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Archive for December, 2008

Tentative Plan 2009

December 30th, 2008 at 12:02 am

I still have a lot of finance work to do for my church's finance board, so my focus is mostly on that right now. But it still excites me to read about everyone's goals for the new year, so I keep sneaking a few moments to check in with the blogs and stay motivated for my own goals.

Flew home to visit with my parents and my brother and neice and nephew over the Christmas week. We had a great time sitting around and eating and it got me thinking about how important family is. I'm 8 hours away and I'm beginning to think about moving closer... Went without my spouse, just me and the kid, and was somewhat disappointed to return home to the spouse. I'm hanging in there with my marriage, but the good conversation with my 'family of origin' made me sad and disappointed about the lack of partnership in finances and other things with my spouse. I've given up on trying to make the marriage better and am just trying to be content and make the best of the situation (he is, after all, a nice guy...and he cooks!!) Maybe the new year will have us in a better place...

Anyway, tentative budget ideas for 2009...I've been inspired by so many blogs. This year instead of doing a monthly budget and spending track by month, I think I'll do a paycheck budget PER paycheck and PER pay period. Then using that, I'll do a yearly tracking of year-to-date expenses against a yearly budget and percentage spent of yearly budget instead of trying to fit it into calendar months. Think it was Sheila's Personal Finance Blog that gave me that idea (thanks Sheila!).

Think (hope) this will give me a clearer picture of my spending and saving. Even though monthly budgets is what I've always done, I find lately that it's been difficult to reconcile some of my numbers at the end of the year. I get paid every 2 weeks and somehow it throws off my budget numbers when I have to stretch the paycheck at the end of one month into the first week of the next month. Anyway, I think this will work better for me this year.

More ideas to come...

Nearing the End of the Year

December 18th, 2008 at 01:08 am

Haven't written in a while. This is a quick check-in. I'm one of the finance chairpersons at my church and this time of year requires me to work out the church's financials during my spare time. This includes input on the church's budget and typing it up on Excel, plus finalizing the bulk of the data entry to print out the individual contribution statements of their tithes and offerings. Busy time for me and I have less time to focus on my own numbers.

Plus, there's Christmas shopping and traveling.

However, I was just checking in, reading the blogs, and it's SO much fun to read about everyone's 2009 goals! I'm thinking I'll work on smaller goals toward the first of the year (like fully funding my Christmas shopping account). Then I'll work on heavier goals after checking off a few small goals. I have a lot I want to do, just need to prioritize and update my sidebar. Main goal: Save as much as possible!!

I feel inspired by everyone. My spouse and my son are still not on board or working with me (they appear to be working against me). In fact, I'm bracing myself for my son being at home for the Christmas break...he's high maintenance and I have to stay focused! But I'm still excited and still working on both my spouse and my son. Hope to blog again soon. Everyone else...keep up the inspiration.