Another year, a new set of goals

I guess I have been neglecting this blog. Actually, I haven't been a great blogger in general. No one probably reads this blog anymore anyways. But this post is for me to write down my goals for the year so that it is somewhere. Looking back, I guess either I didn't make any goals last year or I forgot to write them down anywhere. The last set of goals were from 2011. Looking at those goals, I only really kept up with the second goal. But it is a new year and time for new goals.

My big goal for this year was one I set for 2011 and did not meet. So it is back on my list and this is the year to really focus.

De-clutter and organize. We have been in our house for 2 years now and I need to get a better hold of the clutter. I need to find a space for everything or get rid of it. We have way too much stuff that we don't really need and it is time for me to go through what we have to de-clutter and to pare down. I have more clothes that I need and I need to better organize our space. Our home is not very big and if needs to be organized. Every room needs some help, some more than others but if I can tackle a space one at a time in small chunks I can make some progress.

I suspect that the majority of people make goals that related to health and fitness and finances. I guess I am no different.

Eat Healthy and Stay Fit. I did really well with this last year. I joined crossfit, which made a world of difference. I complete the Whole Life Challenge and got myself back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am determined to keep it up with crossfit to keep my body fit. I can do 1 or 2 kipping pull-ups unassisted and I am working toward my goal of 5 by June. I am getting there and I feel myself getting stronger. I need to get back on track with nutrition, I haven't gained any weight, but I went to some bad eating habits over the holidays and so I need to get back on it. Eliminating dairy and grains made a huge difference and made me more congnizant of what I was putting in my body.

So my second goal for this year is to keep up with crossfit and keep getting better and stronger. I want to get 5 unassisted kipping pull-ups by June. I want to do more yoga. I need yoga to keep me balanced and I find that mobility does wonders for crossfit, so it really has so many benefits. Plus, I love yoga. So practice yoga at least 2 times a week (more if possible).

Pay off debt and Save, save, save. I have been working on paying off a little credit card debt that I have accrued, so that is an ongoing goal to pay down that debt. Along with that is to spend less. Since we have so much that I am trying to get rid of I need to find ways to get along with what we have rather than buying new things. I need to get rid of; not bring in new things. So that goes hand in hand.

I also plan to try the 52 Week Money Challenge. It doesn't look too hard and that would be money in the bank for next Christmas, so why not!

Let's do this!! 2013 will be a good year!

Everyone makes New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions is just a fancy word for goals. I don't have any New Year's resolutions, mainly because I set goals for myself every so often and continue on with the goals that I have made. The beginning of the year is a great time to assess the goals I have made and see where I am at meeting those goals. My goals generally focus on fitness and finances.

Fitness

Last year, I did very well at meeting the fitness goals I set out. I ran a 5K and a 10K and participated in a relay triathlon. I had set some goals to complete after the triathlon; I wanted to participated in another triathlon in April, the Mud Run in June, and possibly a duathlon. But after discovering that I was pregnant, I had to reassess those goals and made maintaining a fitness level that was healthy for pregnancy my goal. After consulting with my OB/GYN, I have found that I am able to do quite and bit of exercise and after getting the green light to start running again, I am planning on participate in the Race for the Cure 5K in March. I participated last year and ran in memory of my sister-in-law. I have participated in this 5K the last few years and I plan to do so again this year (I just might not be able to run the whole distance, but I am going to give it a shot). After I meet that goal, I will assess my pregnancy and how I am doing and hopefully I will be able to set a new goal.

Finances

After reflecting back on my previous finance goals, I don't see any reasons to change anything at this time. I am keeping to my budget and last year I was able to cut in some areas to save more money. I am also continuing to pay down the one credit card I have left. I will continue on my goal to pay down that credit card (I am very close) so that I will be credit card debt free. My goal is to be there by the time Baby Bear is born. I have about 6 months to go and I am on track to meeting my goal. It is not a resolution or a new goal, just simply a continuation of my current goal.

