Mastering My Card

This post is part of the new Mastering My Life segment I’ve decided to incorporate into this blog.  I’m finding that blogging about finances is theraputic and so I’ve decided to also blog about personal goals as well.

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Two hours.  That’s how much time I spent on me yesterday.

My daughter’s soccer practice was changed at the last minute to a location clear across town and so I decided to just stay there and wait instead of fighting the 5:00 traffic home and then back again to pick her up and then home again.

So for about an hour I sat in the car and I read and got caught up on one of my magazine subscriptions.

I checked out a book from the library called Write It Down, Make It Happen and the concept the author puts forth really appeals to me.  The author talks about how writing down your goals makes you notice and seize upon opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.  Writing the goals down on paper brings them to the forefront of your mind and you therefore are more mindful of your environment and how it can help you achieve your goals.  Basically the opportunities are always there but being mindful of the goal helps you to see the opportunities for what they are.

Albeit, some of the examples the author gives are really kind of stupid, but I do believe in the basic premise of the book, and so I tolerate some of the corny examples.

The change in location of my daughter’s soccer practice threw a wrench in my dinner plans and we went out instead.  I actually had the ingredients to make dinner but the last minute change threw me for a loop.  I could have made dinner but we wouldn’t have eaten until late and our family typically likes to eat an early dinner.  Poor excuse really but it is what it is.

Later I did a 30 minute fitness DVD and felt really good after, shaky arms and all.  I debated on going for a run after dinner but between waiting for my food to digest and hoping daylight would last I decided to do the DVD instead.  I’m hoping to run tonight after dinner.  Maybe one of these days I’ll be brave enough to post my goals here in the blogosphere.

Eleven days and not one post.  And because of that, our spending hasn’t been the greatest.

I guess out of sight, out of mind.

Last week was a bust.  A super busy weekend left me with little time to do the things I should have and I therefore didn’t have any meals planned nor did I do a big grocery shoppping trip.

Two trips to Target and meals out did us in.

I find that I really like eating at home but unless I plan and prepare for it, it just doesn’t happen.

I also haven’t meal planned for this week however I did go to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a few things and have food for dinner tonight.  I need to get my butt in gear and figure out meals for the rest of the week.

I think I’m mostly discouraged at the amount of effort required to not spend money.  And once I spend a little I figure what the hell and spend more.

Today is payday for me.  Ths husband was paid last Friday so I need to get caught up in Quicken and my budget spreadsheet and then pay bills.

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I’m feeling a little lost lately.  Sort of like I’m just existing and not really living.  I have things that I want to do, things that I enjoy doing, but it seems that I never do them.  Part of it is laziness.  I could say that I don’t have the time but I can make it if I wanted.

I’m encountering all sorts of serendiptous messages:  Today, on My 1/2 Dozen Daily’s blog, Carla tells her readers to take 30 minutes every day to do something for themselves.  And last night I read in my October issue of Runner’s World magazine to not ask yourself “Can I run today?” but rather “When can I run today?”

Yes, this is what I need to do.  Change my perspective and carve out some time daily.  It’s all about choice and how badly I want certain things.

Getting out of debt won’t be easy and neither will achieving some of my other goals.  Really, what’s that point of simply existing?  I’d prefer to live a fulfilling and rewarding life and not look back one day with regret at not pursuing the things that interested and fulfilled me.

Or a thousand.

The home repair saga continues.  This time it’s the water heater.  The same water heater that we had replaced 5 years ago.

So tomorrow the plumber will be here yet again and we will have a brand spankin’ new unit to the tune of $1,300.

I guess this is why emergency funds were invented.  Only thing that pisses me off is that I was close to reaching my goal of a $5,000 balance by year end and now this little repair will set us back some.

I suppose that I’m glad we have the cash but I really want to have the emergency fund and not have to touch it.  Ha ha, totally unrealistic I know.

