Those who have been close to me (read: husband) know how tough I've had it this week. And its only Wednesday. Here's how it went down:
Monday I worked with Nancy all day. This, in essence, is the crux of the problem. Nancy is our outside accountant. She writes our financial reports every quarter so that Paul and I don't have to. Without ranting, I will just say that this woman spends every moment of her life tense, panicked, stressed, or upset. Period. And she doesn't find it an odd or difficult way to live, specifically because she's forgotten (I assume) what its like to be relaxed and trust that things work. Oh, and she blames everyone else (read: me) for anything, even if its her fault.
Because of this I was so stressed I think I got a max of five hours of sleep, broken into two parts with a 2+ hour panic fest in the middle around 3am. And I STILL was stressed out all day Tuesday, though the panic stopped around noon. Tuesday was a total bust.
Today, I woke up at 6:30 or so, uber refreshed. Didn't move a muscle all night, so I was sore and numb in places. But mentally, I was great! All I can say is this: peace of mind is the best sleep enhancer EVER.
Oh, and I will never spend a full day working with Nancy again. Done.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Mint.com
For those of you who do not have a bookkeeping software, or are new to keeping track of your finances, I present: Mint.com
Mint.com automatically updates your transactions nightly, and automatically categorizes as well (though you can change the categories if it gets it wrong). Setting up a budget is pretty easy, and you can see your spending trends, and even ore importantly, your cash flow.
Cash flow is basically just the difference between the money you bring in, and the money that goes out. Positive cash flow means you spend less than you earn (yay!), but in this world of credit, it is easy to have a negative cash flow, especially if its only a little negative, and not notice. Its the main contributor to that feeling of never getting ahead. Even as you move forward with a raise or something, you've been picking away at that raise with a negative cash flow, till you wonder where all your money went!
Mint.com fits in PERFECTLY with Your Money or Your Life. Step 2 in YMOYL is to track every penny that comes into or out of your life, and Mint.com is a great way to do it. Caveat: It only works if your banks, credit cards, and loans are supported by the software. If you are at a major bank, no worries. Even one of our credit unions was supported. But the other one, no luck. And no way to enter it in manually either. So that's a bummer.
But if you bank at (lets say) Bank of America, have credit cards with BofA, Capital One, and Chase, have student loans with Sallie Mae, and a car loan with GMAC, you are golden. All those accounts will automatically update, and all you need to do s make sure everything categorizes correctly (Fresh & Easy, for example, shows up as uncategorized....I guess it is kinda new as a Grocery store tho), and have a budget entered in. Note: it categorizes well for the most part, though you will need to categorize checks and cash purchases yourself.
It give you email alerts when you close to your budgeted spending, or when a credit card bill is due (no help on those utility bills tho), gives you a month by month graph of your cash flow (a BIG motivator) and, as it tracks your spending habits, can recommend services (such as rewards cards and high yield savings acccounts) that would help you save money by being focused exactly on how you like to spend.
All in all, a great service for those who are learning how to track their finances, and helpful if you want to check your eating out budget right when say, a coworker invites you to lunch (everything is online). However, for those of us who have moved beyond simply categorizing our spending, or who want to keep track of all bill due dates(not just credit cards), or who have accounts that are not supported by Mint.com yet, keep your at home bookkeeping software.
Mint.com automatically updates your transactions nightly, and automatically categorizes as well (though you can change the categories if it gets it wrong). Setting up a budget is pretty easy, and you can see your spending trends, and even ore importantly, your cash flow.
Cash flow is basically just the difference between the money you bring in, and the money that goes out. Positive cash flow means you spend less than you earn (yay!), but in this world of credit, it is easy to have a negative cash flow, especially if its only a little negative, and not notice. Its the main contributor to that feeling of never getting ahead. Even as you move forward with a raise or something, you've been picking away at that raise with a negative cash flow, till you wonder where all your money went!
Mint.com fits in PERFECTLY with Your Money or Your Life. Step 2 in YMOYL is to track every penny that comes into or out of your life, and Mint.com is a great way to do it. Caveat: It only works if your banks, credit cards, and loans are supported by the software. If you are at a major bank, no worries. Even one of our credit unions was supported. But the other one, no luck. And no way to enter it in manually either. So that's a bummer.
