2015 Goals

Happy 2015! I had a lot of fun in 2014 and I am so grateful for the past year, but I honestly felt like I kind of put my life on pause last year - it was a year of let’s see what happens instead of steering my own life. In 2015, I would love to change that. 

First things first, I want to gain control of my goals by PAYING OFF ALL MY CONSUMER DEBT. This will be my main goal this year and the primary purpose of this blog. I also listed some of my savings, blog and personal goals below.

Financial Goals :

• Pay off Debt Completely - I will be paying them off at this order

• Personal Loan - end of 2014 $5,145 | approx monthly $450

• Credit Cards - end of 2014 $9,466 | approx monthly $800

• Student Loan - end of 2014 $6,062 | approx monthly $520

• No credit card spending - I am not leaving my credit card into my wallet. I am kind of nervous about this, but as much as possible – I do not want to add any more debt into my CC.

• Learn about retirement – what’s the best thing to do with my old 401k and an old investment

 Savings Goals : 

• Build an Emergency Fund – Increase to $1000 liquid funds

• 401k - Increase contribution to 6%

• Roth IRA – Increase to $1000

 Blog Goals : The main three things that I will still keep posting are

• Weekly Spending Report - I will keep posting my weekly spending just to keep myself in line of the goals

• Monthly Update - I will also post monthly goals that I would want to accomplish during the month.

• Month End Updates - A closing on what I did during the month - see if I accomplish the goals I have set for myself.

 Personal Goals : 

• 1 International and 4 Domestic Travels - I want to do a big trip this year and maybe little trips spread out each quarter 

• Start running again - Log 10k+ each week

• Do yoga or a Barre class - and commit to it!

• Walk my dog - I just want to spend more time with him this year

• Read/Listen 12 books this year

• Learn something new - I want to learn how to knit, scuba dive, design a website and drive a stick shift

• Become a Yelp Elite =)

Lets do this 2015!

Do you have a budget for FOOTBALL GAMES?

This article just came in the right time - How much is too much when it comes to football? 

Have you listed how much money you have spent on a professional game? On this post, I am just talking about spending money for ONE game in ONE day. Not to mention the game is broadcast on TV - We do not have cable so at least we are not paying for that, but I can just imagine the people around us have cable bills (NFL Redzone anyone?), bought season tickets and spending additional $$$ being at the game.

Our total spent $535 =(

Tickets $100 x2

The average price for an NFL tickets are over $100 for 2014. I am assuming we bought the tickets at the same price /

Cheaper Option: One of our friends got FIELD TICKETS for half the price by waiting at the last minute to get tickets. They got their tickets the night before and got better seats than us. This was the website they used

Parking $25 

Technically we could've avoided this, but we needed his car (truck) to transport the grill

Cheaper Option: Usually you can take a trolley to the stadium  

Tailgate Food / Drinks $80

I think between Jay and I (minus what our friends contributed) we have spent about $150 on food and drinks for the tailgate.

• Beer (craft) $9 - Three different 6 packs for a total of $30
• Water $5 - Pack of bottled water
• Snacks $35 - Chips, salsa, guacamole, fruit platter, cheese and salami platter 
• Misc items $10 - we bought paper towel, sanitizer wipes, ice 

Cheaper Option: It was actually cheaper to just eat inside, but the tailgate made it really fun. We figured this was our dinner date - which we havent done in a while.

Game Food / Drinks $30 

We bought beer for $9/each (12oz)  wth! We were complaining buying craft beers for $9 for a six pack yet we still bought a glass of beer for $9 each. Total spent $30 (with tip and bought one for a friend) 

Cheaper Option : Do not buy food inside the stadium. They are usually marked up for almost 800%. Check to see if there are any rules/regulations for bringing food and drinks and bring your own. We were able to bring 2 unopened water bottles each inside. 

Gas, Jerseys and other misc.  $100-200

I did not expect that an average jersey costs $100. From my previous post, Jay got me a jersey for that price and he also got his own too. So lets just assume an average person buys a jersey for himself and his significant other 

 Cheaper Option: Search a discount store like TJ Maxx. I am not sure if this applies anywhere else, but we found Jay's jersey for half the price (Its similar to mine - we cant figure out the difference, but he said mine was newer)

What would I have changed? NOTHING. I had so much fun. We do not do this often and it was nice doing something different on the weekend. I wouldve probably budgeted everything more - like the tickets that one of our friends got, but thats for next time. The boys are talking about going to another game!




