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Business Planning

April 29th, 2015 at 05:58 pm

When I first started my photography business, it came about as a "maybe I could do this for money" experiment. Now it's something a bit more, but I've noticed that the important elements of my business - brand, client management, administration and accounting, and marketing - have all kind of evolved ad hoc.

Now, I'm trying to do the work of formalizing everything and planning to go from where I am to where I really want to be. Income for the most part is steady, but I'd like to focus more on transitioning to a boutique model - taking on less clients, but focusing on giving them an amazing experience.

So for the last week I've been really trying to nail down who my ideal client is, what sorts of products I'd really like to be focusing on, and how I should be shaping those important elements of the business.

Needless to say, it's been a busy week! Throw in a wedding this past weekend, and one coming up... I'm going to be out of steam before long!

Nonetheless, it's got me really excited about where things can go, and I feel a lot more secure about transitioning the brand (and my physical location!) with a plan in place. I have a hard time narrowing my focus - I tend to want to do everything, and be everything to everyone. But I'm comfortable with where I'm headed, and right now I'm feeling a lot of momentum. I just have to figure out the details of how the transition will take place, what timing makes sense, and how I can lessen the blow of a rebranding effort. Thankfully, I'm not several years in - so I think it'll be pretty easy. Restructuring my website and building out a customer database that's optimal will be the real work of it. Oh, and hiring an accountant. That needs to happen soon.

So that's that.

***

As for spending, things have been pretty good. I paid all of the May bills I could. No real spending on things I don't need.

I transferred $1,000 to A to start my repayment of my tax money, so that's some progress.

Also collected some client payments this week, and got another booking for 2016! So I'll have a deposit coming in on top of that.

I have to say I'm ready to be leaving April. This was a pretty crazy month for me financially, with taxes due and my ill preparedness. But things are looking up! I'm feeling ready for the fresh start of the spring - and ready for it to start actually feeling like spring. Bring on the warm weather!

Playing Catchup

April 21st, 2015 at 01:09 pm

Now that things have settled down on the tax front, and business has started picking up... it's time to play catchup! Time to start tackling those goals:

[ ] Pay A back for taxes ($4,800)
[ ] Save for EF ($2,000)
[ ] Pay down CCs (approx. $5,000)
[ ] Pay down Sallie Mae Loan (It's at $10,300ish right now. A constant battle...)

I also need to set up my estimated tax payments. So I don't end up with this problem next year.

That being said, I got a $1,400 payment in the mail yesterday (woo!) and have another about the same before the end of the week (woo again!). Right now I have about $2,645 to work with, and that second payment will bring me up to almost $4,000.

So now comes the matter of allocating money.

I'll pay my bills first, of course. Then I'll set aside the $1,656 I'll need for my Q1 estimated tax payment, and anything left goes to A. Next month I should be able to pay off the remainder of the tax money I owe - as I'll be *hopefully* finishing up a project that has a $7,000 value. My plan is also to put money into my savings next month. I don't have enough booked out for June and July to cover my expenses yet.

***

In other news, I got an email from the readiness NCO at my former unit - my army contract ended back in November, and we're still trying to get my student loan payments in order. She sent me forms to fill out and I was confused, as I had just filled them out last year and hadn't seen a payment posted yet.

She said the new forms are for my final payment. So I'm going in there next week to finish up the final steps and get some timeframe for when the payments will be made. My contract included $18k in student loan repayment, which will eliminate about 30% of my debt. Not bad. Unfortunately, it will likely only cover my non-private loans (which are the ones without astronomical interest rates). But I'm certainly not going to complain. That's $18k I wouldn't have had otherwise! I just hope we finally get it in motion. I was in the military for 6 years, and that paperwork is such craziness that it hasn't been until now that we're starting to get it right. ugh.

***

I think that's it for me now. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Sunday Funday

April 12th, 2015 at 03:32 pm

And by that I mean, I'm cleaning and working out. haha. The fiance's parents and sister are coming up to have dinner for his birthday, which was earlier in the week. It'll be a nice day Smile

Spending this week was a little more than expected with his B-day. I got him an e-cigarette as a gift, as he's quitting smoking. We also had a really nice steak dinner that was almost $100. I have a separate budget for his birthday stuff this month, so I'm still not exceeding anything on my usual budgets.

