This month's update is pretty simple.  I worked some overtime and some holidays towards the end of December that showed up on my January paychecks, which led to me meeting my goal of saving a minimum of $500 this month.  I had three paychecks this month so I have exceeded my goal by quite a bit this month.  That's okay.  It'll all balance out eventually.

Long Term Travel Account Activity

Previous Long Term Travel Account Balance (December 2013):  $910.91

Current Long Term Travel Account Balance (January 2014):  $1,671.18

Total Deposit Towards Goal: $760.27 (WOW!  This is awesome.)

Short Term Travel Account Activity

I had mentioned in my previous post I had a trip to Chicago planned for January 2014.  I deducted $600 from my checking account for this trip.  This covered most of my expenses for the trip since I had already paid for my plane ticket back in 2013.  I am getting my tax refund soon, which will boost this account back up.  The next big trip I have planned is to Nepal in October 2014, so most of the money I will be saving in this account will be to fund this trip.  I am also looking at a short trip to Bozeman, MT in March or April 2014, and a trip to Southern California in May/Jun 2014 and money for those trips will come out of this fund.

Previous Short Term Travel Account Balance (December 2013): $1116.61

Current Short Term Travel Account Balance (January 2014): $516.61

Total Deduction: $600.00 (trip to Chicago)

Overall, I am really proud of where I am at with my savings.  I have some housesitting gigs coming up this month which will go towards my short term travel.  I am also hoping to get some CPR classes in the coming months.  I start my new side job teaching social media literacy this month and any money I make from there will be going into my long term travel account.  Thanks for checking this out.

Are you saving for a goal? What are you saving for?  What kinds of tips do you have to share about your saving strategy?