12.31.2011

december financial update

you've heard it before, the holidays are expensive. between gifts, postage, traveling, cards, eating out, and the like, one can really break the bank.

i've prided myself on being over-prepared financially and mentally for the holidays months in advance, but even i failed to stick to our budget this year. i'm a little disappointing in myself, but i refuse to beat myself up about it. because we've been extremely blessed and we're doing just fine.

in the midst of overspending, we ended up borrowing a small amount from our savings.

2012 financial goals:
  1. fill all of our essential dump funds as fast as possible. these dump funds include:
    • auto insurance
    • home insurance
    • auto tax
    • home tax
    • pest control
    • eye exams
    • eye glasses
  2. pay off our student loan
  3. fill all of our non-essential dump funds. these dump funds include:
    • christmas
    • clothing
    • vacation
    • birthdays
  4. save and pay cash for a second car
  5. fully fund our emergency fund (6 months of expenses)
percentage-wise, we're 6.26% completed with our 2012 goals. 

i think i can be excited about being 6.26% ahead of schedule, so i'm going to be!


happy saving!

12.29.2011

twentyeleven

while i usually don't reach all of my goals, i love setting them. i love seeing what i can accomplish and challenging myself. it's really fun for me. and mostly, i love crossing thing off of lists.

some essentially immeasurable goals
be more hilarious. i personally think i went above and beyond on this one
[by writing intentionally humorous blogs mostly]

be more adventurous.
[by traveling spontaneously at least once this year]

be more creative.
[by having 'craft time' once a week] while i didn't always blog about it, i was way more crafty than i have ever been.

be more ambitious. i think i was definitely more ambitious this year, but i didn't start a novel quite yet
[by starting the rough sketch of my novel idea]

be more shrewd.
[by having products and a business plan for an etsy shop by the end of the year]

some more measurable goals
complete one craft-project a week

blog 3 times a week [156 blogs in 2011] this one makes 200!

send birthday cards to everyone in my [immediate] family i think i forgot my brother-in-law, but i came close!

have a party of people over once a month

complete a bible read-thru plan [still haven't accomplished this one in my lifetime]

read 20+ books

make dessert twice a month

make adorable christmas stockings

learn photoshop

drink more water [as opposed to the barely none that i drink now]

well, in many ways you could say i'm a failure. there are a lot of things i didn't do on this list. but i still feel successful. i think i grew and accomplished a lot in 2011. here are some other accomplishments from 2011 that i can be proud of:

we saved and paid cash for a little under half of bryan's tuition this year!

i learned some new things, like how to make felted soap bars, how to pipe, and how to crochet.

we cleaned out our crap and made over $225 by selling some of it!

and, possibly the most significant accomplishment of 2011: i now own the taylor swift speak now cd.



peace out 2011.


12.19.2011

trailer park life

you know you live in a trailer park when...



you suddenly find yourself with not one but TWO grills.






[thanks Robinsons, we'll miss you!]