just a girl with a lot of opinions on losing weight, student loans, saving money, spending money, family, love, wine, higher education and of course, puppies :)
One of my favorite songs on Miranda Lambert’s “Revolution” cd has a line that goes, “I’m not easy to understand but you know me like the back of your hand. I’m your girl and you’re my man. And we’re makin’ plans…”
Not to be too lovey-dovey, but I think it’s very fitting for a number of reasons. One, I adore my husband and he loves me more than I ever thought possible. And two, we are legitimately making plans. And I think Dave Ramsey *whom (or who?) I just decided shall now be known as BFF Dave* would agree that we have dreams that have morphed into goals because we have a plan. And those of you who know me, you know I have to have a plan. While I can fly by the seat of my pants, I am so good about writing down what it is I need to do to get to where I want to be – and I’ve been making progress on my plans!
February Updates!
Goal one: Financial Fitness
Without giving away TOO much personal information, I’m ecstatic to say that I am making progress in my baby steps from BFF Dave (can you tell I’m drinking the BFF Dave kool-aid?)! I am moving onto baby step number 2: debt snowballing!
I am also reading “Total Money Makeover” by my BFF Dave. I love his no-nonsense approach. Though he is a bit harsh at times, it is very necessary to read. For example, he point blank says you (aka me, myself and I) are the reason for your money problems. Too often we (read: I) try to blame others or even things that happen as the reason but really? I made those choices. I knew what I was doing. Did I know what the outcomes would be? No, but I could have prevented some of my problems. I am my own problem and you know what? I’m FIXING myself therefore fixing my problems – with a plan.
Sometimes it's difficult but I know it will be worth it in the end. As BFF Dave says, you have to learn to say no. This past weekend I was fortunate to spend some time with some great friends from grad school. But I also knew my financial limitations. I enjoyed myself and stayed within my budget. In fact, I spent a little bit less than I planned. You know what I did with the leftover amount? If you guessed, "put it into savings?!" you would right on the money (pun totally intended).
Starting with March, I will be paying $325 on my car payment. If my math is correct, I will still be paid off within two years; however, I will need to raise my payments again down the road. Also in March, I will start receiving my small yet helpful paychecks from my part-time job, so I can continue to save AND pay off debt. I am still working on funding my “being prepared” fund – which for me is drastically different from our emergency fund. I will need tires in the spring which is coming up soon as well as paying my car taxes. Time to start preparing!
Goal two: Create and maintain a healthy lifestyle
I finished 30 day shred and I’m slowly losing weight. I have to often remind myself that I’ve made some really awesome progress and that in time, the rest of the weight will come off. I’m so excited and ready to just be healthier. It’s very motivating. I’ve said since the beginning that I would be so upset if one day the doctor told me one day that I had health problems that could have prevented by something as easy as diet and exercise.
I LOVE the treadmills at the gym where I work. They are super fancy. I know I couldn’t afford a gym membership right now, so I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to use their facilities.
Goal three: Broaden my intellectual horizons
The fact that I’m reading a nonfiction, non-Jen Lancaster book is really quite an accomplishment :) I’m excited to finish “Total Money Makeover” and look forward to picking up more financial books. I completely believe that the more that I read, understand and learn through books, resources, websites, etc. the better I will become at my money management skills. In fact, Caroline mentioned the Dave Ramsey Radio Show and I now listen to him instead of the radio at work starting at 2pm. Sometimes I’ll even listen to the archives of his show.
AND I can’t believe it but I’ve actually MADE PROGRESS on my doctoral application. YAY! I have two recommenders confirmed, my writing sample and resume submitted and I’ve requested my transcripts. I am trying not to get my hopes up because I don’t want to be terribly disappointed if I don’t get accepted to the program; however, it’s hard not to get excited about the opportunity to further expand my education horizons.
We are moving right on into March and I’m dubbing it “Makeover March,” as I’ve got so many things on my “to-do” list! Next post: Plan for Makeover March!
