[UPDATE] - Requesting a sanity check and critique of my budget

Hi PF,

I last posted in December 2016 asking for feedback and help to finalize my plans to build an emergency fund, pay off credit card debt, etc. (You can see the old thread here).

It's been about 5 months and I'm happy to report back some good results.

Old Milestones:

1. Quit smoking as a 2017 resolution to free up ~$50
2. Reduce Entertainment / Misc. spending to average $400 a month
3. Build emergency savings to at least $6,000 by December 2017
4. Pay off $1,500 credit card balance by February 2017
5. Save $4,000 for a down payment for a car by May 2017 (Total value of ~$12,000)
6. Build "Family Help" fund of $2,500 by February 2018 for a down payment on a used car (Total value of ~$10,000)

Current Situation:

1. Smoking remained the same. Tried e-cigarettes which lasted me 2 weeks before I went back to smoking. This is a WIP
2. Entertainment / Misc. expenses were kept <$400 except for March, when I had to pay ~$1.5k in federal and state taxes (have adjusted my withholdings since then) and April when I incurred some moving costs
3. Emergency Fund is currently at ~$9k. I've adjusted my goal to reach $14.5k by December 2017 to cover 6 months of expenses (including paying student loans and helping family). Ultimate goal for Emergency Fund is $30k by January 2019 to be able to cover a full years worth of expenses if necessary
4. Credit Card debt has been paid off on time
5. $4.5k has been saved up in a separate savings account specifically for the car down payment. Goal currently is to get this up to $6k by September 2017 (using the Money freed up from not having to pay for my expired lease and car insurance).
6. "Family Fund" of $2.5k has been met ahead of schedule. Goal now is to bump this up to $5k by February 2018 so that I can get them something a bit more reliable.

Setting these milestones/goals last year in PersonalFinance has been a huge help and has also opened up the floodgates for me to pursue the FIRE track as well. Some of the new goals I've set are:

• Increase 401k contribution from 15% to 20% by end of 2017 to max out the $18k contribution limit
• Begin fully funding Roth IRA ($5500) starting March 2018
• Start contributing $300/month towards a taxable brokerage account starting March 2018
• Fully pay off student loans (~$25k) by April 2020

Thanks, PF!

Submitted May 19, 2017 at 10:01AM by LifeAfterCheese http://ift.tt/2pSVhpN