“Your actions should show you care about money by learning something about it.” - BFF Dave

Why is saving money, being on a budget and working towards your goals so difficult?

Because it causes you to stare at yourself, criticize your habits and realize that you – yes you – made and continue to make really, really bad decisions. No one WANTS to be criticized and told that he or she is doing things incorrectly, but to make serious changes it is a necessary evil.

I am really struggling this month and I’m not quite sure why. I have done a fairly good job of saying no, putting money into savings and being a better budgeter but this month has been disastrous. It is also frustrating knowing how hard I’m working and not seeing that reflected in my bank account.

BFF Dave says to do whatever you have to do to take in extra income when you are going through his baby steps plan. I’ve already started a part-time job one day a week, but I briefly considered picking up a second shift at the gym on Wednesday nights, but after one evening shift I was so sore, so cranky and so tired that the extra money didn’t make up for how awesome I felt. Sorry, BFF Dave…

BFF Dave also says that fixing your financial plan is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge and I truly believe that. I know WHAT I need to do, I need to actually do it. It’s like saying you want to lose weight, but not changing any of your behaviors. You can’t lose 20 pounds and still eat fried foods, drink sugary drinks and eat massive portions daily. I can’t save money and pay down my debt if I lose focus and start falling back into some old traps.

Saving money + paying off debt = happiness (and a house in the future.)

Spending money frivolously + not paying down debt faster = failure (and no house in the future.)

I choose happiness over failure.

So, here’s what I’m going to work on this weekend:

-Organize my coupons.
-Plan my menu for the week and make a grocery list.
-ONLY buy items on said grocery list.
-Figure out the budget for April.
-Figure out the budget for the rest of March.
-Change direct deposit form for work so that $25 automatically goes into savings.
-De-clutter and go through items to see if anything could be sold at a consignment shop or on Amazon.

Final quote from BFF Dave, “I am not against the enjoyment of money. What I am against is spending money when you do not have money to being with.”

Week Five: Lots o' Links!

AH! Life gets in the way of the best of plans doesn't it? I missed a couple of updates, but things have been moving slowly...

Fitness/Weight Loss
I am going to the gym - woo hoo! I actually went to a zumba class a week ago and l-o-v-e-d it! I am trying to find a place to take a cheaper class. The gym I went to didn't offer a pass just for classes, which is a bummer because I don't need a whole gym membership since we have a gym in our apartment complex. I do most of my fitness/weight loss updating on my that's fit blog, which can be accessed here:

http://www.thatsfit.com/bloggers/ashley-wisniewski/

Organization
I cleaned out my closet and it was amazing. Our apartment is tiiiiiiiny. Tiny. Small. Really small, but it works for us. Also, Peter once had a customer that said, "to live like no one else, you must live like no one else." We are willing to make sacrifices now so that we can afford a house hopefully in a few years...more on that later. So, since our apartment is tiny, we don't have actual dressers. You can imagine how difficult this is for me, so my closet needed some major help. It looks ten times better and it's easier to find clothes (imagine that...).

Savings
So, yes, we'd like to buy a house. When? Who knows. Considering we don't have the money for a down payment, it's not likely to be anytime in the near future. Sigh. Oh well, we have been working our tails off figuring out how to cut costs. One way has been to use Swagbucks. I LOVE it. I have been using it since October and just redeemed my 'swagbucks' for my 8th $5 amazon giftcard so that means I've made $40 just by surfing the net, answering a few surveys, etc. If you are interested, the link is:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/vtcricket84

Also, at the suggestion of my fabulous and spending-savvy little sister in my sorority, I opened an INGdirect online savings account which has a higher interest rate. If you are interested in opening an account, let me know! I can send you a referral link and if you use the link to sign-up (plus have an initial deposit of $250 you leave in there for at least 30 days), you can get a bonus $25! It's really a great way to earn higher interest on your savings, and for you to make $25 - for free!

Now, I have three "piles" of savings opened that just need to be funded: 6 months emergency savings fund, a down payment for a house savings fund and an everyday savings fund. I am about $60 behind my savings goals for where I needed to be this week. I have it mapped out how much I need to save each week to meet my goal for the year so I "owe" myself a little bit of money. Though I am behind, I am 8.5% towards my goal so I am closing in on being 10% there! Woo hoo!

Also, I must give a recommendation to go to my little sister's savings blog! Make sure to visit:
http://ahappysaver.com/ for great tips, recommendations, savings tips and coupons!

Education
Not much has happened on the education front. I did send my advisor from grad school an email putting the bug in his ear for a potential recommendation letter. I will work on my resume as well as personal statement during December/January and get that uploaded asap. Also, I need to request my transcripts. I will feel very accomplished when I have finished the application process.

Reading
I am now three books down:
-Dexter in the Dark (Jeff Lindsey)
-Bright Lights, Big Ass (Jen Lancaster)
-Heart of the Matter (Emily Giffin)

I absolutely adore Jen Lancaster. She is HIL-arious. And she reminds me of, well, me. No, seriously. We have the same birthday, love pearls, our signature scent is even the same (J'Adore Dior) AND we are members of the same sorority (Pi Beta Phi). Her first book is Bitter is the New Black. I assure you that you will love her! Visit her website at: http://www.jennsylvania.com/

Another one of my favorite author's is Emily Giffin. I'm thrilled that they are making a movie out of her first book (Something Borrowed). I literally read Heart of the Matter in one day because I needed to know how the story ended. It was simply wonderful. You can read more about the lovely and talented Emily Giffin at her website: http://www.emilygiffin.com/

I'm currently reading the fourth Dexter book and also started a random book that I found at a book sale, Lost and Found.

