Hitting a tonne!

If you understand the rather parochial sporting analogy of the above title, you may realise that there is another milestone to celebrate... this being my 100th post! (A tonne in cricket-speak is 100 runs. It is also known as a century).

When I started this blog, my goal was to get my sh!t together money-wise because my family is celebrating Christmas in France and I really wanted to be there. I figured it would be great to have about $5,000 to spend. Bear in mind that I started with debts of $5,000!

Along the way I added a few extra goals so running with the sporting imagery, I figured at this point in the game it was time for a recap of the scores:

1. Be debt free by mid-August. WOOHOO. DONE! 
2. Move out from parents into a place in the inner west by end of August. Ummm, still working on this. Although I am now paying $100 a week board.
3. Learn to scuba dive by end of September. DONE! Thanks to the guys at Frog Dive in Willoughby I am now a PADI-certified scuba diver.
4. Spend 5 nights in the Solomon Islands putting my new diving skills to the test between 24 - 29 September. I leave for Brisbane on Thursday night after work in order to meet my connecting flight on Friday morning... I will update on my return!
5. Have $5,000 in savings by 17 December to take with me to Europe for 3 weeks of fun! Nearly half way there with $2,200!
6. Start saving for a house deposit with the goal of buying by 2013. A work in progress...
7. Save for a 2 week holiday in San Francisco in June 2011 Another work in progress...
8. Save for a 3 week holiday in South Africa in March 2012 Reconsidering South Africa (maybe Ghana and north-west Africa) but still a work in progress...
9. Have a regular slush fund to buy presents for friends and family and of course to spoil my little niece or nephew! Getting there and have a few pressies in the cupboard!
10. Be open to meeting someone to share my life with. Great in theory, harder in practice...
11. Ultimately, run my own business. Baby steps, which begin with a management course through work in October...

And for the fun-filled European holiday: my international flights flights are sorted, I've paid the deposit on the accommodation in France. I have travel insurance and the next major investments are trains from London to Dijon, and then from Dijon to Paris and to London again as well as flights from Paris to Gothenburg so I can welcome in the New Year in Sweden!

I figure this is a pretty decent inning at midway through the game. What say you?