Another month gone, another step forward

It's hard to believe it's nearly April.

And supposedly it's also spring, but we've still got weather forecasts for snow. A surprise six inches fell late last week, but it's nearly gone again. We broke a record for snowfall this season in our city. Over 100 inches. We can see the lawn now, but the leftover snowbanks where we had to dig out could be there until May.

I'm eagerly awaiting the grass greening up and our spring flowers starting to poke their little heads out of the ground. I hope the crocuses I planted last fall made it.

I updated my sidebar today, except for my car (because that payment doesn't drop until the first of each month) and I'll wait until the first also for to update my networth.

I stretched my tax refund quite a bit. As I already mentioned, I paid off my Credit Card B and have moved Card D into my sights (Pow! Pow!). I jumped on my payments the other day when I got paid, using my snowball plan with minimums on all of my cards and then hitting Card D with my remaining debt payoff. I have yet to call Card B and threaten to close it (so they give me a non-business version and a really good rate for later transfer-game options), so I checked it just to verify it's paid off in my head. And what did I find? They knocked me for $8.61 as a finance charge, calculated off my past balance from last month. I was pissed, but hey, $8.61 I can handle. I'm calling them this weekend though. Grrr.

Confession time. For Easter, I had a breakdown at Target and spent some unnecessary money on unneccessary stuff. I got to the checkout, realized my idiocy and that my balance on my debit card wouldn't cover the total. So, I had to use my "emergency" card out of my wallet. And I immediately had buyer's remorse and beat myself up emotionally. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. Now I didn't purchase anything rediculous or anything that I can't use or won't use, but I did buy myself some treats that I don't really need. But I went home and as soon as I had a chance, I paid off that charge on my card from my last stash of my tax refund. That money should've been used to pay off in my snowball. So I tripped. I'm back up again and I'm back on track.

Overall, I did knock all of my cards down a bit!

In other good news, my boyfriend and I signed up for our CSA subscription! We each paid $157 towards an every-other week produce delivery for June through October. I'm really excited to see all the organic and farm-raised yummy goodness we'll have. Plus we each get $75 of that back from reimbursements from our health insurance companies!! And I know we'll save more than $75 in not having to purchase produce at the grocery store (less healthy and delicious) and the farmer's market (more expensive). I'm really excited about this.

Also, we picked up a few inexpensive seed starter kits. We've got baby tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, petunias and coleus plants sprouting for our little vegetable garden and flower gardens. This will save us money since we won't need to purchase potted plants.

This week I also received my new "designer envelope system" that I ordered from the Dave Ramsey store. I listen to his show often at work. It's funny, but the stories inspire me, sometimes they break my heart. Anyway, this month I was trying to work on truly implementing my budget, zeroing out and keeping my cash-spending for food, etc., down and kept track of well.

My struggles with this are that I have a hard time (read here: too busy and somewhat lazy) to get to the bank to get real cash out. I'm a paperless girl! Everything I do financially is online, outside from writing a check each month to my boyfriend for rent (and if I could do this electronically, I totally would!). So I was trying to use my debit card. I even have a sticker on it with my two-week totals for what I should be spending (I get paid bimonthly).

Worth noting - people kept commenting on my sticker. The bartender at my team's club bar/restaurant where we have our socials and meetings commented how smart I was. :) A barista at Starbucks (I have a weakness for White Chocolate Mochas ... only 1-2 times a month!) said it was the first time she'd seen that broken down into two weeks. :)

Anyway, I decided it was worth the $20 cost ($10 S&H sadly) to purchase the envelope system. I'm going to likely try to use my debit card, but keep track on the handy log sheets. If that doesn't work, I'll make the switch to just cash. I do like the "system" though. It's actually a nice red wallet. There's room for my checkbook and register, card slots for my debit card, etc., a zippered coin pocket and the envelopes with logs on each to write down your balances. I had a nice red wallet and a little coin purse before, so I've combined and pared down everything into my new wallet. I like it so far. I'll admit that I hide the imprinted side where it says "Financial Peace University" though. I don't want to explain this to my boyfriend ... yet, anyway.

Our team season is starting, so I'm getting busy busy. And I really need to get my butt moving and running. I am so out of shape and I'm still fighting the remnants of my flu.

All in all, I'm pretty good though.

A "Yippee!" and a big "Sigh"

Been busy, busy, busy, but staying on the plan. Actually, getting more on the plan than ever before I think.

My sidebar is majorly updated with achievements.

Most importantly, the initial $1000.00 Emergency Fund is all set. With a bit of extra at 1026.34 and growing in my new ING account. It's over there and I won't touch except for real emergencies.

My taxes are all done and I got a nice refund of $1200, so that finished up the emergency fund, took care of a few extra bills (sports team dues of $75) and I've paid off my first credit card. It hasn't hit yet on my checking account, so I haven't crossed it off the sidebar, but very soon.

Then I'm going to call that particular company and find out what better card I can get if they want to keep me as a customer. For some reason, I'm on a "business" card despite not being a business in any capacity. I want to get back to a basic card with good rates and then when I need to use it for any zero transfers, it'll be ready to help me rock out this debt. Using the tools available to me.

