To quote Dave Ramsey, I'M DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!*

Since January 2009, I've eliminated the following debts:
- $11,240.87 (Credit cards)
- $599 (Student loan)
- $13,422.74 (Vehicles)
- $20,257.40 (Home Equity Line of Credit)
- $3,178.01 (Mortgage principal reduction)
Total Debt: $48,689.02

I've also added over £6,000 to savings, not including the various sinking funds I have in the US.

Not bad, for roughly 21 months worth of work.

*Except my mortgage, which DR doesn't seem to count, but I do. I'm planning to sell the house in another 18 months or so, and then I'll really be debt free.

- Since my last post creating goals, I've left contracting to take a permanent position. Lower monthly income, but better job security.
- As a result, my goals are changing a bit. With luck, I should get these done by April 2011, and then I can work on the true "automate and forget" financial system.

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$0 (0%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$0 (0%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £5,100
$7,874.79 + £5,100 (54%)

- I am officially down to just one debt…my mortgage. My tenant brings in enough to cover that payment each month, which means I just need to worry about saving extra for property taxes/insurance/maintenance/emergencies.
- I have 3 months of base salary (not including extra that goes to savings) in the bank, which is a great feeling. Need to work on getting it to 6 months.


NET WORTH:
$76,531.87 + £7,714.51 (+9,123.80)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$307.13 (10%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$0 (0%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £5,100
$8,181.92 + £5,100 (55%)

- So…another new job. Back to contracting, but on a long-term basis, which should be the best of both worlds: better pay and no job-hopping hassle.
- 2010 has wrapped up nicely, paid all my property taxes and such, so now I just need to figure out filing taxes in two countries.
- As part of the 2010 wrap-up, finally transferred my old 401(k) into my Roth IRA, hence the bump there.
- 2011 goals include saving for retirement again, and funding money for travel. (I've lived in the UK almost a year and have yet to travel to Europe! Shameful.)
- I'm moving this weekend, which will involve some expenses. Rent will be almost £100 lower than what I've been paying, though, so that should work out well.


NET WORTH:
$81,222.85 + £7,401.37 (+4,377.84)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$1,832.72 (61%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$0 (0%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £5,100
$9,707.51 + £5,100 (62%)

- Still waiting on my first paycheck for the new job. Should be about 4-6 weeks' worth (depending on when they process it), so that will beef savings up quite a bit.
- Also need to finish researching the Roth IRA option. Savings are on hold (sitting in my bank account) until I figure out the best way to allocate them.
- New roommate isn't working out too well, so I'm hunting for a new place to live. It's not unbearable, though, so I'll be pretty picky (don't mind paying a bit more than now, but don't want to pay too much).
- Mortgage dropped into another thousands bracket. Always exciting.


NET WORTH:
$82,758.88 + £7,620.01 (+1,754.67)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$1,966.71 (65%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$500 (50%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £5,100
$10,341.50 + £5,100 (64%)

For shame! All kidding aside, don't pass up this opportunity. I lived in the UK for only 3 months and did get in a little bit of travel.

I'm still on some "hot deals" mailing lists and get to ponder on a routine basis about how much cheaper seeing the world would be if I were already on the other side of the ocean. Take advantage of it!!!

It's ridiculous how cheaply you can get away for a weekend.

Main impediments so far have been debt elimination (done, woo!), workaholic tendencies (working on that ), and needing someone to watch my dog (still need to work that one out). I'm heading back to the US for 2 weeks next week, but come March/April, I want to start a monthly 2 or 3-day weekend (if not longer) someplace new.

- Got paid for the first two months of work, still need to investigate tax implications before moving money around.
- Still flat hunting (boo). Really hating my flatmate, too, but it's a nightmare finding a place to rent with pets.
- Had a good visit back to the US. Now I need to stop being lazy/cheap and book a mini-vacation somewhere in Europe.


NET WORTH:
$83,851.02 + £8,194.21 (+1,669.34)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$2,188.84 (72%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$500.00 (50%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £5,100
$10,563.63 + £5,100 (65%)

-Have found a new flat and moved in.
-Still need to get on the ball about booking travel to places.
-Filled up my 2010 and 2011 Cash ISAs for the UK (roughly equivalent to a Roth IRA) - by getting the 2011 part done now I locked in a higher interest rate.
-Almost out of the 170s for my mortgage balance!


