We are going to Disney World in November!!!
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Category Archives: Goals
Monday Ramblings
- I have had a terrible cold since last Friday, today I am only taking 3 dose of medicine instead of 6 so that means I should be well by next months some time.
- Because of feeling so blah and crummy, I have not walked since last Thursday. I was doing so good, plan to get back on track tonight. It may be with a Kleenex attached to my lip but it is at least something.
- Last Thursday, I had the privilege of accompanying my friend Andrea to a college biology class, I came out with two observations. First, it is still just wrong that the professor is younger than I am. And second- since when is it not disrespectful to ask the professor for an update set of notes? At least half the kids in the class had electronic devices with his notes on them.
- February is an extremely busy month for us. I counted and we have exactly 3 nights this month in which we are all home.
- Because of the busy schedule, I am in charge of picking Kendall up from cheerleading on both Monday and Thursday nights. This way she can at least get in bed before 9 pm on those nights.
- I did not share a menu plan for this week because we have 2 nights of leftovers and one night of hot pockets on the schedule. But at least we have a plan.
- Lily and Kendall participated in their first cheerleading competition on Saturday. I am proud of both of them. Lily is working hard on her back handspring and Kendall is working on a forward roll and cartwheel.
- Gas prices in our area jumped up 10 cent over night and have increased 14 cent in the last week. We at least were able to get all our vehicles and gas cans filled at the below $2.00 price. This makes for us a lower month in gas, so far to fill everything it cost $110. I am hoping that even with the rising cost we will be able to keep to less than $400 for the month with one small repair needed on the white van.
- In the area of groceries, we are trying to continue to eat out of the fridge, however I am finding several good stock up deals this month in addition to planning to purchase/pay for an order of ground beef from Zaycon foods. I will be happy just to stay within our $600 budget for the month.
- After receiving our Verizon cell phone bill, we have actually been able to reduce out bill by over $75 a month by switching plans. We are hopeful to keep this rate for at least the year.
January in Review
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Goal Met! I know that this will be at least post number 15 for the month but I also have a couple of other post in my head that I am going to try and get out but no matter what I am good for the month!
Weight: Goal: Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved. I am very excited to say that I have been able to lose 4 pounds this month. I honestly think it is having the treadmill sitting in my room. I have gone from a maximum of 3 nights a week working out to a minimum of 6 nights a week walking on the treadmill. I have struggled a lot this month with my eating but success is awesome. The down side is that I am not yet back down to the weight I was prior to Thanksgiving. Goal Met!
Spiritual- Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. I am trying to spend more time in the Word, but I don’t honestly think I have met this goal for the month. Room for improvement.
Personal Goals: Achieved 2 of 3
Financial Goals: Achieved 1 of 4
1. Pay off all debit by December 2015, except for mortgage.
a. JC Penny- 79.32– . DONE
b. Home Depot- $210 a month Payment. Goal met!
c. American Express – pay $12OO a month – paid $700 due to windshield
d. Personal Loan (used to purchase van) .The current scheduled payment is $217 a month with this scheduled to be paid off in December 2015. Goal Met!
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Did not happen this month due to purchase of new to us van and the windshield replacement.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Currently at $680 for the month. My excuse this does included the junk food for Super Bowl Sunday.
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. We did end up purchasing the new to us van and had to do some repairs to it to get it the way I feel safe in it. I am not counting the tax,title and tag fee of $126 in this cost, it was covered with the sale of my car. Nor am I counting the $217 windshield because that was a true Emergency. Even eliminating those 2 expenses that I can account for else where I am way over budget for the month at $514. The price of gas has finally dropped to below $2 a gallon so I am hopeful that next month this expense will go way down!
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5 Things Friday- The Money Version
The bills for our really cold end of December/first of January have started to come in and it will be some rearranging out our budget for February. So here we go…
1. The water bill was $8 more than last month and $5 more than our largest bill ever due to the frozen pipe that burst and sprayed water for several hours before we found it.
2. The electric bill jumped up $85 this month. I am pretty sure this is due to the extra heater we are using in the Living room but thing that the treadmill and new fridge may also be part of the problem. The good news is that it is not our highest bill ever just much higher than the past 3 bills.
