Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Financial Goals of 2009

2009 Personal Finance Goals
Debt:
  • Pay off Jeep
  • Pay off one of adams loans

Spending:

  • Eat out no more than once a week
  • Use coupons as much as possible
  • Watch our spending when we come home for good

Frugal:

  • Try to get enough CFL lightbulbs to replace all of the lights when we move in..using coupons of course
  • Keep entering giveaways for girft cards to home depot for our house
  • Savings: Save up 6 months of emergency savings
  • Save up a downpayment on a car brand new Hundia accent or Nissina versa

So Here we are in the new year. Adam and I cant believe what we have done this past year! We have been all around the country, something alot of people will never do and we have done at the ripe age of 23 and 24. We have been trying to recover from putting the downpayment on the house. I hate seeing all that money "disappear". But we are in a good situation right now. I am making good money in Seattle and Adam just got a call yesterday that he has a job!! Woohoo! So now since its so late into our assignment we are thinking of extending and staying here until June. I would love to see the new england area but if theres nothin open then its not happening. The economy sucks right now and it does for travel nurses as well...hospitals are cutting back on us. So last month we were trying to think who would rent our house from us while we are gone. Well things have worked out. The sellers have not found a house yet so they are renting from us now. That is awesome! We still pay the mortgage but get to save some too. We are ethier going to save it for a car when I get home or pay extra on the mortgage. We will see how long they live there I guess. Ok On to the goals!


My Short Term Financial Goals by March
Heres what we got:
Last month= blue
This month= red

Our HouseFund: $1,345--$2,949(We will be making our first house payment on Feb 5)
My Checkings (high interest): $7,845--$9,523(I also just got paid but havent added it to this account yet)
My Checkings (no interest): $1,171.21--$2,353(just got direct deposit in there, gotta separate it)
CD at huntington (expiring in march) will deposit into checking or house--or car!:$5,859--$5,884
Adam Checkings (high interest): $745.00 (he is currently using another account at home to pay his bills)
Bank of America: $79--$79 --I have to close this account when I get the time...
Roth: $6,835--$7,942
Credit Card debt: $2,934--I get my statement on the 7th and will pay this off
401k: $1513--$1645
**NEW 401k--$358
**NEW Emergency Fund: $792--our short term goal is $1000 then 3-6 month of expenses

Ok so heres the goals until February 28(the end of this assignment):

  • Start contributing to my Roth this year and max out by April:$472 for December
  • Make 2 payments to Adams loans (on top of what he pays) : Currently -$9,821 from Direct Loan Service and -$41,317 from First Resource Federal none yet...gave him money to pay this month because he was job searching
  • Try to get someone to rent out our house while we are away for extra money for our mortgage. done til Feb 5!
  • Split paychecks every 2 weeks into Mortgage payment, Roth IRA, Checking Account, and Emergency Fund--working out well so far and trying to build up all those accounts
  • Get $1600 for our apt in Seattle and bank at least $100 each month--didnt get to save any this month because of the loans, but will try again next month. Am only getting $369 per week instead of $400
  • Continue to pay off credit card each month doing well with this
  • Pay off scooter by February balance= $557.50 paid $200 this month
  • My meal plans have worked out pretty well. We go shopping once a week and have not spent over $100. I have been making a bunch of recipes that have turned out well. Thanks to allrecipes.com! I only make about one big meal a week and I eat soup at work. Adams new job feeds him at work so thats awesome!
  • Continue to get the deals at walgreens for a garage sale this summer with my sister!---got lots of deals lately!! Jeannie watch out I am gonna fill your basement lol
  • I am still going to use as many coupons as possible. Gotta join some more trains...
  • I am also going to try to get $50 or more in Chacha extra money (now $114 did not do it this month).

Incase you are wondering i have a "low interest" account is because my direct deposit and automatic bill payments come out of there. I am workin on getting that changed...opened a joint charles schwab account--still not totally activated this will be future home to our emergency fund--we are waiting for this still to be opened, no hurry now.

So theres the update! Any thoughts are helpful. I think this month was a good one, mostly because of this job. Lets hope next month is a good one too!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Giveaways week of Dec 22

The hoildays are approaching!! Heres some giveaways this week:
5 minutes for giveaways is giving away Audeo Perfect Fit Earphones. These look really cool! They come in 3 different sizes, which is great because my ipod buds never fit in my little ears! And they are made by a hearing aid company, so they care about our hearing!!

STL Mommy is giving away a $25 Walgreens giftcard! I am there at least once a week so this would be great!!

The Digerati Life is giving away an Epson Workforce printer!! Check it out and leave a comment of your favorite holiday memory!

Christian Personal Finance is giving away Two Ipods and more!! GO check that out!'

Mom Fuse has a giveaway called The Ultimate "New Year for Mom" Giveaway! Theres over $500 worth of stuff that she is giving away! BUT! You have to work for it...

Home Construction Improvement is giving away a 65 Piece Ratcheting Socket & Bit Driver Set by Husky donated by Home Depot. Go check it out!

