Resolutions

‘Tis that time of year again, when we look back on the past 12 months to see if we’ve accomplished our resolutions.

I didn’t. My one resolution was to take a cooking class of some sort, and I just never got around to it. I accomplished one of my goals, though! I wanted to meet with a financial planner to discuss our finances and debt reduction, and we did.

I did do a lot more cooking, though, and trying out recipes and techniques that I’d never encountered before. Maybe I can count my self-education (with cookbooks and the Food Network, naturally) toward my resolution. Anyone?

This year, I have to step it up. There’s a lot going on, what with us getting married and at least 3 other weddings we’ve been invited to, keeping our finances straight, and the general craziness of everyday life. Here’s what I’d like to resolve:

• Be active (gym, running, Wii Fit, really intense cleaning session, whatever) for 30 minutes twice a week. Minimum. More is better, but at least twice. This will probably get easier when there’s more sunlight and nice weather, but I am definitely counting days of skiing.
• Organize myself. I have a tendency to drop my stuff on the kitchen table when I get home from work, and I thrive in piles. To the observer, they look like a mess, but I know exactly where everything is. But I need to file bills away and put folded laundry away on a more regular basis.
• Write letters. No one gets nice letters anymore, and that’s no fun. All the mail we get is junk or bills. I want to write at least one letter a month to send to a friend. We have a friend stationed in Iraq and a friend stationed in Afghanistan, so they’ll definitely be prime candidates for letter-writing.
• Pay off a damn credit card. I’ve wanted to do this the past few years, but this year, I’m really going to do it. I was thrown off last year by my layoff, and wound up having to use my credit card, to my chagrin. Not this year. It might not be frozen in a block of ice, but I’m not using it anymore.  Finito. I’d love to have one paid off by June and the other by December, so let’s see how it goes.
• Be nice. People have noticed I have a generally angry personality (especially at work… oops) but I want to change that. I’m going to try to be nicer on the train in particular. This might be more of an exercise in zen emotion control, but I’m going to try. And maybe I’ll swear less. But only maybe, since most of it’s in my internal monologue anyway (I think). Optimism will be key here.

What are your resolutions?

The Commute

I just read a post by Jim over at Bargaineering about CNN Money’s report on the average American commute. Pardon me if I don’t feel bad that the citizens of East Stroudsburg, PA spend an average of 40.6  minutes commuting.I do realize it’s an average, but I just want to elaborate on my own commute for a sec.

I take the MBTA’s Commuter Rail into North Station, Boston every morning. From there, I switch to the Green Line to Park Street, then switch to the Red Line to South Station, then walk another 0.4 mile from South Station to my office. On average, it takes me 75 minutes either way. This could get down to an hour if the stars align and the wind’s at my back and the trains are ready and waiting as I arrive at the station, and it can get up to over 2 hours if I miss the Commuter Rail train or have a delay at one of the stations.

Jim makes a point that the poor souls in PA spend 8.85 days in their cars commuting. Admittedly, there is no sitting in a car for my commute, but I sit on a train (or sit waiting for the damn train) for… wait for it… 26.04 days. As I said in my comment on Jim’s post, I spend almost the entire month of February in transit to or from work. That’s 26.04 days I can’t get back every year. I spend most of it reading, which isn’t bad at all, but you have to factor in the smelly/crazy/inconsiderate/whatever-else clientele that takes the T in Boston.

So you say I should just drive and avoid all the hassle of the train? Well, it would probably take just as long (with even less predictability thanks to Route 93 traffic) and it costs $10 a day to park in a garage near my office. That calculates out to $2,500/year just to park as opposed to $1,812/year for the train pass that I can also use on the weekends to go into the city to hang out.

The argument that “time is money” haunts me every day, let me tell you.

Goings on and random thoughts

The BF’s birthday

Last weekend was the BF’s 25th birthday. He’s a whopping quarter-century old. I realize this is not actually old. Truly, I do. But I’m sitting here, all of 23 and thinking 25 just seems like it’s a boundary from young man to plain ol’ man. I still think it’s funny if I hear someone call me “that lady” versus “that girl,” since I still feel very much like a girl and not quite like a lady.

