Breathing Room

Finished my first Icelandic lesson on Livemocha, a great tip courtesy of a reader -- Thanks again! I have my work cut out for me... I'll have just enough time to get through the beginner course before my trip.

D baked dark chocolate pecan and mint chocolate chip cookies yesterday and the house smelled wonderful.

I have been playing around with my spreadsheet again in hopes of simplifying things. Instead to taking the approach of hording every dollar, I went about it from the other way -- from the what is the absolute minimum I need and lets save that first.

What I was left with was the leftover monies. Much simpler to know that vs. putting everything into an account and drawing from it not really knowing if the account will hold enough.

This year I won't need to be saving for my working accounts. I ended 2009 with that done so there isn't really any ambitious savings goals for 2010 and I've found my spreadsheet a bit chaotic without direction.

I haven't decided if I will allocate anything towards retirement. My 2010 tax free account has been maxed out already. In my master retirement spreadsheet, I have essentially written off the next few years for large savings because of the amount I'm putting aside for extra mortgage prepayments.

In the end, I feel it will depend on how my business does this year. If D's extra work is steady, then we will discuss options. Right now, a bit of breathing room is nice.