It makes sense. I started using credit for day to day purchases because my card had a reward (75 dollars to my Roth for every 5k I spend), and I would use my Visa debit card otherwise.

I think I should have mentioned that much of my spending on my credit card however is from last month when I was traveling for work. My income of 6500 for last month reflects reimbursals for work spending the amount of about $4000. So I could be getting fooled by the work spending numbers.

This month should let me know if I've gone crazy or not. It shouldn't be terribly out of the ordinary, and I don't usually spend more than 1200 on my card for daily purposes, the only major work purchase has been a shipping charge of about 200 dollars.

I think I'm going to split out reimbursals and make a separate account for work spending in GnuCash to keep it all straight.

Goals 1 + 3 are done. Crossing my fingers on 4 and 2. 2 should be easy enough as long as the market doesn't tank again.

Shy of any wild changes. #2 is done and #4 looks promising. Although eating out is a wee out of control, expense-wise.

All four of my goals were met, despite the visit of Boyfriend.

Net Worth = $12,475,15

That's an increase of $3,220.99 on $4,927.86 of income, and $3,341.27 in expenses. That's a net surplus of $1,586.59. Meaning that $1,634.4 of this month's increase is market change, that's 6.7% growth on it's present value.

Major Expenses (>$100)
1. Rent $625 (Normal +0 from last month)
2. Fed. Tax $468.2 (Normal +$6 from last month)
3. Dining $289.25 (a bit high +$100, but Boyfriend was here)
4. Soc. Sec. $270.86 (Normal -$10)
5. Gas $259.06 (a big high +$100, pickup/return of Boyfriend, visits to mom, next month will be same or a bit higher)
6. Groceries $255.72 (much better -$200 didn't need to buy as much meat, goal for this month: $300)
7. State Taxes $160.79 (similar -$8)
8. Auto Maintenance $152.7 (oil change, +$140)
9. Entertainment $146.11 (much higher +$130, theater tickets with Boyfriend, near 0 this month)
10. Health Ins. $107.36 (same)
11. Gifts $105.26 (+$100 Boyfriend,near 0 this month)

Goals for next month:
NW=$15,000
Groceries $300
Dining $200
Roth +$342 (monthly amt - 75 cc reward)

I've made some changes to how I record work related expenses so they no longer show up in my expenses, except as "expenses:work-related" and that account is debited when I'm reimbursed. Haven't figured out how to account for the actual spending on mileage.

More analysis later.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I am selling some of my furniture. Stuff that I'd rather not have to take with me when I move down with boyfriend. So far it's netted me 116 dollars. More on that later.

Net Worth: $16,619.73 (Goal 1, met)

Groceries: $312.37 (Soo close, but I'll consider Goal 2 passed since...)

Dining $166.23 (Much better than expected)

And the Roth contribution was made as usual. (Goal 4 met)

Net Worth represents an increase of $4,144.58
On revenue of 6662.80, less expenses of $2838.82. Which means a net increase of $320.6 in market change, or 1.2% growth on it's present value.

Unexpected income for this month came from selling some items round the house to prepare for my move, and reimbursals for work expenses.

Major Expenses in order of significance (>100)
Rent $625 (Normal +0 from last month)
Fed. Tax $618.24 (+150, 3 paychecks this month)
Soc. Sec. $381.77 (+110, 3 paychecks)
Gas ($324.19, much higher significant work travel)
Groceries ($312.37, +60 more eating at home)
Auto Ins. ($267.5, once every six months)
State Tax ($226.56, 3 paychecks)
Dining ($166.23, -130 much better)
Health Ins. ($161.04, 3 paychecks)

Of note:
Addtl. Expense for June: License plates.
Addtl. Income for June: Stimulus check

Goals for June:
Net Worth: $19,000
Groceries: $300
Dining: $170
Roth: 342 (monthly -75 reward)

Goal Number 1 looks HIGHLY unlikely at the moment.
Goal Number 2 is good so far.
Goal Number 3 is blown.
Goal Number 4 is done.

Post mortem in a few days.

Net Worth: $16,505.90 (Goal 1, missed by a LONG shot)
Groceries: $284.16 (Goal 2, met)
Dining: $252.83 (Goal 3, missed)
Roth: Funded (Goal 4, met)

Net Worth Represents a decrease of $113.83.
On revenue of $4,461.79, less expenses of $2727.60. Which means a net decrease of $1848.02 in market change, or -7.1% on its present value.

