This Past Week

It's been a little bit since I have updated on the happenings in my life. It's been a busy week.

First, we have been having a number of storms in the area. My car was severely damaged by hail last weekend. I was told by the auto body shop that they should be able to fix it. They will have to replace a number of the parts though. Luckily, I have insurance to cover hail damage. It does mean that I will have to pay my deductible though. I do have a certain portion of my savings account set aside for car related repairs/emergencies, so that helps. It's very time consuming taking care of getting your car fixed, dealing with the insurance company, and getting a rental car. They said that it will take a couple of weeks to repair my car. I take very good care of my car, so it's hard to be without it and have a rental. I can't wait to get my car back. I just hope it turns out looking like it did prior to the hail damage.

Second, I received my annual review and merit increase at work this week. Even though I knew it was coming up, it's still makes me nervous. The review went really well, and the merit increase was what I expected. There are days where I feel that I deserve to be paid more, but when I consider benefits and flexibility at my company, I like where I am at for pay. The merit increase resulted in having to re-work my monthly budget. Part of the increase is going to my grocery fund due to rising food prices. The rest is going towards debt in order to pay that off sooner.

Last, I increased by 401k contributions this week. I decided to put more in my 401k since I don't feel that I can fully fund an IRA at this point in my life. I thought that putting more in my 401k was better than doing nothing right now. It's a nice feeling to know that I am saving for retirement, but it also makes me nervous when I come home and hear about how bad the stock markets did today. At least I am young and have time for things to turn around.

I will try to post my budget this weekend so that everyone can see how I budget things out each month. I will explain the details of it soon!