Metroplex Savers: 2012 Goals: January Monthly Update

At the start of the new year, I listed my personal & financial goals HERE. I have printed and posted these in my closet so I look at them EVERY DAY! It helps me keep motivated and on track. At the end of every month, I will be posting an update. Here is my January update:

Personal: (a lot of these are continuous)

* Lose 30 lbs - I have lost 8 pounds since 1/1/12.

* Cut coke from Diet - No drop of coke since 1/1/12.

* Eat more fish - I’ve been eating tuna for lunch often.

* Spend more time reading and relaxing - I have been taking time out of my evening to lounge on the couch with my blanket, a cup of hot, green tea and a book. This month, I read Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. I thought this was a fantastic book. It has great points on finding contentment in every aspect of your life and trusting God with your questions. I am going to try to read another "whole" book in February.

* Load dishes in dishwasher as we dirty them - This has worked out extremely well! Anytime we use a dish, we immediately load it in the dishwasher instead of putting it in the sink. This has helped tremendously with the after dinner clean up. All I have to do is load a few dishes when we are done eating. My husband even said he loves coming home to an empty kitchen sink. The object is to make sure the dishwasher is always empty. So every 2-3 days when we have a full load, I start the wash over night, then when I get up in the morning I immediately empty the dishwasher. That way, any dishes we use for the day can be automatically loaded.

* Research home flipping and put together business model - Nothing yet

* Earn extra $600-$1,000 by any means possible - We earned $100.25 in January. Brian earned an extra $80.25 for running the clock at high school basketball games, and I earned $20 for subbing a voice lesson. I've also posted a few things on Craigslist, but no serious hits yet.

Financial:

* ~~Save & Pay Cash for Spring Break Trip~~ - My family is wanting to take a camping trip again this year, which will be significantly cheaper than our original plan of Las Vegas. So we no longer have to save for this.

* Pay off school loans - We are 75% paid off and plan to be 100% at the end of February.

* 3 months of expenses saved in Emergency Fund

* Start IRA, Contribute monthly

* Start investing ($150/month) - We might cut this...we'll see

* Save & Pay Cash for Summer Vacation

* Save & Pay Cash for New Car - see below

* Walk Dusty Bottoms (our dog) more - I’ve been walking him on the weekends and some in the evenings. So far so good.

**NEW** Pay cash for Brian's Master's Degree - Brian wants to start his master's program this summer. We should have the available cash to pay in full for each semester. Yay!

We keep toying with the idea of "do we really NEED a new car." My car is 10 years, Brian's is 9. We really want to have a "newer" car when we start a family. His truck only seats 2, and my car seats 4 very uncomfortably. It's not really ideal for a baby. We also want to pay cash for the baby delivery. So I think what we ultimately decided to do is after we pay off debt, fund our emergency fund, start an IRA, then contribute fully every month...whatever monies are left over at the end of the month will go into a savings account for a baby delivery AND a new car. Hopefully all works out!

We are super excited that we are starting to see the fruits of our labor - all our hard work earning money AND saving is really helping.

Sacrifice today for a better tomorrow!