My Break from Blogging
Hi guys!
Well, I’m definitely breaking my “post three times a week” resolution already. Work has been busy, especially since I didn’t come in on Wednesday due to snow/ice. Sure, I could have posted from home, but that would have cut into my Saved by the Bell time and Zack Morris always beats blogging.
What’s also happening is what I mentioned in my last post. I’m consumed with this online…game…creative writing outlet? thing and when I get consumed, everything else falls by the wayside. Previously I was somewhat balanced between reading, blogging, and playing with my Sims in my free time, but now it is ONLY this other thing because everything else seems horrendously boring in comparison. I’m still reading my blogroll when I’m not too busy at work, though, so I’m keeping up with what you other bloggers are doing. I’ve just had enough of personal finance for a while…I haven’t had anything new to share and I hate doing these posts about how I have nothing new to share. If there’s interest I might be willing to post more about random stuff in my life, but outside of the pf agenda.
Anyway, I hope that you all keep on doing what you’re doing. I’ll be back when this latest phase of mine dies down a little.
My Lame Posts
I like to start things. I don’t like finishing them. This is how I keep starting up new things without taking into consideration how much time they will take away from the things that I’m already doing.
I’ve recently signed on for this online thing that is taking up all my freetime…because it’s fun (and free), but it’s making all the other things I do seem dull–like posting here. I’m determined to get my three posts a week in, though, so here I am…letting you know that my lame posts will start to get better in a week or two, when I’m less excited about this other thing.
Work is also busy so I have even less time than normal to give to outside stuff, so that’s another reason for the lameness.
Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy your weekend. I’m going out with B and his parents who’ll be visiting on Saturday, so that should be fun. Hmm…I wonder if I’ll have to clean my apartment….
My Thoughts on My Debt
So it turned out that H cooked at my place last night so I didn’t have to supply the food…but I sorta did anyway, what with bread I’d already baked and party mix that I made on Monday. Anyway, it was fun.
It’s been nearly a year since I began reading all these personal finance blogs. Some are instructional in nature, while others are similar to mine: just updating on our own financial lives and giving tips when we come across them. These are the ones that I like best: just regular people trying to get out of debt.
What I’ve been noticing lately is how my outlook has changed in the past year. Prior to all this reading, I never felt hampered by my car loan and student loans. I didn’t like them, of course, but I felt like it was normal to have these kind of payments going out each month. I had the desire to pay them off early if I could, but I wasn’t actually doing anything towards that end–I simply paid everything due each month. I was going around without concern.
Once I started reading, though, I started feeling like I had to get rid of the debt as soon as possible. I’m constantly trying to find ways to save money or get a little extra money, feeling guilty when I don’t do something as cheaply as possible, etc. Frankly, I’m exhausted and my debt has become a weight instead of a nuisance. And my debt is so managable! I pay $262.72 every month. There are people that would LOVE to only have to pay that each month to stay afloat.
I’m not always exhausted, though. Some days I get really excited, whether it’s seeing my amount of debt lessen or saving a few bucks on something at the grocery store. I just sort of miss not worrying about things so much.
But that’s today. For the rest of this month I’m going to work on my 2009 goals because I’ll feel brighter everytime that I accomplish something…especially the things that get me more organized / neater, etc.
My Wednesday Cooking Night?
Ah, coming back after a four-day weekend: not awesome. I went to bed really early last night (9:15pm), but I still had difficulty waking up at 5:20am or so. I’ll get used to it again, though.
Today is B’s birthday, but I gave him his gift on Saturday night because I was so excited. He was really happy with the dvds, too, so I was glad about that.
Since it’s Wednesday, I might have to cook. It’s my turn, but my friend H is in town and might have offered to do it? I’m getting this secondhand from R who could have worked this out with our friend and told me about it on google talk, but decided to ask H to call me even though she knows that I can’t use my phone until 4pm. I don’t exactly blame her, though, because I don’t enjoy being a go-between either, especially with H who can get rather confusing. I hope that I don’t have to cook because I’ll also have to clean and my place is gross right now. I should have spent yesterday cleaning, but I goofed around instead. If I’d known that H might be coming over, I WOULD have cleaned because I can always feel her judging me when she comes to my place. When I’d first moved in she had remarked that she was surprised at how neat/organized/clean it all was…because I am apparently the opposite of all those things.
