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In my September Wrap-Up, I talked about how I’m not really meeting my goals very often. “If I don’t mean them, why do I write them? If I do really mean them, why don’t I meet them?”
I like writing goals. I like taking the time at the beginning of the month and noting what is coming up, where I’d like to improve, and how I’m going to do it. But there are a lot of things I think I “should” do every month, and I just don’t. I don’t make the time for them, they aren’t truly that big of a priority, but part of me wishes they were. Everything can’t be a priority though.
I tried a “weekly priorities” entry last week, but it still didn’t really do anything to benefit my life, and I don’t think I’m going to continue it.
For lack of a better idea, here’s what is important to me in November. These are not goals, they are plans. Plans are something you intend to do, goals are something you strive to do. Maybe goals will come back when i haven’t crazily overscheduled myself!
Work
- Obviously I have specific work related goals. I’m still trying to get fully integrated into my new group and new role. I need to become less hesitant and more proactive. I’m generally proactive, but if I get tired and worn out and stressed, sometimes I just go with whatever the day throws at me and think I’ll deal with any of the unpleasantries the next day. Then the next. . . If I’m not busy, I need to ask what I should be doing. If I don’t understand my assignment, I need to ask for help. Etc.
School This is going to be the source of the most stress!
- Phone conferencing with both profs early this month to define direction of projects. (I still haven’t done much.)
- Two preliminary project reports due pre-Thanksgiving
- Lock myself up next weekend to make some huge progress
- Get a lot of work done over Thanksgiving break
Finances
- Back to frugality! I posted my budget, and I’ll post the results. That pretty much encompasses my entire financial situation.
- But don’t stress about it. This is going to be a busy month. I have a feeling we’re going to be getting take-out and such more often than usual, which isn’t frugal. But I’ll accept it in the short term.
Health
- Sleep. I need to sleep to stay sane. Again, 9:30 in bed, 10:00 asleep is my goal. (Weekends screw this up!)
- I’m running with some coworkers once a week after work (starting next week!). That should be interesting. If I do one more run on the weekend, I shouldn’t lose all my endurance.
- Boot camp once a week for strength training.
- Try to buy lots of healthy-ish things that can be eaten without spending a lot of time preparing (fruit and veggies, of course — any other suggestions?)
Other
- Vegas Vacation! This is just for a weekend, but we’re going to Vegas! I think my mom and sister are meeting us there.
- Christmas Shopping – I want to get this done over Thanksgiving. But NOT Black Friday! Perhaps via the internet.
- Wedding – We need to touch base with our invitation friend. And mail in our ceremony contract/deposit. Other things can probably be put off for awhile.
I was so happy with myself for finishing my homework before noon on Saturday (due Tuesday) that I didn’t accomplish much else school related the entire weekend. FAIL. I did upgrade to Windows 7 (free from my school!), meet up with a cousin i haven’t seen in almost a year, visit friends’ housewarming (apartment warming?) party, and cook some food for lunches for the week. Finally. I have lived of bananas and Lara Bars lately!
I have a midterm this weekend, but after that, the only work I have for that class is the final project. No more exams, no more homework! I also have a master’s project to create and have made very little progress so far, despite it being almost halfway through the quarter. YIKES. Luckily my project supervisor is pretty laidback, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to come up with something decent.
After that, I’ll have my life back. Free time! And possibly more actual talking about personal finance.
This Week’s Focus
- School: Read 2 specific chapters in my textbook. Take notes.
- School: Read at least 3 papers, preferably much more, take notes
- School: Watch lectures on the day they come out
- School: Schedule Skype meeting with professor to discuss project — but I have to have something to discuss to do this!
- School: Review my homework assignment for the midterm — she said it would be quite similar.
- Social: Go to concert and bee a bee on Halloween
- Shopping: Buy fall/winter coat (40% off Wednesday coupon from BR). I tried it on this weekend.
[*I've (at least temporarily) abandoned monthly goals, but I do like keeping track of my progress and goals. My main focus for the next 2 months is getting through the quarter at school while maintaining quality work in the office.
Instead of monthly goals, I'm going to start each week (preferably on Sundays -- I'm behind already!) with a focus entry. I'll recap last week's accomplishments and next week's priorities. (This is something I've seen in many status reports at work.) Basically, it's a glorified to-do list for the week. ]
Last month flew by! It was full of fun and care-free days, and I didn’t bother to glance at my goals. This seems to be something of a (bad) habbit!
We splurged on going out more than usual, I took a trip to wine country (San Louis Obispo), a trip home, and I bought make-up, hair cut, and clothes. I’m going to lose my pf blogger cred, but here is the gory details of how I pretended I don’t like saving for one month.
