2010 Financial Goals Review

2010 was a year of saving and planning, all resulting in a beautiful (and paid for) wedding. But I managed to accomplish some other goals last year too. Here is my review of the goals I established for myself:


1. Get married without going into debt. Pass (sort of). Okay so we made it to the big day with everything paid off - rings, dress, photographer, flowers, music, transportation and accomodations. This was no small feat and really was a lesson in savings for us both. And then that lesson was briefly ignored on our fabulously unfrugal Hawaiian honeymoon.

2. Increase 457 Fund contributions. - Fail. I did increase my contributions for a while until I decided to focus on the Roth instead and lowered them. Overall, I contributed about 5% of my salary this year to the 457.

3. Max out Roth IRA. In progress but likely fail. I didn't start this goal until October since I was preoccupied with wedding stuff and have only contributed $1000 so far. I still have until April to make 2010 contributions and hope to double that number.

4. Buy back pension credits. Pass! Well I got the ball rolling and in 15 more pay periods I will have paid off my old time - just in time for vesting.

5. Eliminate law school loan. Pass! Finally done after being on my to-do list for two consecutive years.

Challenge: Twelve Charities in 2011

I don't give to charity nearly as much as I could, or as some would say, should. Although the "rule" of giving ten percent of my net income ($5k, yikes!) or 1% of my networth ($0, yay!) sort of gives me an out because I'm in debt, right? Nah, I'm pretty sure the rule is whichever is higher.

In 2010 I think I gave about $200 to charity - and $100 of that wasn't really "charity" so much as it was a donation to my alma mater. This year, I want to give more. Not neccesarily $5k (sorry!) but more, know what I mean? And I want to use the blog to raise awareness of charitable giving.

So I will be picking one charity each month this year and give what I can and encourage others to do so too if they are so inclined. I'll announce the first charity soon, but in the meantime here's a bunch of info on charitable giving from mint.com


budget planner – Mint.com

Budget 10/27 - 11/09

Sometime in the next two weeks my sister will be giving birth and I will become an aunt! Yay! I mean, it's projected to happen soon, but who knows. This is the first sibling of mine to have a child so it's all pretty exciting. This has nothing to do with money really since I've already given plenty of loot to my unborn niece and nephew but I thought I'd mention it. :-)

Although I guess once it happens I may have to hop on a bus if DH can't come with me to visit my family. I'll think about that more in the days to come.

Exciting news - I opened up a new Roth I.R.A. last week. I know as part of my 2010 financial goals I listed maxing out my Roth, but I neglected to mention that I no longer had an active Roth account. Like the impulsive idiot that I was back then, I had opened up an account 5 years ago or so and started putting $50 a month into it. When times got tough, however, I drained all the money. :-(

The good thing about my new Roth account is that I opened it with the same firm my financial adviser works with so I have to actually mail him a check in order to make deposits, thus making it a whole lot harder to withdraw the money in a moment of weakness.

Anyway, with that explanation in mind, here is my projected budget for the next two weeks time:

Starting Balance = $1285

Roth I.R.A. - 500
Perkins Loan - 200
Credit Card - 200
Groceries - 150
Health - 45
Misc. - 190

I doubled my usual payment on the Perkins loan now that the Law School loan is gone.

I'm leaving some flex room in the budget in case I have to pay another doctor's co-pay or buy a bus ticket to see my sister.

Luckily (and not so luckily) Halloween is already taken care of courtesy of the spending spree.

It's pretty doubtful I will be able to come up with the entire $5000 by April 15th to max out my Roth...but I am now 1/10th of the way there so I consider that some progress. :-)

Here's hoping I can pull in some additional income in the next few weeks - more on that later.

2010 Financial Goals Checkup

Happy Fall everyone! The weather is getting cooler and things are finally slowing down for the newlyweds - at least for now. We spent three out of four weekends in September at home - which is sort of a record for us the past five months. At work I'm experiencing the "calm before the storm" and expect things to pick up significantly in the next couple of weeks.

And in a few days a six week period of family birthdays start up, including most likely the birth of my parent's first grandchild (I'm gonna be an aunt!), Thanksgiving and then the winter holidays.

But for now, I have a moment to reflect on the financial goals I set for 2010. Here's how I'm doing:

1. Get married without going into debt. Pass. We achieved this goal - however we did not save up enough money for the honeymoon and pretty much depleted our financial reserves which we're working now to build up.