Ugh, I caved this evening and we went out to dinner.  What I had planned on making just didn’t sound good and that coupled with the heat, turning on my oven to bake chicken didn’t sound appealing either.  So we went out and spent $56.  And it wasn’t even that good.  I’m so annoyed with myself.

On a brighter note, the husband got a pay increase today and it’s retroactive to August!  It’s not much but I’m thankful that he even received it given the economy right now.  I’ll need to refigure his income for our budget and I also may need to reduce his 403b contributions.  He contributes 15% already but with this increase I may want to reduce that a bit.  I’ve never adjusted it when he has received his increases but I may do it this time only because the dollar amount he contributes is pretty large as it is and I’d like to divert a little bit to MasterCard payoff.

His next paycheck will be larger than usual because he is being paid his increase retroactively.  Whatever the amount is, I’ll be putting toward the MasterCard.  This is looking to be a good month for the MasterCard payoff.

So not a lot going on right now I’m finally happy to say.  I got everything accomplished this weekend that I had planned on.

Friday was payday and I paid all bills due until next payday.  In terms of discretionary spending, I think I did pretty well:

Groceries: $120.39 (I need to re-think my grocery budget; I am over budget again)

Gas: $28.81

Discretionary: $77.85 and breaks down as follows:

$68.43 dining out (2 dinners)

$7.00 prescription

$0.59 personal care purchase (used a coupon!)

$1.83 household purchase

I realize that a majority of our discretionary spending was for dining out but the reality is that this is so much less than what we used to spend.  Typically we might get lunch for 4 at Subway and then go out to dinner later on, so even though $68 seems like a lot, in reality, we really saved a lot.  We ate lunch at home all 3 days of this long weekend and I’m thrilled that we are doing so well.

Today I bought my daughter the uniform shorts she wanted and I used cash from an item I returned yesterday, so I’m calling today a no spend day.  I edited the original purchase transaction in Quicken to show what the money was actually used for.  I expect that tomorrow will be a no spend day too.

I’m to the point now that I get annoyed at having to spend any money.  I guess that is a good thing.

I watched a few episodes of Extreme Couponing over the weekend.  Very frustrating that people get so much for free.  I guess that is the advantage of having double coupons and the ability to use them on free items in buy one get one free scenarios.  Where I live, there are no double coupons and we cannot use coupons on free items.

I’m still going to try to maximize our savings by using coupons but I need to have a reality check and understand that I will not be able to get food and household products food for free.

Hard to believe it’s September already.  I’ve been thinking a lot recently about goals, not just financial, and I’ll probably blog about them here.  I originally strated this blog as a place to write down my thoughts about our finances but I’m finding it to be theraputic and so I’ll probably blog about some personal goals as well.

FINANCIAL

• Eight no spend days
• Keep discretionary spending to a minimum
• Make a payment of at least $1,000 to the MasterCard
• Continue to meal plan, grocery shop and top off gas tank on weekends
• Keep Quicken and budget spreadsheet updated

PERSONAL

• Schedule stress test
• Schedule dermatologist visit
• Schedule optometrist visit
• Run & strength train at least 3 days a week
• Read more and surf the internet less
• Keep up with daily maintenance of housework
• Drink more water
• Take vitamins and medication every day

A few of my goals are to do’s while others are habits I am trying to form and posting them here will keep me accountable.  Hopefully.

After yesterday’s disaster, today I’m trying to be focused on the positive.  How about this:

In the past week I’ve had all my physicals: regular check-up, girl doctor visit, mammogram, blood work, and soon I will be seeing a dermatologist and have a stress test.  All this and I won’t even have to pay $1.

I know we are really blessed to have health insurance.  Without it, I don’t know that we could afford to do all that I’ve done.

I understand that medical debt puts some people into bankruptcy or that they don’ t go to the doctor because they either don’t have coverage at all or their copays/deductibles are so high that they can’t afford to.  And so today I’m just going to be thankful that my husband has a job that allows him to have such great health benefits.

I’m also really glad that today is Friday and that we have a 3 day weekend.