Looking forward to 2009

As I mentioned previously, 2008 was a upgrading year in my world...home...body...mind. It was quasi successful. The most successful part was the upgrades at the home. I thought long and hard about what goals I wanted for 2009. I wanted them to be realistic and accomplishable. I wanted them to be enough of a push for me to grow and change. If they were things I'd accomplish already, then it is not so much a goal list as a to do list.

These are not completely financial related, but part of a whole to bettering my world and myself.

• Eliminate credit card debt and work the budget appropriately so I can use them, but NOT carry a balance.
  I do want to be able to use my Mastercard for my everyday purchses so that I can get the reward airmiles with it and perhaps GO somewhere with them. Assuming no surprises, the debt I aquired before Christmas should be paid in full by April 25th paycheck. I would like to see this paid off earlier and will throw all of my new snowflakes at it, to help along the way.

• Pay off the rest of my Bank of Mom loan.
  She bought a ton of things for us while we were doing renos and while she doesn't really care if I pay her back at all, I need to do this as part of my 'it's time to be as grownup' philosophy. If the Mastercard is paid off by end of April, the B o M loan will be paid off by end of May. woo hoo

• Increase Emergency Fund to $1500

I did well creating my first Efund starting in July and getting it to $1000 goal by Christmas. It's small, but a start. As soon as I get my Mastercard and my Bank of Mom loan paid off, I will redo my budget to allow for some to go to the Efund and the rest of the snowball to go towards my personal loan.

• Fully Fund $1000 Christmas 2009

I am excited about this goal. I've never had a savings account for Christmas before. Barring unforseen events, this fund will get $100 a month and be fully funded by end of October.

• Use the money jars faithfully for January, February and March

After this, I want to re-evaluate how this is working, practicality etc.

• Go to the gym 3 x a week

I am paying just under $50 a month for membership anyways and I KNOW how beneficial this is for me, mind, body and spirit, so this is a Must.

• Get back on Weight Watchers.

Face it, the program works when you DO the program.

• Get off the computer and spend more time with my children, my friends and taking care of myself and my home.

I 'think' that is it, in a nutshell.

Reflections on 2008

I am definitely one for reflection and sentimentality, particularly at the end of a year. 2008 was an interesting year for me...nothing monumental, but interesting nevertheless.

• I signed up for WW and did VERY well for half the year, then gained it all back the rest because I did not STICK WITH IT.
• I signed up for a circuit gym and was incredibly faithful for half a year, then let excuses pile up and not going often at all.
• Husband's debt load increased as he bought a 'new to him' truck and had a vehicle loan for about $20,000. Thanks to his father's gift, that truck was paid off in full yesterday. If not for the gift, husband would have been paying on that for something like 50 plus months.
• Husband's misuse of VISA once again brought him up over $4000 balance but that was cleared yesterday thanks to his father's gift. It will be interesting to see if he handles his 'extra' money now each month, now that he is debt free on that level. I doubt it. sad hey?
• I manged to get my first emergency fund set up. $1000 baby. Let's hope I don't have to use it and can build it up instead.
• I put a lot...a LOT on mr credit card this year. We did a huge amount of renos this year inside the house.

It was not a matter of 'hmm I don't like this carpet anymore'...or...'that paint colour is soooo passee'. It was more a matter of "the bathroom is literally falling apart and there is mold", "the carpet is worn beyond all help' etc. We ended up gutting the full bath, repairing the structure and putting in new walls, tub/shower, tub surround, vanity, toilet, ceramic tiles on floor etc. I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this bathroom.

We also gutted and redid the downstairs half bath. Same condition as the upstairs one. It's nice that the boys aren't embarrassed when their friends come over and have to go. The living room needed one wall replaced, we tore out the carpet and replaced it with laminate flooring and I bought the first new furniture we've had in 17 years.