On being a lady

And speaking of “lady,” it has recently come to my attention that people used to call my grandmother, who passed away when I was in kindergarten, was often referred to as being “such a lady.” So was the BF’s grandmother, who was a good friend of my grandmother (they both worked as secretaries in the school system in our town). That’s just not something you hear about women these days. I would especially argue that no one will remember me as being “such a lady.” I’ll likely be the feisty one when I’m older. You know, after I turn 25.

Weddings and marriage

I’ve been catching up on my Weddingbee reading lately. I was about 2 weeks behind, which added up to well over 300 posts. It’s been a lot of fun reading what all those talented ladies have been writing about regarding their weddings. I’m a big fan of weddings and planning (this is no secret, let me tell you) but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about weddings to marriage.

You see, the BF and I have been together for a little over 5 years (it’ll be 5 years, 3 months on the 6th) and have been talking about getting married for the last, oh, 4 years. We have both been very sure of us getting married for a long time, and now it’s getting to the point where complete strangers are asking when we’re planning to do it after they find out how long we’ve been together. And I don’t blame them– we’re both of marriageable age, know we want to get married, and know each other like no one else does.

So why are we waiting? Mostly because of the wedding, I think. The BF and I are very conscious of our finances and budgeting. Well, maybe not budgeting, but definitely about finances. I’ve written before about how we’ve been working with financial planners and how that’s been going (which is another update post for another instance). We both graduated from college with student loans– moreso me than him– and we each have additional other debt. We’ve determined that our two immediate financial goals are saving for a house and saving for a wedding. Because we’re not engaged yet, the planners aren’t taking us very seriously on the wedding thing, and thus have been focusing only on the house. This is a problem for us, since we want to pay for the wedding outright and still have a significant amount to put down as a down payment on a house. Oh, both within the next two years.

It’s important to us to not have a whole ton of debt because we’ve taken on so much already for our education and funding the BF’s small business. Both of our sets of parents have money issues (and both sets are now divorced… whether the money this is part of it, I don’t really know), so we’re doing everything we can to avoid that.

The big thing for me, though, is that the wedding is only the start to the marriage. I’ve come to think of it as just a big party celebrating us “making it official.” It’s not going to be the happiest day of my life (’cause it follows that it’s all downhill from there, right?), nor is it going to be the the most perfect day of my life. Because it’s not all about me. The wedding is about us. And I won’t lose sight of that. Will I go a little crazy planning it? Maybe. Hell, I did for the barbecue/drink-fest we had for his 25th b-day. Will I go mental making sure the out-of-town baskets are just so or that we have a modern-yet-vintage feel (which is a HUGE trend I’m seeing, and I’m not sure how I feel about it)? Probably not. Do I want to have great food and drinks, tons of dancing, and a rockin’ good time? You bet your ass.

But it will be on our terms, no one else’s. Which is why we’re waiting a while. Even though the BF knows it’s killing me

Link love: PF blogs

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably have realized by now that I’m trying to make a big change in my financial health and get rid of my debt. I steal just about all of my ideas from the personal finance blogs in my Google Reader. Check ‘em out!

• Blogging Away Debt
• Bargaineering
• Boston Gal’s Open Wallet
• BrokeAss Gourmet
• Budgets Are Sexy
• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds
• Make Love, Not Debt
• Million Dollar Journey
• Mrs. Micah: Finance for a Freelance Life
• My Dollar Plan
• No Credit Needed
• The Simple Dollar

These are all great sites, and after reading most of them for a while, I feel like I really get to know the writers. It’s a nice feeling! Each deals with different topics about personal finance, so you can pick and choose what you like.

I tend to skip posts about investing, since I’m a ‘fraidy cat and want to focus more on debt reduction and saving than on building wealth.

While I’m on the topic, I should mention that I love using Mint for tracking my spending and calculating my net worth and such. I’ve linked up all my bank accounts, credit cards, and student loans to it so I can see where all my money goes. I’ve turned on a few friends to the site, and they’re loving it, too. I can’t recommend it enough– it might take a little while to get everything set up and running smoothly, but it’s worth it. Tip: write down your security questions for all your financial sites before trying to synch them up with Mint. It makes the process a lot easier.

PF Confessions

Bless me, personal finance bloggers, for I have sinned. This is my first time at confession.

I didn’t have an emergency fund before I got laid off, but I did have some savings set aside that I could dip into in case of an emergency. I had cashed in my savings bonds in December and put all the money into an ING Orange Savings account (let me know if you want a referral code!) where it could accrue some nice interest.