I Never Grew Up is giving away an awesome flip video camcorder. This ends Jan 2. Its pretty awesome!!! Go try to win it!

Sharon Loves Books and Cats is giving away a book called "Bad Girls Dont Die" I love reading when I get the chance and this looks like a great one!!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Giveaways week of Dec 15

5 minutes for giveaways is giving away 2 Oral B Electric toothbrushes. Oral-B® Triumph® (est. value $149.99) and another winner will receive an Oral-B® Pulsonic® (est. value $69.99). Go check it out!

Many Little Blessings Is giving away a purple IPOD shuffle. Hurry this ends tomorrow!! 12/19!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

New Giveaways this week


$100 Home Depot Giveaway over at Delectible Mommies. I am subscribed to her blog now, it looks interesting! I hope i win!!




Also over at Living as Mom she is giving away $25 to Publix, CVS or Walmart. I would pick walmart if I won!

Check out http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/ She is doing 12 days of giveaways. I just tried to win the Home Depot Card. Check it out!

And over at Ravings of a Mad Housewife. She is giving away Homer Laughlin China Company FOUR 4-piece place settings!! Awesome!! Go enter to win!

I love this blog! Over at Green Your Decor she is giving away a bamboo hard drive from simpletech--how cool is that! Check it out here: Bamboo HardDrive

Complete and Utter Chaos is giving away a $25 VisaGiftcard! What a great giveaway! Check it out!

Bargin Briana is giving away a Home Depot Card! Hurry Ends today!!!

SwagGrabber is Giving Away a box full of stuff!! Over $300 worth of goodies and she will let you pick!! Ends 12/18

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Home Depot Giveaway!!--AGAIN!

I am so excited for this giveaway! Another giftcard giveaway from One Project closer. I hope I win. Cant wait to get into our house and use this card to redo our rooms! Ok so you should enter too! Heres the link One Project Closer our problem with our new home is that we want to do everything at once :) we have to save up first! I know Adam wants to redo the basement first...theres a lot of stuff we want to do! I hope we win!! I love this blog too you have to subscribe, they have great tips!!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Financial Goal until March

So We have moved again! Now we are in Seattle. Its crazy here! Hopefully I can save alot of money. Currently I am nervous because we just put down our downpayment for our house, its just so much money thats gone :(. But its for a good reason. We got a 5.5% interest rate, which is great right now! We are getting the key Jan 5 but cant move in because we are in seattle. It would be great if we can get someone to move in there to take care of it until we come home for good (probably about 9 months...). Adam is looking for a job right now. He had an interview at a gym today and starbucks today. He thinks the gym interview went well and he goes to starbucks in about 1/2 hour. We will see what he comes up with! Now on with the goals!

My Short Term Financial Goals by March
Heres what we got:
Last month= blue
This month= red
  • Our HouseFund: $23,281--$1,345
  • My Checkings (high interest): $11,687--$7,845 (I havent gotten paid yet and used alot traveling)
  • My Checkings (no interest): $3,196.60--$1,171.21
  • CD at huntington (expiring in march) will deposit into checking or house:$5,833--$5,859
  • Adam Checkings (high interest): $741.00--$745.00 (he is currently using another account at home to pay his bills)
  • Bank of America: $79--$79
  • Roth:$7,135--$6,835
  • Credit Card debt: $405--will pay this next week when I get paid
  • Credit Card debt: $2,515--I get my statement tomorrow and will pay this off
  • 401k: $1626--$1513
Ok so heres the goals until February 28(the end of this assignment):
  1. Start contributing to my Roth this year and max out by April October $166 did not contribute in November, put more for downpayment on house. Will start again this month
  2. Make 2 payments to Adams loans (on top of what he pays) : Currently -$10,243 from Direct Loan Service -$9,920 and -$41,527 from First Resource Federal $550 October $250 November from credit card points
  3. Try to get someone to rent out our house while we are away for extra money for our mortgage.
  4. Split paychecks every 2 weeks into Mortgage payment, Roth IRA, Checking Account, and Emergency Fund
  5. Get $1600 for our apt in Seattle and bank at least $100 each month--paid $800 and receive repayment on each paycheck(weekly) Last paycheck save $400 for bills
  6. Continue to pay off credit card each month
  7. Pay off scooter by February balance= $757.50
  8. I would like to try to meal plan but we have no oven and not much freezer space. Any crockpot recipes are welcome!!!
  9. Continue to get the deals at walgreens for a garage sale this summer with my sister!
I am still going to use as many coupons as possible. I am also going to try to get $50 or more in Chacha extra money (now $108--now $114). I am also going to work as much overtime as I can--they are saying I should be able to, I will try on friday and sat this week :( Incase you are wondering i have a "low interest" account is because my direct deposit and automatic bill payments come out of there. I am workin on getting that changed...opened a joint charles schwab account--still not totally activated this will be future home to our emergency fund--we are waiting for this still to be opened, no hurry now we just wanted to get our downpayment down

So theres the update I am not very happy with it right now but I am hoping it will be okay once I get paid...next month we will review. Any thoughts are helpful :)