I also updated my financials and sat down and figured out my full budget for the month, which would be the first time I've ever done this. I think I'm in a pretty good place to start though. I have also established how my debt snowball will work and in what current order. My only debate is if I should go after my car loan in the mix of my credit cards or if I should go after first my cards, then my car. But it's smaller than some and it's still debt, so there you go. It's all in together.

I also got paid for two of my extra jobs, one for that part-time job I found for $60 and then some work for my brother. So I'm working it.

The only challenge that's been disconcerting is that I blanked out on the fact that even though I'm paying debt off, that debt is still accruing interest, so it's two steps forward and one step back.

I also will admit that in the end of January, I also add some new credit card charges because I needed to purchase something for $150 but didn't have the cash. And last week, I put $17 on one card I left on my wallet because I wasn't sure I had enough in my account. This last one stemmed from me running out of space in my checkbook register, not having a new one then not getting organized. But I'm back on track and I've removed the credit cards from my wallet. I'd still like to freeze them in the freezer, so I won't be tempted.

So, yeah. Forward!

This week ...

The holidays are officially over. Sad.

I love the holidays so much so I hate seeing everyone take down their christmas trees and seeing them laying in the snowbanks by the roads.

This week is also the first work week in four weeks that I'll be here all five days. I had some vacation time and then all of my holiday time off as well. It was fun while it lasted. But there is the MLK day off in two weeks, so yay! I've decided that that day will be my personal organization day at home - my finances, setting up my new office space (with all of my old stuff), all kinds of fulfilling goodness.

Tonight we start our gym workouts for my sports team. I am an amateur athlete and part of a sports club team. This is our offseason, but we start our conditioning and organizing for the spring now. I have been very lazy since we finished up our last games and practices way back in October. I haven't done much of anything fitness-wise. So these classes will be painful, but exactly what I need to jump back into my fitness.

These gym classes are twice per week with a certified trainer in a class of my teammates for 8 weeks at just $15 per week. And I don't have to join the gym. It's really a very good bargain and one I feel is a important investment in my health and fitness each winter (physical and mental!), not just for my sport. Additionally, I have set it up so I can pay for my 8 weeks in two smaller payments of $60 each tonight and again in four weeks. I set aside money on my last payday into my irregular expenses to cover this, so I'm square on my budget.

I clarified two of my goals for 2008 in my sidebar and added a new one.

I said originally I wanted to lose 15 pounds. For the record, I am a genetically-blessed 5-7 woman (actually like 5-6.8, but hey still a few inches taller than the average American woman at 5-4) who's natural body shape is thinner and athletic. My sport and genetics keeps me in the healthy Body Mass Index range even when I know I'm out of shape. Currently I weight 150 pounds. This puts me at the higher end of "Normal Weight".

But I don't take care of myself very well and am pretty lazy. I know that my healthy weight should be 135 and I could maintain this by eating better (than I already do), drinking more water to stay hydrated (I'm a diet soda addict) and exercising regularly on my own (not just with my team schedule).

So the clarifcations are that I will lose at least 10 of those 15 pounds by March 1 and I will learn to like running and run at least 20 minutes 3 (or more) times per week by March 1.

I've already started trying to incorporate less meat and more fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes into my diet. Which isn't too hard since I love my veggies!

I'm not going cold turkey on the soda. If I focus on improving my health and fitness, my unhealthy pounds will decrease, my muscle and cardio will increase and I will naturally want to not drink soda (it's happened before).

And I figure all of this along with my finance goals (which take priority) are already enough for big goals.

Additionally, staying busy with fitness and healthy eating means I'm not out there spending money, falling prey to all the media messages telling me to spend, spend, spend and in general, getting healthier and stronger to build that big snowball.

Oh and I added two new blogs I like - I've Paid for this Twice Already and Generation X Finances.

Mental Health Day

Yesterday, I woke up and decided to use a sick day from work to get some stuff done. As it turns out, my boss also was out sick, so that worked out pretty well.

I wasn't actually sick, but I needed a mental health day. Sometimes you need those days.

I did spend some money, but it was on things I needed and I think I shopped for all the best bargains I could.

I hit up the school supplies for a 40-cent notebook to better keep track of my financial info, a pencil case for my backpack so I stop losing all pens/pencils that cost 90 cents, detergent for laundry, a loaf of bread, among other things on my to-do list. I also stopped at our local home-improvement store to buy two six-foot shelves and the brackets, screws, etc., to add the two shelves to my wall in my bedroom. I don't have much space to work with, so I'm going vertical. I also needed a bottle of motor oil for my car and I bought my boyfriend a $7 sprinkler for our vegetable garden. It hasn't rained here in a few weeks and stuff is getting dry. This way, he can let the garden get good and soaked at night and our hard work in our veggies will pay off in all kinds of good eats.

I feel bad about the money I spent ... but other than a coffee for myself and my brother (who I hadn't seen in a few weeks), all items I will use right now or in the long-term.

I visited with my brother for a while, then dropped off the sprinkler at my boyfriend's house and picked some cilantro for my house, then stopped by my parent's house to check on their cat and three dogs, including nice long walks for the dogs (so excited!). Then I went home, ate some lunch and tackled my shelves by hand.

