Catching my breath

I have felt out of the PF loop for the past week and a half mostly due to having limited internet access (and time) while on vacation visiting family and then turning around for another business travel week. I'm pooped.

I spent the weekend and some of today catching up on the two most recent carnivals: Carnival #12 at Savvy Saver and Carnival #13 at Smart Money Daily and plowing through all the good personal finance blog posts that have backed up in the meantime. What a prolific bunch. And I discover new (to me) blogs each time the carnival runs...lordy.

This will be the first week since July ended that I get to spend all at home. Yay! I'm hoping to use this time at home to re-evaluate some of my PF goals and get more organized about my short term goals and tasks. It's been a bit chaotic in my PF life over the past couple of months and I feel like I'm running in place (see how the save-o-meter hasn't really budged much? It'll go up to a whopping 15% mid-week).

I've been concentrating on making some small reductions in monthly expenses (like long distance and auto insurance) and chasing down money that is already mine (health insurance reimbursements, and re-claiming "missing" money) but I am behind on revisiting my budget, instituting freedom accounts, and establishing some more useful goals.

Overall I think I've been doing "ok" at managing expenses and keeping to my original budget. I have been able to pay off the credit card every month including large planned expenses like the dishwasher and trips (past and future). My net worth continues to climb a bit each month mostly due to 401(k) and Roth IRA contributions.

But the sloth of the save-o-meter dogs me. And I fear large-expense-creep (hence the desire for freedom accounts asap). And I wonder if I will have any money in my saved bucket at the end of the year (ok, I will, but you sense my anxiety?)

AND?

my desk is pretty messy.