Make-up: $150. YES, really. I think it was the first make-up I bought this year (except a lipstick earlier this summer) and I don’t plan to buy any more. Except perhaps an eyelash curler. Which isn’t make-up, but a tool.
Hair: $95
Clothes: $150. This includes $45 for alterations to my dress, a new work skirt, new black work shoes, and I think it includes a top that I’m going to return (unless they have a different size).
Restaurant: $100. We went out with friends a couple times… But still. This is much more than I expected, but $20 here and there adds up fast!
I’m going to work on remedying this one step at a time. Make-up is easy — I just won’t bother to buy any more until I use something up. I’m still glad I bought it. I’ve been wearing it every day and pretending I’m a grown up. Clothing is harder, but look for a plan coming up this weekend. Restaurants is an eternal struggle, but I’m going to start with one weekend. We will not go out to eat this weekend!
Oh, and my goals?! Failed them all I think. Except the one about making progress on the wedding. I think we made a little bit of progress. But I need to address the overall lack of follow through on my goals. If I don’t really mean them, why do I write them? If I do really mean them, why don’t I meet them?
August brought my net worth to $44,354. My cash gains were primarily just accounting errors from last month getting reconciled, since I only saved $25 in an account that would fall into cash. My retirement accounts increased by about $2,400, with about $1,400 of that due to contributions and the rest to market gains. My student loan went down $25 (currently at 0% interest deferment, so that is really money in a designated savings account), and my wedding fund increased by $500.
September Goals
1. SERIOUSLY meet clothing budget. I’m getting a dress altered for $45. I may get some (not too expensive) shoes to go with the dress will be in order. Or maybe I have some already. We’ll have to see. But nothing beyond that.
2. SERIOUSLY work out 5+ times a week. I don’t have school this month, so this number is higher than usual, but I really want to do it.
3. Make progress on the wedding. Cake, rings, and invitations all still need to be figured out. And parental/guest accommodation recommendations. And… lots of other stuff.
4. Cut out going out to eat, unless socially. Cut out alcohol, unless socially. Both are going to happen quite a lot in social settings this month.
That’ s it. Those are my priorities in September. I already have a ton of fun things planned — every weekend except the long Labor day weekend is booked with something I’m excited for! I don’t doubt it will be an expensive month, but if I stick to this stuff, I should minimize the craziness.
I’m not even going to bother with a detailed goal review of my August goals, because I’ll tell you right now. I failed!
The one thing I did accomplish was finishing out my class with an A, and that was certainly my highest priority. But as far as finances go, I spent far far too much on restaurants, clothes, and alcohol.
It was a month with plenty of wine, some sangria, and even more wine. There is nothing like a chilled white on a hot day, except for saving the money. Even at $7/bottle (typical price of the ones we’ve been liking from TJ’s), it adds up. I refuse to give the number because it is embarrasing!
Restaurants… i don’t know what happened here. Well I do actually — our (not so) new neighborhood has a million delicious offerings, many within walking distance, few at a reasonable price. Two burritos for $17? I mean seriously! And we just weren’t careful about it
And clothes! I started out the month stocking up on a few basic t-shirts I found on sale. And a cardigan. And bright teal flats. While on a mission to find a dress I liked for engagement photos (why I have my heart set on a dress is beyond me, but I do. A blue one.), I also picked up another work shirt and uh, a dress for going out. In my defense, the going out dress has been on my wish list for over a year, and when I do go out, I always hate whatever I’m wearing (usually jeans and a so-so top).
I did find a dress for the photos — a casual blue Calvin Klein dress that miraculously was $27. It had no price tag and they found a semi-similar one for $65 and said they’d charge me that. I found another semi-similar one (in an odd size, granted) for $35 and asked if they could charge me that instead. The saleswoman was agreed, and there must have been some additional sale going on to make it even cheaper. It is probably going to cost more to have it altered to fit me, but I really hope it works out. I hate shopping!
I calculated my net worth as of August 4th since I was on vacation and didn’t get around to doing it earlier. I’m happy to report I broke $40k this month, largely due to gains in my retirement accounts. Between my employer and I, $1,600 was contributed in July, but the balance increased by $4900.
Cash didn’t do so well — I can explain $110 of the short fall to a eye appointment that I need to figure out how to get reimbursed from my HSA, but there is some $400 more that was accounted for either this month or last month. Some of it (~$200?) is travel expenses billed to August, which will resolve itself, but I haven’t figured out the rest. Hmmm… ???
Wedding deposits started to deplete the wedding fund: $1500 for food/catering and $850 to the photographer. The car fund also decreased due to new brakes which we were glad we got before driving on the winding mountain roads.
Budget
I always meet my budget, because if I don’t, I adjust it to accommodate! But seriously, I spent more than I intended in a few key areas.