How much have you spent going to a football game or any professional game? Do you have any other tips when going to games? 

October 2014 Goals

It will be similar from September, but different. I need to keep reminding myself about the one week cash diet. I will start this next week from October 4-10. Payday is on the 3rd - so i'll check in once I withdraw $200 from my check.

Financial

• Track daily spending 
• Do not use credit cards
• TWO no spend days per week
• Keep the weekly spending around $200/week 
• Use cash for ONE week - budgeted $200
• Pay $1200 to debt for the month of October
• Put in $100 to the Christmas fund this month

Personal

• Work out at least 3 days every week  
• Read / Listen to a new book
• Learn to cook something new this month

What are your goals this October?

Week 16 : It's been SUMMER the past year and I am OVER it!

No more hot weather for us please! 

Current Debts:
Its payday! Below are the amounts that were taken off and paid into the debt. I cant wait until that shows under $20k.

*** The payment for the personal loan is included on this paycheck - however, the payment is automatically taken out the 2nd of the month, so I will not be posting it until then but will be calculating that to include in the September total payment 

Current	Current	Paid	Ending
Personal Loan	7,521.00	***	7,521.00
Student Loan	6,600.00	100.00	6,500.00
CC#1	5,990.00	100.00	5,890.00
CC#2	274.00	100.00	174.00
CC#3	259.00	100.00	159.00
Car Insurance	471.00	50.00	421.00
TOTAL	21,115.00	450.00	20,665.00

Starting Debt: $21,115 || Paid/Interest: -$450 || Ending Debt:*$20,655

Weekly Spending: 
Bad week... but I still had a no spend day. Need to be more mindful when shopping - that seems to be a lot especially when trying to pay off debt, but I feel like I need a break from all this. The $100 is for my sanity!

Sat - $30 Gas | $30 Lunch | $10 Shopping | $5 Drinks | $13 Parking
Sun - $12 Lunch
Mon - $18 Lunch
Tue - No Spend Day!
Wed - $107 Shopping | $10 Lunch
Thu - $2 Drinks 
Fri - $50 Gas

Weekly Spending Start $200 || End $287 || Roll over -$87

Pending Expenses:
I need to start saving up AGAIN for my Christmas Shopping. I actually want to get this done by Thanksgiving. Starting at $0 today and the goal is $500 to cover everybody.

Current $0 | Goal $500 | $500 more to go




How was your spending week?

Week 15 : Football, Pumpkin and everything in between

... Like another wedding this weekend!
I think this is the last one for this year at least. I don't really mind going to weddings - I don't understand why people do not like going to these events. They're fun! free food, free drinks... lots of people to talk to and lots of people to make fun of.

OMG I still laugh watching this....

No fantasy leagues this year for me since that payment went to CC#1, but I sure will be following  football games still!!! Go Chargers! 

Pumpkin everything! lol #psl is really quite good, but right now my fall-go-to-drink (started this past summer) is the Oprah Chai from Starbucks. I used to get an iced one over the summer and I usually make it dirty (Dirty Oprah anyone?) - which is the Chai mixed with espresso. Try it! Let me know how you like it!

Current Debts:
No paycheck this week. An additional payment of $50 was made for CC#1 and some of the payments DID NOT post yet on my mint.com account.

Payments made this past week were:

• Personal Loan $500
• Car Insurance $85.74

	Start	Current	Ending
Personal Loan	7,450.00	8,026.00	(576.00)
Student Loan	6,588.00	6,598.00	(10.00)
CC#1	6,040.00	5,990.00	50.00
CC#2	100.00	100.00	-
CC#3	259.00	259.00	-
Car Insurance	558.00	557.00	1.00
TOTAL	20,995.00	21,530.00	(535.00)

Starting Debt: $20,995 || Paid/Interest: -$535 || Ending Debt:*$21,530

Weekly Spending: 
Whhhhaaaaaat! Under $200 again... under $150... under $100!!! What happened this week? Well technically if we added the flights it would've been more than my weekly goal - but me just dance around the corner for a while that I was able to be under $100 this week (on regular spending). Whoooot!