2. Increase 457 contribution. Pass and Fail. I did increase my contribution for most of the year but lowered it when we decided it was more important to max out Roth IRAs.

3. Max out Roth IRAs. Fail. We're pretty focused on debt repayment right now but I'm still optimistic we can do this by April.

4. Buy Back Pension Credits. In progress. I just submitted the paperwork to do this last week.

5. Eliminate Law School Loan. In progress. The balance stands at $634 and hopefully will be down to zero by the end of the year.

So that's how I'm doing so far. I also changed my beneficiary to DH on several of my accounts.

Halfway Through 2009

I can't believe it's already July, meaning six months since I posted my Financial Resolutions for 2009 (and one year until our wedding!). Now is a good time to review my resolutions and see if I'm on track. In January, I resolved to:

1. Save up a $2000 Emergency Fund
Not on track. I got a little caught up in the emergency of losing my job but now that I have a better job and no rent to pay this shall be an attainable goal. To do this in six months, however, I would need to start saving $333 a month. I gotta think on this for a while as I'm not sure how that would impact the wedding savings and whether I should take into account my fiance's emergency fund when contemplating our emergency savings. I'll get back to you.

2. Eliminate Law School Loan (Current Balance = $1932)
By paying $14 extra each month I am still on track to eliminate this loan in less than three years. Listing all my student loan debt today was a little sobering, however, so I have decided to try to knock out this entire loan in 2009. According to a a debt payoff calculator in order to do this I have to start paying $289.87 this month to reach this goal.

3. Save up a Christmas Fund of $300
Failure but then again no one really expects a couple trying to save for a wedding to go huge at Christmas. Maybe now that I (and I can't say this enough today) not paying rent I will devote more attention to gift savings.

4. Save $1000 for Special Event in 2010
Yeah I was thinking about saving for the wedding several weeks before we were even officially engaged. Don't shoot me. Six months later I look upon that quaint little $1000 figure and laugh my head off. Make that $10,000 is the amount I need to save in the next year. Not including what we already have paid out and what my fiance has contributed to the Wedding Fund already I need to start chipping in a whopping $833 a month.

5. Continue to save 10% of my salary for retirement.
On track!!

6. Pay off all short term debt - don't acquire new debt.
Woohoo, it felt so good to get rid of my overdue utility debt, my Capital One balance and of course my Boyfriend Debt.

So that's where I stand right now. I'm very excited for the next six months of this year to start seeing some progress. In the past year (yes it's been over a year since my first post) I've gotten pretty good at actually paying my bills (a skill that had eluded me in 10 years of adult life) but now the next year is going to be devoted to actually planning and saving for the future.

Look out for my new budget to be posted next week as I attempt to incorporate these revisited goals.

My Resolutions For 2009!

I spent a long time yesterday reading the resolutions from many of my blogging compadres and it made mine feel a tad inadequate. Beachgirl, for example, posted 109 resolutions for 2009. Wow. I'm not too keen on the word "resolution" and as I've explained, it's sort of hard to post financial resolutions/goals when so much could happen in the next several weeks that would impact these goals. But I decided to buck up and post some goals to keep my honest. Here they are:

Financial:

1. Save up a $2000 Emergency Fund
2. Eliminate Law School Loan (Current Balance = $1932)
   
3. Save up a Christmas Fund of $300.
4. Save $1000 for Special Event* in 2010.
5. Continue to save 10% of my salary for retirement.**
6. Pay off all short term debt - don't acquire new debt.
   

Last year started out disastrously (payday loans, overdraft fees, etc.). Then I started the blog, started budgeting, started paying Aunt Sallie and it's been pretty much just keeping my head above water since then. In 2009 I need to step it up and achieve some fiscal responsibility. The Emergency Fund is of course the most important and I don't care if I fail at everything else if I can get this one goal accomplished. Ideally, I should be saving $167 each month in order to reach this goal. This probably won't happen until at least February so don't hold your breath.

Second, my law school in an act of extreme benevolence decided to give me a $2000 loan in my third year of school. For this they are charging me a whopping 8% interest. If I stick to their payment plan of $40 a month, I will only reduce this debt by $72. Yes, you read that right friends. This loan has got to go bye bye. Starting immediately I will increase my payment to $54 a month, which would put me on track to pay the entire balance in 3 years and 5 months (instead of 8 years) and will throw any additional money (I'm looking at you, Extra Paycheck) in order to achieve this goal.

