraft protection with ING throughout the year, but I did the same for all of 2012, so I was prepared for it. When money got really tight, I was able to plan when I would late pay a bill or two until after a pay day, so I wouldn’t be playing so close to the hilt. If I could budget accordingly, we would start seeing some marked improvement after the summer.
How does that expression go about ‘best laid plans?’