I was ok money-wise for about a month of my unemployment. I know what you’re thinking: but you’ve only been unemployed a month! Didn’t you get any severance pay? Yes, and yes, I answer you. I was only unemployed a month, and I did get some severance pay. But I still had bills to pay, groceries to buy, and a joint account to contribute to.

By the end of the month, I had to dip into said ING account. I needed $700+ to pay for taxes, and that wasn’t in my checking account. I needed $1000 to contribute to the joint account for rent and utility bills. Now my savings are seriously damaged.

I had to use my credit cards, too. Just before getting laid off, I paid $500 to each one, which I mentioned here, and was feeling pretty good. I regretted this decision when I realized another $1000 in my pocket would have been nice over the past month. I did my best to hold off, but as my checking account balance dwindled, and I still had things I had to buy (my train passes to get into work have been the biggest culprits, but wanting to do Easter baskets for mum, dad, and the BF didn’t help, either), so out came the card.

As penance, though, I have decided to freeze my spending as much as I can for the time being, at least until I get paid at the end of the month (just missed the payroll cutoff for this week) and put all of my unemployment money (if I ever get any *note to self: call the dang DUA*) back into my savings account to boost it back up.

I have also decided to change around my direct deposit allocations. $50 per month will go to a local savings bank, where I have a checking account, and pretty much just sit there as an emergency fund (since ING takes a few days). $100 will go to ING to my savings account. I plan to use this account for major purchases and/or events, which may include a new car, a wedding (not up to me on the timeline for that particular event), or a down payment on a house. This account might be split into three distinct areas for said major purchases/events, but that’s pending a discussion with the BF when both our finances rebound a bit. The rest of my check will go straight to my checking account for bill paying and discretionary cash.

And once I’ve evened out a bit more (read: after the end of this month, once all my bills are paid for the time being and I’m earning a steady paycheck again), I’ll get my debt snowball crackin’ in earnest. I still want both my credit cards paid off ASAP and would like to clear out some of my smaller student loans shortly thereafter.

My credit cards are going DOWN!

Now I want to have both of them 100% paid off by the end of June. Don’t ask why, since it’s an arbitrary date, but I want both of those little (comparatively) debts gone. Now.

Which is why I just made a $500 payment to each one, even though the minimum payments were nearly $50 and $30 each.

I’d like to thank February for being a light spending month for making this happen.

Spending freeze

I hereby impose a spending freeze on myself, effective immediately and lasting through one entire week.

Now, one week to you might not seem like a whole lot, and I’ll be honest– it really isn’t. However, I am a big fan of baby steps when it comes to making big changes, and one of the changes I want to make is to my general financial situation: pay off my debt. I have student loan debts out the wazoo, and a couple of credit cards that, while they’re not ruining my life with interest rates and whatnot, are having a somewhat negative effect on my credit score and general happiness. So I want them gone ASAP. I’ve stopped using them, which is a big step. Now I just have to pay them off entirely and I’m golden.

Anyway, while I do spend within my means and on things I both need and want, this spending freeze is just to see how I can do. I’ll still pay for the things I need, like groceries and bills, but I will not buy anything from the vending machine at work, I will not stop for a quick cup of coffee, and I won’t buy any clothes, no matter how amazingly they may be on sale.

For a week. Then we’ll see what happens.

Mint.com and dogs

Mint.com

I just signed up with Mint.com, and so far I’m pretty interested. I’m also slightly annoyed, since I’m having issues linking my bank/loan/credit card accounts to my Mint account. I know I’m entering all the correct login information, since the individual sites are letting me in, but Mint’s telling me the login information is incorrect.

At any rate, once I have all my dang accounts set up and the categories set, I’ll be able to really see where my money’s going, which is something I have trouble with. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it all works out!

Dogs!

In other news, the BF and I have made a change to our dog wishes. We have talked about adopting a Boxer for years now, but unfortunately our landlord included a “no dogs” clause in our lease. I made a passing comment about adopting a dog to her (yes, I said “landlord,” but she is in fact our “landlady,” which I think sounds stupid), and she said that she might be willing to discuss a small dog at a later date. A Boxer is not a small dog. So we wait.