Christmas didn't bankrupt me this year, yay! But it still wasn't planned for in advance and I incurred even more debt ($60) to Boyfriend for our joint gifts. Next year I will be prepared by saving a mere $25 a month.

Special Event* to be named later though you may be able to guess the nature of this event. Sigh. Why did I have to fall in love? Not gonna start this goal until after the move. If I move in May as planned, I would need to save $142 a month.

There's an asterisk next to my goal of saving 10% for retirement since I am currently only voluntarily saving 7% of my salary and the other 3% is saved for me by my pension. If I lose my job, I will roll over this money to a Roth IRA. If I stay a public employee it will stay as is. If I join the private sector I may decide something else entirely.

And lastly, I will pay off all my Short Term Debt (why, oh why did I choose that name for this category?) in 2009. This includes Boyfriend (who has to give me a full accurate accounting please), overdue water ($300), overdue utilities ($125), Friend C ($60), and Capital One ($400). Getting rid of these debts will let me breathe a little easier ($105 in regular payments gone) and focus on the rest of my goals. Also Nice Collection Agency will be paid in full early into 2010 (currently paying $125).

And onto personal goals, which I'm fairly excited to write about:

1. Read 109 books
2. Get wisdom teeth extracted
3. Simplify my life
4. Move!
5. Be a better friend
6. Learn how to use eye liner

You read that right, I've resolved to read 109 books in 2009. In fact, I am happy to announce that I have created a new blog solely devoted to books. Check it out! I will be posting under my alter ego, Reading Diva. The blog will have a frugal theme as well - I will not spend money acquiring new books. This is actually a resolution I made several years ago when I realized how much money I was spending on books. I'm excited to have a new topic to write about since I don't always have something personal finance related to say and entries saying "hi, I'm still broke" may get a little boring.

And sadly, yes, I will enter my 29th year of life without being able to use eye liner. I'm not a big makeup person to begin with but this is something I need to learn!

I'll have to write separate posts on "simplifying my life" and moving but here they are, my ambitious and maybe slightly crazy 2009 goals. Wish me luck! Now I've got a lot of reading to do.

2008 in Review

Since I have the day off and it's snowing about a foot an hour it's a good time to review how this year has gone financially. If you look at the left side of my blog you'll see that months and months ago I posted the following goals:

1. Create an Emergency Fund of $700.
2. Increase salary to $55,000.
3. Start Health Savings Account.
4. Make regular contributions to Roth IRA.

How did I do with those goals? I failed at all of them, ha! But here's why I'm not that upset about it: they were the wrong goals (except for the Emergency Fund). Months back I blamed my Salary for my struggles with the Payday Loan Sharks and my constant overdraft problem. I really thought that if my paycheck was bigger then it wouldn't matter that I had no idea where my money was going. False! Now that I set a budget and try to stick to it I don't get overdrafted constantly and find I can afford just about everything I need and want on my salary of $43,600. In the coming weeks I will (cross fingers) be making slightly more (or be unemployed) - more on that when there's more to tell.

Which brings me to my Emergency Fund. This is a major fail but it's still a goal I'm very committed to and will carry over to 2009. Since I started paying my Student Loans and contributing to my retirement fund this year I have been really unable to find a regular amount every pay period to put in my Emergency Fund. I've started a fund but it's pretty much empty right now. With the potential job insecurity looming I have realized that even $700 in an Emergency Fund would be woefully inadequate since I would have to make up a deficit between my anticipated Unemployment Benefits and my current fixed expenses.

Instead of an Emergency Fund thus far I've created an Emergency Plan which is to dump my apartment once and for all. Even though it's right down the block from Boyfriend's condo and is beautifully decorated to my taste, I spend less than two hours a week there to the tune of $865 a month (rent + overdue water + utilities + overdue utilities). Yikes! If I don't get laid off I still plan on dumping the apartment within the next six months. Bye bye hot pink bedroom. I will miss you!

And for regular OMG-I'm-Stuck-On-The-Side-Of-The-Road-With-No-Money emergencies - which would be rare I hope since I don't even have a car - Boyfriend has recently made me an Authorized User on one of his credit cards which is kinda cool since I'm working on paying off my credit card right now and my $30 available credit wouldn't really cover any true emergency. It may even improve my credit score through a concept called piggy-backing.

