January 2012

[Honeylioness]

Honeylioness - 03 Jan 2012 at 3:38pm

Final December Numbers:

28 NEO
27 NSD/CSD


January Goals:

28 NEO
25 NSD/CSD


Christmas - This was not the best holiday season I have had. There are a number of things that I did not do or go to for various reasons. Primarily because of how I was feeling.


I have been thinking of some goals for myself in the short term - as in the month of January as a start.

Job Hunt: I want to have THREE face to face interviews for full time positions.

House: Wash the baseboards on the stairs and in the hallway.

Bedroom: Go through my closet and try on all the shirts and skirts. Set aside for donation anything that no longer fits.

Creativity: Finish tree skirt. Work four hours on colorways quilt.

Financial: Try to come in under budget for Groceries. I did lower the budgeted amount after the girls moved out.

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shanendoah - Jan 4, 2012, 11:15am

Honey: *hugs* and definitely get out and see some friends. Have some fun, social get togethers, it will help tremendously. Best of luck on the job front.


spruby - 05 Jan 2012 at 7:02am

honey - BIG hugs. I am so sorry.

Based on my own experience - yes for some friends you became contagious by losing your job. They don't know what to say or do around you. They are worried about your money (if they see you will you ask them for money? will you still be willing to spend money? will you expect them to spend money on you?)

And a lot of them are thinking - if it could happen to honey - what about me?! And this scares them. It makes the national crisis awfully personal.

Continue to reach out to those you really value. Continue to value those that are still reaching out to you. And this makes it more important than ever to get out of the house and be with people - networking events, clubs, volunteer, anything. Even introverts don't often realize how much casual social contact they really need until it has been reduced/eliminated.

Big hugs.


azmom - 05 Jan 2012 at 10:12am

Honey: {{{Hugs}}} I wasn't a very good friend to any one this holiday. There was just so much overwhelming crap going on that I just went into survival mode and pulled away from everyone. I think Spruby is on to something. Sometimes as silly as it may be, we don't always know how to be a friend or respond to someone else's crisis so we stay away. I say we because I am a big offender but I am working on being a better friend this year


sheilaincali - 05 Jan 2012 at 10:48am

Honey- everything Spruby said is accurate. When DH and I were unemployed people felt awkward inviting us to do things with them because they didn't know what our budget looked like. Then they would feel awkward inviting us over for dinner in case we saw a new purchase they had made and were jealous. Plus people do think unemployment is contagious.

Keep reaching out to those that matter. Hopefully they will understand that you need your friends to be friends not to be a lending establishment or a reference or whatever might be scaring them away.

Hugs to you Honey


redwagon - 05 Jan 2012 at 11:39am

Honey - more hugs for you. Sorry you had such a downer holiday. Wishing you lots of luck in finding a new position!

[Honeylioness]

azmom - 04 Jan 2012 at 10:03am

I have a Question of the Week (QOTW): Since we are doing a back to basic month; What is one Basic Piece of Financial Advice that has made an impact in your life?

I'll have to think about my own answer and respond later.


redwagon - 04 Jan 2012 at 10:32am

QOTW: The biggest help for me has been tracking my spending. Some people say track for a month or two. I've tracked every cent for over four years (almost 5, holy crap) since I started on the WIR boards. My methods of doing so have changed, but at the end of the month I'm always able to look and say "Oh, I spent too much on lunches" or whatnot. Always a work in progress, but always enlightening.


Honeylioness - 04 Jan 2012 at 9:55pm »

QOTW - The One Basic Piece of Financial Advice that I have found very helpful in getting more control of my spending was tracking all my spending and being diligent about entering that information into my spreadsheets. That has been a great tool in showing me where my leaks were and where I have made my goals.


moneysquirrel - 04 Jan 2012 at 10:45pm

QOTW -- I have several but most of tham have already been mentioned -- the compound interest one, and the use of spreadsheets. But the most important one is to pay yourself first. Add a line in your budget for savings -- you can start small and build up as you can. Even $5 each payday over time will build up.


azmom - 05 Jan 2012 at 10:12am

QOTW: I know it is a no brainer to only spend what you have but when I first started we were living off of our CC's and now we haven't used one in over 2+ years. If we don't have it, we don't have it (sometime I do throw a pity party but I suck it up and deal with it.)


sheilaincali - 05 Jan 2012 at 10:23am

QOTW- Gosh it's hard to narrow that down. I would guess it would be to have a budget from day one and always spend less than what you make. If you do that you will always have money to put in savings and hopefully prevent yourself from accruing unnecessary debt.


shanendoah - 05 Jan 2012 at 10:47am

QOTW: I still think the most basic thing for me is- you don't have to do it alone. Support groups like this one are the honest keys to my success. Otherwise, I guess it is being aware of where your money goes. You have to know when/where you're spending your money if you have any hopes of changing how you spend your money.


dakota4600 - 06 Jan 2012 at 9:49am

QOTW- Have a plan for the money you are saving. Last year we didn't and our savings reflected that. I looked back and only made two transfers to savings all year, besides the auto scheduled ones. This year I'm focusing on a car replacement fund, so I have something to ear mark that money for. Another part of our problem is that we fully funded our E-fund in 2010, so we didn't feel the urgency to continue saving. But now that DH is most likely going to buy a newer truck (current one is 1986) we'll need to replenish our car fund. But after spending 1200 on two new beds in 2012 we need to refocus on savings.