The costs definitely added up. Part of it is the bank of mom loan. The rest went on my mastercard. A bit of that was paid off with my tax return. The hefty balance quickly was turned into a consolidation loan to clear off the Mastercard. The loan was combined with a pre-existing loan.

Beyond that, there were no fancy trips this year. There were no fancy gifts (at least for the adults).

Starting the blog in July was a good move for me. Reading OTHER blogs, was an even better move. I have gained so much information from other blogs; great ideas; other viewpoints on things.

2008 was a self, home and financial reno year.

2009 will be the year to finish things off and learn how to be ME.

The waning days of Christmas

Today begins settling things back into 'normal'. The tree will come down today, the decorations will be packed up and the furniture rearranged. Gifts will be put away instead of nestled under the tree. We have a very small house and I am trying to teach the boys that tidy = their mother's sanity.

The boys are very happy with their new Ipod nanos and have learned how to move music into itunes and onto their ipods. My younger one is ecstatic about his new fish tank and yesterday we picked up his three cold water fish and brought them home. The cats are very excited about the fish. The female mostly just likes watching them but the big orange tom has been caught on the top of the tank cover. I guess we will have to close his bedroom door while we are away or we'll come home to a wet, but full cat.

I got a lovely fuzzy blanket from my mom and dad...perfect to curl up with on these freezing winter days. I also got some much needed knives and glasses for the kitchen. Overall, I have become a huge fan of 'practical gifts rule'. I have little space to work with and I have zero room for knicknacks and things which take up space and need dusting.

I am a big fan of 'one in, one out'. When the boys get new clothes, we go through their drawers and closets and pack up things which are too small. We managed to get rid of many things in a spring garage sale and we will do the same thing again this coming spring. I almost feel like, the more extraneous things I can get rid of, the better. It will be interesting to see how long this phase lasts. Right now, eliminating clutter seems to be a huge psychological endorphin, and it also eases the cleaning burden.

I can tell, though, that the boys are getting older. This was the first year they did not put out the cookies and milk plate for Santa. This was the first year no shopping was done in the toy section of the stores, not counting the electronic toy section. They are definitely getting older. It's hard for mom to let go that way.

There is lovely snow falling this morning so I'm off to curl up with a cup of coffee and relax before the repacking of the day begins.

Jars locked and loaded

So on December 24th, after doing math about five times to be sure I had it right, I headed to the bank to withdraw 2 weeks worth of my jars' money. I spent some time yesterday getting the jars loaded and labelled. I was glad I had sat down to figure out how many 20s, how many 10s and how many 5s, so that I would have the right denominations for each jar.

• I admit I felt odd taking out that much money at once and seeing my account go zoooooooom down.
• I put one week of money in the jars and tucked the second week for all in an envelope.
• I also had to determine what I would call 'weeks' as only February is a true 4 x 7 month, so I set up dates of when each week started and stopped. That eliminates those grey days that don't quite fit into a perfect month.
• I will have to decide how to transport this when I want to go shopping, get gas etc so that I have it ready to go, but not ready to spend toooo easily.
• I have to decide where the leftover money each week/each month will go for each jar, knowing that some weeks/months are lighter and some are heavier.

I have more thinking to do on this. It is a work in progress, but I think it will be a fun and informative adventure.

My Christmas Expenditures

It's rather scary to pull all this together. It is necessary however, so I can better plan and better budget for next year. These really are guestimates so it is probably more. eep. I am pulling together receipts that I have to see how accurate I am so this will undoubtedly change.

Christmas wrapping, tags etc $15.00
Boys' teacher gifts $40
Gift exchange at work, student treat bags and contribution to class pot luck $100
Christmas mass offering $20
Christmas meal contribution $60
Gifts for spouse and boys and parents, including stockings $1400

Total: $1635

Too high? yup
Budgeted? nope
on Credit card? yup

do it this way again next year? Not a hope!!!

reality check....

• 1.5 x my mini emergency fund
• equal to about 3 of my personal loan payments