As for a Health Savings Account, this is no longer my goal because I was confused and thought I needed one when I, in fact, needed to open an Flex Spending Account. Unfortunately I intentionally missed the enrollment deadline for 2009 since there's a pretty good chance I won't be at my office for much of 2009. I guess this will turn out to be a 2010 goal. Doh! Luckily my health insurance is pretty rad and I have very low out-of-pocket costs. And my pharmacist just told me I can save $10 a month by switching to a generic prescription! [BTW: talk to pharmacists, they're not just cashiers who give you meds, they're really smart and helpful!]

Finally, I did not contribute one dime all year to my Roth I.R.A. Last time I looked at it I had about $12 in it. Instead I started contributing 7% of my salary in a 457 Retirement Plan. Despite the fact that I made this decision a month before The Downturn I have accumulated $998 in this account since July. Sweet! My friends think I'm stupid to put money in my 457 instead of a Roth I.R.A. because of the tax advantages but the first rule of investing is Know Thyself and I know that in December of 2007 I dumped my entire $600 in Roth funds to pay for (gasp) Christmas presents. As much as I'd like to think I've grown in 2008, making my retirement funds inacecssible is the best option for me right now.

In the next couple of days I will come up with new financial goals for 2009 that are hopefully more informed and easily attainable.

Six Months of Blogging!

Hey guess what? It's been six months since I started this blog!! Well the official half birthday was yesterday but I reserve Sunday for football, cooking and hanging out with my Boyfriend. But I will now take this time to reflect on the past six months.

On May 16, I revealed that I was lousy with money, needed to do something about it and own up to the $167,000,000 in student loans I had. Did you catch that decimal error? I didn't at first but luckily one of you did. Sometimes it feels like I have millions of dollars in student loans but in reality it's only about $136,000.

I set out some goals for myself that day and here they are:

1. Survive the next 8 days on $157.

Ha! I regularly budget myself way less than that much pocket money to last an entire 14 day period.

2. Pay off "short-term" debt - two payday loans totaling about $400; loans from friends and family totaling $460 ; pay overdue bills - utilities around $400, cable around $200.

On June 30, I finally paid off the last of my payday loans - yikes. Not something I ever ever want to have to turn to again. I also paid back Friend A, to whom I owed $200. I've paid back Boyfriend most of the money I borrowed from him and am working on paying the rest back. I worked out a Payment Agreement with my utility company. As for cable, I'm not sure if I owe them anything but it's not a bad idea to find out.

3. Develop a working budget.

I make a budget for every payday. Technically it's more of a Spending Plan then a Budget but I call it a Budget and it's working for me so far.

4. Start paying as much of my student loans as possible.

I'm working on it. I currently pay $666 in student loans a month. Yes you read that right. It's going to go up to $706 soon. My Dad pays $305 on my behalf. That's about all I can bear right now. I wasn't paying them at all prior to starting this blog so that's been a huge change.

5. Save up an Emergency Fund of $1000.

I'm working on it. Saving money is kinda hard when you are on a tight budget. I created an Emergency Fund but I linked it to my Checking Account because the emergency I'm most hoping to avoid is getting hit with overdraft fees, something that I know all too well about.

6. Contribute to my Roth IRA.

Fail. Well I changed my mind on this one and decided to contribute instead to my 457 Retirement Plan. I'm putting 7% of my pre-tax income in there (so far I've contributed about $1000) and currently have about $769 remaining. It's not much compared to the amount the average 28 year old has saved for retirement but you gotta start somewhere.

Over the past six months of budgeting and blogging I've learned a lot about personal finance and also my relationship with money. I've also reached some personal milestones in large part due to this new knowledge:

• I quit smoking!!! You need a heck of a lot less pocket money when you are not spending $7 a day on something that will kill you. I am unbelievably proud of this accomplishment as are all my friends and family (and many readers too!).


• I quit the gym. Okay so I know this isn't something I should be proud of since I think working out is really important but it just represents the fact that you should stop paying for things you don't need, aka if you never go to the gym, stop paying $46 a month for it!


• I reduced my cell phone bill by about $30!


• I settled an old debt with a collection agency. Another 15 months of paying $125 a month and I will finally have that friggen old credit card out of my life forever!


• I stopped taking regular handouts from my parents! This is a huge step on my road to independence.

