Another month down the road to financial independence! September was a huge month for us in a lot of ways. As mentioned in my last update, I received an after tax bonus of around $2000, which certainly went a long way this month. Unfortunately, we also had a lot of expenses pop up; car registration, a close friend’s 30th, another friends baby shower, and $800 of unexpected medical expenses. Alas, we persevere and remain focused on our goals.

Here is a snapshot of our forecast position:

Projected Sep Car Loan $ 17,785.05 Consolidation Loan $ 12,410.15 Personal Loan $ 5,055.51 Credit Card A $ 1,016.81 Credit Card B $ 6,175.21 Credit Card C $ 6,136.96 Total $ 48,579.69

And our actual position at the end of September:

Actual Sep Car Loan $ 17,448.60 Consolidation Loan $ 12,673.40 Personal Loan $ 5,151.87 Credit Card A $ 5.31 Credit Card B $ 6,223.09 Credit Card C $ 6,036.00 Total $ 47,538.27

I must admit it is a little demoralising having to allocate a large chunk of my bonus to expenses we hadn’t accounted for, but then again it is also good to see that we are $1,041.42 ahead of our forecast position. Credit Card A is almost completely closed out, which is very satisfying.

Looking forward to October we have a goal of $46,162.89, which from our current position seems very achievable. However, we are forecasting more medical expenses to land in October to the tune of $2000. We have spoken about how this will completely eliminate our current gap between forecast and actual position, and have agreed to increase our weekly contributions by $100 each during the month of October, as well as selling some items that we don’t use (such as an iPad that is literally doing nothing in its box).

These little bumps along the road only serve to make the journey more interesting. I mean, you may get bored following along the way if it was all smooth sailing, right? At least that is what I will tell myself. Stay tuned for the October update!