Reached a new milestone

I know it has been a while since I last posted. In mid-March I suffered a severe, untreated ankle sprain. I'm still unable to run without pain but I am holding off on going to a professional until I return from Thailand. I performed a self-rehab and things were going well but a month into it I started running outside and after 2 weeks of running 10 miles, I started getting pains in my achilles tendon. I usually would stick through it but I didn't want to screw up my left leg for life. I proceeded to using an elliptical trainer 3 times a week for 30 minutes, and when I return from Thailand I will try to run 2-3 miles 2 or 3 times the first week and see how it feels. If I'm still in pain I'll go to an orthopedic doctor.

Anyways, this last month has been a big step in my goal to becoming debt free. Starting in March, I increased the amount of money I was throwing at my debt(student loan, and car payment), and was on target for 31 months. I knew I wanted to eliminate it much sooner but my current financial status only allowed me to put $650/month while I was saving $5,000 to put in my Emergency Fund. Well, that all changed last week. Thanks to G.W.'s brilliant plan to stimulate the economy(if you don't know me, that was sarcastic), and receiving a well-deserved bonus, I have reached the goal of $5,000 in an emergency fund. I also received an unexpected, but well-deserved 16% raise, which is effective June 1st. So it has been a big month, my next milestone is very lofty but seems very doable. Save $14,500, and eliminate all debt by October 2010, more importantly pay of my 2007 Mazda 3 by November 2009. Also, with the compensation increase, it has allowed me to increase my 401k contribution from 291/month to 580/month. I realized since I began budgeting I didn't need anymore money to spend on "stuff", and I also wanted to get closer to the 15% employee match of 401k. Although I haven't fully achieved my goal of 15%, I upped my contributions from 7% to 12%, and have budgeted to increase my debt snowball to $850 a month. I'm in the dark for one reason, a wedding. I'm not sure how much is expected of us to put towards our wedding, I know my parents are paying for the honeymoon expense but there is a lot of things I don't even know about that I will probably be responsible for. Also, saving $14,500 is for a down payment on a house, total of $20,000 but my fiance is working to save the remaining $5,500. Depending on the housing market at the beginning of 2010, it will dictate whether or not I can wait to save $14,500 or just use what I have saved up until that point. So that is my plan for my short-term financial future. I feel good that I have a $5,100 cushion for any emergencies. In the next month, I will also look into investment options for part of that money, since inflation is rendering my savings account pointless. Oh when will the recession end, but at least I have a clear head to endure the storm. I'll write when I return from Thailand at the end of May. Until next time...