So it's taken a while and I admit I'm still behind the curve of most fiscally fit 28 year olds but no one ever said it would be easy paying for all my money mistakes. Hopefully the next six months will produce some results as well, most notably keeping my job and building up an Emergency Fund.

As far as the blog goes, it's no masterpiece and there are lots of design bugs I haven't taken the time to fix. I need to update my blogroll and find new ways to attract revenue but I have made $60 in ads which is pretty cool. I have 54 subscribers (thanks!) and average about 100 readers per day (wow!). I know I should be participating in more carnivals but alas I never remember to sign up. I have lots of ideas for future content (recipes and book reviews to name a few) so if you've enjoyed the past six months then stay tuned.

Six Financial Milestones Before Turning 30

From MSN Money, here are six financial milestones the "experts" agree we should achieve before we reach our 30th birthdays:

1. Scale back the credit cards

The average credit card debt among 25- to 34-year-olds was $5,200 in 2004,
according to credit card research firm CardWeb.com. That is on top of the
average $19,200 in student-loan debt carried by recent undergraduates.

2. Own a home -- or have a plan.

Young Fisher says that homeownership should be a top priority for those who rent. "Start saving for a down payment," she says. "If you find something you love, or a change of life comes along (like a baby or a relocation) and you don't have any money, you're going to borrow or get an interest-only mortgage -- which is ridiculous."

3. Have skills.

Even for those who do not consider themselves entrepreneurs, most workers should expect multiple changes in employers and job titles throughout their careers. "By time you're 30, you should develop a set of marketable skills," says Gregg Fisher, 35, founder of Gerstein Fisher, a New York financial-planning firm. "Try to bring something new to the table."

The model of working for the same company for 30 years and retiring with a gold watch is now two generations out of date, says Fisher, who founded his firm -- which serves mostly clients under age 45 -- at age 21.

Today's workers must differentiate themselves in order to survive and thrive, Fisher says. "Everyone's really self-employed. If you work for a company, you just have one client," he says. "If they fire you, you're out of business."

4. Give money away.

Establish a regular charitable giving plan, says Scott Hanson, founder of financial-planning firm Hanson McClain and the author of the recently published "Money Matters: Essential Tips & Tools for Building Financial Peace of Mind."

"I think it's financially healthy to give," says Hanson, who also co-hosts a financial call-in show out of Sacramento, Calif. In talking to clients and callers, he's come to believe that we are an emotionally deprived nation that spends to feel good. When we feel down, we head to the mall.

5. Know thyself.

Introspection is not just for middle-aged guys with ponytails living on a cliff in Japan. Having a firm grasp on your priorities and values is one critical component of a healthy financial life.

6. Know smart people.

It is important to have strong advisers in your life, Young Fisher says. Knowing a good tax preparer, financial adviser, attorney and insurance agent can save you untold amounts of money and stress. "When you do need someone, get someone good," she says.

So how am I shaping up to meet those goals? I have only a short time (okay about 14 months) until my 30th birthday and I'm hoping that 30 really is the new 20 because damn it sounds SO OLD.

#1 - Scale back on credit cards - Done. Actually I've never really had a problem with credit cards. I only have one right now. It had a credit limit of only $500 and it's pretty much maxed out right now but I hope to pay it off within this calendar year and then only use it for emergencies. I am also paying off a credit card that I used for only one semester when I studied away from my college and racked up about $1800 in debt. So at least I'm below average in this respect.

#2 - Own a home or have a plan - Sorta? I totally had a plan to buy my own house in a crummy neighborhood for less than $80k a while back. I was going to fix it up and lay low while I waited for the neighborhood to gentrify and hope I didn't get shot. But it didn't happen. I met Boyfriend and he bought a condo all on his own with the stated intention that "one day" we will live there together. I hope that this plan works out but if not I am fine renting at least until my collections are paid off. Is this a plan? I think so. Okay, then done!

#3 - Have skills - Done! I have mad skills. So many skills in fact that I can no longer list all the unpaid internships I have done in my life on one page. I spent about $140k to get these skills so I'm fairly certain I've done all I can in that respect. And the fact about not being able to work for the same company for 30 years? Hahaha, I actually can and probably will work for the same "company" for that long. Gotta love the public sector.

#4 - Give Money Away - Not Done - I only rarely engage in charitable giving, mostly alumni giving. This is something I want to improve. I've signed up at like three different places to do pro bono work and no one has called me yet. Sigh.

