There are only two months left of 2009. Have you accomplished your goals for the year? If not, can you still wrap them up?

I looked at our goals that are on the side bar. We are most definitely on track to save 15% for retirement. It helps that that the goal was automated!!

The home equity loan began 2009 with a balance of $13,999. Our first goal was to pay off $7,000. We did that!! A few months into the year we thought we could get ambitious and pay the whole thing off. It is very clear that we will not get there with the cash we have or expect to have available. Right now, I think we can get the loan under $4,000. Which means we will have paid over $10,000 in debt off this year.

We did pay for our Disney World vacation in cash!! Yipee. So fun. And the ONLY way to go on vacation. Trust me.

We also paid for our daughter's braces in cash. On some level we knew she would need braces, but we didn't have this in our plan at the beginning of the year. She's only had them on for two months and there are no lingering bills just straighter teeth!

We made zero college contributions. This is a little disappointing because the market was low at the beginning of the year and has rebounded, so it would have been a good year to be investing. So be it. We will contribute in 2010...once we have that HEL paid off.

To wrap up. The final two months of 2009 will consist of saving for retirement and paying another $1925 in principal towards the home equity loan. In order to do that we have to make conscious spending decisions during the holidays.

What are your financial plans and goals for the last two months of 2009?

Ready to happy dance again, today? I am!!

Since the travel money is now in our account I moved the remaining $791 back to our emergency fund. Those braces are paid in full.

Since you probably weren't keeping track, I'll let you know that it took us 39 days to return that money to our account. Honestly, those 39 days were a little stressful. In the end...completely worth it.

We saved $185 by paying in full. We also don't have a monthly obligation to the orthodontist!! I feel so free.

Yipee! We have be notified that my husband's travel voucher is being paid today.

Guess what that means?

I will be able to finish paying back the emergency fund for those braces tomorrow!!

I can't decide to happy dance today, tomorrow or both. Okay...BOTH!

I made a nice big payment to our emergency fund today. Those braces are almost paid off and she's only had them on for 4 weeks!!

I made a payment in the amount of $1,224.00. Yipee!

This money comes from the sale of our couch, refund from the orthodontist, extra money from last pay period, sale of a wood shelf, and our current paycheck that arrived today.

As soon as the Army makes our travel payment this debt will be gone!! Yipee!

I'm still waiting on the airline refund, but I did receive the refund from the orthodontist in the mail today.

I called the orthodontist's office just yesterday to explain that the insurance is paying more than they originally calculated. Remember, I had paid in full for a 5% discount after the insurance money was applied. They were more than happy to refund my $76!

The made the check out to my husband. I guess it is only fair...he carries the insurance and makes the money! I just need him to sign the check and it will be in the bank!!

Last night I received final numbers from my husband regarding his recent trip spending. Originally, I thought we'd get $300. Then I lowered my estimate based on his spending to $110. The actual number we will receive appears to be $271.68!

We are just waiting for the travel vouchers to be approved. Within a day or two we should have the cash! At the same time, we will receive the money we paid for that incorrect airline ticket. That amount is $644.00.

Here's the cash update:

$100 couch sale
$10 wood shelf sale
$150 excess funds from current paycheck
$888 excess funds Oct 1 paycheck
$644 army to refund an airline ticket
$271 per diem excess
Total $2,063

You might have noticed that the amount above is MORE than what we need to pay back our emergency fund for those braces. This could be completed this week...depending on that travel money payment!!

What a relief to see the end in sight!

I'm expecting lots of cash to flow into our lives the next two weeks. I'm making the list primarily for myself...buy I know my readers and lurkers wouldn't mind a peek!

$100 couch sale
$150 excess funds from current paycheck
$888 excess funds Oct 1 paycheck
$644 army to refund an airline ticket
$110 per diem excess
Total $1,892

I have the couch money. The excess in the checking account right now won't be known until after Wednesday. The per diem amount is an estimate (DH spent more than I thought).

All of the above cash will go to paying back the emergency fund for the braces. We are getting VERY close to the goal!

Guess what? There's more money coming, too. In addition to future paychecks, I expect the following in the month of October:

$50 verizon phone refund
$76 refund from orthodontist
$10 my survey check
$50 global test marketing survey check
Total $186

Umm...I think someone is on my side today. I sold the ugly couch!! For $100. The cool thing is it is going to a college kid who is colorblind...he doesn't care that the colors are outdated! Perfect.

Turns out Wii game systems are on sale this week. I bought ours at Target. They dropped their price by $50! Since this is the only thing the girls want for Christmas, I jumped on it.

So a very spendy weekend in some respects. However, our spending money for the remainder of September sits at $200, which is awesome for us. I think I can use the most of this toward paying back the EF for the braces later this week.

It's all working out...even if the plan has changed a bit along the way!

I claimed our debit card rewards in the amount of $75 last night. This money will go directly to the emergency fund!

Remember: we are paying back the money we borrowed to pay for the braces in full.

Payback Total Remaining: $2,015.00

We keep making progress! Gotta love that.

Yipee!! It is payday!

I have paid all of our recurring bills and finally moved money back to our emergency fund. As you may remember, we used our emergency fund to pay for our daughter's braces in full (we received a 5% discount equal to $185).

Today, we are paying ourselves back in the amount of $1501.00. This will leave us with $2090 left to repay. The goal is to complete this by the end of October.

I received good news regarding the braces yesterday. The insurance company will pay $80 more than we were expecting. When the orthodontist recalculates our portion, we will get a refund of $76!! I hope I see that check very soon.

I'm one of those people that does pretty good about getting rid of our excess stuff/clutter. In the past, I have held garage sales, sold on ebay, listed on half.com, taken clothes to consignment sales and stores. I've sold used books, and old cell phones. But right now...

I'm unmotivated.

And the truth, I have stuff to sell. The girls are always growing out of their clothes and shoes. They've recently decided to give up Barbies, Polly Pockets and Bratz. There's an extra coat in the closet. There are movies we won't watch again. There is real stuff to sell.

Right now is when I SHOULD be motivated. I have braces to pay my emergency fund back for, and a home equity loan that I want desperately to go away!!

But for now...I'm not motivated. I'm just being honest! Maybe I'll think about it more tomorrow....

Some of you may have noticed I haven't updated the ticker for the braces. The braces are the priority right now. I definitely haven't forgotten.

I currently have about $880 sitting aside to be put back in the emergency fund. I did have more, but remember the crazy airline ticket I had to pay for? Plus, I dipped into some of that money for the new cell phone.

Next week, when my husband gets paid, I should have another $657 to add to the pot! I'm also expecting that airline ticket money to come back to us near the end of the month. That was $644!!

I'm not going to update the ticker until I actually put the money back into the emergency fund account. I see a few things on the horizon and want to have some cash to handle them if necessary. Just a tad silly to put it back in, if I'm going to need to pull some of it back out!

Once it all gets put back, you will be the first to know!!

We've made it to payday! We spent pretty much every last dollar we had allocated towards spending this month. In fact, I had to dip into some of our extra cash for kleenex, since our youngest daughter caught a cold! Poor baby.

We did a really good job of holding out and waiting to spend only when necessary. I had a list of things that we could wait to buy. They included paper towels, trash bags, my haircut, razor blades, and bar soap.

Today, I'm writing a check for the first round of school pictures. I picked a package that is $17. The cheapest was $12. I decided to spend an extra $5 to be able to give another 5 people pictures. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

The good news: after paying bills we should have $915 to allocate towards braces! I'll update the ticker when I actually get that money into the emergency fund.

It feels good to be flush with cash...even if it is only for a few days!!