Next weekend we'll be doing our "big" celebration, and I'll be spending quite a bit. Thankfully, I've taken on a couple more projects this week, and I'm getting paid for a big one soon. I'd feel guilty for the spending, but honestly he's helped me so much financially in the past few years. His 30th deserves to be big.

Speaking of his helping me, we transferred $4,800 to my account yesterday so I can finish filing my taxes. The payback period will begin as soon as I have this month all figured out.

The only other expense I had this week were the save the dates for the wedding - I designed them myself and the printing was pretty cheap. We spent under $50. Now it's time to collect those addresses!

Coming up this week, I need to make my car payment, take care of the cable bill, and grab some more groceries (though that should be no more than $30).

It's going to be a fairly busy week - I've got a prospective client meeting tomorrow morning. Thursday I'm going to this BNI networking meeting - to check it out, and evaluate whether or not the dues are worth the referrals I would get. I don't mind paying a few hundred dollars if it actually pays off. And I feel like the corporate side of my business is something that is expanding quickly, and really well suited to my background in marketing. Saturday I've got a baby session in the morning and then I'm photographing an event in the evening - then going directly to dinner with friends, and then to the hotel room to party for the fiance's party.

It'll go quickly, but I've still got so much planning to do!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday Smile

February Recap

February 27th, 2015 at 01:50 pm

What. A. Week.

Things started out rough, but they've increasingly gotten better the closer to the weekend we've gotten. Go figure Smile

I hopped on Mint and took a look at my monthly budget and spending to see the damage, as February will be coming to a close in a measly 2 days. Seriously, how fast is time moving this year. Amirite?

Income *---

Income this month was pretty much alarming. I budgeted for $3,250. I actually only made $1,422. Part of the difference is about $1k in outstanding invoices that my clients haven't paid. But still my budget was supposed to be a conservative number - in reality I expected to book another wedding or two (particularly because my bookings were so poor in January).

In good news, though, I did have a contract signed this week, ending my painful dry spell. And I've met and/or talked with a handful of prospective clients this week - and feel confident that at least two of them will be booking with me for 2015.

Still no 2016 dates on my calendar. I'm not sure if people are just procrastinating more this year, but ah well. We're planning on moving out of state in May 2016 - so it's probably not terrible that my calendar isn't full of weddings in Ohio.

Spending *---

I've got to say I'm a bit proud of myself. Most months my budget is awash with red come the end of the month. This month? I only went over in two categories: Business Expenses and Credit Card Payments. Clearly I'm not upset to be paying more on my CC.

I have a really hard time staying within my budget for my business. Most of the time, they are necessary purchases - printer ink cartridges, parking downtown so I can work my big project, prints for clients, etc.

I was $150 over my budget. The only "extra" I purchased this month was an online class for $50 that was worth every penny. The $50 in printer cartridges was unexpected as well. I also spent $190 in client prints - which are included in their packages, so they're non-optional. I guess I kind of forget how much it all adds up.

Nonetheless, I'm very proud of myself for not going over in any other category. I did have some purchases that I'm sure were non-essential - clothing purchases (all work clothes), some nail polish that was definitely more "my day has been crap so I'm going to treat myself" than a necessity. I did buy lunch a couple of days, and I'm going to keep that to a minimum going forward. We didn't really go out much this month, though. So our entertainment spending was record-breaking low.

I didn't use even half my budget for restaurants, and I used zero of it for bars/alcohol. I also managed to only spend $16 on gas this entire month. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'll take it!

Rest of the Year Outlook *---

Looking at my bookings for the year, I've got $30k total income so far. My goal for the year was to hit $42k - so I've got $12k to book still.

I looked over my model to readjust my goals:

- 2 more weddings in 2015
- 7 portrait sessions
- 5 event/commercial
- 10 weddings for 2016

If I can make those targets, I'll meet my goal. I think that's entirely doable, and I hope I'm right. Well, I hope I go above and beyond my goal really - because my expenses are going to be way above my predictions (particularly in the case of my business), and I want to make sure I'm not struggling. Running a business is just frickin' expensive. But honestly, it's everything to me.

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a great February, and will have a successful March! Bring on the nice(r) weather!