“Everyone leads the exact life that he or she wants to be living,” is a quote (or something like it) that I’ve heard many times and I believe that in a lot of ways, it’s true. If you don’t like something about your life, change it – or at least be working towards making things better. If you are unhappy and you aren’t willing to fix it, then you are content with being unhappy.
Do I like living in a small, one-bedroom apartment and having OODLES of student loan debt? HECK NO. Are Peter and I working to fix things so that we can eventually have a debtless-life and enjoy a home of our own? ABSO-FRICKIN’- LUTELY!
Though, I feel like I’ve fallen off my goals that I made from my birthday. If anyone remembers them all, I’d give you a cookie, but since I have to look back at them, I’ll just repeat them below:
1. Save $5000 2. Apply to SU Org Leadership Doctoral Program 3. Read 26 books 4. Fully run a 5k 5. Get to goal weight 6. Make an additional $30 payment each month towards student loans 7. Make an additional $25 payment each month towards car 8. De-clutter/organize life at home and work 9. Commit to working out at least twice a week 10. Write a book
And somewhere in there I also said that I would post weekly updates. Oops?
Alright, so you can’t have goals without a plan to get there. You can reformulate a plan without taking time to assess where you are, where you want to go and what you need to do to get there.
This blog is a little bit of assessing where I am as well as where I want to go. The next installment will talk about what I need to do to get there.
Goal one: Financial Fitness
My number one goal that I listed for the year was to save $5000. It’s a lofty goal, but hopefully if I’m savvy enough, I can make it happen. I have been busting my butt trying to save money. Sometimes it’s easier than other times, but there are some weeks where we just HAVE to have to pay for something, or Mollie needs to go to the emergency vet, or you know we need food and fuel.
To aid in my attempt to save money, I recently started a part-time job (and by recently, I mean yesterday). I started searching in December, and had hoped to have a part-time position in place by January; however, it took a bit longer but I’m thrilled that I was able to start within the first part of February. I will be working 5am to 10am every Monday at LA Fitness Gym and I could not be happier! It is a great place to work that will also support my health goals (more on those later), plus it fits into my current work schedule. For my job and Shenandoah, I come in late to work one day a week so I can stay late. Sure, it’s gonna be tough waking up at 4am on Mondays and working from 5am straight through to 7 or 8pm, but it WILL be worth it! Another great quote that I’ve mentioned before is that “to live like no one else, you have to live like no one else.” I’m willing to make sacrifices and work extremely hard so that a. I reach my goals and b. to live the life I want and deserve.
I have been working on funding a few separate accounts. By no means am I a financial guru, but I have been reading a lot of advice columns, speaking with friends about their budgeting and financial goals and it’s great to have so much support!
My savings goals are separated into many categories, for which I have multiple accounts set up for those respective goals:
1.An emergency account of $1000 as a serious crap happens fund. Some call it a rainy day fund. This is the account that I absolutely will REFUSE to touch unless something huge, ridiculous or monstrous comes along BUT because I have other accounts set up, hopefully that won’t happen.
2.A ‘being prepared for taxes, tires, etc’ fund. I know that in May Peter and I will need to pay an insane amount of taxes on our cars (thanks, LoCo [Loudoun County] for the double taxation…we fought a war against that!), that we will need to pay to file our taxes and I will need new tires in the spring. My goal is to get about $1000 saved into this account and it will be a revolving account for big ticket payments, or things that we forget about…or will be saved for next year’s round of taxes.
3.To fund my savings account that is attached to my checking account to about $250 for serious “OH CRAP” times. In January, I started using the envelope system. I got away from that in February, but will be getting back to it with my next paycheck. I have been budgeting out the month’s expenses and each time I get paid, I give each line item (such as dinner with friends, fuel and groceries for the week, hair care, food or supplies for Mollie, social fun, etc.) an allotted amount then put that amount into an envelope. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The amount in my savings attached to my checking will be for those unforeseen weeks where perhaps I budgeted too low for gas – and considering it is up to $3.15 a gallon here and rising, there may be weeks where my gas budget will need a little help from the “OH CRAP” fund.