But if you bank at (lets say) Bank of America, have credit cards with BofA, Capital One, and Chase, have student loans with Sallie Mae, and a car loan with GMAC, you are golden. All those accounts will automatically update, and all you need to do s make sure everything categorizes correctly (Fresh & Easy, for example, shows up as uncategorized....I guess it is kinda new as a Grocery store tho), and have a budget entered in. Note: it categorizes well for the most part, though you will need to categorize checks and cash purchases yourself.
It give you email alerts when you close to your budgeted spending, or when a credit card bill is due (no help on those utility bills tho), gives you a month by month graph of your cash flow (a BIG motivator) and, as it tracks your spending habits, can recommend services (such as rewards cards and high yield savings acccounts) that would help you save money by being focused exactly on how you like to spend.
All in all, a great service for those who are learning how to track their finances, and helpful if you want to check your eating out budget right when say, a coworker invites you to lunch (everything is online). However, for those of us who have moved beyond simply categorizing our spending, or who want to keep track of all bill due dates(not just credit cards), or who have accounts that are not supported by Mint.com yet, keep your at home bookkeeping software.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
In which Katy struggles with her workday
I am having the roughest workday. I want to yell at everyone. Everyone suddenly seems ridiculously stupid. I swear they lost at least 40 IQ points over the weekend each. And there is this massive pile of this-will-never-end-and-you-know-it work in front of me. Plus tax stuff, which is just like this-will-never-end-and-you-know-it work with the added benefit of being on a giant deadline that I get absolutely no help with.
And people wonder why I'm cranky.
And people wonder why I'm cranky.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Best finance book EVER
Jer and I spent two hours on Sunday walking through Costco and just learning where stuff was, and what type of stuff they had. Very informative. And while we were there, we stumbled upon the book section and saw Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vick Robin, Joe Dominquez, and Monique Tilford. Now, I had heard of this book as one of the top finance books out there, and since we are all about finances this year, we picked it up. And let me just say, this is the finance book to read before you read anything else.
Its not about budgeting or living thrifty, investing, or making more money. Those are all great topics, but this one really starts at the beginning. And I'm not talking three year old "toys cost money, dear" type of beginning. It goes to the root of our financial issues: Why we earn and spend the way we do. The book takes you through 9 steps. The first two steps are all about grounding you in the present: totaling up all the money you earn, all your assets, and all your liablities; keeping track of all your expenses for a month; and calculating your actual hourly wage (including time spent commuting, decompressing, preparing for work, clothes bought for work, etc).
Once you are finally in the present and aware of exactly how much money you have (or don't have), how much you spend, and how much you earn, then the fun begins. And this is the part that's really exciting for me. You are asked to look at expenses not in money, but in hours of your life that is costs to earn that. And THEN you look at whether you got fulfillment from that item, whether it aligns with your life purpose, whether it would stay the same if you didn't have to work.
There's a lot of introspection that goes into that step, and the further steps that build on it, clearly. (Seriously, this is a lot of personal growth stuff) But it is so empowering. Instead of saying "I'm cutting my expenses by $200 this month" and going on a money diet, you get to say "Eating out just doesn't fulfill me. Maybe I'd like to spend that money on something that does." Or whatever you end up saying to yourself.
It makes money really easy to think about, make choices about, and even talk about, cause its no longer tied up in who you are. Its just a tool to get you to where you want to go.
Of course, once you know what you REALLY want to accomplish (life wise, and money wise) then it makes sense to research how to get there (investing, frugal living, second job, whatever) but how great to be doing it because you are called to it, instead of because you feel like you should. I swear, this is the best money book I've read, and really one I recommend reading before you read anything more specific.
If you're over at our house in the next couple weeks you'll see our charts on our fridge as we bring our money into alignment with our goals and purposes.
