So it seems that I can only focus on tracking one major thing in my life at a time... I did well on the working out/food diary for a couple of months, but everything else suffered. Tracking my finances is only successful a few months at a time, it also seems. I'm going to make it a goal to change this.

My last post was in December of 2012. It's now August of 2013. My, how the time flies. So first, a (very) brief update of my life up til now:

1. I graduated with my Master's! Wooo!!! It was a very stressful last few months of school, but I got through it and am very relieved that I'm no longer in school but....

2. Now I have to pay off those student loans. And my minimum payments every month come up to roughly $550. That's more than my rent.

3. I didn't end up getting sent to 6 months of training for the Army! Woooooo!!!! I will now just be doing my one weekend a month/two weeks in the summertime until my contract is up in November of next year, but...

4. I now need a full-time job. I'm working as a consultant for a communications firm full-time (and for great pay!), but only through mid-November, as my major client is a county-wide levy campaign. I'm using my network and starting to think about putting in applications now.

5. BF and I are still together and very happy I stayed in my apartment, though I negotiated my landlord down $25/month. This is the longest I've lived in one place since moving out of my parents'-- 3 years in this place will be huge for me.

So! Now that the student loan payments have started, money is tighter and I'd really like to focus on kicking this debt in the butt. As always, when I'm not holding myself accountable for my spending, or tracking it, I tend to make stupid purchases-- mostly in the form of eating at restaurants constantly, walking out of Target with $100 worth of unintended purchases, and otherwise spending here and there on crap I don't need.

So here's what I'm going to do: I'm NOT going to track every penny I spend. That's my usual method, and it works great for 1, 2, 3 months, tops. I'm just going to wing it. BUT... I'm also going to give a check-in every day (or every-other). I've learned my own habits over the years enough to know that not holding myself accountable means frugal spending goes right out the window, along with healthy eating, working out, focusing on my career, and making sure to invest in my relationships. Life just gets in the way. And I'll admit, I get lazy and sometimes it's easier to just not think about it.

I still have goals. Big goals. That I plan to track. But I have to set my expectations to realistic. So here we go:

I've done a great job this week bringing my lunch and not hitting restaurants for dinner. Yesterday I hit the grocery store and bought hummus, veggies, fruit, and coffee creamer. The coffee place on the first floor of our building isn't as bad as Starbucks, but it's certainly not great, either. I can stand to save a few bucks a week.

Boss bought lunch today (and portions were big enough to take home and eat leftovers for dinner tonight).

I was contacted by an old client to do some editing work-- $200 for a dissertation. I agreed, and will use that money toward debt.

I realize that I really need to buy some new work clothes. I only have one pair of dress pants that really fit me well. I also really need some new heels. Mine are gross. I have a $120 visa gift card that I'll likely use toward that-- and I'm going to hit the consignment shop sometime this week to check that out before going to the mall.

Still need to fix the windows on my car. I'm waiting until my next paycheck comes for that, though. Same with going to the doctor.

My major goals right now are: Pay off CC (again). Build up my Emergency Fund (again). Pay off $12k loan.

I had no income for a few weeks, and didn't get paid for all of July until last week. My payment is also back-loaded, so I got paid less in July than I will for the next few months... So I went through my EF pretty quickly and ran up the CC as well.

Nonetheless, I have some rather sizable paychecks coming up- so I'm confident it will all work out okay Thanks all for reading my rambling. I hope you are all doing well!