3.The cable bill increased by $8 this month, I am so upset but pretty much stuck because of where we live and the limited choices in high speed internet.
4. I was able to reduce our Verizon bill by $50 a month by changing to a new plan. However the cost will go up approximately $30 a month when Matt gets a new phone. But $20 in savings is still saving money.
5. I am in hope and prayer that we are done with all the repairs on the new to us white van. One positive is that the oil was changed just prior to us getting obtaining so that does help reduce budget for February, along with the declining price of gas it all should make my like cheaper!
But…..
I really enjoyed having the extra day off yesterday and was able to spend the entire day in my pajamas but……. we all overslept this morning which made me late for work.
I think I am going to really enjoy the new to us van we purchased. I drive great and has some super convenient feature that I would not want to lose but…. it seems that we are spending a lot of money to get it back to what I consider “excellent” shape. I am not even talking about the windshield which I consider a freak accident. We or should I say Matt has replaced the back brakes (no cost to us for material), replaced the front brakes and rotors, has ordered a new part to fix the rear heating and air and today realized that he will be changing out a transmission line as soon as the part comes in because it is leaking.
We have been doing really well with our goal for the month of not eating out but…. Sonic had 50 cent corndogs today and I could not resist!
Our budgets for the month are looking great. I have around $200 left in the grocery budget and $85 left in our gas budget but….. the additional cost of the windshield and repairs to the white van will easily take this amount and maybe more to cover.
I have been walking on the treadmill 6 out of 7 nights a week for the past 2 weeks since getting the one in our bedroom but…. I still have not been able to drop any of the extra weight I gained over the holidays. I have to be honest and say this most likely has something to do with the Girl Scout cookies that we purchased. I ate.
I have and really want to share some exciting news but… I am so afraid that I will mess it up if I share before it happens that I am going to keep my mouth shut for now at least.
Menu Planning 01/17/2015/Grocery Update
A grade from last week will be a “C”, we did eat out one time for lunch on Tuesday in the middle of the windshield problems and I grabbed a dozen donuts from Krsipy Kreme after Zach’s appointment. Total spent less than $30. I am going to try and tighten the belt even more due to a water line freeze and a new heater/blower for the white van so I am digging in the freezer all week. I made a quick trip to Aldi for fruit and veggies. I have spent $386 so far this month for groceries with less than two weeks left.
Weekends usually end up the time we most likely eat out so I plan on BBQ Chicken Pizza for lunch, and Philly Cheesesteak Pasta for dinner on Saturday, both are new recipes but they use things in the house! The pizza was a huge hit so it will definitely go into the cycle to be used again! Sunday I already have laid out a Chicken Broccoli Casserole for lunch and plan for leftovers for dinner as I have a church meeting.
This week will be a somewhat unusual week as the kids are out of school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Goals for the week no eating out till Saturday.
Breakfast- Choice of grits, cereal, pop-tarts, pancakes (left overs from Saturday) , Baked Oatmeal or Egg/Sausage Burrito (from last week). As you can see all these are quick and simple heat up. Sunday morning will most likely be biscuits and gravy.
Lunch- Matt will be in charge of lunches on the days the girls are out of school and will use some of the convenience meals we try to buy on sale. I have recently stockpiled a bunch (8 cans) of soup at work so if I don’t have any leftovers, the I am sticking to quick this week so no planning ahead with that.
Dinner- The kids continue with another busy week this week so we just want to eat together if possible.
Monday- Country Style Steak, make ahead mash potatoes and squash casserole. I am only working a couple of hours so this will be an extra treat day!
Tuesday- Chicken nuggets, green beans and fruit
Wednesday- Hamburger Helper- from the stockpile so they will choose the flavor.
Thursday- I have to cook or if I get busy this will be a left over day. I am thinking toward Shrimp but will wait till see what is going on.
Friday- Pork Chops, mac and cheese and applesauce.
I am hoping this week goes as well as last week.