Its not about budgeting or living thrifty, investing, or making more money. Those are all great topics, but this one really starts at the beginning. And I'm not talking three year old "toys cost money, dear" type of beginning. It goes to the root of our financial issues: Why we earn and spend the way we do. The book takes you through 9 steps. The first two steps are all about grounding you in the present: totaling up all the money you earn, all your assets, and all your liablities; keeping track of all your expenses for a month; and calculating your actual hourly wage (including time spent commuting, decompressing, preparing for work, clothes bought for work, etc).
Once you are finally in the present and aware of exactly how much money you have (or don't have), how much you spend, and how much you earn, then the fun begins. And this is the part that's really exciting for me. You are asked to look at expenses not in money, but in hours of your life that is costs to earn that. And THEN you look at whether you got fulfillment from that item, whether it aligns with your life purpose, whether it would stay the same if you didn't have to work.
There's a lot of introspection that goes into that step, and the further steps that build on it, clearly. (Seriously, this is a lot of personal growth stuff) But it is so empowering. Instead of saying "I'm cutting my expenses by $200 this month" and going on a money diet, you get to say "Eating out just doesn't fulfill me. Maybe I'd like to spend that money on something that does." Or whatever you end up saying to yourself.
It makes money really easy to think about, make choices about, and even talk about, cause its no longer tied up in who you are. Its just a tool to get you to where you want to go.
Of course, once you know what you REALLY want to accomplish (life wise, and money wise) then it makes sense to research how to get there (investing, frugal living, second job, whatever) but how great to be doing it because you are called to it, instead of because you feel like you should. I swear, this is the best money book I've read, and really one I recommend reading before you read anything more specific.
If you're over at our house in the next couple weeks you'll see our charts on our fridge as we bring our money into alignment with our goals and purposes.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Oh yes, there is Evil in this world.....
I just finished reading this article, about how putting a rediculously low monthly payment on credit card bills actually causes most of us to make 43% lower payments than we would normally (excluding those who pay bills in full each month. You lucky dogs.) Do you know how much more money that is for the credit card agencies?!
It got me thinking, so I did some research, watched this frontline episode (from 2004, still relevent tho) and took a big ole step back. How is it that it never, ever occurred to me as odd that credit card companies can change the rate on money I've borrowed AFTER I've borrowed it? Home loans, car loans, and personal loans can't do that, but its ok that credit cards can? I have seriously "drunk the koolaid" as they say.
Good news though! In July 2010 (not nearly soon enough), new regulations come into effect. I'm going to post them here because I found WAY too many articles that inaccurately reported them. Most of the articles just reported what was "proposed" as if it was law, but sadly, many of those proposed regulations just didn't make the cut. Those that did:
~Credit card companies can no longer raise interest rates on money you've already borrowed, UNLESS you have a variable rate card, or you've paid your minimum payment more than 30 days late
~No rate hikes in the first year, unless that was part of the original card agreement.
~Zero percent interest now actually means zero percent interest. No more deferred interest offers.
~No late fee if the bill was mailed less than 21 days from the due date. (I personally have been hit with this one, and threw a fit, and got nowhere. Apparently I was "responsible for knowing my due date and payment amount, whether or not [I] got a bill." WTF Same card that changed my due date twice in the same year without notice, btw. I don't do business with them anymore.)
~Credit card companies must now split your payment amongst all balances, or allocate it all to the balance with the highest rate. No more paying off your 0% balance transfer first while your 25% cash advance builds up interest charges.
~No more double-cycle billing!!!! (Lemme explain: double-cycle billing is when you have a $500 balance, and during the billing cycle you pay $450 before interest is calculated, but they still charge you interest on the full $500 as if it hadn't already been paid)
~Subprime cards can not charge fees or deposits that are more than 50% of the card's limit, and they must give you a full year to pay those fees off.
More info here.
Of course this means that there will a bit more responsibility in the credit card industry, since they can't gouge people as much, and that means fewer offers to higher risk people. Sounds bad, but its so not. Nothing that causes greater responsibility is ever a bad thing. Inconvenient, yes. But always good for you. Like broccoli.
It got me thinking, so I did some research, watched this frontline episode (from 2004, still relevent tho) and took a big ole step back. How is it that it never, ever occurred to me as odd that credit card companies can change the rate on money I've borrowed AFTER I've borrowed it? Home loans, car loans, and personal loans can't do that, but its ok that credit cards can? I have seriously "drunk the koolaid" as they say.