- Home: $300 towards a TV. Home budget is typically $30-$50
- Clothes: I started off with a modest purchase for $50 for a summer handbag and cardigan. Then I stocked up on basics (plain t-shirts and tanks) plus a new pair of work pants. This was another $100 when all was said and done.
- Restaurants: I reigned us in early on, but my share was still $92, not counting vacation restaurants
Home was a one-time anomaly, and clothes are the eternal struggle. I want to pick out something cute to wear for engagement photos (sometime in September), so I will be looking around a bit, but I’ll try to remember that if I want my yearly average to stay under $100/mo, I need to be much more careful. We ate out a ton on vacation (which I throw under “Travel” so hopefully we can do better this month and get back into a once a week (or less!) pattern
For most of these goals, rewards don’t exactly make sense, so I only listed them where I felt they were applicable.
1. Finish the last month of my summer class with a decent grade. I say this every quarter, and I’ve done fine every quarter. But I really hate this class. Hate it! But I have most of September off.
Reward: I kind of want a t-shirt from my school. I found one I like. I won’t buy until September and I’m also going to only get it if I meet goal #2 and #3!
2. Go through closets and donate, and buy new basics (underwear and socks). Seems like going through closets is a regular chore. It is much easier for me to set aside a few things at once. Also, socks are so not a fun way to spend my clothing budget (but underwear are!), so I’m listing it as a goal. Spend no more than $40 on these and nothing else on clothing!
Reward: See goal #1
3. Savings: $600 to wedding fund, $300 to travel. Pretty self explanatory. Per usual budget, I’ll also set aside $75 for gifts, $100 for car stuff, $100 for insurance… blah blah.
Reward: See goal #1
4. Start planning (and perhaps buy) presents for September birthdays. I’ve been a bad family member, consistently late on presents. What do three year old boys love, anyway? How about men in their 50s? I also owe my mom a present for… mothers day. I’m sure she isn’t thinking about it, but it would be nice to bring something for her too.
5. Wedding: Perhaps order the cake and rings. Consider scheduling engagement photos (for Sept). Pick out (but do not order) invitations, and gather more resources to get the ceremony finalized. There are surprisingly few resources on a (mostly) DIY beach ceremony in the L.A. area, but I don’t see any good reason why it can’t be done (and I’m sure it has been). There really is no reason to do any of this so early, except if we just do a couple little things each month, it’ll be easier. I also expect only to do a few of these things in August — the rest can overflow into September. I’ll count this as a success if any progress whatsoever is made.
6. Run 2 times during the week, once on weekend. I’m not limiting my weekday runs to mornings, but it has been working well. Weekend runs can be substituted with other activities. I’m not really setting any new goals, just trying to do 30 minute runs.
Reward: Mani/ped in September before I go home!
Though not listed, my actual job is going to take a lot of effort/focus this month (I hope!) as i’m transitioning to a new position. I’m really excited!
The reward system I made worked really well (and it probably didn’t hurt that I didn’t post these until almost the middle of the month). I met more of my goals than usual!
1. Eat out only once more, that’s it!
FAIL! I’m not surprised. We did pretty good, but went out for our anniversary (5 years!) and randomly before vacation.
Reward: Get some delicious TJ’s desert item that I usually would pass by. Yum yum!
2. Spend extra time putting myself together in the morning, at least two days in the work week.
Success! It isn’t as hard as I thought, and I think I did it more like 3 days a week. Improvement!
Reward: $25 gift card to Sephora
3. Stick to jeans on Friday ONLY. I’ve been abusing the casual dress code.
Success! This was harder than I anticipated, actually. I was tempted to wear jeans so many non-Fridays that if I didn’t build in a reward, I’m sure I would have said “screw it”
Reward: Something happy for my cubicle — my NEW cubicle, which I actually think is going to be a (shared) office.
4. Climb Mount San Gorgonio and visit Sequioa/Kings Canyon.
Success! Mount San Gorgonio was beautiful and rewarding, and as you read this I’m off the grid in Kings Canyon.
Reward: None — Vacations don’t need rewards!
5. Run twice a week during work week in the a.m.
Success! The biggest push was getting to sleep earlier and getting up earlier. It felt totally weird (but good) to have my workout down before 6:30 a.m. Schedule wise, this was excellent. But I don’t like how empty the running path is in the mornings. I’m not sure if I want to do this or evening runs in the future.
Reward: Mani/pedi in August! (I might change this in for the Nike Sport Kit instead.)
6. Small things to accomplish:
- Make doctor & dentist & eye appointments. Yes! I went to the doctor and optomitrist, but the dentist office mysteriously said “I will call you back at my earliest convience” and I haven’t heard from them since. Hmmm? Better follow up.
- Passport. No! But I really will soon, I proooomise. This has been a goal for at least six months. I’m awful.
- Get wedding reception site finalized/booked. Yes!
