Good morning/afternoon/evening,

Last year, my husband and I each received $200 as reimbursement for our gym membership.  This year, the gym will cost about $850 total for the year, so the $400 reduction in cost is great.  This year, the reimbursement program has changed — now they’ll reimburse $300 each for our membership, BUT we have to each “check in” to the gym 120 times during the course of the year.  I’m not one to turn my nose up at $600, so I’ve been trying to be diligent about going each weekend day (done so far) and to try to take opportunities to go during the week when I get a chance.  Hopefully I’ll hit the 120 time minimum, and also get in slightly better shape while I’m at it.  

Or at the very least, I’ll play in the pool with the baby.

So I shared earlier that I met my major goal of paying off $20,000 in student loan principal this year.  But I’ve some more financial progress outside of my student loan(s).

401k

Vested/Total December 2015: $19,610/$26,992.52

Vested/Total December 2016: $41,865/$48,126

Each year at the end of December, I become vested in more of my company’s matching and general retirement contributions (until I’ve been there five years total and become fully vested), though a portion of their contributions were fully vested after 2 years.  I don’t include my 401k or my IRA in my net worth calculation, partially because there’s no way for me to only include the vested portion in Mint, as far as I can tell, and I’d rather be conservative.

Roth IRA

December, 2015: $2,843

December, 2016: $5,101

* I have not been contributing as much to my IRA this year.  I used to contribute $100 most paychecks.  Since the little man was born, I’ve split this so that $50 gets direct deposited into his 529 plan, and $50 goes to the checking account that I make transfers into my IRA from.

Mortgage

Balance December 2015: ?

Balance December 2016: ($172,973)

I checked last year’s post, and it said that we’d paid off $3,085 in principal last year.  I can’t figure out how to access my old mortgage login, but based on last year’s number, I’d estimate about $1,500 was paid off on the old loan, and since the refinance in July we’ve paid off another $2,026 in principal. The lower interest rate is hugely helpful here.  

Savings

Progress is nil — or worse, negative.  But the two main reasons for this were closing costs to do the refinance (well worth it) and extra payments on my loan (also worth it).  I look forward to the year that I make progress in my personal savings account, but for now I’ll have to be happy with making significant progress on my student loans.