Good news though! In July 2010 (not nearly soon enough), new regulations come into effect. I'm going to post them here because I found WAY too many articles that inaccurately reported them. Most of the articles just reported what was "proposed" as if it was law, but sadly, many of those proposed regulations just didn't make the cut. Those that did:
~Credit card companies can no longer raise interest rates on money you've already borrowed, UNLESS you have a variable rate card, or you've paid your minimum payment more than 30 days late
~No rate hikes in the first year, unless that was part of the original card agreement.
~Zero percent interest now actually means zero percent interest. No more deferred interest offers.
~No late fee if the bill was mailed less than 21 days from the due date. (I personally have been hit with this one, and threw a fit, and got nowhere. Apparently I was "responsible for knowing my due date and payment amount, whether or not [I] got a bill." WTF Same card that changed my due date twice in the same year without notice, btw. I don't do business with them anymore.)
~Credit card companies must now split your payment amongst all balances, or allocate it all to the balance with the highest rate. No more paying off your 0% balance transfer first while your 25% cash advance builds up interest charges.
~No more double-cycle billing!!!! (Lemme explain: double-cycle billing is when you have a $500 balance, and during the billing cycle you pay $450 before interest is calculated, but they still charge you interest on the full $500 as if it hadn't already been paid)
~Subprime cards can not charge fees or deposits that are more than 50% of the card's limit, and they must give you a full year to pay those fees off.
More info here.
Of course this means that there will a bit more responsibility in the credit card industry, since they can't gouge people as much, and that means fewer offers to higher risk people. Sounds bad, but its so not. Nothing that causes greater responsibility is ever a bad thing. Inconvenient, yes. But always good for you. Like broccoli.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
How could I forget?!
We got a CostCo card! It must be because I've been so swamped at work, and going crazy with taking care of dogs and husband combined (can't wait for his cast to come off---5 more days!)
So we made our first foray into CostCo on New Year Eve. I do NOT recommend it. The store was SO crowded that day, it was awful! And then there was the issue of getting Jeremy through the crowds with his crutches. Ick. But we didn't want to just give up right there.
We went back last week on a Saturday (I know) and though it was crowded too, it was MUCH better than the holiday. And we had a slightly better idea of how to attack the store: avoid the clusterf#$k at the produce section (who needs 8lbs of asparagus anyway?!), walk the backs of the aisles instead of the fronts (too many people oogling clothes, electronics, etc in the fronts,) and know your store layout (this one we're still working on - there are NO aisle labels!! I think I'll just spend an afternoon wandering some day or another - to get the basics down)
So far, what we've found is that Costco prices are pretty low, but only to about what would match other stores' sale prices. So rather than buy everything at Costco, we're going to buy staples and meat. So, flour, bread, beans, rice, and meats, particularly meats in large quantities, like 15lbs of sirloin (that we'd have to cut into steaks ourselves, but that is rediculously cheap!)
I'm looking forward to spending the next few months figuring out the best way to make use of our Costco membership for both healthy living, and a healthy balance sheet.
So we made our first foray into CostCo on New Year Eve. I do NOT recommend it. The store was SO crowded that day, it was awful! And then there was the issue of getting Jeremy through the crowds with his crutches. Ick. But we didn't want to just give up right there.
We went back last week on a Saturday (I know) and though it was crowded too, it was MUCH better than the holiday. And we had a slightly better idea of how to attack the store: avoid the clusterf#$k at the produce section (who needs 8lbs of asparagus anyway?!), walk the backs of the aisles instead of the fronts (too many people oogling clothes, electronics, etc in the fronts,) and know your store layout (this one we're still working on - there are NO aisle labels!! I think I'll just spend an afternoon wandering some day or another - to get the basics down)
So far, what we've found is that Costco prices are pretty low, but only to about what would match other stores' sale prices. So rather than buy everything at Costco, we're going to buy staples and meat. So, flour, bread, beans, rice, and meats, particularly meats in large quantities, like 15lbs of sirloin (that we'd have to cut into steaks ourselves, but that is rediculously cheap!)