So no real New Year's resolutions for me, just a plan to continue to meet the goals I had set out for myself and have been working on already. Once I meet my current goals, I will reassess and set out some new goals. All in all, I am pretty happy with the path I have been taking and hope that I can continue to forge ahead.

You can't call me a spoiled princess anymore

I'll be the first to admit that I am spoiled. I am daddy's girl and daddy gave me pretty much everything I wanted. Then I got a job and got myself whatever I wanted. Then, I got married and have a husband who gives me what I want as well. I have so much in life and I am so thankful for everything I have. I have wonderful parents (my own and my in-laws), great friends, a job I enjoy (and a new one I am totally excited about starting), an awesome fat cat, and of course the best husband ever! As Mr. Bear says, I am such a princess sometimes.

My car lease is coming up at the end of the month and it is time to decide on what to do. There are many options: buy out the lease, buy a new car, lease a new car, or buy a used car. Since I am a married women, this is not a decision I will make alone but along side my husband. This is a decision we make for our little family. So we have been doing our research and looking at different options and trying to determine the best choice. With the state of the economy and the fact that we hope to have children soon, we needed to make a decision that was practical and economical.


My current vehicle is a 2006 BMW X5. I absolutely love my car, but this was not the most practical or economical choice. Being the spoiled princess I was, I wanted this car and so I got it. When I got it, I was a single woman with a new job and no major expenses. The economy was great and at the time it was a great choice for me and my lifestyle. Since then, I planned a wedding, moved, got married, planned a funeral, celebrated an anniversary, and many other things. Life has changed and so have my priorities. My priorities are our family. Though I absolutely love my car, it was time to make a decision that was in the best interest of us as a family unit for the future.

So today we purchase a used cargo van. Okay, you may think, why would I choose to drive a van of all things. Well, actually Mr. Bear will drive the van. It will become his work vehicle and I will drive his vehicle, a Chevy Suburban. It was a smart decision for our family. The payments and insurance on the van are way lower than my BMW (about half). So we can take the extra money and put it away in savings. With the state of the economy, it seemed like a smart idea to have money in savings and spend less. Plus, the van is a tool for Mr. Bear and his business, it will be used to for work and work brings in income. So, it was a good decision for us all around.

Plus, now that I will be driving a Suburban, I can practice to be a soccer mom. Mr. Bear always called the Suburban a soccer mom car, since many mom's in this area seem to drive Suburbans to haul kids and their stuff around town. Not a mom yet, but I am gearing up and getting ready.

I wanna be a CVS Superstar

In my quest to be more frugal and save money, I have become like my Mama Bear. I am a coupon clipping fool!! I have also been following a few blogs that give great tips and post deals for many groceries and drugstores (see my frugal savings blog roll on the right). One blog, The "Cents"ible Sawyer, does a weekly CVS Superstar post. Well, I've been shopping CVS for a while now and I want to be a CVS Superstar too! So here is my first CVS Superstar post.

Check out other CVS Superstars on The "Cents"ible Sawyer.

My CVS Deals for the week: I made two trips to CVS.



CVS Trip #1

2 Tums QuikPak
1 Excedrin Extra Strength
1 Rolaids Plus
1 Travel toothbrush holder (needed one plus I needed a filler to use my $5 off $15 CVS coupon)

Total Retail value: $15.25
Tax: $0.79
Manufacturer Coupons: $4.00
CVS Coupon: $5.00

Total OOP (out of pocket): $7.04
ECB (Extra Care Bucks) earned: $11.38

CVS Trip #1

1 Best Food Mayo
5 Ragu Spaghetti Sauce
1 Excedrin Extra Strength
1 Rolaids Multi-symptom
1 Fiber One bars (not pictured because I already put it away)

Total Retail value: $17.28
Manufacturer Coupons: $3.60
CVS Coupon: $5.00
ECB used: $2.00

Total OOP (out of pocket): $6.88
ECB (Extra Care Bucks) earned: $5.00

Grand Total:

Total Retail Value: $32.73
Total ECBs Spent: $2.00
Total OOP: $13.92
Total ECBs* Earned: $16.38

Not bad for all the stuff that I got.

