Goals for the Remainder of 2011

With only just over five months remaining in the 2011 I have realized that I never set any finical goals for myself this year.  I guess that my overall goal was to just scape by month to month and hope nothing bad happened.  Well, that is going to change.  Below are three goals that I want to accomplish before 2011 is over.

Open and Fund my 403b at my New Job
About three months ago I changed jobs.  My new job has better benefits and was willing to pay me two dollars more an hour after the training period.  At my last job I never opted to open an retirement account with them because I told myself that I couldn't afford it.  Not anymore; I can't afford to not start to save for the future.  Last week I met with the 403b plan administrator and opened my first retirement account.  I still don't feel that I can fully fund it so I am starting slow, with only ten dollars a pay period.  My employer will match fifty percent of that so that's fifteen dollars a pay period or thirty dollars a month.  I know it's not much but at least it is a start.

Save Five Percent of my Take Home Pay for an Emergency Fund
A little over a year ago I got into a car accident that required a lot of expensive repair work.  I had no savings and with my credit cards maxed out, no way to pay for it.  My parents thankfully stepped in and fronted me the money so I could get the repairs and get back to work but that scared me.  Ever since then I have been telling myself that I need to start an emergency fund but I never have.  Starting with August's budget I have set aside five percent of my take home pay to fund an Emergency Fund.  Taking a page from Dave Ramsey I want to fund the Emergency Fund up to 1,000 dollars before I redirect all my attention to paying down my debt.  I have projected that this will happen sometime in early 2012.  Five percent isn't a lot to start with but until I have managed to adjust to this new budget that I am trying out I feel that it is the safest bet for right now.  I will most likely look into changing it after I have run it a few months.

Get Better at Tracking my Expenses
I am fantastic at tracking all my reoccurring month expenses.  I can tell you the due date to all my credit cards and I have never missed a payment.  It's all that little stuff in the middle that really gets me.  The day to day transactions are the hardest for me to keep track of.  That is going to change.  I have set up a binder for me to go into every night and just simply right down what I spent each day.  It is very much like a check book register just bigger.  I am hoping that by keep a better track of my day to day expenses I will become more aware of what I am spending and maybe think twice before going through with the transaction.