Oh well. Not gonna let it get me down. Instead I’ll suck it up and maybe get a little tipsy…if we’re at my place.
My Inauguration Plans
In less than three hours I’ll be heading home to my four-day weekend! Since I work by the Pentagon, it’s going to be nearly impossible for me to get to work on Inauguration Day, so I’m not even going to try. Roads will be closed all over the place, including the parkway that I always use. Unfortunately, I was not given either day off, so I’ll have to take vacation time.
I suppose that I could come into work on Monday, but I’m betting that things are going to be nuts on that day, too. I mean, people coming from out of town aren’t going to come for Tuesday only. They’ll be around on Monday, too, and probably over the weekend.
So instead of working, my friend L is going to come over to my place to hang out and drink mead and be merry…and probably watch some movies…on Monday evening since we can sleep in as late as we like on Tuesday (and therefore she can stay as late as she needs to after we have our mead).
On another note, I know that I still need to update my expenses for the month so far, but I haven’t felt like diving into my accounts. The largest purchase (except for my $471.80? 6-month car insurance) has probably been B’s birthday gift. His birthday is on Wednesday, but I’m going to give it to him as soon as I see him next (hopefully this weekend). Since he doesn’t read this blog, I can tell you that I picked up a tw0-tone long-sleeved baseball t-shirt for him on sale back at Christmas ($10?) that I’ll give to him now and Seasons 1-3 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ($44.98). Combining these with what I gave him for Christmas equals to around $90, which is less than the $100 that I’d planned on (but didn’t blog about). What’s great is that I orderd the dvds last Thursday and when we hung out Friday night we were talking about the show because he wanted to watch some episodes online and said that I’d have to get up from the computer.
“Unless you’ve recently bought me the series on dvd,” he joked.
“…No,” I said. Lying. Haha. I can’t wait to tell him that I HAD already bought the series for him. I almost blew the surprise then and told him that I had because I was so surprised by his joke. And believe me: he would have no way of knowing that I’d bought it. He doesn’t snoop anyway, but I also hadn’t even mentioned it to anyone (since I’d only ordered it the day before).
So I’m sure that he’ll enjoy his gift. I’m supposed to get something this weekend, too: a new TV! My parents got a flat screen HDTV and they’re giving me their old 31-inch, which is substantially bigger than my 26-inch which I already considered to be large. The problem is that I need two people to carry it to the third floor and one of them can’t be me. My brother will deliver it and help bring it up, but my dad or B needs to be there, too. Oh well. We’ll see what all happens.
Enjoy your days off if you have them!
My Resolution Progress
I still need to update my expenses for this month, but I wanted to mention that I’m not doing too poorly on my resolutions so far!
Probably the most important goal that I made was to write 7500 words a month for my novel and I’m at 3538 for the month! Sure, I’m skipping around and writing the fun parts first, but the larger the chunks I have the more inspired I’ll get to finish (I hope). Anyway, all that took less than four hours total, so I estimate that if I simply devoted two hours a week to writing, I’d meet my goal each month. I’m not going to set THAT goal, though, because I really never know when I’m going to get writer’s block.
I’ve finished two books so far, out of the fifty I want to read this year. When I told B that one of my resolutions was to read fifty books in 2009, he pointed out how ridiculous this was. “That’s like me resolving to sit on the couch and watch TV for several hours a week,” he scoffed. He’s right. I should have made it harder…like fifty books I’ve never read…or a hundred books total. Oh well. The main thing is that I keep track of what I read.
I haven’t missed any deadlines yet, either, so I’m not failing yet! Yay!
My Weekend
Friday was an off-day at work; it seemed like everything that could go wrong DID. A project that I’ve been sort of heading for months now took a slightly bad turn (meaning that we printed I don’t even know how many pages-hundreds-before finding out that there was a mistake. And then when we went over it again to find any other mistakes, we found a bunch more). So it kind of sucks, but my boss wasn’t upset with me because he had missed these mistakes, too, in the 137 times that we proofread the document. I was really bothered by it, though. Today is going to be spent fixing it and reprinting it.
