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Archive for December, 2009

2009 Wrap Up

December 30th, 2009 at 05:04 am

Tomorrow my last paycheck for the year is deposited into my account. And since I'm able to check the amount that is deposited before hand, I can run the numbers for my accounts and see where I landed on my goals for the year.

Savings #1: $9959
Savings #2: $3668
Savings #3: $1300

Roth IRA 2009 Contributions: $1800 (still contributing for 2009 until April)

Credit Card = ZERO
Student Loan = $12,245


2009 Savings 1-3 TOTAL = 14,927
2009 Savings 1-3 GOAL = 16,500
90.46% to goal. Shoot so close yet so far. Oh well. I still think I did pretty well considering that I took 3 months off in the year April-June to go back to Virginia.

I don't think I'm going to do specific goals for just 2010. I am just going to do milestones I think. Try to get my accounts to certain levels. I'm thinking +$1000 for each milestone

So for that,
Milestone #1
Savings #1: 11,000
Savings #2: 4,700
Savings #3: 2,300

Not going to even set a goal for paying down my student loan because whatever extra money I have left over mostly goes to extra payments. The overall goal is to pay it back in less than 8 years (since 2 year already elapsed.

Alright time to call it a night.

I probably won't blog again until the New Year.

So HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! May 2010 be filled with much joy and happiness! Smile

Just Caved In.

December 28th, 2009 at 12:18 am

And signed up for my 401K at work after 3 months. At first I wasn't planning on signing up. Yup... even after all the lessons and constantly hearing about how important funding a 401K is. I wasn't planning on signing up because it was such a hassle trying to transfer over to a rollover IRA the last time I had to do that for my old job. And plus if I ever plan on leaving it's not 100% vested until like 5+ years or something like that. Plus I still don't even know if my company matches. And then the final straw was when I first got hired on I wanted to sign up. I went as far as filling and submitting the paperwork. The paperwork came back, because I forgot to fill in some information. I resubmitted and then a couple weeks later the paperwork came back in the mail saying that I had filled out the wrong form, I didn't have the most current form filled out. The first time okay. The second time I was done because I didn't understand why they didn't tell me I had the wrong form when they sent it back to me the first time. I have little patience when it comes to filling out paperwork.

So I decided that I wasn't going to sign up for it just on principle alone. And then finally I caved in. I figure if anything I can lower my taxable income. And at least I can be certain that I save 5% of my income every paycheck for retirement even if something happens that week and I can't save any for my cash accounts.

So I figure I should just stop being silly and just contribute.

In the new year, I want to be able to up my savings even more so I'm looking for ways to cut back on spending, lowering bills and minimizing my materialistic tendencies. So maybe I might commit myself to a week blog on how well I'm doing. This way I'm keeping track the entire time instead of checking in occasionally and realizing that I went way off track. Smile

My Mind Is Drawing A Blank

December 18th, 2009 at 05:45 am

You know, I hardly ever really blog on here. The thing is I check here pretty much everyday. And everyday I click Add Entry. And then I start typing... and then I start deleting and then I just give up. I don't know what to write about sometimes. Frustrating because I want to blog more often. But to me I find I don't have anything that's worth talking about.

But I am going to try to complete this without hitting the backspace button until the entire thing is gone.

I've been so busy with work that I haven't really even thought about Christmas. Christmas is one week again and I'm not really ready. Well, not that there is anything to be ready for since the best part about the day is just spending time with the family. But I guess I'm not ready to go there yet. I'm not ready to relax because of all the work at work I still have left to do. It's stressing me out. I finally finished my Christmas shopping and since I have to mail most of my gifts back to VA. I had to make sure they were done so that they would get there on time.

I stuck to my rule of a plastic-less gift-buying. And everything I bought I had paid cash for or it came out of my checking account. Nothing on credit. I am very proud of myself for this considering last year I barely had a job and when over my budget by a lot. This year I probably spent a little more than I initially planned, but that was because I didn't really have a plan besides no credit cards. So I've decided that maybe next year I can have a more thought out Christmas shopping plan that way I'm not running around all over the place and having to pick up something at the last minute.

So what else?
2010 goals? I am still waiting on one last pay period to see where I am as far as year end goes. Technically, I could just figure it out now, but next week is close week at work and I'll be definitely working some OT.

Okay, I guess that's it for now. Maybe I can blog more when my mind is not so filled with work clutter. Plus, I'm sleepy. So... till next time.