4.Last, we have a long, long, LONG term savings account that hasn’t really received much funding (I’m working on parts 1, 2 and 3 right now), but eventually, we’d like to buy a house as I mentioned so this last long, long, LONG term savings account will be where we (eventually) start saving for a down payment.
Because it is financial related, I’ll go ahead and talk about goals 6 (additional $30 payment on my student loans) and 7 (additional $25 payment on my car). After reading a lot from Dave Ramsey and some other experts in the financial world, my new plan of attack is to pay my car off early. Currently, it is scheduled to be paid off in April of 2014; my plan is to have it paid off in April of 2013. Then, I will take that amount I was paying on my car payment and apply that to my student loans. Dave calls this “snowballing” your debt. I’d like to snowball it over a cliff, but ya know…apparently people like to be paid. I borrowed the money and I intend to pay it back.
My car payment is a very reasonable $257, but I have been consistently paying $280. For my February payment and going forward, I will pay $300. When I have trimmed other areas of my budget to allow for money to be freed up, I will raise that payment to $350 and be well on my way to
Why in the world am I sharing THIS MUCH of my personal finances with you? Well, I know a lot of my friends are in the same boat as I am and I’m hoping that together we can find ways to encourage each other and to reach our financial goals. Plus, a tip I’ve always lived by is share your goals with other people so that there are other folks holding you accountable. I wanted to call this goal financial freedom, but I went with financial fitness. Why? Because to me, calling it financial fitness means that I’m constantly working and evolving – and fitness is hard work. Being financial fit is equally important to me as having a healthy and fit body, so this area of my life takes a top priority.
I’m jumping all over the place (but it’s my blog so I can do what I want, right?) and since I just mentioned fitness, let’s talk about goals 4 (fully run a 5k), 5 (get to goal weight) and 9 (commit to working out twice a week).
Goal 2: Create and maintain a healthy life style
As I’ve written in my That’s Fit blogs, I’m learning every day how hard and sometimes how easy it can be to lead a healthy lifestyle. I have a loooooong ways to go, but I’ve also come a heck of a long way.
I am currently looking for a 5k to run in the spring, but my friend Auzar and I have talked about running and training for a race together so I’m SUPER stoked! Yay for a running buddy J I am averaging running two days a week, so I am also meeting my goal to work out AT LEAST twice a week. Why the emphasis on AT LEAST? I owe it to myself to move my body and get fit and I need to get to the gym no less than four to five times a week. Saying AT LEAST makes me go even on those days I don’t really feel like going…it’s my blog and my logic. So there.
I am going to get to my goal weight. My weight fluctuates (as everyone’s weight does) so as of this morning, I actually have about 53 pounds to go to reach my goal. Divided by eight months between now and November, that means I need to lose approximately 7 pounds each month. It’s doable, just have to get back to actually making progress.
For lack of better terminology… Goal 3: Broaden my Intellectual Horizons
I am so behind on my book reading (goal 3: read 26 books)! I’ve only read three books; I should be finishing my 7th book by now if I were sticking to the every other week finishing a book schedule I thought I would be following. I’m hoping that by eating healthier, exercising more and making adjustments in my life, I will have more energy and more time to sit down with my books again.
Alright. It is beyond time for me to stop procrastinating and finish my application (goal 2: apply to doctoral program). Geez. Ridiculous. I guess for me to finish my application, I need to look at what I still need to submit – before the June 1st deadline:
1.1st Letter of Recommendation
2.2nd Letter of Recommendation
3.And yes, a 3rd Letter of Recommendation
4.And essay or writing sample
5.Official transcript from Virginia Tech
6.Resume
So, none of that sounds *too* painful. The transcripts are easy as going on HokieSPA and filling out the request and submitting payment. Honestly the most difficult part will be finding the recommendation letters. Not that I don’t think I’m recommendable, I do, I just don’t like inconveniencing other people to help me. Does that sound weird? So, yes, it’s time to get my act together. I mean, I am going to be a doctor after all (hopefully).