January Recap and Wedding Updates

February 1st, 2015 at 06:15 pm

I can't believe it's already February! Goodness, time is flying by this year. I took a look at my spending for the year, and where I did my spending - and where I exceeded my budget.





As usual, the bulk of my spending was on business expenses. This month more so than usual, too. I had to file/pay my sales tax from the entirety of 2014 - and purchase the vendor's license I didn't realize I needed. I also bought a new lens for $1,300 this week. A big ouch, yes. It's one that I planned on purchasing this year regardless, as I've been renting it for weddings. And I decided to get it earlier than expected because it was on sale at my local camera store, I get to deduct the rental expenses on the lens (within 30 days), and there was a $100 rebate at the store that wasn't online. So it's the cheapest I would have gotten it. Nonetheless, it's still an ouch. And I had to draw from my savings account. So I owe $1200 to that account for tax expenses. If I can't make it up before tax time, I'll just pull from the vacation account.

Everything else was pretty usual. I actually ended up spending under my budget for groceries, restaurants, and gas.

I made about as much as I expected to this month - but only because I had about $400 from selling books and camera equipment. The income from my business was about as much short, which was quite the bummer. I really expected to a couple of weddings this month, but with the bridal show being such an epic bust that didn't work out so well.

Thankfully, though, I have a bigger project coming up for the next couple of months - conceptualizing and building out a website for a previous employer. So that'll definitely help cushion things a bit for the winter, when I'm generally pretty slow. Nonetheless, I need to be really picky with what I spend on this month.

***

In good news, the dress I ordered online to hopefully be my wedding dress arrived - and it looks great! I'm proud to say that I found a dress for a whopping $35!!!! The dress I found and Nordstrom Rack (shorter, but still really adorable and dressy) was $26, and will be my rehearsal dinner dress.

For anyone who is interested in seeing what it looks like...

Text is http://us.asos.com/ASOS-Maxi-Dress-With-Crochet-Lace-Yoke/13jbrh/?iid=3829178&r=1&mk=VOID&mporgp=L0FTT1MvQVNPUy1NYXhpLURyZXNzLVdpdGgtQ3JvY2hldC1MYWNlLVlva2UvUHJvZC8. and Link is
http://us.asos.com/ASOS-Maxi-Dress-With-Crochet-Lace-Yoke/13...

Next weekend I'm having my bridesmaids, mom, and future mother in law over for brunch to discuss wedding plans and sift through some of the ideas I have. Really excited to get everyone together - particularly because our moms haven't met yet. Big stuff coming up.

It's been really fun trying to come up with awesome ways to cut down on the cost of the wedding. I'm a very competitive person, and "beating the system" is oddly satisfying to me Smile I look at these wedding forums where I see girls paying upwards of $3k for flowers, and I'm like NOPE. I'm going with silk flowers - cheaper, and I can keep them forever and use them again. I'm really big on purchasing things for the wedding we can use again. lol. I may be a strangely practical bride, but I can't remember the details of a single bouquet in any wedding I've been to (or shot). Some things just aren't that important.

It also helps that we're getting married in a barn, so we can really milk that "rustic" thing for all it's worth Wink

Monday Update

January 26th, 2015 at 03:43 pm

It's been almost a week since my last update. Usually that's slight cause for alarm - when I'm not paying attention and checking in, I'm usually bad about spending. But I've been relatively intentional about each purchase. Rather than just throwing money about willy-nilly, I think about where that purchase fits into my priorities. So I did pretty well!

Some purchases this week:

- $11 on beer for a board game night. For me, that's much better than heading to a bar and spending $20+.
- $26 at Staples. This was a business expense.
- $11 parking. I was running late, and probably could have found a metered spot downtown, but just had to swallow it.
- $3 for a piece of plywood. Also a business expense. I made a laser-engraved sign for my clients to use during a shoot.
- $45 for a dress. This very well may be my wedding dress! I'm waiting for it to be delivered, but if it works out I'd say that's a good purchase Smile
- $53 on groceries at Aldi. The fiance came shopping with me, so he bought everything at Giant Eagle.
- $99 for Amazon Prime hit my account this week as well. Unplanned, but honestly I use it so much that it pays for itself without a doubt.

