March 2010 Financial Assessment

March was a very good month for me financially, especially from where I started the year. I received all of my refunds, taxes and security deposit from old apartment, and applied them to my credit cards. I managed to pay off two cards (almost), raise my emergency fund to $1000, and made a pretty big dent in the third credit card. I applied the refunds to the two credit cards in the middle of the month, so at the end of the month I was it with a small finance charge. Totally sucks that credit cards are figured on average daily balances and not the ending balances!  Anyways, lets take a look at where I stand now.

January 1, 2010
American Express Credit Card                        $1,291
iTunes Visa Credit Card                                  $2,743
Chase Southwest Credit Card                         $5,520
Bank of America Visa Signature Credit Card    $8,019
Capital One Visa Credit Card                          $10,697
Student Loan                                                  $11,471
Car Loan                                                         $31,293
Student Loan                                                   $35,565
TOTAL                                              $106,558

April 1, 2010
American Express Credit Card                        $2.31 (stupid average daily balances!)
iTunes Visa Credit Card                                  $0
Chase Southwest Credit Card                         $3,619.40
Bank of America Visa Signature Credit Card  $7,860
Capital One Visa Credit Card                         $10,391.83
Student Loan                                                  $11,221.68
Car Loan                                                         $30,041.14
Student Loan                                                  $34,903.05
TOTAL                                             $98,039.23

This month was also a good month for completing my goals. With some of my refund money, I purchased Rosetta Stone: French level 1-5. It did cost a good chunk of change but this will allow me to complete several goals over the year and it saved me about $200 by buying it in one package. I ran a 5K to help save Mt. Diablo, a local nature preserve outside of San Francisco. It was a lot harder than I thought since it was trail running trough creeks and mud. And finally I planned my first camping trip of the year to Lake Sonoma about an hour north of where I live. I hope to do the camping trip during April but might have to push it off because of some training with work.

All in all, March was a great month and not just for me, check out Adam from MoneyRealtionship.com and his success or David from MoneyNing.com. I look forward to many more months like it.