Our Boxer’s name will be Tessie, for the Dropkick Murphy’s song about the Red Sox (and it sounds really cute) and we’ve read a lot already on proper care and handling of Boxers. And we’re both into making sure our dogs will be well-trained. And anti-ear-cropping. We’d love to have the classic fawn-colored Boxer, but we’ll see how it goes. How can you not love a face like that?

I’ve recently become a fan of Bernese Mountain Dogs as well. I think they’re so cuddly-looking and seem like really friendly dogs. I haven’t done much research on them, especially considering the amount that went into Boxers, but that time will come. When we were skiing at Waterville Valley on Sunday, there was a family that had 2 Berneses at the ski race. I thought they were adorable, so I told the BF that we’re also adopting a Bernese and naming him Hans. He liked it, so there you go!

Once we buy our house, we will adopt Tessie, our Boxer. A little while later, we’ll adopt Hans, our Bernese. I’m all about adoption, and you should be, too!

Note: Boxer photo from Puppydogweb.com and Bernese photo from Pets911.com

The new year

Oh, so it’s February 2, you say? Who cares? It’s never the wrong time to talk about your goals.

I have one New Year’s Resolution this year. One. It’s to take at least one cooking class. It doesn’t matter if it’s at the local community college, through the town’s recreational programs, or at Williams-Sonoma. As long as I take a cooking class, I’ve achieved my goal.

Some other goals, but not resolutions, include:

• Meet with a financial advisor to discuss paying off loans, saving for specific events/items, and planning for retirement.
• Set up a debt snowball and get paying it. (In progress)
• Pay off at least one of my credit cards, preferably both.
• Blog three times per week.

I have others, more than I likely should in order to track them, but this is the start. I’ll add more if/when I think of them.

What are your goals?

Big financial plans

All right, people. You know what season it is. Not winter, though I’d much rather talk about all the wonderfulness winter has to offer.

No, it’s “busy season,” that time of year when all of my accounting friends go AWOL for 4 months. They’re all spanking-new accountants, too, which means they’re really, seriously, missing. Taxes. ::shudder:: I’m glad I have plenty of non-accounting friends who’ll still be around.

I’m going to have to figure out how to send something fun to my roommate from college sometime in mid-to-late February. That should cheer her up, no?

Anyway, I started my taxes (barely) yesterday, and I took a big chunk out of them today. I don’t quite have all the forms I need yet, since they don’t have to be sent out until January 31, but I did what I could with what I had. So far, my refund looks like it’ll be almost $2,500! Considering I got a $5 MA refund last year, that’s some serious dough.

The big question is, what do I do with it? Right now, I’m thinking I’m going to put it away to the wedding-that’s-not-officially-happening-yet/house fund. Though I must say, having a zero balance on one of my credit cards looks pretty tempting, and I might just do it. Or I could split it and cut my total credit card debt in half (I have 2 cards that need paying off).

Related to this decision is my latest idea in helping reduce my debt: the debt snowball/ladder. I’ve heard it referred to a few different ways on the personal finance blogs I read (I’ll include the links in a blogroll eventually), but I’m going to call it a snowball. There are a couple of ways to do this, though they all start with the first step of recording all of your loans/debts, the amounts owed, the interest rates, and the monthly payments:

• Option 1: Arrange the loans/debts by amount, starting with the smallest first.
• Option 2: Arrange the loans/debts by interest rate, starting with the highest first.
• Option 3: Arrange the loans/debts by amount first, then find the midway point, draw a line, and arrange the loans/debts under that line by highest interest rate first.

From there, you start paying. Once you’ve paid off the first balance, you add that monthly payment to the next loan. You keep the amounts you pay each month consistent, but this way, you’re putting more toward the next loan/debt.

The big benefit of option 1 is that it really helps in the psychological battle of debt reduction. You see the debt go away quickly, and you’re inspired to keep going. The drawback is that it’s generally more expensive. The inverse is true for option 2: it’s less expensive, but you don’t have that psychological boost you need to keep going. I’ll likely use option 3, since it’s a good combination of the two. Since I’m just starting out in debt reduction, I think I’ll need some motivation to keep going.

I make a pretty heavy emphasis on the loan/debt thing, since most of the personal finance bloggers I’ve read deal mainly with credit card debt. That’s not the root of my problem: I have student loans coming out my ears and need to improve my credit. Hence the emphasis on the “loan” part.

What do you think? Which option would you use? Will you spend or save your tax refund?