- Oil change and car wash. Including interior. Yes! Except I didn’t do the interior yet. It isn’t too bad, but could be much better.
- Love my bf. We have one “off” weekend (no exams, no hikes) and I think we need a date night. Yes! We went out to Grand Performances in downtown LA for one date, plus hung out around our neighborhood for the other nights. But it was still a stressful/busy month with less time for each other than I would like. But we’re now on vacation together!
- Return REI stuff that didn’t work out. Yes!
- Invite friend to happy hour. No! Ooops. I had a midterm and kind of forgot/was too busy to really care.
Success!
It might be 10 days into the month, but I do have a few goals for July. I’m going to try rewards since I’ve been regularly failing half my goals and obviously not taking them seriously.
This month I’m starting on a new task at work. Day to day stuff is going to be busy and probably stressful (as usual). Homework, midterm, salsa class w/T, watching lectures, learning new job, reading work documents that are over my head. Oh, and maybe some wedding planning — April will sneak up on us, I’m sure! In light of that, these goals aren’t a too ambitious, but enough to keep me going.
1. Eat out only once more, that’s it! (And T has to pay. Hehe.) I spent our eating out budget in the first week of July! Everyone on Twitter said sushi was essential, I blame you! (Happy Hour of beverage does not count — that is entertainment budget!)
Reward: Get some delicious TJ’s desert item that I usually would pass by. Yum yum!
2. Spend extra time putting myself together in the morning, at least two days in the work week. Don’t laugh at that! I have never been into the girl stuff of hair and make-up. Two days is not much, I know, but I’m trying to form the habit. Eventually, this should be an (almost) every day thing.
Reward: $25 gift card to Sephora (credit card reward is coming up).
3. Stick to jeans on Friday ONLY. I’ve been abusing the casual dress code.
Reward: Something happy for my cubicle. Because I’ve been wanting to decorate anyway — it is so dull!
4. Climb Mount San Gorgonio and visit Sequioa/Kings Canyon. This is pending permits, but it should happen. Woooo!
Reward: None. I already bought a nice new Icebreakers hiking shirt this month. Most expensive t-shirt ever! And also, this is like.. vacation. A reward of it’s own!
5. Run twice a week during work week in the a.m. (starting next week).
Reward: Uh… I also already got 2nd t-shirt that could be running or hiking. REI looooves me this month! This is probably going to be the biggest challenge, so I need a real reward. I’ll get another mani/pedi in August!
6. Small things to accomplish:
- Make doctor & dentist & eye appointments. I’ve been avoiding it, but seriously! Getting ridiculous
- Passport. Ditto!
- Get wedding reception site finalized/booked. Pending the flaky restaurant coordinator we are working with. Deposit of about $1250 is needed — yikes!
- Oil change and car wash. Including interior. T, please help me do this!
- Love my bf. We have one “off” weekend (no exams, no hikes) and I think we need a date night.
- Return REI stuff that didn’t work out
- Invite friend to happy hour. If she can’t make it, I still count this goal as a win — the key is to invite!
Reward: If I get all this done, I deserve a gold medal! No reward for these, just simple peace of miJulynd.
Image Credit: urban_data
June Net Worth Report: I was stuck in the $23k-$25k range for a really long time (thanks S&P 500), even though I was consistently saving. Now my retirement contributions are no longer vanishing into the abyss, so I’m quickly approaching $40k now. Current status: $38,647. Much of my “cash” from last month was actually the wedding fund, which I segmented out into “Other”. It is still included in my networth, even though it is scheduled to be spent within the next 9 months. Eeek!
Rather than detailing my June goals, I’m going to provide a really quick summary: FAIL!!!!!
Ok, a little more detail:
- I did great in my class. A+!!! And I started my next one, but so far, I’m slacking.
- I ran some (but not 3 times a week) and only did yoga once. I totally forgot about signing up for a 5k, and I’m not sure i’m going to now. I just don’t feel ready.
- I again didn’t schedule a dentist appointment or get my passport photo taken, but I did return my gray shorts and submit my school paperwork.
- I picked out a photographer and location, but haven’t quite signed the contracts and spent the money.
- We planned our hiking trips, but we haven’t mailed in for permits or anything yet.
- I saved $1050 towards the wedding fund, $340 towards travel, and $50 for my Roth.
- I re-instated my Roth IRA contributions for July, since I didn’t get laid off (whew!). On schedule to max out by the end of the year.
- I worked on reading Middlesex, which I’ve owned forever and can not get into. I didn’t get far. Probably a sign I should just read something I’m into.
- I did pamper: haircut and mani/ped
This month flew by. This year is flying by. Where is time going?!?
I need some sort of better way to keep myself organized, both at work and at home/school. Do you use a planner? I used to love mine in college, but can’t seem to get into them anymore. Suggestions?
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