* Extra Care Bucks (ECB) are coupons that print at the end of a receipt. They are like gift certificates that you can use toward your next purchase. CVS will have certain advertised items that earn you ECBs. For more information on ECBs and how to work the CVS deals, check out The "Cents"ible Sawyer.

Also check out these blogs for CVS deals: Be Thrifty Like Us and Be Centsable. These blogs have been helpful for me. I hope I am worthy to be a Superstar!

Gone Paperless

Save some trees and go paperless. Another way to be green!

Today, I went paperless with my credit card statements. My bank statement, car payment, and cell phone bills have already been on a paperless system for over a year. I have not had any problems with this, I check my balances online when I need to and I can access my statements anytime I want to. So, I thought it was time to go paperless with the rest of my personal finance world.

I was a little paranoid and cautious about making this move, but I have never had a reason where I needed my paper statements and if I ever had I was always able to access the paperless ones online.

Advantages to going paperless:
1. Good for the environment, you save trees!
2. You can access and print your statements anytime.
3. You can access past statements, most up to 12-24 months of history and some with up to 7 years worth of statement history (which is all you would need for tax purposes).
4. Less office and file cabinet clutter.
5. No more wasted time shredding old statements.
6. You receive your statements as soon as they are available rather than waiting for them in the mail.

The only thing I would print a statement out for is for proof of charitable donations. Those are tax related items and I think I would still want to keep paper copies of that with the rest of my tax related documents.

While going paperless can be great, I realize there may be some downfalls to consider. There is the possibility that I might neglect my accounts. I thought about myself about whether this would be an issue for me: I came to the conclusion that since I check my email daily and you get an email whenever a statement is available that this shouldn't be a problem for me. I am pretty anal about things so I think that I will be fine. Whereas someone who does not check their email regularly might have difficulty with a paperless system. I think it will work for me and help to keep me organized. Besides if it doesn’t work out I can always change back.

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Shop 'Til You Drop

Today is Good Friday, which means that Easter is in a few days and the end of the Lenten season. One of the things that I did in observance of Lent was give up shopping.

I stuck by this and did not do any excessive shopping beyond groceries and necessities of the household. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. I stayed aways from temptations by not going into the mall unless necessary. Anytime I went to Target (one of my shopping weaknesses), I would go in with a list and I stuck to my list. I will be honest, there were a a few times when I would pick something up that wasn't on my list and I would walk around the entire store with it in my basket, but before checking out I put the item back so I never did buy anything that was not on my list.

What helped me to put the item back was really thinking things through. Did I really NEED this item? After all, it was not on my list so I didn't think I needed it before. If I truly needed it, I could add it to my list for the next time around. Not once did something I put back go on the list for the next week. This was a good strategy for me to really consider what I needed vs. what I wanted. I've never been an impulsive buyer but I do love to shop and buy clothes and little things that I don't always need. It's amazing how those little things end up in your basket while walking around Target and those little things do add up after a while. By being able to think about whether or not I really needed the item helped me to stick to my no shopping goal.

I won't completely continue to give up shopping, however, I do plan to decrease my shopping habits. So the next time I want to go shopping or buy something unnecessary, I will think it through more carefully. I know that from time to time I will want to shop for new clothes or something else that I do not truly need, I am human and I am not perfect. Plus, sometimes I will deserve a new pair of shoes or a new lipstick that I don't really need. But by thinking more about my needs and wants will help me to be in better control of my spending habits.

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I guess I won't be a Tri-Fit Diva

It seems like everyone is feeling the financial pinch during these difficult times. Everyone is talking about the economic downturn that the nation is taking. We are approaching, if not currently in a, recession and there are whispers of a depression. I recently wrote about paying off one of my credit cards and that was a huge accomplishment. I have one credit card left to pay off, $3000, a very manageable amount of debt to pay off. So if we keep things as is, we as a family are doing okay and we will manage through these difficult times. We will just need to prioritize things and be smart about our finances.

