May Financial Update

Financial Goals

Now that I have moved into my new house, I am ready to tackle some of my financial goals. In order to keep myself accountable, I wanted to write them all down without getting into specifics.

Dave Ramsey style goals
1. Pay off all debt other than my mortgage. Wahoo!
2. Fully fund an emergency fund by the end of December 2010 - Started the month at 55% of goal, ended at 65% of goal.

Retirement
3. Achieve 100% of goal for retirement savings by the time I turn 30. Basically I think it would be cool to achieve a certain number by the time I am 30. Right now I am at 80% of this goal. -
Right now I am looking at about 82% of goal.

However, given market fluctuation can be unpredictable, I have secondary goals.
a. Open Roth IRA account - Haven't opened one yet, but I did make progress by combining my 2 accounts from my earlier jobs into 1 account.
b. Max out this account for 2010. This may be ambitious but we'll see how far I get.
c. Contribute 2% more per month to 401K. Right now I am contributing the maximum employer match but I can be doing better. - Haven't started this yet.

Some other misc. goals I'd like to make progress on, but may end up being a little ambitious for this year - definitely possible in 2011 though!
4. Start making an extra principal payment per month before the end of 2010 - Not yet
5. Start contributing the equivalent of a car payment per month into a savings account by the end of 2010. My vehicle is 7 years old and shows no sign of stopping but eventually it will need to be replaced and I would like to pay for it with cash. - Not yet

CSA, week 6

We could easily call this week "The Week of Squash!" because we got 9 summer squashes this week to share. Happily, Candice took away half of them because I still have my squash left over from last week. Not to mention that my squash plants are BLOOMING like CRAZY. I may end up with too much squash this summer.... :)
So this week I ended up with:
1 onion
a bunch of lettuce
an unidentifiable green veggie (collards?)
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch cauliflower
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash

I am thinking this week might have to involve some salads. I've had a bit of a break from them so I think I can handle eating them again. I still have quite a bit of veggies in the fridge from past weeks so I think the only way to get through a good chunk of them is to eat some salads. Also, I am planning on making some serious zucchini bread! I can always freeze it and who doesn't like some zucchini bread!!

June Household Goals

In addition to my financial goals (which I will address in a separate post), I have also decided to write down some household goals for June. I am really feeling the need for a master list because I have been feeling a little disjointed recently. I know my tendencies so I need a list to keep me on track. I am sure I will be adding to this throughout the month but here is the start of the June Master List.

General Household To-Do:
Paint all 3 bathrooms
Paint kitchen
Sign up for dance class
Sell/give away entertainment center
Sell desk
Buy entertainment center that fits in my house
Post books on Amazon.com (was going to donate them because I didn't want to keep them around to sell them...but they've been sitting here all month so I might as well try to sell them...)

Day-to-day Goals:
Iron clothes and make lunch at night (I've been feeling very rushed in the morning)
Make bed in the morning (sounds stupid to have to put on a to-do list...but due to feeling rushed I haven't been doing it and it throws everything off)
Exercise 1/hr most days (this counts lunch time walks, swimming, or anything else I come up with)

So that is it for now... I am sure more will be added as time goes on. I think that is a good start for now though.

Surprises!

So I was really in the mood for ice cream tonight but I was trying to be good because I really didn't have any $$ left in the budget for things like that. So instead I stayed home to do laundry and just relax around the house. When I took my laundry out to put into the dryer, a surprise fell out!
JACKPOT! $5 fell out of the laundry! It was like a gift from the 'its Friday night and you should do something fun' Gods!!! So, I took it down to the Harris Teeter and got myself some chocolate ice cream. YUM! :)

Tour my fridge

Today I am going to take you on a tour of my fridge! You will see how badly I am drowning in produce here! I need some help...or some recipes!

As you can see my fridge is pretty bare overall. On the door I have some cranberry juice (blech - but necessary to help with my 'issues'), tomato sauce, peanut butter, and condiments.Shelf number 1:Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. In the tupperware containers I have leftovers from a potluck I brought a pepper, carrot, and cucumber salad to. I also have some extra peppers sliced up too.
Shelf 2:1/2 cucumber
1/2 zucchini
1 yellow squash1 bunch of parsley

Drawer 1:Lettuce
Spinach

Drawer 2:Carrots and Arugula


Um ya - so I have seriously nothing but veggies. I have plenty of dry goods in my pantry - maybe I will take you on a tour of that one day soon too - but ya, in the fridge, veggies, veggies, and more veggies!

CSA, week 5

It is another great week for the CSA! The bad thing is - I am still trying to catch up from last week! I have produce coming out my ears!!!

I forgot to take a picture of everything together this week but here is my portion:

1 bunch of broccoli1 bunch of cauliflower
1/2 of a GINORMOUS zucchini1 yellow squash
1/2 head of lettuce
1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 fennel
I have to say - some of the items were a mystery to me this time.

This, for instance.

What is it?!?! Apparently it is fennel which I do not think I like. It smells like licorice which I definitely am not a fan of so I am guessing that I am not going to be a huge fan of this...might need to find someone else to take this one...

And what is with the cone?!?! I mean, obviously it is a lettuce or cabbage of some kind but I have never seen one shaped like a cone before! So cool!
And for fun, here is a perspective picture of the zucchini. Seriously - HUGE!


I am very annoyed with the sideways images! You get the idea though.

CVS

CVS has a pretty sweet ECB deal going on if you are willing to spend a little $$ out of pocket to generate some ECBs. I didn't have any ECBs stored up so I was looking for a way to generate some.

Right now the Gillette body wash is on sale for $4 each with a $4 ECB (limit 2). At some point there was a coupon for a Buy 1 Get 1 Gillette body wash that would make this a $4 money maker. There was also a save $4 on 2 body washes that would essentially accomplish the same thing.

Anyway, I walked over to my local CVS and they actually did have some body wash left (the good deals seem to go fast!). So I paid $4.62 out of pocket with tax and got back $8 in ECBs.


Of course I believe it is 'man-scented' body wash but soap is soap, right? :)