Speaking of Books...
Yikes. NaNoWriMo came. And went. And all I wrote were approximately 6,000 words. That's ok. Getting started was part one. Now there isn't any pressure and I have another ten months to create characters and a manuscript I can enjoy.

Until next week!

Week Two Update for You :)

Well at least in terms of writing headlines/blog titles, I'm creative. Elsewhere, the creativity is about a big fat zero. Week two went a whole lot like week one...this is a trend that must stop in week three!

Fitness/Weight Loss
Next topic. Though, I did work out at least twice and look forward to working out at least twice between now and Monday (although that would count for week three).

Organization
I spent quite a bit of time organizing my office this week. At my previous job, we had a presentation on 'customer service' and how it related to higher education. In the presentation, the presenter had mentioned that our work space should be neat, organized and presentable. I remember the room filling with laughter. I put away files, organized my bookshelf and straightened out my desk drawers. It actually looks and feels like a grown-up office - minus those big, fake flowers sitting on my desk...and the pink picture boards...and the Pi Phi/Virginia Tech memorabilia...but you get the point :)

Savings
I am so proud of myself! I was paid this week and went through and paid the necessary bills. I then took out cash (yes, Mom, cash!) and put into individual envelopes: groceries, gas, spending money.

While I didn't stay perfectly within my range, I was able to put an extra bit of money into savings. I am at 5% towards my savings goal for the year and on a (hopefully) good track!

Education
I met with the graduate admissions counselor today. The biographical portion of my application is complete. Next will be to request transcripts, recommendation letters and to complete a personal essay. While the program I want to do won't have an actual new cohort until 2012, I can apply and hopefully be accepted to the program and take classes towards my concentration. So, if all goes right, I'll be taking classes in the fall of 2011.

Reading
Fail. Big fail. I didn't finish my first book yet, so I'm officially behind. I will finish my Dexter book this weekend and start either the fourth Dexter book or another book. I am waiting on a Jen Lancaster book to arrive; I thought it would have been here by now. Grr.

Book
Fail. Epic fail. I haven't written one flippin' word on that piece. Sigh...

Alright. So, sometimes it takes a bit of time to get started. Maybe I needed to (very) slowly build momentum so that I have a rockin' week three?

Weekly Update: Numero Uno

Well, my first week of 26-year-old-awesomeness wasn't exactly full of awesome or productivity.

While I have 10 goals, I've organized them based on themes for the purpose of my weekly updates.

Fitness/Weight Loss
I did work out twice this week - even ran 1.5 mi...at one time, woo hoo! I am almost halfway to my 5k distance! However, the scale was not my friend and it reflected a gain, not a loss. Boo.

Organization
In terms of organizing my life, I did start to organize my recipes and my office - yay! Hopefully I'll have most of my recipes organized by the end of this weekend, and I will clean out my expired coupons, cut new ones, etc. I am going to be putting together a lengthy shopping list for healthy foods for my grocery shopping trip on Monday.

Savings
I 'saved' a whole, whopping $5.10 this week bringing my total saved to $80.36. Yay? And honestly, that was only "saved" because of a program through my bank. It's cool because when I make a purchase, they automatically take the leftover-amount-to-equal-100 and deposit it into my savings account. For example, if I make a $4.50 purchase, they round the purchase to $5. They don't 'give' me the 50 cents, but they take it from my checking account and put it into my savings account. I enjoy it. On the bright side, I'm nearly 2% towards my goal. Ha. Oh well, I get paid Monday and through some savvy spending tips, I'm hoping to be 6 to 8% towards my goal by next Friday.

My savvy spending deal of the week came last night when I used three coupons for Wholly Guacamole products. Originally $3.99 and $4.99, the coupons were for $4.00 each product. I also had a coupon for a $1.00 of an air freshner that was on sale for .97 cents. Throw in a bag of tortilla chips and my whole purchase - originally nearly $18 - was purchased for $4.90. Win.

I also went to annualcreditreport.com and pulled up a credit report. Did you know you are allowed three, free credit reports per year - and I don't mean from the "free" credit report website. Annualcreditreport.com is an actually, legit website (from what I was told by a lawyer) and I pulled my report. I've had some, well, we'll just call them setbacks, over the past year - mainly due to the bright idea I had to buy a condo (not a bright idea...) and I am working to repair my credit. I did pay $7.95 to find out what my credit score is and while it's not very shiny and pretty, it's not totally atrocious. Mediocre.

Education
I printed out information for three different graduate programs: a dprof in organizational leadership, an educational doctorate (Ed.d) in administrative leadership and the requirements for an MBA. My first choice would be the dprof doctoral program; however, both the dprof and Ed.d programs may not be taking a fall co-hort. Cue MBA print outs. We'll see, we'll see...I am reliving conversations from a former grad school professor. I remember telling him MANY times that he was crazy and that I was absolutely, positively not getting another degree. I also told my husband we'd never, ever live in Michigan. Well, I am serious about another degree and we lived in Michigan for a year. Clearly I need to stop saying "100% no" to things :)

Reading
I am hoping to finish my first book of the 26 for the year this weekend. I will make a separate blog posting listing the book titles, once I finish book one :) Currently reading: Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay

Book
Oh my oh my am I WAY behind in my NaNoWriMo word count. By today, the 12th day of November, I should be at 20,000 words. Shamefully, I am a measly 5,921 words. And I haven't written since Sunday. And I don't like my plot. And I don't like my characters. Sigh...

And there you have it, the first week down - 51 to go!