#5 - Know Thyself - Done - The article made this sound touchy-feely but I believe it's an important point. For example, I know I value my work-life balance and therefore feel wouldn't feel comfortable taking a job that compromised it. This shall be an even more important factor once I have kids - which I also know I want one day.

#6 - Know Smart People - Done - I know more lawyers than I care to count. I know lots of powerful people too. But those aren't the people I think you really should know. I think it's more important to find a good doctor (done), a decent auto mechanic (done but no longer relevant), and someone you know will answer their phone in the middle of the night if you need to talk (done). I also know a librarian who erases my fines and people who will lend me their large SUV.

So how are you under 30s doing with this list? What about those of you that have passed 30 - did you meet these goals?

I Can't Wait Til October!

I just realized that I never posted any September Goals. Oops. Well, there is a reason for that: I have been anxiously awaiting the day when I can put my Extra Paycheck Debt Payoff Plan into Effect!

What is the Extra Paycheck Debt Payoff Plan, you ask? Well, the first question is, what is the extra paycheck?

Like most people, I get paid every other week. This works out as two paychecks per month. Multiply that by 12 and you can expect to get 24 paychecks a year. The first paycheck of the month generally goes to Student Loans, the collection agency I am paying off an old Credit Card, and my utilities. The second paycheck goes to rent, my credit card and my cell phone. There are some exceptions (like my Sister's wedding) that throw the system off course, but mostly that's the way the cookie crumbles.

But, wait a minute? There are 52 weeks in the year, you say? So, shouldn't I be getting 26 paychecks, not 24?

The answer is yes, you do. Twice a year a glorious occasion happens called The Extra Paycheck. It should be celebrated. There should be an Extra Paycheck store where you can buy greeting cards saying "Have fun with some extra cash, With Love, Your Job!"

The last time I received an Extra Paycheck was in April. This was also the month I received my $600 President Bush Money and yet, because I used to be a complete Money Moron, I had NOTHING to show for it. In fact, I think I bounced my rent for the month of May. That month and the financial damage that was incurred was really my Come to Jesus Moment.

But what a difference six months can make. The month of October is a three paycheck month for me! And starting next week, I am devising a plan to use the "extra" money to pay off some annoying debt as well as attend an out-of-town wedding. Here is a rough sketch of the plan:

Paycheck #1 - 9/17

500 - airfare (est.)

50 - Savings (projected balance = $100)

Paycheck #2 - 10/1

200 - Boyfriend Debt ($145 remaining)

50 - Savings (projected balance = $150)

Paycheck #3 - 10/15 (The Extra Paycheck)

445 - Credit Card Debt (projected balance = $0)

45 - Boyfriend Debt ($100 remaining)

50 - Savings (projected balance = $200)

Paycheck #4 - 10/29

100 - Boyfriend Debt ($0 remaining)

Yes, that's right, I plan to celebrate Halloween with zero credit card debt, a fully paid trip to a Destination Wedding, and a happy Boyfriend. Here's hoping I can pull it off!

August Goals Redux

I nearly forgot it was the begining of a new month and thus time to reexamine last month's goals!

August was a pretty significant month. My Sister got married. My Boyfriend bought a condo. I survived three days and nights at a music festival. I finally started my Emergency Fund. I'm looking forward to a quieter, less expensive September.

My goals were not too ambitious in August but I still managed to fail one of them. Crappy. Here are the results:

1. Establish Emergency Fund. - Success! I opened up a Savings Account at the same bank as my Checking Account and deposited $50.

2. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster. - Success!

3. Only use in-network ATMs. - Fail. When I was home for my Sister's Wedding I had lots of unexpected expenses and no local branch of my bank to visit. The same thing happened at the music festival. All told, I went to a total of 4 out-of-network ATMS.



4. Buy Sister's Wedding Gift. - Success! And what a gift it was.

I also managed to pay my Mom debt of $100 which I wasn't expecting to do in August so that was productive. I am upset that all the expenses of the wedding means I couldn't pay my rent on time in September (it was one day late) but it happened and I'm paying it today and moving forward from my mistake.

August Goals

It's already the 5th of August, yikes! I haven't spent much money this month (because I don't have any) so it's okay that I'm a little late posting my goals. Some of them are old goals because of how I screwed up a little in July. What I failed to mention was that July was actually a great month goal-wise because I quit smoking and made a payment agreement with my defaulted student loan.