NET WORTH:
$86,227.89 + £14,708.45 (+8,938.11)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100 (Deadline: April 5, 2011)
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$2,542.54 (84%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$500.00 (50%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$0 (0%)

6. 2011 Cash ISA £5,340.00
£5,340.00 (100%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £10,440
$10,647.33 + £10,440 (72%)

-Finally got on the ball and as of this month, will be contributing ~20% of my pay into a pension. The scheme only allows contributions of a set amount, rather than a percentage, so I may add to it at the end of the year, or adjust accordingly.
-My contract should get extended through April 2012, possibly April 2013. Either way, job security shouldn't be an issue for a while (fingers crossed).
-Will have a flatmate paying rent as of July 1.
-Some irregular expenses this month, but left all savings untouched.


NET WORTH:
$87,597.84 + £14,652.06 (+1,426.34)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$3,000.00 (100%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$1,000.00 (100%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$561.45 (8%)

6. 2011 Cash ISA £5,340.00
£5,340.00 (100%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £10,440
$12,436.24 + £10,440 (78%)

Good luck to all your plans.

-Work is a bit crazy, but we also have the chance to get paid for overtime (1.5x), so that's cool. Will likely only last a month until we release, but it'll be nice while it lasts.
-Booked airline tickets back to the US for Thanksgiving. May look into a Europe-based long weekend for September/October once our product at work is released.
-Paid my accountant for my 2010 taxes, so at least that's done. I owe NC $10 and will get $17 back from the government. So after the cost to mail stuff over, I should only have spent about $5 to file taxes.


NET WORTH:
$89,423.75 + £14,237.73 (+1,411.58)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$3,000.00 (100%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$1,000.00 (100%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $6,800 (Goal: $8,000 Total)
$3,800.69 (47%)

6. 2011 Cash ISA £5,340.00
£5,340.00 (100%)

Total: $18,674.79 + £10,440
$15,675.48 + £10,440 (89%)

-Work is still stressful, but overtime is gone (for now). Managed to get 2 days in, so at least that's extra income for this month.
-Booked a weekend away in Vienna in September. Thanks to work stress, I could really use a break.
-Paid a large chunk into my pension, but most of it went to up-front admin/management fees. Should see the rest of my deposits look a lot better in the future, though.
-US savings into the 5-digit range. Hope to have it around $15,000 between checking/savings by the end of the year.


NET WORTH:
$90,812.55 + £15,520.97 (+2,672.04)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$3,000.00 (100%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$1,000.00 (100%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $8,000
$5,536.65 (69%)

6. 2011 Cash ISA £5,340.00
£5,340.00 (100%)

Total: $19,874.79 + £10,440
$17,411.44 + £10,440 (91%)

-Work has gotten completely insane. This ended in a nice result for me financially, though, as I threatened to leave and now they're giving me a bonus if I stay 6 more weeks. So, should have some extra money in October!
-Did get away to Vienna this past weekend, which was awesome. Already planning another trip (Italy, maybe? Spain?) for next Feb/Mar.
-Mortgage has dropped below $170k!
-IRA value dropped like a stone - ouch!
-On the plus side, pension contributions went through, so that balance is up.
-Finished my last savings goal! Time for some new ones.


NET WORTH:
$91,161.56 + £17,770.07 (+2,598.11)

Goals:
1. Pay off HELOC $7,874.79
$7,874.79 (100%)

2. 2010 Cash ISA £5,100
£5,100.00 (100%)

3. 2011 Property Taxes $3,000
$3,000.00 (100%)

4. 2011 Home Insurance $1,000
$1,000.00 (100%)

5. Home Maintenance Fund $8,000
$8,000.00 (100%)

6. 2011 Cash ISA £5,340.00
£5,340.00 (100%)

Total: $19,874.79 + £10,440
$19,874.79 + £10,440 (100%)

So, new goals already. I haven't given myself a reward for completing goals since I bought my Kindle for my last birthday - I think I'll buy myself a nicer computer hard drive for this birthday since I finished goals early.

- Would like to save up next year's ISA amount ASAP so that I can deposit it immediately in the 2012 tax year and get interest tax-free all year long. The limit is supposed to rise with inflation, but next year's numbers haven't been announced yet. Last year was £5,340 so I've added some padding.
- Hope not to need it all, as I plan to sell my house, but will save up annual insurance/property tax amounts as usual for 2012. Anything leftover will likely be consumed by closing costs anyway.
- Would love to get a year's worth of income (2k/mo expenses, 1.2k/mo pension) so that I can take time off to work on side projects, travel, etc. Not sure how long this will take me.

Goals:
1. 2012 Cash ISA £5,500 (?)
£0.00 (0%)

2. 2012 Property Taxes $3,000
$0.00 (0%)

3. 2012 Home Insurance $1,000
$0.00 (0%)

4. Year-Off Fund £38,500
£8,500 (22%) - Need to finalise this amount, my business savings account includes money for taxes and whatnot, and I'm probably underestimating how much I have available for my own use.

Total: $4,000 + £44,000
$0.00 + £8,500 (17%)