2013 Savings Goals - 5 Down

(1) Max out 401k(s) -        $28,327 (80%)  (goal is $35,000)
(2) Max out IRA(s) -         $11,000 (100%)  (goal is $11,000) completed
(3) Add to e/r fund -          $10,000 (100%)   (goal is $10,000) completed
(4) Pay down mortgage -   $5,000 (100%)    (goal is $5,000) completed
(5) Trading account fund - $5,000  (100%)    (goal is $5,000) completed
(6) House projects -          $3,000 (100%)     (goal is $3,000) completed

Total:  $62,327 (90%)

Completed, completed, completed - feels fun to type that five times in a row.

In July when Mr. Sam was laid off, I assumed we would just have to throw our 2013 savings goals out the window.  But, he was able to find reemployment before his severance ran out.  And while he took a pay cut, I received a raise that off set his pay cut so overall our household income remained the same.  Even so, we had to work hard to catch up since I had put many of our savings efforts on hold while he was job searching.

I have one more pay check before the end of the year, so the 401k number will increase and, as a result, we will exceed our savings from 2012 and come close to saving $63,000 in 2013.  

Improvement Through Data - Fitness

As someone who has improved their finances by utilizing data, I am a fan of tracking data.  For our personal finances, we use Quicken to track our spending, easily downloaded from the Wells Fargo web site.  We also utilize an Excel spreadsheet to track our annual savings goals (when we were killing our $55,000 in unsecured debt we also used Excel to track our progress).

My employer has a fitness/health initiative (designed to reduce health insurance costs) and they recently offered use of a FitBit Zip which keeps track of steps, distance and calories burned through exercise.  I recently set mine up and it is illuminating to see how little I move even though I exercise regularly and make an effort to walk during my day.  On the days I exercise, walk 45 minutes three times a week, I accumulate about 7,500 steps which is considered light active. My goal is 10,000 steps per day which would push me into the active status

On days I don't exercise I only get about 3,500 steps although I do, already, take breaks during the day to get out from behind my desk and I try to take the stairs into and out of my office.  Under 5000 steps per day can indicate a sedentary lifestyle sedentary lifestyle and the associated risk factors related to same.

I think the idea of tracking my activities will make me more accountable, to myself, and is likely to increase my activity.  I know that I respond well to tracking my data and I'm interested in seeing how utilizing the FitBit can help me in this regard.

How about you, do you use any of these methods to track activity?  Does tracking work for you?