• Keep to the new budget I just made (once I fix anything that turns out to be too unreasonable). YNAB was a huge help a few years back but I got lazy once my balance started going up, and looking at recent transactions to make this new one there were some unpleasant surprises. It might be an opportunity to see if something else works better for me now, there's a few alternatives about.
  
• Save $1200+ a month - same as above really, it's a little below what the budget says I should have 'left over'. I was already managing a decent chunk of that, but that's no excuse to waste the rest.
  
• Spend less on junk food, especially work lunches and takeaway pizza. I need to get healthier anyway, but I spent at least $3000 on unhealthy food last year, more than I spent on healthy food (I itemise supermarket receipts so that's everything, not just takeaways). A few treats are fine so this won't go to $0 but the pizzas and work lunches are specific things to cut back on.
  
• Reach a net worth of $85K (if I don't buy a house). Probably optimistic, but $80K should be straightforward and above that will be great. Depends on the economy, really. That sixth digit will come one day.
  
• Buy a house, if I can afford to. My rental is honestly nearly perfect for my current needs and surely cheaper than a mortgage, but it would be nice to have more freedom, privacy, and outdoor space - and if I didn't finish work at 4 PM I'd probably never get a parking spot here. At this stage I don't know where to start, though I think I would be spending a LOT of my money on the deposit alone. It might make more sense to stay here for another year and keep saving, but at some point that's going to get depressing.
  
• Buy an electric bicycle: Fun bonus goal. My commute and a lot of errands would be in riding distance, I'd barely need to touch the car. But I don't need one, the longer I wait the better they get, and I don't really have room in the apartment (and if I moved the trips would be longer!)
  

• Buy more things locally and sustainably (including second-hand!), and fewer online or 'bargain' impulse purchases. Many things will still be cheaper elsewhere, but it won't kill me to check downtown or gumtree first, or consider if I'll still care about it in a month, or pay a little extra for a sturdier version (within limits).
  
• Care less about my shares. Maybe sell a portion of the 'risky' ones, give up on ones that haven't done well, and put that into ETFs. And don't pretend you're going to get into day trading or options.
  
• Get money's worth from health insurance extras. My teeth aren't great and I wear contacts. The maths works out in my favour, especially if I need surprise dental work, but it might not be enough to deal with the extra hassle. And obviously look around in July to see if I should switch to someone else.
  
• Make use of my subscriptions. Or cancel them. I already culled a few in December (including cutting way down on Patreon), but then I added a few more potential ones while creating the new budget. Still, got to have some hobbies (also budgeted for).
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Spending on food is still too high but otherwise this was a huge success - $2215 saved (54%). It helps that I have no large bills in February and postponed some purchases until March, but my average is back over 1200. I am getting a bit lazy about putting purchases directly into YNAB instead of reconciling on weekends.
  
• Net worth of $85K: Continuing in the right direction, 70K to 73K. Future increases might be slower because I sold most of my shares (unrelated to and mostly before last week's drop), but I think I can still get there.
  
• Buy a house, if I can afford to: probably not happening - I could save for a deposit but wouldn't have much left over for all the other fees and costs. Another year of renting feels a little depressing but it's probably better in the long run.
  
• Buy an electric bicycle: This was a dumb idea even before Summer ended. Scratch that off the list.
  

• Local/sustainable purchases: Nope, mostly at national chains, There's a number of things I do have plans for (mostly hiking gear) that I postponed until after February.
  
• Care less about shares: Massive success, because it was pointed out to me that the stock market is a terrible way to invest money I plan to spend in the near future, so I sold virtually all of them at a reasonable profit and have nothing to care about. Will I miss out on gains or dodge a crash? Who cares, it doesn't matter now! (I still have some that I can't do much with until July.)
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: No.
  
• Make use of my subscriptions: good enough, nothing else worth culling yet.
  
• New: Actually start planning for retirement: The investing/retirement thread revealed to me that there are many things I didn't know that I didn't know. Time do some reading and calculating so I can take action that doesn't turn out to be extremely misguided in hindsight (e.g. those shares again).
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Mostly great! I saved about $2000/50%, similar to last month. It wasn't even on purpose, more like a side effect of staying indoors and worrying about job security. Spending was up on food and snacks to improve my pantry (and from stress eating). Spending was also up on jigsaw puzzles.
  
• Net worth of $85K: Glad I got rid of my poorly-planned shares in February! Saved income partly offset the loss in retirement savings, so I went from 73K to 71K overall. I don't think I'm going to worry about this goal for a while.
  