This coming week should be pretty okay as well. I'm meeting a friend at Panera on Wednesday, but I may just eat lunch before I go and grab a coffee. We're doing dinner and games with friends tonight, board games tomorrow. I have a shoot on Wednesday evening. No plans the rest of the week.

***

I did forget to add to my 52 week challenge last week, so I'm going to go ahead and do both last and this week today.

$20 Previous total
+ $21 Last Week
+ $9 This Week

$50 New Total

That puts the total for my travel savings account at $796.73. Not too shabby!

***

I've gotten a few inquiries about shooting recently, so hopefully I'll be pulling in a bit more income soon. It would certainly be nice... I was really planning to book at least 1-2 weddings this month, and I've got nothing. It's been a bit discouraging to say the least, but I think things will look up soon (at least I hope)!

Selling Stuff and Recapping the Bridal Show

January 13th, 2015 at 01:06 pm

I recently went through my books to see if there were any I could sell off. We have SO many, and I have a ton from grad school that at one point I rationalized I would read again. ha! It's very clear they are just going to accumulate dust. And because I know we'll be moving again next year, I'm going to start trying to cut back on stuff. I hate moving. So the less stuff, the better. Great for saving money, too!

I found this website called Bookscouter.com - it compares what you would get selling your books to different websites. Pretty nifty! I made $127.70 selling a handful of books and my old iPhone (I had 2 extras). Not a ton of cash, but that's less stuff in my house and more money in my pocket.

I also sold a couple of my camera lenses on Amazon. The return on those was of course not as high as I would have wanted it to be, but I got rid of them quickly, which is good I suppose. For the two of them, I made $232.59 after Amazon fees and shipping costs.

That's $360.29 I can put towards the new lens I want to buy. Now I just have to sell my old camera. That still wont get me enough to pay for it completely, but any offset to the cost is obviously welcome!

***

The bridal show this weekend was a bit of a bust, I must say. I worked it two times before this one. The show last January was packed, and I got a good amount of leads from. I think I booked about 5 weddings from that show. In September, it was a bit quieter - but I still booked two from that show. So it paid for itself.

This time I only walked away with 11 email addresses of people who said they might be interested. The show even closed down 2 hours early yesterday because it was so dead :/

I'm still hoping I at least book 2 weddings. One girl seemed VERY enthusiastic about booking. So I'm hoping I can count on her at least. haha. I also met another photographer who said she wants to branch into weddings, and I've been needing to put together a few people to hire as second shooters for the upcoming season. So that's good.

I just need to start more aggressively marketing now. I was kind of counting on a number of bookings, and to make my goal it's going to be a bit tough now. That's the nature of running your own business, though! Can't be slacking Smile

On that note, it's time to get to work! Hope you all have a wonderful week!

First update of the year!

January 2nd, 2015 at 04:39 pm

So the craziness of the holiday season has passed. Let's all have a well-deserved collective sigh.

SIGH.

That feels much better.

Went through and took a look at how bad the holiday craziness got me off track from my budget. Unsurprisingly, it was quite a bit. It doesn't help that I'm still expecting about $1,500 from clients from December. Right now the bank account is a little tight. Hopefully, though, I'll get those payments soon. And do some booking after the bridal show next weekend.

***

In other financial news, I got the $300 rebate AmEx gift card I've been expecting from buying my camera. That'll help offset costs this month a bit. I tried to use it to pay for the photo class I'm taking online, and it didn't work. So I'll have to look into that and make sure it works in general.

Cancelled Hulu (again). My two free months ran out, so it's gone now.

***

Started my financial spreadsheets for 2015. It feels good to start fresh Smile The New Year always brings me a renewed sense of energy about life and pursuing my goals. So hopefully the momentum will push me forward vigorously.

Most of my resolutions revolve around being intentional - about my business, about my practice, and about life in general. I feel like the last few years have been great, but I've lost touch with the world around me a bit, merely floating along. Thankfully things have worked out for the better, but putting more effort into the things that make me happy has only to improve upon the way I experience them.

In terms of my financial goals, I think that really translates into being mindful when it comes to spending. I know that's something many of the SA community understand (and excel at!). But for me, thoughtlessly spending left and right is the norm. There are things that I find worth spending money on (travel, photography education and equipment, etc). But really *thinking* about the purchases as I make them, and putting things into perspective in terms of priorities is really necessary.