My sister came home and was at first a tad peeved that the shelves were a sign of me moving in permanently - I'm more of a "transient" roommate in status and our co-habitation is more of a stopover until I either feel like I should get my own place or my boyfriend and I decide to live together. But I explained that the shelves were easy to remove whenever I left or she could keep them for herself. She was also impressed that I installed them by hand. I'm awesome. :) One bracket didn't fit right, so I tried to force it in with a hammer, thereby denting it a little, still not fitting. So I have to buy one more at the store that fits, but thankfully they were only like $2.

Now I have a lot of stuff off my floor and up out of the way, thereby creating more space and making it easier to keep clean.

I could use another day off today, but alas, work is more important. I'm going to buckle down now and stay off the grid for hopefully the rest of the day.

A Good Weekend

This weekend I stayed home, buckled down and accomplished quite a lot. I'm feeling pretty good about myself this morning, actually.

I spent some time hanging out with my sister, something I don't do enough of even though we live together. We walked up to our city's Farmer's Market Saturday morning and I even walked around an art fair. And I only spent $4 on a coffee with her.

By noon, I was home and dived into fixing up my bedroom. Which was in desperate need of organization and cleaning!!

Backing up just a bit, my sister and I used to live together in a rented house near our parents after we both finished grad school. This place was nice, but expensive for me and I had yet to face facts about my poor financial decisions. After that house, we split up and got our own places to rent. Even a bigger mistake as I started to hit rock bottom financially due to the higher rent! Thankfully, my boyfriend ended up living with me for three of those six months as he looked to buy his own house (he's a money smarty) so that helped a bit. And I finally started realizing I needed to dig out, cut back on everything (no cable!) and thankfully subleased my apartment right away in January (just five months into my lease). I put almost all of my stuff into my family's storage unit and then my sister let me move into her extra bedroom.

Her apartment is really small, but two bedrooms. I have my bed, a full closet, a dresser and a ton of boxes of stuff I thought I wanted to keep handy. And that's about it. Since I moved in, I hadn't really bothered to take the time to organize much other than booost up my bed (about 2.5 feet off the ground) to store all my boxes underneath. All in all, I used it to just sleep and store stuff. And it was on the brink of being declared a disaster area. Oh and I also keep my cat's litter box and food/water in there, so it's not in my sister's way and her little dog doesn't eat my cat's food. Naturally, my cat and I are very crowded, plus we don't like being messy. So time to organize!!

So Saturday, I moved out everything but the bed and dresser (minus just closing the closet door). I swept, vacuumed and mopped the hardwood floors, cleaned the window, swept out any little cobwebs and worked my butt off to make it shine. Then I moved my bed out of the corner and into a better location that allows me to walk around it better and see the window better. My mattress, boxspring and metal frame are pretty heavy and also measure out to an extra-long full size (courtesy of a 6-4 ex-boyfriend who swapped up to a queen). I then put my bed up on those floor cones to boost it, plus I boost it again with milkcrates and flat pieces of wood my father and sawed to fit the crates. This allows me to fit nearly all of my storage boxes underneath it with clearance.

I moved it all around by myself ... thank god, I'm not a weakling. :)

I set up my dresser on the opposite corner and a tall shelf/nightstand near my bed for reading and the things I use often, like make-up, books, important mail. I don't have a desk anymore, but I have a laptop, so my bed and nightstand are now pulling double-duty as my office zone.

After putting everything away and keeping things which still need sorting through out in the open in my view, I cleaned up the floors again, organized my laundry loads to take to our laundromat (I miss our own washer/dryer!!) and still had enough energy to scrub our bathroom floor on my hands/knees, vacuum up our little hallway, our living room and part of our kitchen, then wash all of our dishes in the kitchen and make us dinner. WHEW!!

After nine hours of cleaning, then dinner, I was both filthy and exhausted. My boyfriend came home from the tournament and I stayed at his house.

Sunday, we relaxed with my sister in the morning, then visited my father and fixed the vegetable garden in my boyfriend's backyard that we dug up and planted. We had to build our "snap pea prison" even taller and then stake our green peppers. After that, a trip to the grocery store (my favorite less expensive one!) and then I finally made it to the laundromat where I spent nearly 2.5 hours washing clothes, sheets and blankets.

I got home, happy in my near exhaustion again (isn't clean laundry wonderful?) and then somehow still had energy to organize my dresser for a lot of my clothes, organize our hall closet to fit all of my sister and my towels, sheets, extra blankets and bathroom stuff, then even cleaned out two boxes of bathroom stuff from when I moved, plus my backpack for work before finally going to sleep.

It was so nice to wake up this morning to a clean bedroom, knowing that I had my work clothes where I needed them and my lunch all set.

Most importantly, it was nice knowing that instead of putting this stuff off like I would normally do for the weekend and having a crappy Monday, I was ready to roll this morning.

I get paid this week, one of my salary adjustments is fully kicked in, and I'm ready to jump into sorting/organizing the rest of my paperwork and financials this week too.