So, here are my goals for August:

1. Establish Emergency Fund. I thought I could start this out by keeping a certain threshold in my Checking Account but that has proved impossible. I need to have a separate account so I am less likely to tap into it. Not sure just yet how much I can devote to it this month but my goal is at least $50.

2. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster. Ongoing goal - this will be made easier I hope when I open my Emergency Fund at the same bank as my Checking Account.

3. Only use in-network ATMs. No excuses this time!

4. Buy Sister's Wedding Gift. Gosh darn wedding is only 17 days away!

So that's all for now. Wish me luck!

July Goals Redux

It's already the end of July and time to revisit the Goals I set out for myself in the begining of the month. It's not too pretty, I admit. Here's all the gory details:

Goal:
1. Actively seek professional development and additional income.

Result:
Success! No additional income yet but definite progress made towards securing secondary employment.

Goal:
2. Pay back Boyfriend and Friend C.

Result:
Failure. Paid back Boyfriend the $300 I thought I owed him. Due to an error the amount was actually $390. Then I used his portion of a work reimbursement check to pay my phone bill. Then I borrowed another $120 in order to pay Evil Collection Agency. I did not pay back Friend C as she lives in a different city and in all likelihood has forgotten the $60 (even though I haven't).

Goal:
3. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster

Result:
Failure. Sigh. This was really a stupid mistake on my part. I was able to get the bank to refund half the overdraft fee ($19) but it still bugs me that I overdrafted in the first place. Need to keep focusing on that goal.

Goal:
4. Only use in-network ATMS

Result:
Failure. Ok, I have to plan better for this but it only happened two times and I'm sure there was a really good excuse at the time. I like using cash and I never like to have too much on me but since I don't drive it's a pain in the butt to always make sure I'm close to one of my bank's ATMs - though they are ubiquitous.

Goal:
5. Purchase Sister's Wedding Gift

Result:
Failure. Well it was always going to be difficult to do this in July but the unexpected difficulty of settling my defaulted student loan made it impossible. Running out of time to get a gift.

All in all, I think I made some good progress in July, just not as much as I would have liked. I just made two dumb mistakes - forgetting about my Sprint bill and accidentally overdrafting my account - that will require better planning if I want to avoid them in the future.

Like the famous quote I should put up on my wall:

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

Tomorrow I will announce my August goals, which will be a little less ambitious now that I have to carry over some of my failures from July.

I Was Picked For a Carnival!

The latest Carnival of Personal Finance is now live at The Budgeting Babe and I am pleased to announce that my post on spending $900 on Gyros was selected! Check it out and find some other posts that may interest you.

I am glad I started submitting my posts to carnivals - it kind of ties into one of my latest goals of professional development. I have been thinking more and more about ways I could be published and how it could really help me career-wise. See, I love to write. I write all the time for work and have to reguarly produce publishable quality work. So I've started researching for a paper I want to write that is good enough to be published in a journal. You don't get any money of course, but it could definitely help me in networking and general resume-building.

But in the meantime, lots of regular work to do so I hope I can get it done sometime this summer.

July Goals

It's July already, wow. The first eight days of this month are going to be pretty bleak as I pretty much blew through the rest of my paycheck this past weekend at Sister's Bachelorette Trip but it wasn't as much as I feared, owing to the fact that my parents helped out a lot and I tried to limit how much I drank (a good thing) when out at expensive bars. And I gotta say, the trip was worth it, we all had so much fun and I got a chance to bond with my Sister.

But, I do have a couple of items I purchased for the trip that were not used that I can return. This is a pain without a car and owing to the fact that I have plans tonight but I'm gonna see if I can do it ASAP so I will have money for the upcoming weekend. I also spent $65 on a work expense last week that I plan to seek reimbursement for.

On July 9th, however, I will be starting to focus in earnest on my July Goals. Here they are:

1. Actively seek professional development and additional income. I made a lot of progress with this last month, especially on the work trip and I want to devote more time/energy/some money to it as a way of enriching myself and my income.

2. Pay back Boyfriend and Friend C. Havings debts to friends is like an albatross around my neck and I'm looking forward to the day I can update that sidebar.

3. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster. This will be an ongoing Goal. I want to keep a minimum account balance of $200 by the end of the month. Sort of like an Emergency Fund, but for me, more like an "I have overdraft fees" fund.