2015 Budget Update and Goals
We have an unique opportunity this year. Because of my pay schedule I receive 26 checks a year. I base my budget on 2 checks a month just to make things easier for me. This also provides me with two paychecks each year that are not budgeted for. Last year both of these were used to fund vacations/trips. However this year, I am using my first check (which I received today) to reset the budget. What this mean is that as of today, each of the fund that I have established is starting at the level need to meet demands. For example I budget $45 a month to use of AAA and car insurance. At this point I have to pay our insurance in May or five months so I have researched and funded each category to the level to make our budget work. So basically if we just stick to the budget amount then we should not have any surprise in the year and should be able to finally become debt free except for our mortgage without living on beans and rice.
I have promised you real numbers and here you go along with my plan to accomplish and a little explanation as needed.
1. Pay off all debit , except for mortgage. I am going to list each of our debt the amount owed and the plan to attack.
a. JC Penny- 79.32– will be pay with clothing money in January.
b. Home Depot- $1807.45- This amount is all on an interest free plan. I did not pay any interest to Home Depot in 2014 and by sticking to the plan will not pay any this year either. $210 a month Payment.
c. American Express $9232- Again this currently is on a no interest plan which will expire in April. Currently the goal is to pay $12OO a month and all my tax return to get this amount down and gone.
d. Personal Loan (used to purchase van) $2704.88 The current scheduled payment is $217 a month with this scheduled to be paid off in December 2015.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. I have actually included this as a line in our budget this year. I mostly likely will not be able to achieve the full $2000 without some extra work and saving but I am leaving as a goal so I have go be accountable at the end of the year. The current plan is also to address a long term septic issue once our EF reaches this amount. I am totally unsure what the actual cost will be but this should cover it. At the point, this repair becomes necessary it may wipe out the EF but at least we have a plan.
Several other changes are occurring this year with our budget as well.
- We are purchasing a new to us mini van which after it is completely purchased and new brakes applied will replace my car. I am unable to transport all three kids to school in a manner I consider safe with my current car. The plan includes selling my car as soon as this vehicle is in service, Overall we will likely see an increase in the cost of gas but that is the only additional cost I am budgeting for.
- I have officially started saving for Retirement. My company has a mandatory 2% retirement contribution which they match, In November, I elected to place an additional 2% in a ROTH IRA. The even better news is starting mid January the hospital will also match this additional 2% contribution.
- We have cancelled our membership to the local YMCA but instead of deducting this expense have replaced it with “pool” which will be used for our membership fee and swim team cost.
- Several categories including hair and piano are entire cash based so this will allow for more accurate use and spending of these funds.
- Matt is expecting an initial decrease in his projected salary but has already starting seeking out opportunities to increase not only his web design business but is also looking at establishing other routes for steady income.
I am excited to have chance for a true budget reset and hope to use this as a springboard board for both paying off debt and saving money in 2015!
2016 Goals
I need to stick to and achieve the same personal goals that I have kept for the past few years, so I am going to include them again with some slight modifications.
Blogging- Goal: 20 post per month
Weight: Goal: Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved.
Spiritual- Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. I started a plan to read the Bible in a year 2 years ago and currently am 80% finished. I want to definitely finish this plan.
My financial plans are definitely different from last year and I am going to include measureable steps to reach each of these. I am going to be upfront and honest. I did some extra shopping today to prepare to start out in January with a bang.
1. Full Fund the budget each month. Sounds simple but honestly, we have at least 3 categories a month that are not funded without some assistance. For the month of January I am going to participate in 
. If we can eliminate all non-essential spending, it will allow me to fully fund each of our budget categories and start the year on a solid foundation. I plan to pay on my purchases from JCP with the clothing budget this month. The only clothing want that I am aware of is jeans for Matt. I do expect to receive some reward dollars and hopefully use these to grab at least one pair. I also need to find a good way to sale clothing on line as we are starting to get quite a bit.
2. Establish and maintain an Emergency fund with a monthly deposit of at least $100.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. I am going to take this a step further and use only cash for the month of January for groceries. My goal is to spend $200 or less this month. It has become really easy to just purchase things that are on sale or a great deal and I want to focus on using what we have. I do know that we need to add some male body wash and deodorant to the stockpile. I am hoping to find these at CVS over the next month but if not they will go on the list for February.
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month. This should not be too difficulty with gas prices expect to continue to remain under $2.00 a gallon. In addition we purchased a maintenance plan with the new van. This fund will continue to cover any repairs and maintenance on the other van. We may need to purchase tires for the new van so this would also need to come from this account. I don’t want to change this amount but instead will use any and all overage to paid down our credit card debit, but will first try to get $500 in a separate fund to pay for tires when needed.
