Payday update

Money isn't everything, but it's sure nice to get paid. After allocating my paycheque to savings and debt reduction, I've updated my progress bars and NCN Network chart with the current totals. I'm making some decent headway with my goals this month, so let's take a quick look at how I'm doing:

• Reduce my revolving debt to $18,500 - I'm currently sitting at $18,586.45, which puts me a bit short of my target. However, this does still put me at more than 50% of the way to my year-end goal of $14,000, and with 12 out of 26 paycheques still to come, I'm pretty confident I can hit this mark by December.


• Grow my Emergency Fund to $1,450 - Take a gander at the progress bars off to the right, and you'll see that my Emergency Fund is at 118.8% of my 2008 target. Huh? Well, with Ms. Loonie's new job and modified pay schedule, I'm beefing up my Emergency Fund to provide a buffer in between my paycheque and hers. The Emergency Fund currently sits at $1,563.28, and I'm aiming to get it up around $2,000 over the next couple of months. This focus on expanding our cash cushion is part of the reason I'm falling short of my debt reduction target this month.


• Decide whether I will convert my retirement portfolio to ETF versions of the index funds I currently hold - I'm still working on this one. The recent market volatility has given me pause, and I'm leaning toward leaving things where they lie for the next couple of months.


• Update my Equifax credit file with my correct postal code - Good news, everybody! You won't be hearing any more moaning about this one, because I've finally faxed the form! Thanks to the commenter who provided the much-needed kick in the pants that got me from talking about this to actually doing it.


• Continue to walk to and from work every day, and pack my lunch at least 20 days this month - Going strong so far. I'm on track to meet both of these goals.


• Blog 31 times in July - I'm a bit behind the curve on this one. I'm well ahead of the last few months' posting frequency, but I don't know if I'll hit the 31-post mark. We'll see what happens...

It's actually shaping up to be a pretty strong month. Taken as a whole, my debt reduction and savings goals are being met, and I've made good headway on the other tasks I set for myself.

Here's to keeping on track, and having a good news story to tell next Friday.