• Buy a house, if I can afford to: No, house deposit has become potentially years of "buffer" which I don't expect to need but is a great anxiety preventer. House prices are likely to go down, so that's a silver lining for next year!
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: Local, yes - I've switched to the pricier independent grocery to avoid crowds and empty shelves at the big supermarket. Sustainable, yes, in the sense that I'm not buying luxury items at all (why bother getting more hiking gear when all the trails are shut?)
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: still no, although some options like dentist checkups aren't available at the moment.
  
• Make use of my subscriptions: several are unavailable due to the lockdown, but they're hurting more than me so I can spare a few dollars for now.
  
• Start planning for retirement: I did some research and used some calculators and was pleasantly surprised that I was on track for a 'comfortable' retirement. And then things happened, but I know enough not to panic. I want to increase how much I'm putting into my retirement account, but that can wait until I get some longer-term job certainty. I should have a better idea by this time next month.
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: YNAB stayed mostly up to date, but I didn't pay much attention to it because I'm still not bothering to buy much. Like last month I didn't reach the saving target due to lower monthly income (first payslip of the month halved due to the April-May break), but average for the year is still >$1200/mo, albeit a lot closer than it was last month. Got back into weight loss attempts so I feel like junk food has been reduced, but since I'm not splitting receipts so much anymore I can't know for sure.
  
• Net worth of $85K: Retirement funds are back to where they were a few months ago, so this is up to $77.5K, about $3K up from last month. That's pretty much bang on my average monthly change for the last financial year and since I'm not spending any of it on a house this year I should hit this goal easily. Unless something happens to the economy again, of course.
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: Barely, unless local franchises count. I guess they kinda do.
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Apparently the dentist is open again, so if I'm lucky I can squeeze in a visit this financial year. Ditto more contact lenses
  
• Make use of my subscriptions: This one is too vague, goodbye
  
• Start planning for retirement: Put it off again while debating house buying, and now I may as well wait one more month (which I keep saying), this time until after the yearly raise in early July.
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Oh god I'm so sick of supermarket receipts. Still snacking, pretty sure the pizza guy remembered me last time so I can't go back there for a while. Good news: spent $1700, saved $2200, average saved is back up to $1500.
  
• Net worth of $85K: I made a mistake with numbers last month but nothing important. This time, up nearly $4K to ~$81K. Blimey. Maybe $100K this year isn't so impossible after all.
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: Chalk one up for sustainability because I don't seem to have spent any money locally that wasn't food, travel or work-related, and I don't seem to have ordered anything physical online either. Wow. Too bad for local businesses though.
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Nothing for an entire six months, I'm a moron. Could have squeezed in some contacts or a dental appointment before the financial year reset but I never got around to it. Maybe this month?
  
• Start planning for retirement Increase retirement savings rate: Still waiting till my auto-"promotion" which should happen on the next paycheck or two. Hello Level 2 Salary Point 4!!
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food:Didn't have too many pizzas, still had plenty of other junk food, budget was variable but overall +1350 which is fine.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: 81K to 84.5K, a little bit of everything - bank, remaining shares, retirement savings. The company my shares are with has postponed their strategic plans - they were going to drop the USD-AUD transfer fees and introduce optional subscription tiers - but the fees really aren't that big and the US sharemarket is total nonsense these days. I should probably sell up.
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: I had a short holiday while the real tourists are banned, spent a bit at local shops, but bought a load of books and gifts online. On the other hand, new bullet below...
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Still nothing. Chalk this one up to brain worms
  
• Start planning for retirement Increase retirement savings rate: In progress, I'll see if it's gone through next fortnight
  
• Buy a bike: The weather is getting nicer here (southern hemisphere) and this year I haven't been enthusiastic about jogging. I'm surviving off an ancient department store bike but I think I'll get something new from the local bike shop. Good bikes are pricier than I realised, total cost including accessories will be around $1000 (uh, 700USD?) but everyone else had the same idea and shipping is still crazy so he's out of stock until at least September. That means I have time to pretend-budget and decide if it's an impulse purchase. At the start of this year I had "buy an electric bike" as a possible goal but those are just too expensive, especially when I don't know how invested I am in cycling.
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Failure on all counts. I didn't update YNAB until the 30th and I spent too much on snacks. Naively, the bank account change was -500 instead of +1200. But that last one is due to three things - cycling & fitness tracker replacements, accommodation costs for a work event that I'll get repaid for this month, and August is when I first moved into this unit so a bunch of fees like contents insurance and electricity sync up. So I'm not too concerned for next month. It has dragged the average down to $1100, though.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: 84.5K to 87K, thanks to retirement funds and the shares I didn't think about. I probably won't reach $100K at this rate but hey, it was a bonus goal.
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: I'm doing the Harbor Freight strategy, I bought various cheap but shoddy things from the big stores, and if I use them enough to wear them out I'll get proper ones. I would have bought some things from the bike shop two blocks away but I never felt welcome there so screw 'em.
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Fuuuuck
  
• Start planning for retirement Increase retirement savings rate:I think I'm doing ~20% now without too much effort. It'll probably stay at that level until I buy a house in a year or so, so I guess this goal is done for now.
  