5. Eating Out- After tracking this expense the last 6 months of 2015, I have decided that we need to budget to cover this. $200 will be the amount for each month with roll over for the next month as needed. In January, in the spirit of the Diet, we are going to not spend any money eating out but with two scheduled cheer competitions, I would assume that we may end up spending some of this.
6. Make at least 2 principal only payment to the van. By completing this, we will reduce our schedule payments by one year. I receive 2 “additional” checks each year so I should be able to use these to cover this goal.
7. Pay at least $10 more than minimum on all credit card debit. I was very hestitant to actually write this goal but I need the accountability of addressing it each month. My ultimate goal is to pay off all credit card debit this year but I want to be realistic so this is my small steps. I will be using our tax refund and most likely both of my “extra” checks to work toward the ultimate goal but I also need to do a small step each month.
Year In Review
As promised here is where I stand for the year on each of the goals I set. I am also going to include an update goal for 2015. My current plan is to add to these and put some numbers with them at the end of the week. One quick recap, just after establishing these goals. we decided to take a last minute trip to Michigan which cause everything to start at a much slower pace than I had planned.
Long Term Goals: These were last addressed in July.
1. $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress. The new and improved goal for 2015 will remain the same with the exception of planned saving on a monthly basis. However it will not cover the entire amount so I will need to “find” extra money along the way..
2. $1000 to replace the floor in our Living room. Goal Met.
I will be adding several long term (meaning year long goals to this).
Monthly goals
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Met 8 of 12 months with only this month exceeding the goal. This will continue as it at least keeps me accountable.
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. This goal was met 7/12 for 2014 but I have not reached my overall goal of 175. I am going to change this goal just a bit for 2015. New goal is Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved. We have decided to cancel our YMCA membership due to the significant increase in amount and decease in our use over the previous year. Instead, we are in the process of purchasing a treadmill to use at home. I am honestly thinking that by having the equipment at home, I will be using it more often.
Spiritual- After eliminating this goal for 2014, I am going to add it back. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Matt and I have signed up for a college class on the Old Testament, which should spur me on to make steady progress.
Financial Goals:
1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. This goal was achieved 10 of 12 months. I plan to continue this goal but will be providing specific numbers to go along with this. Slight changes may including total payoff in September of 2015 instead of July.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. I was able to achieve this goal only 4 of 12 months. I hope to make significant improvements in this year as indicated above with a planned saving each month.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Achieved 10 of 12 months. Our overall average is $650 for the year. I am going to continue this goal for 2015.
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Goal achieved 7 of 7 months that I tracked, however I currently do not have any money in the Auto Fund. The current plan is to continue this goal as is. We are currently purchasing a new to us van to replace my car so I am unsure if this will affect our overall gas use and may increase in June 2015 if needed.
Overall this has been a good year for the goals I established and I hope to continue improvements in 2015.What goals are you establishing?
December in Review
Today is my Mother’s birthday and my Dad’s is only 2 days away so I know this month is quickly coming to a close. I am planning on ending the year with a bang by posting a new blog for this entire week.. On Tuesday, will be the year in review, which I am rather excited about. Wednesday- a last grouping of Christmas pictures but I can’t promise this will be all the Christmas pictures you will see. Thursday- New Year’s Day- this plans and goals for the New Year. Friday/Saturday will be the first budget update of the year with new numbers! But now for today…
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month This is actually post number 15,with 2 more planned! Goal Met!
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. I have gotten back to the YMCA this month at least once a week with most weeks making it twice but no change in the weight! So this is a Fail
Financial Goals:
1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. We have survived Christmas but not paid anything extra. Another Fail but look for numbers and a new plan this week.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Another fail for this month… Added line to the budget for next year.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Fail. $1000 is the official number for the month. I am really disappointed but not surprised. On the bright side, we have only eaten out one time this month!
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Total Spent $268 for gas . GOAL MET!
I have managed to only met 2 of 6 goals this month. Sort of disappointing for the month but I am going to add some important details including numbers next year and I hope to make steady progress each month.