Mid September Stargazing

Whew, that took awhile. I've been saving receipts but not tallying my spending for the past month. I just entered over 30 days of receipts onto the spending page. It was a boring task but I feel an enormous weight off my shoulders.

2013 Financial Goals
1. Average $13.50 a day spending currently $14.83
2. 104 NO SPEND days currently 54
3. No more than 45 days off the record currently 50
4. Maintain $1000 emergency fund currently $2
5. Stick to a monthly Zero-Based Budget Not currently doing so great

There are 106 days left of 2013. I was pretty excited about where I'm at with the NO SPEND challenge until I just announced that I'm going to have to not spend anything just about every other day for the rest of the year to meet my goal. That's a tad bit scary. I think I can still track down my spending for a few of the off record days but I'm afraid I'm over the 45 days mark even so. I'll up that minimum to 50. I need help with my emergency fund for sure. Why is it SOOOO difficult for me to get $1000 in the bank? It's awful. As for the budget, I did good in August. September is only half over. I think I can get the zero based budget back on track for this month too.

Oh, and the average... I've $1153.38 left to spend for the entire rest of the year (106 days) if I'm to meet my $13.50 a day challenge. That's only $10.88 a day, or $21.76 every other day if I'm tackling those NO SPENDs too.

I certainly won't say that I excel at challenges BUT "reach for the stars and you might hit the moon..." or maybe even a few of the stars, right. Speaking of stars if I were to actually hit $12 a day for this year I've only got $680.88 left in the budget for the rest of 2013. Now that is brutal! $1153 is starting to look pretty good.

Today's lovely: My 18 month old son very meticulously colored something that resembled a beautiful jelly fish. This kid fills my world with amazement and awe.