Thursday, September 30, 2010

Felt Good, But Not So Much On Paper

I barely made any of my September goals, but I felt fairly good about this month overall! Funny how that works...

This month flew by; things were way busier than I originally planned. I took over running Special Olympics where I work and that took up a lot of time to figure it out.

Running: I did not run 100 miles, but I did do a little better here and there. I ran close to 30 I think.

Money: As noted in last post I didn't make the <$1000 challenge, but I'm okay with that. I'm going to attempt it again

Business: I have been working on it, more in the first half of the month, but I am making strides. My 1 year plan isn't quite as concrete as I would like, but I have some time to work on it again today.

Home: This is going slow!!! All the weekends away and working. We have things in place and organized. We just need wall decorations.

Social: I did fairly well on this goal!  Book club is this Friday (my friend I run it with had to postpone) and I went scrapbooking with a friend. I also went to lunch a little and saw some old friends. I have a couple of friends I need to see that I miss, but they are on the October list!

Cooking: I made a new dish two nights ago!  And I found some cooking shows and a cookbook I really like. I did a good amount of cooking, but I need to start using recipes!

Money Oops Lets Do It Again

Yes I watched Glee this week (if anyone gets the reference!)

So I didn't make my <$1000 on the credit card goal. Not even close actually! I spent a little over $2000. Some of this is to do having unexpected car repairs (including a spare): $300

We had to book hotels and flights for our DC marathon; we opted to stay with family for SF: $600 (just for hotel!  We wanted it to be close, and have decide we are financially secure enough to stay at a nicer place)

I decided to sign up for another marathon: $110

All in all I am okay with it. I did almost all the grocery shopping this week and went to lunch a few times at work.

I think I'll go for the <$1000 challenge again next month. We are traveling for two weekends, but will have family around which always helps. :-)

Goal review and October Goals coming up!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Living on Pennies!

It's only the 13th and I have $245 left for the month. T and I are going to dinner tonight and I have a $25 gift card at least.  We are going out of town with T's parents this weekend, so I shouldn't have to pay for much, if anything, for three days.  I need the rest of the week to be No Spend Days with the except of gas.

Otherwise, money is good!  I just got a new client, so that is good. I think I will be able to hit my new savings goal without any problem.

The main difficulty I am having is running. I had a super busy weekend and allergies were beating me down, so T and I went for about a 2 mile walk last night, but that was it. Therefore, the alarm went off at 5:45, and I'm finishing my tea about to head out the door for a run!

Happy Monday everyone!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tricky Money Challenge

Just a quick update...but I didn't realize the room for the wedding hadn't been charged when I reserved it. In summary, 9 days into September and I have charged $620 so far. This is going to take a bit of finesse to stay under $1000!  All I know that I'll need is gas, one grocery run, and 1-2 lunch/dinners out for T. (We have some treats planned.)

No splurges this month!!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

California Dreamin'!!!

T and I are in California this weekend for a wedding of a good friend of mine from high schools. I got to spend yesterday hanging out with old guy friends that I've missed. It's been great so far!

The last week was super busy at work. We had a coworker whose job overlaps with mine leave. She left some big programs unfilled, and I was asked to step in and take over one of them for an extra half days worth of pay for the year. I'm excited about the opportunity (and the pay raise!) T and I have also been talking about how to expand my business more. Life feels like it's picking up and yet I have more social time than usual!  It's nice for the most part... but I do need to keep hyper organized, and remember to keep running!

Being in California, where I grew up and love, always makes me think of goals. I would love to be able to live here again or at least visit more often. (I did have an opportunity to move here this summer, a good offer, but we decided against it.)

Things are really good in the money realm. I have paid off my mom, paid off my small mortgage, paid for the trip (which we went over budget for), paid for a new garage door, paying for a new bedroom set, and already have $6000 in my emergency fund. Despite the traveling we have coming up, I still think I can be ambitious and up my e-fund savings goal to $10,000. This gives me more than 3 months living expenses (and many more if T is splitting the mortgage.)

Now, to figure out how to get the rest of life to go that well!  I'll brainstorm some ideas while I'm California dreamin'!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

September Goals!

I like the idea of focusing on different areas and setting a goal for each. So here we go!

1) Running: One of the marathons is only a month and a half away so this month has got to be good. I want to follow the plan and run at least 100 miles.

2) Money: Keep credit card <$1000: This is going to be difficult, but I really want to try. We are going to a wedding this weekend which will mean paying for some food and drink, gas, and a gift. However, I am going see some old high school friends and I'm super excited!!!

3) Business: I want to have a more concrete 1 yr plan, and get started on a vague plan for years 2-5 as well.

4) Home: We still need to do more decorating in the master and guest bedrooms. We have pictures to put up and just general organizing to do. That is this month's focus.

5) Cooking: I want to cook three new recipes this month!

6) Social: I have been working so hard to not have to work so much!  I want to be social again... I have already signed up to scrapbook with a friend. I want to start up my book exchange club again. I want to have people over for BBQ or dinner at least 2 times. I joined a soccer league as well, so that should be fun!

August Goal Review

So how did I do with just a little over 2 weeks to complete August goals...

1) Credit Card <$1000 : Success!!!  I'm only about $25 under but it's under!

2) Running: Fail. Big time... I ran a total of 22 miles in the last two weeks. As usual, I need to step it up!!

3) Finish September Calendar: done... although it is always changing.

4) Business: I did make a list of some loose ends, and I make some good progress on them. I am working on increasing the business, and I feel good about what I did. :-)

5) Cooking: Well, it depends on how you define cook!  I did cook a couple nights, and so did T. However, there were a couple nights, like last night, where we were tired and not very hungry and just had some chips, or a simple quesadilla. Overall, we didn't eat out much which was part of the goal!

6) September Goals: I have them on paper... I just need to type them up!

I feel good about everything in August except the running.

We got a new bedroom set so we've been having fun setting up the room and figuring out what to do with the two other rooms now!  We are working on a hodge-podge guest room and it's starting to come together.

Look for September goals shortly!