4. Only use in-network ATMS. To answer the question of "why am I using ATMs" in the first place: my primary bank account does not allow me to have a debit card. I have an old fashioned ATM card. I started out with a debit card but after being perennially overdrafted, my bank cut off my debt privileges for six months. I think the six month period may be ending soon, but in the meantime, I use cash. I like cash better anyhow. There are ATMS convenient to work and home, just sometimes I am lazy or unprepared and I want this to end.

5. Purchase Sister's Wedding Gift. Or at least one of them. The wedding is in August and if I wait too long all the good items on the registry will be taken.

So these are my goals. There are a lot of them. In reality, I am so excited after meeting my June Goals that I have started looking forward to August, September, etc. But those are the ones I am focused on this month.

Independence Day Comes Early!!!

It's finally the end of June and I have A LOT of progress to report finally! At the begining of this month, I posted that my goals were to:

1. Avoid Evil Overdraft Monster

2. Stop Payday Loans Forever

And I am happy to report that, drumroll please....

I succeeded in both of my goals!!! It is such a relief to know that the money I earned this month actually went towards ME and what I needed to pay and didn't just dissapear out of the bank before I could even make a sustainable budget.

But, and here's the thing I've been sitting on for a while now. In the process of making these goals, I had to take a good hard look at how much my financial mistakes have cost me. And it's pretty damn shocking. So, please try not to judge me too harshly when I reveal the numbers:

This chart shows how my money has been spent from March 13 (the earliest I could look up online) to today. And it includes:

$2,375 in LOAN repayment. $100 of which was repaid to Friend A. $240 I eventually got back. But I did end up paying a grand total of $2035 to Payday Loans in three months time. And it's FINALLY OVER. My last payment posted on Friday. I am so happy I finally got out of the disastrous cycle. Now, I will have SO much more money to devote more wisely each month.

I also managed to avoid the Evil Overdraft Monster fees at my bank. Something that I've paid, wait for it, $741 to since March 13th, representing 7.41% of my spending. $741! That's more than a month's rent down the drain. Never again!!

Now that I have finally been released from the shackles of payday loans and regular bank overdrafts I am looking forward to planning a Master Budget that's more realistic and building an Emergency Fund so I never have to borrow money again!

June 2008 Goals, Midway Report

So in the beginning of the month I posted my June 2008 Goals. They were pretty small but very very important to me:

1. Do not get overdrafted by the Bank!
2. Stop Payday Loans forever!

Here's how I'm doing at the midway point of the month.

1. Haven't been overdrafted. Check! Spend less than I earn. Spend less than I earn. I'm doing all I can to stick to this goal.

2. Pay off remaining payday loan. Almost check! I have scheduled my VERY LAST payment on my very last loan for next Thursday. They payoff amount was $195, a high price for freedom, but worth very penny to get out of this terrible hole. I can't even imagine what life will be like without spending upwards of $400 a month on payments and fees.

I've even started making a list of things I want to focus on in July. One of them is to never ever use an out-of-network ATM machine again less I incur the Evil Bank Fee Monster. Still got a ways to go in the month but things are stable for now.

June 2008 Goals and Payday Loan Recovery

A new month, my Rent Check has cleared (or will by the end of the day) and I am setting some goals. There are going to be fairly modest as I am still starting out getting myself out of the mess I created, but here they are:

1. Do not get overdrafted by the Bank!
2. Stop Payday Loans forever!

So the progress on the Payday Loans goes like this: I disputed some charges with my Bank and was able to get $120 back that was debited from my account last week. I also spoke with Evil Payday Loan Company and let them know that what they were doing was actually illegal in New York State (who knew?!) and that I had filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office. They agreed to stop debiting my account!

Now I know I shouldn't be so happy about this as they actually have taken a lot more than I actually owed them (no final numbers just yet, I'm working on it) but having taken out several of these loans in the past year, I sorta did know what I was getting into. I'm just glad it's going to STOP!

There is some recourse available to me to recover some of the money they took and I'm looking into it. This company, unlike several others I have dealt with, is extremely shady and even when I tried to pay them back, made it almost impossible. I need to wait until the next pay cycle to confirm it, but I think they are out of my life forever.

So that leaves one outstanding Payday Loan, Payoff amount = $325. I am fairly confident I can pay this whole amount on June 12, so I am only 12 days away from being free of the shackles of these stupid loans forever!