muttleynfelix - 06 Jan 2012 at 10:36am

QOTW - For me, the thing I have to do is not just track my spending but actually pay attention to if it is going where I am thinking it is going and if it is going somewhere else to do something about it.



ses - Jan 6, 2012, 9:54pm


QOTW

Ladies I think we have a personal finance bestseller or seminar on our hands. The first eight chapters are powerful.
1. Find or create a support group
2. Live on less than you earn
3. Pay yourself first
4. Use compound interest (a favorite of Moneysquirrel and Albert Einstein)
5. Create and follow a realistic budget
6. Carefully track your spending
7. Carry no credit card debt
8. Have a plan for your savings
9. It is OK if you have a failure, get right back on track

The only thing I would add is to keep reading and learning to manage your money, instead of letting your money manage you.


sbcalimom - 09 Jan 2012 at 2:13pm

QOTW:
I think one thing I learned that hasn't already been mentioned is that it's ok to fail as long as you keep trying. This is HUGE for me because I am a bit OCD and type A about things so I often just give up when things don't go right. I've learned through these boards that we all make mistakes and screw up from time to time but what's important is what we do afterwards. I've really embraced that for this year and am revamping my systems to make them easier on me but still workable for what I need to track.

I've been very good about staying on budget for the first week of January. We are totally ok on groceries/rest. and the girls exepsnes for the rest of the month but household spending might be a bit tight. I budget $150 and I wonder if I'm not budgeting enough or if I just buy too much crap. I'm hoping to determine that during the first quarter of the year. DH is also supposed to list a bunch of baby stuff on Craigslist today so if it sells then I'll probably use that for extra household stuff.

[Honeylioness]

azmom - 06 Jan 2012 at 1:47pm

Question: Am I the only one who has an increasing WANT to spend money when I know we don't have it. Things are like to the penny this check and I find myself just wanted (needing) to spend frivolously (like a soda, grabbing lunch-not major purchases) DH said he has noticed the less money we have the more we eat out. Isn't that just crazy! The funny thing is when we get a surplus of money none of us wants to spend a dime of it! Go figure.

[Honeylioness]

azmom - 09 Jan 2012 at 5:30pm

Question of the Week (QOTW): Inspired by sbcalimom: How do you deal with setbacks or NS failures? What keeps you motivated to continue to track your NS/CS days?


mizbear - 10 Jan 2012 at 5:32pm

QOTW- I stay motivated by knowing that NO setback is permanent.


MittenKitten - 10 Jan 2012 at 1:01pm

QOTW: I keep my eyes on the long term goal. For me that is to retire by the age of 60 and have the finances to be able to do it and not worry about money. Also making sure my EF is funded for those emergencies. Also learning to be realisitic about life, for example your hothingyer heater will last an average of 7 years now so you need to figure in those types of expenses into your life.

When I go to my tax guy he shakes his head and askes me why I have so many accounts. Well to me they are really sub accounts. I have one for Disney which will take years to fund, I have an EF, I have a home fund and the kids each have a fund. They are through ING so I can see them all at once but I know where the money is allocated to. I should probably have a car fund as DF's vehicle will need to be replaced, probably in the next 2-3 years but we also have the truck. So he can always drive that or we can sell it and that will cover a lot of the cost of a used vehicle.


Honeylioness - 10 Jan 2012 at 9:07pm


QOTW - When I have a budget set back I beat myself up for a day. Not that I recommend this - it is just my personality. Then when I have settled down I take a look and try and identify why it happened. Was it that I didn't plan correctly? Was it an emergency? Or did I just indulge myself and perhaps it was okay. Then I get back on schedule.

Shopping - For Christmas my mother sent me cash to purchase some new skirts for my job search and interviews. However, much to my dismay, most stores don't seem to carry skirts anymore. Now call me old fashioned but I don't wear pants except for once or twice a year. I actually spent over three hours at the local mall and scouted through six stores looking for simple black skirts.

The only ones I was able to find that were not clearance party skirts were selling for $45 a piece. And even though it was gift money I just couldn't spend that much on one skirt. I think I may need to start making my own clothes again at this rate.

Finally at Sears I did find some skirts that were appropriate for work and they were on the Clearance racks. Three with a flared gore at the knee in a soft micro-suede type material that came with little beaded belts: One in dark brown, one black and one a deep purple. I also found a dark khaki green twill and one denim. I also found on sale a "foundation" garment. So for five skirts and the one foundation piece I paid $80 and change. So I felt pretty good about that deal.


shanendoah - 11 Jan 2012 at 1:39pm

QOTW: In a word, forgiveness. I have to be able to forgive myself for messing up, because none of us are perfect. Like Honey, i do review why the spending happened, but in my case it's often that I was tired and cranky and just wanted a cup of chai. I am much better about that then I used to be, but it still happens. And sometimes, it's just like the entire month of December when it felt like nothing was going according to plan.

I have to be able to take a deep breath, determine what I can do to prevent the fail in the future (if there is anything I can do), and then just let it go.


redwagon - 11 Jan 2012 at 4:09pm

QOTW: I ususally sit down and look over all my financial spreadsheets, goals, etc for some motivaton. As though by just LOOKING at my budget I will be able to better stick to it.