As economic hard times seem inevitable, I have had to reassess my priorities and be more realistic about things. As you know, I have been training for the Women's Tri-Fitness Competition. As I have been looking at our finances, I have decided that this is not the right time for me to compete in the tri-fitness competition in July. The main factor being the cost, it costs $175 to register for the competition, which takes place in Las Vegas, so that also means costs for a hotel room, gas, and food. Plus, to get some training on the obstacle course would cost another $75. The reason why I wrote about the tri-fitness competition in the first place was because I was excited about the challenge and sharing it on my blog would make myself accountable to make the commitment. I am deeply upset that I have to give up, I really felt like I was making progress and I was training so hard for it. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do something like this again. I was set and ready to do it, I had until the end of the month to register at the pre-registration rate of $175 and fully make the commitment and I had even made a hotel reservation (luckily it is refundable). The only reason I have been putting off registering was money. Being in debt pay-off mode, I actually sat down to budget the cost of participating to aid me in my final decision.

$175 – pre-registration before March 30, $200 after
$215 – 2 nights at a hotel (that is at a group discounted rate)
$200 – food for 2 days
$250 – gas
$100 – miscellaneous costs (parking, taxi)
$75 – additional training costs (I was planning to go back to bootcamp training)

That is $1,015 in costs and that does not even include any drinks or gambling money while in Vegas, which would have been inevitable for us. That is a lot of money that we really didn't have to spend that probably would have ended up on our credit card (defeating the purpose of our debt pay off goals) and would be better spent toward reducing our credit card debt. Plus, the fact that for the 2 weeks before we will be in Hawaii on a family trip that has been booked and planned since last year (luckily airfare and hotel has already been paid for and I have been saving money for other costs). So sady, I will not be a tri-fit diva. I am so bummed out about this; I was crying writing the email to my bootcamp trainer. But I know that this is the right decision and by next year my consumer debt will be gone so maybe I can gear up to compete next year.

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Baby steps

Today, I completely paid off one of my credit cards!! Wohooo! What a great feeling. I had put some of the wedding expenses on my credit cards. Oh the horror! Luckily, they were on 0% interest balance transfers. I hate having consumer debt and prior to the wedding I did not have any. I hated the fact that I put some of the wedding expenses on my credit card. I still have some debt left to pay but with one credit card paid off, the debt I have left seems much more manageable.

In my quest to educate myself about personal finances, I found several really informative blogs on money. (See my Money Blog list off to the left hand side.) Several money blogs and websites often tout and talk about Dave Ramsey and his book The Total Money makeover. I have not read the book but I have heard about his baby steps to get out and stay out of debt. Dave Ramsey has seven baby steps:

1. Start an Emergency Fund of $1000.
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball.
3. Create a fully funded emergency fund equal to 3-6 months of expenses in savings.
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement.
5. Save money to fund a portion of college for children.
6. Pay off the home mortgage.
7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate.

Like I said, I have never read the book but I did learned about Dave Ramsey and his steps from several online sources and for the most part the steps seem to speak for themselves without too much further explanation. Debt snowballing, in baby step 2, was something that did need further explanation and so I did a little research. Basically with debt snowballing, you concentrate on paying off the smallest debt first. You pay what you can on it, over the minimum payment and pay only the minimum on the other debts. Once the smallest debt is gone, add what you were paying on that former debt to the next outstanding debt payment...and so on...and so on. Thus, creating a snowball effect. This method helps your efforts to be focused and less diluted over various debts and Dave Ramsey reasons that by paying the smaller debts first you get quicker feedback/successes.

I did think this was a very interesting concept to paying down debts and since I had step 1 down, I worked on step 2 using the Debt Snowball method. Well, I did start off following this method, but in all honesty it wasn't because of the this method that I just paid off my credit card. I recently received a sum of money and used that money to pay off my credit card. I paid the largest balance first and I still have a small balance left and will now focus my efforts toward that. Then, I will put my money efforts into focusing on baby steps 3 and 4.

Getting closer to my financial goals does feel good. It is all about baby steps!

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