Sat -  $12 Breakfast
Sun - $6 Coffee
Mon - $24 Transportation | $8 Grocery
Tue - *No Spend Day* | Travel $250*
Wed - $8 Lunch
Thu - *No Spend Day*
Fri - $10 Lunch | $30 Nails

Weekly Spending Start $200 || End $98 || Roll over $102

Pending Expenses:
Yes, Florida trip was booked but I did not add it into my weekly spending!


How was your weekend?

Week 14 : Gym time!

I was able to go to the gym 3 times this week - just taking 1-hour cardio classes.

But I want to be able to get back to my peak where I can run a 5k for almost every workout. It actually feels great right now. I am not as lethargic and tired at work. I am also able to get a good night sleep - before, I kept tossing and turning . I also want to start going to the gym earlier, before work!


Current Debts:
Its Payday and the debt increased - now at $817. No, I did not spend anything on the CC the past two weeks... but I added my car insurance and seems like CC#3 isn't going to refund the fees from my travel drama last July.

However, it looks like a chunk was paid off this month since it looks like I paid a lot on my personal loan, but half of that was from my previous paycheck. The loan is always due on the 1st or 2nd of the month and I usually leave a certain amount from the previous paycheck to pay off the monthly fees due. The bill pay for the personal loan was for $500 and the monthly due was $396 - total of $896. Also, an additional $60 was also paid for CC#1 this pay period.

Gaaaah when is this going to end! I am really hoping that I can beat the Target Date I have set for myself in paying off these debts!

	Start	Paid	Ending
Personal Loan	8,346.00	896.00	7,450.00
Student Loan	6,688.00	100.00	6,588.00
CC#1	6,200.00	160.00	6,040.00
CC#2	200.00	100.00	100.00
CC#3	259.00	-	259.00
Car Insurance	558.00	-	558.00
TOTAL	22,251.00	1,256.00	20,995.00

Starting Debt: $21,434+$817 = $22,251 || Paid: $1,256 || Ending Debt:* $20,995

Weekly Spending: 
I am quite surprised that I am under $200, better yet under the original target amount of $150. Why cant every week be like this - spending wise

Sat - $20 Lunch 
Sun - $55 Gas
Mon - $1.50 Parking | $10 Drinks
Tue - No Spend Day! 
Wed - No Spend Day! 
Thu - $45 Gas | $7 Dinner (Tip)
Fri - $5 Dinner


Weekly Spending Start $200 || End $143.50  || Roll over $56.50

Pending Expenses:

Other than the birthdays and celebrations this month - Florida will be the biggest expense. We are in the process of looking for a good airline deal right now and hotel deals right now. Any suggestions?

Week 13 : New Outlook

 I am now trying to get back to the rhythm of going to the gym this past week - the same time I am trying to revamp my debt payments. I am hoping for good positive changes will start this time - health and money wise.

J and I are contemplating on getting the next tier of our gym membership. I am currently paying $25/mo (Homie hookup – jk. I tried to cancel a while ago and they locked me in at this rate. It used to be $30), and this will bump it up to $35/mo with more access to their ‘super’ clubs. One of them is really close to where I work at and this is why I am also thinking about upgrading. There is also a COSTCO deal where you pay a lump sum of $650 for 2 years which is broken down to $27/mo instead of the $35 - but I don’t have that kind of money right now to pay upfront.

I know some of you are probably thinking, you should cut back on spending money on that since you’re in the middle of your debt repayment. But right now I just want to be a little selfish and not deprive myself of EVERYTHING – so we’ll see. I am fine with the current membership I have, but it means driving 5+ miles out from work or from home if I want to keep my current membership.

Current Debts:
No paycheck this week and I didn't really log the amounts from last week. Below are the 'current' amounts for each debt.

	Current	Paid	Total
Personal Loan	8,346.00	-	8,346.00
Student Loan	6,688.00	-	6,688.00
CC#1	6,200.00	-	6,200.00
CC#2	200.00	-	200.00
CC#3	-	-	-
TOTAL	21,434.00	-	21,434.00

Starting Debt: $21,434 || Paid: $0 || Ending Debt:$21,434

Weekly Spending:

I don't really have a target amount to spend for the week. However, I will continue to log all my daily expenses under this category. I will continue to try and stop eating out as much. I will start and kind of started bringing lunch to work now so that definitely made a big difference the past few weeks.

