GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL…. March 7, 2008

Ok, I’m not much of a soccer fan. Enough to know that it’s not a goalie, it’s a keeper. But the extent of my soccer knowledge is that you’re not supposed to let the ball past the keeper into the goal.

Those aren’t the types of goals I’m talking about anyway. I’m talking about the goals that I set for the year. For the month of February even. I’m going to try and keep updates going monthly. Guess I could add that to the list of goals, eh? Right now I’m three for three so we’ll see how I do on that one.

1. I’m doing fairly well at not feeding my husband and kids a bunch of processed foods, but I could do much better. I’m working on it. It’s a goal for *next* month though. My goal for this month is to have a plan in place and to work out the kinks before April starts.

2. We still don’t have a budget, but we do have a better idea of where our money is going. Which is a step in the right direction.

3. I’m opening a savings account on Monday. I didn’t get it done in February, but it will be done on Monday. Chip and I are going to have to discuss how much to put into it though. And whether it should be a real savings account or an interest bearing checking account that would give us easier access to it.

4. Not only do I have the start to one book, but I’ve started 2. I started working on it when inspiration hit me and I couldn’t get past it. So, I started the other one. The thing is, I think I like the idea for the second one better than the first. They say that the book you end up with isn’t the book you start with. I’m barely started and that is already ringing true!

5. I’m doing MUCH better at keeping the house clean. It helps that my body is starting to recover and it doesn’t hurt to do everything anymore. I am reading more “organizational” blogs though, does that count? I read somewhere that there is a blogger roundup to clean out our offices next Tuesday. Maybe I’ll join in? If I can find where I read that at! ROFL

 So, all in all, baby steps are seeing me on the road that I want to be on. I’m on track to meet all of these goals by the end of the year.

Who do you trust? January 31, 2008

My dad died when I was 16. Don’t feel sorry for me. I’ve come to terms with it and realize now that it’s helped to shape me into the strong, confident woman that I am. And he’s with Jesus, so I know I’ll see him again someday. Which is good, because there is soooo much that I want to say.

When he died, he left behind a modest life insurance policy for my sisters and I. The day I graduated, I got a check in the mail for a nice junk of money. 3 years later, it was gone! Granted, I didn’t have as much college debt as others and I was able to not have to worry about a job my freshman year, but I still wasted a LOT of money.

We’re in the process of redoing our life insurance. At this point, we’re not entirely sure we even have life insurance anymore. We had it through the A/G for a while, but they switched companies so many times in just a few years that we’re not sure what happened with it. I just know it’s been a long time since we got anything in the mail about life insurance. So, I’m about to start shopping.

But because of my wasteful youth - and because I watched as both of my sisters made the same mistakes when they graduated - I’m looking into companies that offer trust services too. I would have been much better off if my dad had set me up with a trust and not allowed me to use the money for anything other than school until I was 25. Ideally, if something were to happen to Chip and I, I’d set up a fund that they could draw on for college. They would get the balance of the money when they graduated, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to get the money until they were 25. Maybe 30 - since it is the new 20 afterall.

So, does anyone out there have any experience with this type of thing?

Almost over??? January 21, 2008

I cannot believe that January is almost done. I measure months by Sundays and there is only one left this month! That’s crazy! Time really does seem to go faster as I get older. Someone told me it’s because a year is a smaller fraction of my life the older I get. When I was 5, a year was 1/5 of my life. Now that I’m 32, it’s 1/32 of my life. And it’s gone in a blink of an eye!

So, I figured it was time to get started on my goals. I’ve been doing a bit of research online about different financial decisions we could make.  The fact that we pay social security even though it probably won’t be around when we’re old enough to use it doesn’t really bother me because I figure right now I’m paying for my grandparents and eventually for my grandparents. But, the older we get, the more I know we need to make some of our own financial plans for the future.

And I realized as I started my research that I know little to nothing outside of information on things like car insurance and how to get a home owner insurance quote (which even though we don’t own our own home, we are covered under the churches policy).  But the people over at Financial Genius seem to cover most of the bases when it comes to filling in people like me. Maybe, just maybe I’ll get this all figured out before the month of January is over…

So, I’ve set a few goals… January 15, 2008

Not just for 2008, but for as long as it takes for me to accomplish it. And because there is nothing quite like accountability, I figure why not put it out there for all of blogdom to see…

•  I’m going to stop feeding my husband and kids so many processed foods. I don’t do a lot of that now, but I’ve realized lately that we don’t have leftovers for lunches anymore. The kids are getting older and they are eating more. I’m going to have to readust the budget so that I can make bigger meals, which will give them healthier lunches instead of depending on processed foods like mac & cheese and hot dogs.
• Which leads me to number 2 - I want to put together a working budget. And I want to work it with my husband. I’m not very good with money. There - I said it! I don’t need a lot, but pastors don’t make a lot. And we’ve lived without a budget for so long that it’s pretty much killing us by this point. When unexpected things come up, like spending $150 more than I’d planned for to register our car, it throws us into a spiral that takes us time to catch up on. We’re in an upward swing, but the important thing that came out of this was that I realized that unless my husband and I work together to get control of this thing, it’s never going to happen. And the only reason it hadn’t happened before now was that I was stubborn and didn’t want to. I had to ask God’s forgiveness and then had to ask my husbands. That was humbling.
• I want to start a savings account. My plan is to open an ING Direct savings account sometime in February and build up some savings. We have none. I don’t like having things come up that throw us off. It’s the first thing we need to remedy. My goal is to have $1000 in savings by the end of the year (thank you Dave Ramsey). We’ll see how that goes.
• I want to get my book out of my head and down on paper. I’m still not quite sure which direction I want it to take. I need to discipline myself to just start writing and see what happens. I love to write, so I don’t know why this is so hard for me. I’ve got a couple ideas for “themes” for the book - maybe I need to run them by someone. Or maybe y’all could tell me what story you’d like me to tell?
• I want to organize my house. I’ve got a whole post coming on this one very soon - maybe even later today. So I won’t bore you with those details now.

Ok, so that’s enough for now. I’ll try and keep y’all updated as the year goes on. This week I’m doing well so far for dinner. Sundays I dont’ cook, but we did have leftovers for lunch (turkey stroganoff). The kids had cereal and Chip and I had popcorn for dinner.  Yesterday we had chicken, garlic rice italiano and corn. Tonight we’re having spaghetti.  And tomorrow night we’re having ribs and potatoes. I’m starting to find my rhythm again and I’m enjoying it. I just wish my kitchen was laid out a little better.

So, there you go my faithful blog readers. I’ve set some goals - don’t be afraid to check in from time to time to see how I’m doing on them…