A small amount of unexpected income this month came from selling some items around the house in preparation for my move, and reimbursals from work spending, as well as the arrival of my economic stimulus check.
A small amount of unexpected expenses this month came from paying for my license plates (just before I move, isn't that rich?), and postal fees to mail many of the things I'm not going to drive down to Florida with.

Major expenses in order of significance (>$100)
Rent $780 (I'm off lease now so they're getting an extra $155)
Groceries $284.16 (Good enough, there's room for improvement here I suspect)
Postage $269.70 (one off expense for shipping my crap to Boyfriend)
Social Security $254.51 (similar to usual)
Dining $252.83 (with 18.45 going for coffee. I need to tamp this down)
Gifts $199.00 (I sent a housewarming gift to Boyfriend now that he has his own place, one-off)
Auto Gass $188.72 (less work travel)
Auto Fees $151.38 (one off expense)
State Tax $151.04 (same as usual)
Health Ins. $107.36 (same as usual)

So in case you missed the memo, this month was craptastic for the market. According to the USA Today this was the worst month since the depression. Not a big deal, I just like to hit my goals. I was eating out too much, mostly because I was lazy, and I picked some high end foods for this month. Now that I'm getting down to the bare essentials in my apartment I'm less likely to innovate when it comes to dinner, so my groceries are likely to go down. Hopefully that won't mean I'll encourage myself to eat out more. I'm going to try to keep myself on task with some more aggressive goals this month. I learned my lesson not to hope for the Net Worth train, so I'm going to set budgetary and behavior goals, and try to see this plan through so I'm fully prepared for my up coming move. I've already funded my Roth for this month so that's not going to be a goal.

Here's the plan:
Goal 1: Groceries < $260
Goal 2: Eating Out < $170
Goal 3: Finish selling at least two major pieces of furniture from my apartment.
Goal 4: Make a list of all "To be processed" items in the apartment in prep for move.

I did a quick calculation of my net pay for the month, less my rent (which has gone up significantly) and general expenses, and it seems my only savings is going into my 401k and my Roth. I'm going to need a bit of savings for my move and after, and I'm getting concerned. I may be in trouble if I can't find a way to cut down my expenses. Otherwise when I leave my job, I need another lined up right away, or I'm going to be depending on Boyfriend, and in this job market I'd really rather not do that, and I'm only going to take money out of my Roth if I absolutely need to. I'm going to have to figure out how many paychecks I have coming when I leave, and find out what expenses Boyfriend and I will have. I also may have to stop contributing to my 401k/Roth until I'm set up with a new job. Updates as they warrant.

Goal 3 complete. 2 Televisions, and two tables sold. Possibly the Dining room table, desk, and office chair. Just 3 pieces left (bed frame, china cabinet, and EZ chair)

Moving Tuesday or Wednesday, and I'm still in crisis mode. I need to get a suit tailored for an interview, shut everything off, forward everything and get everything into my car before then. This should be interesting. Here's what I know at a glance about this month.

Savings 4,900k

CC due in a few days 2k

4-5 more weeks of pay coming.

No job yet. Hoping to change that quickly.

Retirement account is stagnant, and I fully expect it to remain so for the next couple years thanks to regulatory incompetence (personal rant over)

Net worth: 18k + car

Electricity bill was a 3 fold increase (I'd love to argue it but I'm moving so I'm pretty much hosed there)

One bit of good news is that my apartment rent was prorated, and I'll probably be getting my security deposit back.

Good luck with the interview!

Been quite some time, and the economy tanked. Neato!

Here's the story:
Assets
Roth $4523.70
401k $12722.34
Sharebuilder $99.32
ING $6390.07
Credit Union $5.00

Liabilities
Credit Card -$3229.88
Student Loan -$9931.80

Net Worth $10,578.75 + car

5 months later in a craptastic economy, and one more move later and here's where we are at:

Assets:
Roth: $6,138.18
401k: $13,951.67
Sharebuilder: 326.54
ING: $1754.16
Credit Union: $5.00

Liabilities:
-$2955.84 FIA Card
-$194.61 BofA Card
-$9,729.30 Student Loan

Net Worth: 9295.8 + car

Desperately low on cash due to a renting a new apartment and needing 4 months rent up front. Grrrr. Hopefully cash reserves will be refilled soon. Feel like I'm making no progress. Nothing to retirement for a while because I'm out of money. Missed a payment to student loan for a few days. My money situation is spiraling out of control. Grrrrr.

That bottom line makes me sick. Grrrrr. Christ this is depressing. No wonder I stopped posing.

How's the job hunt going?