Ugh - May was terrible!

Didn't 100% hit me that it was JUNE. Probably should have paid the bills a bit sooner.

About $500 short, for June bills, at current. Since I can't download the AmEx yet, I am not sure where we failed so badly. I think a little bit of everywhere. Kind of funny reading everyone else's May posts. Is it in the air?

Anyway, we usually loosen up a little bit in the summer, but I will be strict with the budget this month. Will have some chance to make it up. Though we have a lot of road trips, etc., we also have a LOT of free meals coming to us in June. So, will see how it pans out. Once the credit card closes I can look a little closer and see if I missed anything. Just a precursor early morning glance and an "UGH!," for now.

Got the new Chase card, and so I will delight in being able to download purchases in real time for a couple of months. It is much easier to manage that way - I have not had the inclination to manually enter everything in real time with the less flexible but very rewarding AmEx. It's not that time consuming - I have just put finances in the background lately. I thought I would do that more after tax season, but maybe not. Maybe the ugly month of May will motivate me?

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All that said, my pie in the sky mortgage goal is starting to look like a possible reality. For background, we never borrowed against our mortgage (many refis), except for the last refi. It was too good to pass up, but didn't really have the cash to part with. Anyway, since we are so close to breaking the $200k barrier, decided to pay off some of those closing costs this year. Didn't intend to finance that part for 30 years, anyway. Though we generally have a no pre-payment rule with the mortgage - before ROTHs are maxed and we build a little more savings.

To break $200k by 12/31/11 was pretty pie in the sky, but have been trying.

Anyway, I was about $2000 short on current trajectory. Trying to add whatever we can every month - any unexpected income, etc. We've earmarked this $500 Chase bonus for the mortgage, which will help a ton. Add that to expected christmas money, and we are currently only about $85 short. Which, I would transfer from savings to complete the goal.

Dh will apply for a $250 Chase bonus in a couple of months - if still available. We've earmarked that money for a school donation.

In addition, AmEx will earn us about $500 in ROTH contributions, this year. Would be a little more, but are focusing on the Chase rewards for the summer.

Yes, will probably be a record credit card reward year for us - and will go a long way to our financial goals. Everyone has their own credit card issues/personalities, but I Cringe every time Dave Ramsey types say "No one got rich off credit card rewards." I won't be rich, but will make virtually impossible financial goals very possible, with very little effort on our part. I can do a lot with a free $1000, personally. Living on one income, those extra amounts sometimes make all the difference. $1000 here and there means bigger ROTH contributions, or mortgage pre-payments.

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I might finish my book tonight.

I was tearing through, and then it got very tedious in the 4th book. Problem is there so much going on, and then you have to sit through MORE characters and story lines being introduced. UGH. I was just thinking, "What is happening with everyone else? Is anything ever going to be reoslved???" I read more during tax season because those books were moving along much better. Harder to put down.

Anyway, the last 300 pages or so have turned back to fast paced and hard to put down. So, I will finish this week some time, and will have to wait for the new book in July.

The HBO series has been very good. We have found some nuances that we didn't quite pick up in the book. This is a series to be re-read for sure. But, I probably will never have the patience to read all those 1000-page books again. My tendency to skim/read quickly is apparently not good for this series, either. I felt better that dh completely missed some of what I did, too.

Anyway, it will be time for me to find some new reading material. I am glad to hear the library ebook selection seems to be rising quickly. That is where I will start.

This series was the first book I could get into in a long time. Unfortunately, only leaves my expectations higher.