Another thing is that gmail (and other outside e-mail) was blocked. I understand WHY they did it and I even agree that it’s a wise decision, but it still sucks.
After those things and a few others, I felt like I needed some quality cheer-up time, so I called R as soon as I got out of work and met up with her and C at her work’s happy hour. I’ve attended several times over the past 2 1/2 years that she’s worked there and know a few of her co-workers fairly well because of it. They ended up having dinner and I ended up having two beers and sitting with them. Total cost for the beer plus tax and tip? $10. Was it WORTH $10? Maybe not, but pretty close. And I cheered up, too. I have to say that even though my day was somewhat crappy, it was better than any average day at work when I was a teacher.
After that I picked B up from a Metro and we hung out for the weekend. All the teams that I rooted for in football won this weekend (Go Cardinals!!), we went out to dinner with my parents, brother, and his girlfriend, too, which was fun. And 24 is back! Overall, a quality weekend.
I also found out that I sold one of my old textbooks on half.com for $19.00, so I mailed that on Saturday. I also stopped by CVS, hoping to buy a 2009 planner (can’t find one anywhere!!!!), but got a MUCH needed wide-tooth shower comb. I used to have one of these, but lost it over a year ago and hadn’t been able to find one just like it until now. My hair is so thick that it can actually BREAK combs if it’s tangled enough, so I needed a strong one.
I still need a 2009 planner, though.
My Debt Payoff for 2008
So I have the approximate data for how much debt I paid off in 2008.
Car Loan:
Started – $8,347.40
Ended – $2,289.46
Total debt paid off – $6,057.94
Student Loans:
Started - $18,032.51
Ended – $17,285.56
Total debt paid off – $746.95
Total combined debt paid off – $6,804.89
When I started 2008, I had almost exactly $3000 in savings and not much else. Some of the money that was added to that savings along the way (to add up to the $5000 I paid my parents in November) came from my tax return in May and the stimulus package, but the rest of the debt payoff came from my regular monthly payments. Obviously it’s still slow-going, but it’s nice to think that I can get my debt down about $3800 dollars less each year…and possibly even more. Yay!
My Expenses, 1-6 January 2009
Expenses:
Cell Phone: $66.49
Power Bill: $61.78
Washington Post: $12
Church/Charity: $100
EZPass: $35
Income: $1178.17
Expenses: $275.27
Total: $902.90
I also got gas on Sunday, but it hasn’t shown up on my credit card yet, so it’ll be added next time I update my expenses.
My NEW New Year’s Resolution
So I’m already thinking of editing one of my New Year’s Resolutions, namely the creating and sticking to a budget every month. It’s just no good. Rather, I’m no good at it. There are certain areas where I know exactly how much I’m going to spend, but others where I have zero clue.
I have to do SOMETHING, though, so I’m going to document everything that I spend. I did this in May and November and I think that I went under budget both months (or if I didn’t in November it’s because of buying in bulk at Costco). I tend to spend more when I’m not paying attention everyday, so the end result of the resolution will be the same: to control my spending.
Since I received a $100 Visa gift card for Christmas, I’m going to start using it on a regular basis for everyday expenses (I know that’s not the point of the gift, but saving money will help me more than a new pair of shoes will) like when I go to Panera every other Tuesday. This way my spending won’t count too much against me, either.
So along with accounting for my expenses, I’m going to keep a list somewhere (maybe a new page to this blog?) where I keep track of what exactly should be in my Gift Fund, Emergency Fund, Car (maintenance/insurance/etc.) Fund, and Regular Savings each month. Here’s my initial plan:
Savings- $100/month
Gift Fund- $50/month
Car Fund- $200 + $50/month
Emergency Fund- $1000
I need to put a lot in the car fund right away because in just a few months I’m going to have to get a new timing belt and that’s going to cost somewhere between $600-700. So, by 31 January, I’d like to see these at:
Savings- $100
Gift Fund- $50 (minus what I spend on B’s birthday gift)
Car Fund- $250
Emergency Fund- $1000 (HA! That won’t happen. The E fund will be funded with what’s leftover or from the Regular Savings until it’s full. Luckily this is a three paycheck month, so it’s a good time to get started on each of these accounts).
