2011 Goals: Financial

I know I have been keeping you all in suspense with my financial goals. I've already mentioned my personal goals and my home remodeling goals but it takes some $$ to get it all done, right?

Without further ado, here are my 2011 Financial Goals.

- Pay cash for all home remodeling goals (so far off to a great start)
- Make an extra principal payment each month
- Pay off 5% of my mortgage this year. Last year I paid off 1.8%. This is ambitious but I like a challenge.
- Up my retirement savings by maxing out my Roth IRA
- Continue saving for a new car
- Pay for all travel in cash
- Pay for Christmas gifts in cash

Maybe some other things will pop up as time goes on, but for now that is what I am shooting for!!!

Menu plan, week of 1/23/11

This is a bit of a weird week for me because my job has me occupied for a few days. So, my meals are mostly taken care of. I'll be taking some convenience foods with me (homemade, of course!) and will probably be working on leftovers for the rest of the week.

All in all, it will be a nice break from cooking :)

My Coke Rewards

I have to thank Jack's mom for introducing me to MyCoke Rewards. It is possible that I have a slight Diet Coke addiction. Possibly.

Ok it is more than possible. I definitely have a Diet Coke addiction. The good news is that while I am enjoying my cool and refreshing beverage, I can also be earning points towards prizes. I like points. I definitely like points that lead to prizes. It is win win!

I am kicking myself for not investigating this possibility sooner. I mean, think of all the points I just threw away!!!

What is great about these points is that is reinforces an important lesson - every little bit matters. Each bottle cap is only 3 points. That doesn't seem like much in the grand scheme of things but when you start adding them up, well things start to matter.

The same goes for lots of other things. A coupon for $0.50 off of dish soap doesn't seem like a big deal, and at that moment it probably isn't. However, over the long run all those quarters start adding up. Before you know if you have dollars saved and then even hundreds of dollars saved. It is amazing what a few coins can turn into over the course of a year!

Homemade Granola Bars

I absolutely LOVE my homemade granola bars. I tried out a lot of recipes before finally finding this one. This one is a KEEPER!

This is the recipe I start with. It is pretty good just like that - but I like to change it up a little.

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup softened peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup rice krispie cereal (or in my case, Krispy Rice!)
Flour, wheat germ, wheat bran, flax meal, etc to equal 1/2 cup.
1 teaspoon baking soda
Mixins. I like chocolate chips but I've also tried nuts and raisins. You can basically put whatever you want in there!


So, step 1: Mix all the wet ingredients together. It makes an amazing smelling paste!

Step 2: Mix all the dry ingredients together:

Step 3: Mix everything together. This should give you a nice arm workout because this mixture is STICKY!!!


Step 4: Press into baking sheet and bake at 325* for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges are nice and brown.



Step 5: Slice into granola bar sized pieces and wrap in aluminum foil. I freeze mine and they come out just fine. I take one out of the freezer at night and by the morning it is ready to be packed in my lunch!

CVS Trip

I made a quick trip to CVS this week to use up some ECBs that were expiring. I ended up getting some toothpaste and dish soap for FREE plus I walked away with $3.50 in ECBs. Not bad at all.

You may remember that I specifically stated last month that I don't need anymore dish soap. Whoops - well it was free so whatever! I may end up donating it somewhere because I certainly won't be using it anytime in the near future.

Fight the Fat

Image by Microsoft

Faithful blog reader(s), I have unacceptable news. I recently weighed myself and found that I have gained some lbs. Yes, multiple lbs.

And seeing as how I recently spent the weekend in the Happiest Place on Earth where the primary menu items are pizza, chicken fingers, and ice cream, I am guessing that the number of lbs is even more than it was last time I checked.

Something needs to be done about this!

Quick Frugal Tip

Since I live by myself I tend to generate only a small amount of garbage each week. At most, I might fill up 1 regular sized kitchen bag.

This presents a problem when it comes to perishable garbage like chicken trimmings and produce items. If I throw it in a partially full garbage bag, I will probably take the garbage out before the bag is full. This is wasteful and results in my using more garbage bags than I need to.

So what do I do?

I freeze my perishable garbage. Yep, yep I do.

I keep a plastic bag on the bottom shelf of my freezer and fill it up with 'smelly garbage.' When my garbage bag is ready to be taken out, I take the bag out of the freezer and toss it. No mess and no smell!