February in Review!

Okay, I know I haven't actually yet seen the end of February, but I figured it's time to do my month in review!

I have updated my progress bars on the right hand side. I added $1,400 to my London Savings fund, bringing it up to $3,805. I am now only $6,195 short of my $10,000 goal. I am well above my monthly savings goal. ING Direct suggests that I should save just over $1,100 to get to $10, 000 for August 1st, but I upped that as you can see:
I also added both the regular contribution of $200 plus an extra contribution of another $200 to my Plane/VISA fund, bringing that total up to $801.41. I am doing well with that goal, too:
I added $795 to my London-Fun Fund this month. This wasn't as high as I would've liked, but it was still close to my previous contribution of $990. Even though, my total is now sitting confortably at $1,785.00 or £727 British Pounds. It's a little sad when I look at it that way, but hey, it's £727 that I have set aside for "fun"!.

I blew through a couple areas of my budget as you can see:

I have to thank Krystal and her challange for keeping my food budget in check here. I was under my $300 budget by $67.

As you can see, my food consumption dropped dramatically once I joined the challenge.

Due to an unexpected pant-ripping situation, I went over my clothing budget by around $27. It wasn't much help that the only pants I could find that fit property were over $60 - more than I usually spend on jeans!

I went waaaay over budget on my techonologies. I would attribute this to some bad decisions on my part and my lack of control.

I really only bought three technology-related items, but all three were large scale. I bought a new camera bag, a new tripod, and some polaroid film, since the company is stopping production on polaroids this year and I am just starting to get back into them!

I also just slightly jumped over my limit for toiletries. I would have been damn fine if I hadn't gotten sick. But that last $25 I spent on medication put me over the edge. At least I have an active supply now.

My miscellaneous section also went over budget. Most of these items are what I like to call "extra" purchases. Most of these I could do without. Most of them are my primary weakness: purses, bags and wallets. Also included was the purchase of a new chair and the fees for filing my taxes today!

Overall, though, I am pleased to report that my Networth has increased from $5070 in January to over $7,300 in February!

At this time, I haven't yet gotten the interest back from my ING Direct savings accounts, but when I do, I will post it.

In other exciting news, I did my taxes today! Looks like I will be getting a return of $928.93 this year! If all goes according to plans, I will be putting the entirety of that refund towards my Plane/VISA fund, maxing that out! After that, i'll be snowballing my savings payments towards my Savings Fund, hopefully maxing that out with time to spare.

March goals and other things to follow...