Making smarter decisions, too. There are so many free resources out there - entertainment options, loads of things available at the library, etc. There are many cases where I just pay without thinking of how I could accomplish a task more cheaply. And it's not a good practice.

So that's that. What are your goals for 2015? How do you plan to accomplish them effectively?

Setting Finance Goals for 2015

December 16th, 2014 at 02:21 pm

It's that time of year. When I start taking a look at what the next has in store. The other day I broke down my monthly expenses and some of the other spending I'm anticipating to get a hold on how much I need to make. That gives me a more tangible goal to shoot for - which is needed, because as a small business owner, "As much as I can" is honest, but insufficient as a goal. This exercise also put me into a slight panic mode. haha.

Following my last blog post, where I was celebrating the comparative success and how much grown I've seen in my business since starting it in October of 2013... my projected needed bookings are still a bit scary.

To be able to afford what I (semi-realistically) would like to spend next year, I would need to book:

- 5 more weddings for 2015
- 10 portrait sessions
- 15 Event/commercial shoots
- 2 website designs
- 10 weddings for 2016 (deposits)

Really, this could be in any combination that makes up $27k.

It's certainly doable, but that doesn't leave any wiggle room - for things like exceeding my monthly budget (which I do regularly), and any unexpected expenses that may pop up. It also doesn't account for any savings.

What it does count for (beyond monthly expenses):

- Photography Classes ($750)
- Travel ($2,000)
- Extra student Loan Payments ($3,000)
- Photo Equipment ($1,000)
- Wedding Expenses ($2,500)
- Bridal Show Fee ($350)

These obviously encompass a lot of money, and would be where the sacrifices start taking place if my bookings don't make the mark. But to me, they are all worth the spending and worth sacrificing for. So it's going to come down to really stringently following that budget this coming year. And making the dollars stretch as far as they can. At least until I make my booking goals.

So at least I know where I stand and what I should expect. Now to get to the action Wink

I hope you all are making progress on your goals and ready to start out the new year right!

Business Progress!

December 10th, 2014 at 08:24 pm

I started my photography + design business in October of 2013, on a sort of whim just to "see if I could do it." I looked over my spreadsheets today to get a feel for where I'm at now. And it was a rather invigorating exercise! I took a look at how many jobs I covered each year, how much I made (or will make), and the average per job at this point.

2013
19 jobs (in 3 months, 1 wedding)
$1,506.24
$79.28/job average

2014
27 jobs (9 weddings)
$16,416.26
$608.00/job average

2015 (contracts signed and deposits made)
10 jobs (9 weddings)
$17,400.00
$1,740/job average

Granted, there are a lot of things to keep in mind - In 2013 I was portfolio building, and did a couple of shoots for free. The rest were dirt cheap (a portrait session was $50 and I shot a wedding ceremony for $220. ha). This was only a side gig for me, and most of the marketing I did was for friends and through Craigslist.

This year I operated my business as a side gig until May, when I quit my two other part time jobs (it was a rough spring) to operate full time. I've been pretty exceptionally busy since. I was shooting weddings this year with 3 pricing options between $1,000 and $1,500. A lot of my revenue this year also came from doing work for political candidates (referred exclusively from a friend I used to work with) and real estate photography for a local nonprofit (also referred by a friend who works there). Word of mouth really makes a difference!

As for next year's bookings... I changed my pricing structure to reflect only one real option and upped the price to $2,000 for a wedding (including an engagement session). That was a huge, difficult step for me. I tend to drastically undervalue my work. But here's the thing... people are still hiring me. *Cue amazingly big smile*

My projected earnings outshine this year's already, and that doesn't include everything I'll book throughout the course of 2015 itself. My goal was to book at least 12 weddings for the year, and I'm well on my way.

I'm not saying it's time to retire or anything. I'm hoping to hit only $35k total in earnings pre-taxes next year. But that's a pretty solid living doing something that I just thought I would try out. It's certainly still really hard work. And owning a business is horribly expensive all by itself (I'm looking at $10,000 in expenses this year - over half of which was equipment). But it feels good to know that it's starting to come together. And I really think next year it's going to really start paying off. Which is something that I'm incredibly proud of.