As for my goal (10) of writing a book? Hmm, I’m stuck on this one. It would be really easy to write about my life, but I think maybe my mom and maybe Ashley would read it. As much as I love Jen Lancaster’s memoirs, I’m seriously not as funny as her, nor do I really think people care about what happens in my life – no matter how much I want to think other people might enjoy my tales and find them humorous. But, I’m still plotting out how this idea may fit into my goals.
Honestly, I feel like goal 8 (declutter/organize my life at home and work) really fits into each umbrella goal. I can’t keep up with my finances or a healthy life without carefully budgeting my time, keeping my files straight and keeping a clean home. I waste so much time at the grocery store – and waste so much money – when I don’t go to the store with a plan and a menu for the week. Keeping a handle on the clutter in my life as well as working on my organizational skills will aid in every facet of the goals I am working towards. Also, how on earth can I even think about working towards a doctoral degree without careful organization?
You may have noticed that I’ve streamlined my goals my new (and sort of improved since now I have a more definite plan of where I want to go) goals are:
1.Financial Fitness
2.Create and Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
3.Broaden my Intellectual Horizons
I feel like lately I’ve been very sedentary towards my goals, so it was time to make some changes – starting with this blog. No matter if it is a work situation or a life challenge, it’s always important to make reflections. I will start blogging on a more regular basis. That’s a fair pledge. Perhaps it’ll be once a week, but it will be no less than monthly.
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!
Not exactly what I thought I'd have to show for the first quarter of my life, but I'm just thankful to be standing on my own two feet with the man of my dreams and an abundance of family and friends. I am happy, yet there are some very big changes I want to see happen over the course of the year. Therefore, I've decided to set a top-ten goals list for the next year.
1. Save $5,000. Right now my savings account balances total $75.26. We want to buy a house sometime in the next five to ten years as well as think about starting a family in that same time frame (maybe). I desperately want a house but you need money to buy a house. So, my goal is to save $5000 this year. It's a huge goal, especially all of the expenses that I have, but with smart shopping and cutting out frivolous spending, it is totally doable!
2. Apply to a doctoral program. Yikes. It's a huge commitment but one that I'm ready to explore. The university I currently work for offers a tremendous tuition credit and it would be crazy for me not to at least apply and take classes towards a doctoral program.
3. Read 26 books. On my last birthday, I made a goal to read 25 books before 26 and I succeeded! Woo hoo! Time to start reading again for this year :)
4. Fully run a 5k. I will train, building my endurance (and confidence) and run my 5k before age 27.
5. Get to my goal weight. I know, I've said it before and I will keep saying it until it comes true. I will reach my goal weight, and I will reach it before I turn 27. I woke up this morning weighing 216.2 and by November 5, 2011 I will weigh 158 - which will be a total weight loss of 100 pounds when (not if) I reach my goal.
6. Make an additional $30 payment each month towards my student loans. I have over $46,000 in student loans. It's a scary number. It sucks. But, it had to be done and I have two very beautifully-framed degrees to show for it. I know an extra $30 a month won't be much, but it's a start. Starting is the key theme of this year.
7. Make an additional $25 payment each month towards my car payment. I am almost under $9,000 owed on my car - woo hoo! By paying an extra $25 a month, I will have lower payments in the future, and can hopefully pay my car off sooner.
8. De-clutter and organize my life at work and home. Geez, I need more organization. I'm not totally disorganized, but I am too much clutter in my life. I will focus on various parts of my life and organize them along the way, such as: my recipe collection, coupons, the kitchen, clothing, files at work, etc.
9. Commit to working out NO LESS than twice a week. There is no reason why I can't and shouldn't be working out AT LEAST twice a week. I should be working out more than that, and I know it. Thus, I commit to working out at least twice a week.
10. Write a book. I've said it for so long that I wanted to write a book, I've started a handful of projects and never moved past the first couple of pages. I signed up for NaNoWriMo which is National Novel Writing Month. It is a challenge that asks you to write 50,000 words during the month of November. By starting with NaNoWriMo, I will have a book written before my next birthday. (Note: I didn't say PUBLISHED, I just said I wanted to write a book.)
To achieve my goals, stay on track - and honestly, to stay accountable - I will post a weekly blog (on Fridays) with updates.