I'm looking forward to spending the next few months figuring out the best way to make use of our Costco membership for both healthy living, and a healthy balance sheet.
OAMC
Stands for Once A Month Cooking. There's a cookbook out there that gives you a menu list, recipe list and grocery list for once a month cooking, and then you basically spend one day a month cooking everything for your family and putting in your (very large) freezer.
That type of plan isn't really for me. I like cooking, and I like fresh foods. But I also like not having to cook ALL the time. So I started searching for good make ahead and freeze type meals, and guess what? They all seem to be labeled OAMC.
Search OAMC on Google and you will find a ton of website where people just post up their favorite recipes. And they are great recipes (mostly). There's also some pages titled things like "How to use 35lbs of hamburger," which may come in handy with our new CostCo card.
Since Jer and I aren't eating out much any more, and we are cutting our grocery bill, its seems like making a few of these OAMC recipes and having them ready in the freezer would be a great idea for us. I'll keep Cooking Kama Sutras updated with anything good that I find.
That type of plan isn't really for me. I like cooking, and I like fresh foods. But I also like not having to cook ALL the time. So I started searching for good make ahead and freeze type meals, and guess what? They all seem to be labeled OAMC.
Search OAMC on Google and you will find a ton of website where people just post up their favorite recipes. And they are great recipes (mostly). There's also some pages titled things like "How to use 35lbs of hamburger," which may come in handy with our new CostCo card.
Since Jer and I aren't eating out much any more, and we are cutting our grocery bill, its seems like making a few of these OAMC recipes and having them ready in the freezer would be a great idea for us. I'll keep Cooking Kama Sutras updated with anything good that I find.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Picnic Day
Today we went to the park with our friends and had a picnic. It was great! A little windy (ok, a lot) but really nice, warm sun, and we got to take the dogs. My favorite part was how much it cost: Nothing! We made sandwiches, brought water, and had a blast!
I love watching our mindset switch over, to where we aren't thinking about what we can go buy, but more what can we do without buying. Cindy came up with the picnic idea (thanks Cindy!) and it was great to see everyone just hanging out and talking. Not playing the latest video game, not spending money on a movie, just talking and having a great time.
Woot!
I love watching our mindset switch over, to where we aren't thinking about what we can go buy, but more what can we do without buying. Cindy came up with the picnic idea (thanks Cindy!) and it was great to see everyone just hanging out and talking. Not playing the latest video game, not spending money on a movie, just talking and having a great time.
Woot!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Pushing through the haze
Its been a few days since I've been able to write, mainly because I'm so doggone tired. I've been spending most of my work week trying desperately to get our books to match our CPA's statements so our producers stop asking embarrasing questions, and after two weeks, we've finally gotten over the first hurdle. The general ledge (read: main account) is DONE! Now its onto each individual movie, making sure that those books are all good.
The trouble is, during these two weeks (and, probably, the next two weeks) I also have all my normal accounting duties to complete. As you can guess, I'm pretty swamped. I just now finished up entering all the payments and deposits (and credit cards, and bank statements) for November. December should be worse, because there's WAY more stuff that is behind. Sigh.
As one would expect, I have gotten frustrated, overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and, today, my entire brain feels like its swimming through some type of haze. I have no idea how I started functioning today (I should have just shut down or fell apart), but I do know how I kept going once I got started: I didn't let myself stop.
Of course I took breaks, and I took a walk, but whenever I found myself zoning out, or getting too overwhelmed, or just plain not wanting to keep going, I kept going. I recently read that its easier for people to work in 10-15 minute spurts, so that's what I did. At first I didn't even realize what I was doing, but it does really work. I worked on a task for 15 minutes or so, then got stumped or frustrated, so I put it down and moved to something else.
Seriously, I can not believe how much I got done today, especially given how crappy I'm feeling. I can barely put a decent sentence together (when talking. typing, thankfully, isn't so much of a problem), and yet, I've gotten most everything done that I wanted too! I can go home feeling satisfied because there is no GiantNumbersPile monster waiting for me on Monday. Just a Baby GiantNumbersPile Monster, who's Underdressed and Distracted....totally pwnable.
