Wow 2013, still not quite wrapping my head around it.

December was a great month for me, while I didn’t reach some of my goals, I still made some good progress even though I was on vacation for most of it.

I’ve been pretty much sick since I went on Christmas vacation, with everything from the flu to a terrible cold to some more, self inflicted ailments (I’m pretty sure I’m done drinking for at least a month). I’ve only started feeling better in the last few days, just in time to go back to work. But I’m ok with that, I’m just happy that I got sick while I could stay home and feel miserable, instead of when I was supposed to be at work.

December Money Sucks

December was a fairly reasonable month. I spent a lot of money on the typical Christmas stuff, like gifts and alcohol and take out, but fortunately I’d budgeted enough cash for all of that, so I didn’t exceed any of my budgets or come up short at the end of the month.

The biggest money suck by far was the power bill. Our 400 sq. ft. house, it turns out, is terribly insulated, and I mean terribly. Our power bill is $200! As much as other houses several times the size of ours, and it’s completely due to having to heat it.

We invested in some window sealers the other day, the kind you tape around the edge of the window and blow dry in place, so hopefully that helps a bit. It definitely makes a marked difference in the drafts that can be felt.

Total Debt ($-20,368.24) (-5%)

This month wasn’t my best month for debt repayment. I had to funnel some money that was ear marked for debt, towards that extra high power bill. In addition, I miscalculated a bit and more of my side hustle income had to be set aside for bills than I expected. I still managed to pay $540 in extra payments toward my student debt, plus the regular minimum payment of $301.46. Add that to my regular car minimum payment of $206.50 and I paid a total of $1,047.96 towards my student loans.

That means I’m in my fifth consecutive month of paying over a grand a month towards my debt! Woo hoo! Even with this slow month I was able to inch over that line.

Unfortunately, due to the money sucks mentioned above, I wasn’t able to finish out the year with under $20k in debt. I did, however come pretty darn close and it’ll only be a matter of weeks before I scoot under the 20k mark, so I’m ok with not making that happen this year.

What makes me happier, is that I’m starting this year off with $11,759.00 owing on my student loans. I can really visualize the day I knock them down to under 10k, and finally can get into the four digit range. I’m so excited for that day! My car loan is decreasing much more slowly and is hanging around $8,600, but I’ll attend to that once my much higher interest student loans are taken care of.

Networth ($-7,428.02) (-7%)

My net worth has been improving steadily lately, mostly because I haven’t had to tap my emergency fund in awhile. I’m so happy that it’s finally getting up closer to the 2k mark, it was quite depleted for awhile. My net worth would’ve been better, but I spent a lot of Christmas money that I’d been saving since September, so a modest improvement is all there is this month. I can only expect it to hover in place for the next six months, since I’ll be spending a lot of my savings on our approaching wedding.

Last Month’s Goals

I completely forgot about what goals I set, and had to refer back to December’s net worth post to refresh my memory, not good! Here’s how I did:

Run 50km

Fail! I spent the last two weeks of December sick as a dog, running was the last thing on my mind.

Stay on Budget for Christmas 

I’m happy to say I stuck to my budget and even came out of the events with an extra $20 to my name. Go me!

Going Forward

This month is all going to be about running and wedding planning. Now that the New Year has been rung in, I’m totally on board with planning and training for the two big events of the year – my wedding and my half marathon.

Run 50km

Hey, I missed this goal last month, so I might as well set it for this month. I really need to get in shape so I can start my training with confidence.

Make a Wedding Calendar

I want to make a wedding calendar with every last to-do, deadline, and check list on there. It’ll help me stay organized!

So that was my December. Not the dramatic, knock-your-socks-off reduction in debt repayment that I was seeing in the last few months, but not bad either.

How was your December?