Yay!

November Recap, and looking ahead

December 2nd, 2014 at 05:06 pm

I'm consistently blown away by how fast time is moving these days... ah well.

I sat down this morning to pay my bills and go over spending for last month to see just how bad it was. haha. I went ahead and purchased my new camera last week, so that put me $1,800 deeper than I expected to be for the month, but it was going to be purchased sooner or later, and with two weddings in the next week that are super low-light, I felt sooner was better. So my business spending was way above and beyond what I had budgeted. Thankfully, I've got that Amazon rewards card - so I now have $58 of credit. There was also a $300 rebate. I'm mailing in the stuff for that today. I also have an excess of one camera now that my backup has been replaced by my former main camera. So I'm hoping to get $500 out of that. Let's hope!

Other places I went over budget in November:

- Groceries
- Restaurants

I think some of the items accounted for in my "grocery" budget weren't all actual food. Target pops up a few times, which is most certainly a mix of food and crap I don't need. Oh, Target... Actually, $50 of that was the Christmas tree we picked up at Target. Mystery solved... haha.

I only budget $30 for restaurants a month. I really need to rethink that. Because I never ever actually stay within that. But honestly, we've been really good about cooking this month. So I'm surprised to see it over $150. Part of that was the lunch I had with my brother ($30), one stop at the burger place that BF and I always hit when we travel down to my hometown ($21). The rest of it is just little things here and there - a coffee, a tea, an icecream, a stop at Arby's after the wedding I shot (they didn't really feed me). Just goes to show that it all adds up.

***

As for this month... I crunched the numbers and made sure I'm going to be good for making my goals. It's going to be a rough one. It's a fairly slow month considering. But I'm hoping to book one or two weddings by the end of it, which would help considerably.

I also have to make sure I don't go crazy with the xmas spending. I've already got a few people crossed off my list. Trying to keep it as simple as humanly possible. Really, it's just BF and my mom that will be larger gifts. And as usual, I'm struggling to figure out things to get both of them. I'll be designing a retro-style soccer poster for BF. That's going to be his big gift, I think. And then some smaller fun things. Mom I've got no clue. Nonetheless, I'm *hoping* to keep my total spending under $300 for remaining gifts. We'll see how that goes. That $58 in Amazon rewards credit + the $25 Amazon gift card I purchased with PNC points should help.

***

Goal Update:

- Transferred $525 to my savings account for taxes, bringing the total up to $3,141.03.
- Transferred $219 to my Ally account for travel savings, bringing the total up to $546.

I'll by paying additional on my Sallie Mae loan once I get a couple more payments from clients. Don't want that account to get too low!

That's about it for my update. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Small Wins.

November 11th, 2014 at 01:43 pm

Yesterday started with a couple of early wins. I began the day by sorting through a huge pile of papers that were in need of filing or action. In the mix I found a birthday card from BF's mom (my birthday was back in May) that had $20 in it. It pays to get organized!

I also found a check from a client that was signed by me, but did not have the usual "For PNC Mobile Deposit Only" written on the back. So I'm thinking I never actually deposited it. I looked online at my activity, and it seems that I didn't. So I need to let my client know I'm going to deposit it now and then get it in my account. That's $250 I didn't realize wasn't actually in the bank. Oops!

Also called the cable company on the way down to lunch. Turns out we had a 6-month long special that ended. After canceling the actual cable and just keeping the internet, my bill is back down to where it was. We don't really ever watch the cable portion - our TV has an antenna that allows us to catch Jeopardy, and my weekly New Girl/Mindy Project fix.

***

Yesterday bought gas and lunch for Brother and myself. Lunch was about as good as can be expected. I'm happy I went, but needing a really productive day today to make up for being out of commission for about 5 hours yesterday (it's over an hour drive to get down there).

***

Today I've got a system going. At the top of the hour I'm writing for 15 minutes, then for the next 45 minutes I'm editing photos. Hoping to get caught up on my NaNoWriMo novel and put a decent dent in my editing queue. So there will be much coffee!

I find that giving myself structured, short term spurts to do things actually motivates me to get them done rather than sitting in front of the computer for hours. My goal for the day is to write 4,000 words and finish up a wedding set (roughly 50 photos left to do). Wish me luck!