The trouble is, during these two weeks (and, probably, the next two weeks) I also have all my normal accounting duties to complete. As you can guess, I'm pretty swamped. I just now finished up entering all the payments and deposits (and credit cards, and bank statements) for November. December should be worse, because there's WAY more stuff that is behind. Sigh.
As one would expect, I have gotten frustrated, overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and, today, my entire brain feels like its swimming through some type of haze. I have no idea how I started functioning today (I should have just shut down or fell apart), but I do know how I kept going once I got started: I didn't let myself stop.
Of course I took breaks, and I took a walk, but whenever I found myself zoning out, or getting too overwhelmed, or just plain not wanting to keep going, I kept going. I recently read that its easier for people to work in 10-15 minute spurts, so that's what I did. At first I didn't even realize what I was doing, but it does really work. I worked on a task for 15 minutes or so, then got stumped or frustrated, so I put it down and moved to something else.
Seriously, I can not believe how much I got done today, especially given how crappy I'm feeling. I can barely put a decent sentence together (when talking. typing, thankfully, isn't so much of a problem), and yet, I've gotten most everything done that I wanted too! I can go home feeling satisfied because there is no GiantNumbersPile monster waiting for me on Monday. Just a Baby GiantNumbersPile Monster, who's Underdressed and Distracted....totally pwnable.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Lessons learned from D&D
Jeremy and I had a great conversation a couple days ago about what worked and didn't work when we played various D&D campaigns. Lots of interesting stuff came up, but one thing was most interesting to me and it happens to be a great relationship lesson too.
The campaigns where our group did the best, and where we have had the most fun, are ones where everyone's goal is the same. In the game, we start out with a basic character and some vague idea of what we want to do, and end up shaping our goals and the reasons for reaching those goals together.
When the characters have their motivations and goals sorted out beforehand, it messes with the team cohesion, the team doesn't work quite as efficiently together, and it isn't as fun (at least for us.) To be fair, role playing wise, it puts an interesting and different spin on things: forcing us to figure out how to work with this person, communicate with someone who doesn't want to, etc. But it is more work, and the results we get as a team aren't as awesome.
Cut to the relationship. Seems like common sense, but it did kinda hit me over the head: The same thing applies! I'm seeing it already in our finances. Last year we had all these things we wanted to accomplish with the finances, and though Jer and I were both headed in roughly the same direction (spend less, save more, pay down debt) we had significantly different reasons for doing so. I wanted to be more secure and to feel like I had a bit more control over money. He had big goals like investing in real estate. And sure, we both related to the other's point of view, but there were times when he didn't get why I was upset at a small charge from Taco Bell. And then I didn't get why he was so upset at the real estate market doing what its doing now (after all, it will be a good thing for us, eventually.)
Now I see it. We were reacting to our different motivations. So we weren't completely together on our goals. This year, its different. We both are solidly on the goal of paying off our debt by 2010. Everything else is secondary, and already I can feel the difference. Its easier to talk about, and it feels more fun and less like pulling teeth. I'll definitely keep this site updated with how we do. But the big lesson I'm taking away is that its not enough to be walking in the same direction. It makes a huge difference when you are also heading for the same goal, and have the same or similar motivation for getting there.
The campaigns where our group did the best, and where we have had the most fun, are ones where everyone's goal is the same. In the game, we start out with a basic character and some vague idea of what we want to do, and end up shaping our goals and the reasons for reaching those goals together.
When the characters have their motivations and goals sorted out beforehand, it messes with the team cohesion, the team doesn't work quite as efficiently together, and it isn't as fun (at least for us.) To be fair, role playing wise, it puts an interesting and different spin on things: forcing us to figure out how to work with this person, communicate with someone who doesn't want to, etc. But it is more work, and the results we get as a team aren't as awesome.