• Buy a bike: A family member loaned/gave me a bike they weren't using. Unlike my old one it's good enough for now so getting a fancy replacement isn't as urgent. I've started putting money into a 'new bike' budget line, but I don't know that it'll happen this year. I did buy various future-proof accessories, including a new bike computer, and I decided to ditch my dying fitbit for a Garmin smartwatch. Definitely splurged but it's a one off. New hobbies aren't that expensive, right? Anyway, I only added this goal last month but I don't think it needs to stay.
  

uvar fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Sep 2, 2020

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Only updated the budget just now and found a reconciliation error that dated back months - less than $50 but I've definitely got lazier about tracking things if I didn't spot it earlier. Saved ~2400 I think, I just didn't buy a lot this month. Definitely spent too much on junk food.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: 90-92. It's going to be close! I reckon I'll succeed unless the US election screws with whatever investments my retirement fund has got.
  
• Local/sustainable purchases: Compared to last month's Garmin splurge I didn't really buy anything significant. I could do with a new pair of work boots I suppose. I feel kind of bad about this goal but then considering the amount of rubbish (and recycling) I produce each week, my life is pretty 'sustainable' already. Or at least it could be a lot worse.
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: New contact lenses are waiting to be picked up, and I booked a dentist checkup this month well after I should have had one, which based on my paranoia will result in at least two fillings and this goal will be a success even if my mouth isn't. I think I'm happier paying a little extra each month to know my past dental idiocy isn't going to result in a sudden huge bill.
  
• Some other completed/obsolete goals removed - still happy with my cheap bike and retirement saving rate, still not house-buying yet
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: Who knows? The big pile of receipts on my desk and the outdated YNAB file sure don't. Another term break fairly recently so probably not.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: 93.5k, less than a thousand up. December is a three-payslip month, could it really come down to the wire? Probably not.
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Picked up 6 months of contact lenses, pretty much hitting the annual limit there. Two fillings last month, two more this month, but they pay half-ish and there's no annual limit there. Terrible news but at least it worked out financially. Thanks for not caring about your teeth, 20s me!
  
• Some other completed/obsolete goals removed
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: The pile of receipts has only grown. I've been pretty healthy and banned myself from pizzas early on until December so junk food might have been okay. Saving this month is hard to tell because of the share money transferring and I don't care enough to calculate the real value.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: $98.9k. Which sounds like I just missed the bonus goal. Except that I still have all of December left, a three-payslip month this year, and even if it wasn't I'm not planning anything special so it'd be practically impossible to not smash the target by New Year's Eve. My original goal seems pessimistic in hindsight! Come on six figures!
  
• Get value from health insurance extras: Finished with the fillings and one other treatment. Insurance only paid about half of each line item, which is less than I originally assumed, but overall I still saved money. Hopefully the next checkup in six months or so isn't as costly.
  
• Some other completed/obsolete goals removed
  

• Keep to the new budget/save $1200+ a month/spend less on junk food: The budget is 100% up to date, I found nearly every single missing receipt, but it was a bit of a mess because I abandoned it for a few months, and I didn't care about sticking to a gift budget much. Junk food spending sucked, but it was a three-payslip month so I had nearly $3K left over. Average for the year: $1380/mo saved from wages, above the goal. I feel like I could have done even better though.
  
• Net worth of $85K $100K: $103K, starting from $65K in January (and going way past the original goal). Average monthly increase of $3200.
  

• Buy a house, if I can afford to: Going to happen in 2021, and putting it off has made budgeting for it a lot saner.
  
• Buy an electric bicycle: Glad I stuck with the hand-me-down one, for what little riding I did. Don't think I'll worry about this for a few years.
  
• Buy more things locally and sustainably: I underestimated how well I was already doing.
  
• Care less about my shares: Don't have any now, so nothing to care about.
  
• Get money's worth from health insurance extras: Eventually, but I shouldn't be glad about my terrible teeth. Consider cancelling again in 2021.
  
• Make use of my subscriptions: Didn't cut out much, but supporting cool people/groups and staying sane was better.