Sat - $44 Gas | $35 Drinks
Sun - No Spend Day!
Mon -  $8 Lunch
Tue - $12 Dinner
Wed - $67 Gift
Thu - $20 Gas | $9 Dinner
Fri - No Spend Day!


Weekly Spending Total : $195


Pending Expenses:
Birthday season for us just started. You can probably see the gift purchase from above. I am excited to have almost every weekend of September booked for birthday celebrations, a wedding and other celebrations - but its going to be expensive! I already tried to tally each weekend and will TRY to minimize any kind of expense for the week



I am excited though that there will also be a holiday almost every month - working in the financial field, we pretty much get most of the bank holidays! Plus, since I don't have any left since that vacation... I look forward to long weekends now. HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!!!

July & August Update - Starting New

I am back with a few changes! July was just a bad month for me because of the vacation trip and it completely threw me off the loop with my whole debt progress - just as predicted. But I am now fully determined to get the debt payments out that I think I went a little gazelle intense.  

Current Debts:

Below is the breakdown of my debt progress… I think (I hope) I am still on track for the July 2016 payoff date! 

Name	Jun-14	Jul-14	Aug-14
Personal Loan	8,976.00	8,662.00	8,346.00
Student Loan	6,970.00	6,869.00	6,688.00
CC #1	6,542.00	6,424.00	6,200.00
CC #2	634.00	1,275.00	200.00
CC #3	-	840.00	-
TOTAL	23,122.00	24,070.00	21,434.00

How was I able to pay off $2,636* in a month?

CC#3 Story – Paid off $840

 I am NEVER going to book another hotel from hotels.com again!

A gist of what happened - J and I were not able to check in the date because of weather related issues. There was NO WAY for us to get back to the mainland since ALL flights were cancelled. I kept explaining this to the reps (yes, plural) at hotels.com - and its either I was placed on hold for how long and I even felt like the manager didn't believe the story. Feeling defeated I googled what else I can do because I didnt want to pay that 'extra' amount. Thank goodness CC#3 was there to the rescue (Ok, its AMERICAN EXPRESS - I think they deserve a shout out on my blog) absolutely no explanation needed. I disputed almost $300 of the charges from my July and got the funds back into the account almost the next day. That was how I was able to pay off that CC by August!

CC#2 Story – Paid off $1075

 The vacation completely threw me off the loop and for this – it was a good thing!

Originally my automatic deposits are broken down by :

• 10% Main Savings
• 20% Credit Union Checking
• The rest is on my main checking account

But pre-vacation, I changed the 10% to deposit to be sent to my Credit Union Savings instead. I saw a pretty nice sum (4 paychecks later) on the savings account and decided to just pay off most of the credit card debt from that.

The rest of the $721 went to… 

Were paid to my Personal Loan, Student Loan and CC#1…. +/- interest rate charges.

	Rest	Aug Paid	Interest
Personal Loan	316.00	396.00	(80.00)
Student Loan	181.00	200.00	(19.00)
CC #1	224.00	300.00	(76.00)
TOTAL	721.00	896.00	(175.00)

July Ending Debt: $24,070 || Paid: $2,636 || August Ending Debt:* $21,434

Weekly Spending:

The $150 weekly goal, I realized, will not work for me... However, I will still aim to keep around that amount and I will still enter my expenses weekly under this group

I am just going to focus on paying $500 bi-weekly (+/- $1000 a month) to my debt total 

Pending Expenses:
Christmas is almost here! 120 more days and 8 more paychecks to go. I cant really calculate what I will be spending the next couple of months, but here's what I will be expecting to spend money on.

• End of August - Birthday season is coming up for our group of friends. It starts this week!
• September - Continuing the b-days and festivities
• October - Trip to visit friends out of state
• November - Car Registration due!
• December - Christmas Funds are completely depleted to pay off debt. Time to restart again! *sigh*

I am sure there will be more changes. 

*This update is for Week 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12