Cut to the relationship. Seems like common sense, but it did kinda hit me over the head: The same thing applies! I'm seeing it already in our finances. Last year we had all these things we wanted to accomplish with the finances, and though Jer and I were both headed in roughly the same direction (spend less, save more, pay down debt) we had significantly different reasons for doing so. I wanted to be more secure and to feel like I had a bit more control over money. He had big goals like investing in real estate. And sure, we both related to the other's point of view, but there were times when he didn't get why I was upset at a small charge from Taco Bell. And then I didn't get why he was so upset at the real estate market doing what its doing now (after all, it will be a good thing for us, eventually.)
Now I see it. We were reacting to our different motivations. So we weren't completely together on our goals. This year, its different. We both are solidly on the goal of paying off our debt by 2010. Everything else is secondary, and already I can feel the difference. Its easier to talk about, and it feels more fun and less like pulling teeth. I'll definitely keep this site updated with how we do. But the big lesson I'm taking away is that its not enough to be walking in the same direction. It makes a huge difference when you are also heading for the same goal, and have the same or similar motivation for getting there.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
New Year's Resolution
I have been so remiss! I told everyone about our resolutions, but I forgot to post them!
Our big one is be debt free by the end of 2009. That includes finding ways to save more money, but mostly its about planning. Two weeks ago, we used this spreadsheet to put together our debt snowball. We entered every debt we had in it, and how much we would pay each month, and it showed us how long paying off our debts would take, and how much interest we would pay. Though our major debts are at very low or zero interest, paying everything off this year will still save us over $2000 in interest payments!
It was extremely empowering to see everything on paper. Instead of just intending to pay down our debts as much as we can, we can see exactly how much we need to pay every month to reach our goal. Its inspired Jeremy to get a solid job, and me to get going on my other resolution:
To learn to do something new for myself every month. This absolutely feeds into my MIY workshops, so I'm stoked. This month, I'm learning to do my own manicures (see below) as the first MIY workshop is for bath stuff, which I already know how to make.
Next month, isn't planned yet. But I do really want to get on trying out that earthbox, or a container garden with an olla. So maybe that'll be February.
Our big one is be debt free by the end of 2009. That includes finding ways to save more money, but mostly its about planning. Two weeks ago, we used this spreadsheet to put together our debt snowball. We entered every debt we had in it, and how much we would pay each month, and it showed us how long paying off our debts would take, and how much interest we would pay. Though our major debts are at very low or zero interest, paying everything off this year will still save us over $2000 in interest payments!
It was extremely empowering to see everything on paper. Instead of just intending to pay down our debts as much as we can, we can see exactly how much we need to pay every month to reach our goal. Its inspired Jeremy to get a solid job, and me to get going on my other resolution:
To learn to do something new for myself every month. This absolutely feeds into my MIY workshops, so I'm stoked. This month, I'm learning to do my own manicures (see below) as the first MIY workshop is for bath stuff, which I already know how to make.
Next month, isn't planned yet. But I do really want to get on trying out that earthbox, or a container garden with an olla. So maybe that'll be February.
My first at home manicure
Was not a great success. Its not that bad, but had I paid for this manicure, I would not be happy.
Couple of things I learned:
1. Clipping cuticles yourself is a bad idea. I'll just clean them and not worry about trimming at all. Its not worth the hassle
2. Give yourself time to learn to be a bit ambidextrous. It takes some work.
3. One of the best tools a manicurist has is her own nails, particularly when it comes to cleaning up a bit of misplaced nail polish. Unfortunately, your nails are covered in polish already! So find a tool that can be used in the same fashion. I'll update when I find such a tool.
Overall, I'm not unhappy, and I'm gonna keep going doing my own manicures. I just see how much practice I need!
Couple of things I learned:
1. Clipping cuticles yourself is a bad idea. I'll just clean them and not worry about trimming at all. Its not worth the hassle
2. Give yourself time to learn to be a bit ambidextrous. It takes some work.
3. One of the best tools a manicurist has is her own nails, particularly when it comes to cleaning up a bit of misplaced nail polish. Unfortunately, your nails are covered in polish already! So find a tool that can be used in the same fashion. I'll update when I find such a tool.
Overall, I'm not unhappy, and I'm gonna keep going doing my own manicures. I just see how much practice I need!
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