***

Tonight BF and I are going over to a friend's for dinner and board games. So it should be a no-spend day.

I think I'm going to start doing a sort of $20 challenge again - putting in tiny bits of money into one of my goals. Every No-Spend will be $5, and every time I don't give into the urge to get a coffee out at a coffee house, I'll just direct that money (usually another $5) to a goal as well. That way I can tangibly see that decision playing out. Along with savings in my budget I wasn't expecting.

So today I'm going to take the $45 I saved on health insurance (and by saved, I mean my insurance cut out after the 5th, so they only charged me for a portion of the month), then the $5 I saved not getting coffee the other day, and $5 for today's no-spend to my CC. That brings my balance down to $1,452.91.

Small wins.

October Recap and November Goals

November 3rd, 2014 at 04:00 pm

How in the world is it November already? I know I said that in my last post, but really...

Spent the morning catching up on work, paying bills, and getting organized for the month. I use Mint (which is a brilliant piece of software) to look everything over and make sure all of my business expenses are put into my handy dandy spreadsheet.

It was a good month for income. I actually made a thousand more than I anticipated. And I stayed almost within my budget. A few things popped up - registered for the bridal show I've done twice now. It's not until January, but I wanted to get the email out of my inbox so... I figured why not register now when I can deduct it from 2014 taxes. haha.

I did a little more non-planned spending than I would like. Trips to IKEA and the like add up. As does the gas!

I actually did a lot of traveling this past month - a trip to Pittsburgh to hit IKEA, a trip down to DC and Virginia beach (work AND play), as well as a trip down to Columbus (mostly work). It's nice that I have clients all around, and an excuse to travel (and write off some of my expenses).

I had an engagement shoot in the DC area, and it was a great time. Gorgeous location to do a shoot, and we had such beautiful weather. The BF and I went down a day early to do some sightseeing and hang out with friends of mine. All of the museums are free, so we did quite a bit for very little money. Then the shoot was the next day at the monuments. BF went and explored while I worked.

After DC, we drove to VA Beach to stay with friends. Again, pretty cheap entertainment!

***

This month will be a bit more low-key. Partially because I'm not expecting quite as much income. Things are winding down for me as wedding season is coming to a close. I have 2 more weddings, and then just a handful of portrait shoots (xmas cards and the like) until January. So unless I do some hardcore booking this month or next (unlikely), I'm going to be a bit tight on cash. I have some money in the savings account, but in reality it's for taxes. So I'd rather not dip into it. Still, nice to know I have a little buffer.

***

My goals are coming along slowly, but surely. I may not be able to pay off the CC totals by the end of the month, but I'll put a dent in them. Just waiting for money to move around, and a few more checks to come in. Did put an extra payment on the student loan today, so I've got that, I guess. I'll have more updates here in a week or so.

My real November goal: Stay within my budget. Entirely. I did tweak the figures so they are a bit more realistic. But I need to start putting my foot down on the spending.

***

I did get my phone situation worked out - decided to stay with Verizon. Got my new iPhone 5s. I LOVE the camera on it compared to the 4. Almost feels like I'm using my Canon. haha. Okay, maybe not... but it's fantastic. And my new bill dropped from $85 to $60/month. So I'm pretty pumped about that.

***

So here is the end of my long-winded update. I hope everyone else had a successful October, and I hope you all have an even more successful November!

A year. Goals + Updates.

October 15th, 2014 at 02:05 pm

So I have this bad habit of writing for a few months straight, and then not again for like a year. Right now is one of those times.

I'm in a pretty good place since my last update. My photography business is going very well. Starting to book up for next year, and I've remained busy through this wedding season! Both a blessing, and a curse of course Smile It's been a whirlwind, but I couldn't be happier that my clients are happy, and I'm able to pay my bills.

I've been more closely tracking my finances these last couple of months. I can't say I'm in a drastically better financial position than I was a year ago - I have about as much CC debt (about $1700) and just as much student loan debt (about $53k). At the same time, though, I can say I'm a much happier person than I was a year ago... and have done so much in the last 12 months!

My trip to Europe did in fact happen back in August. It was an amazing time, and an incredible experience. I can't wait to go back Smile

I purchased a new car back in May. My first ever, and I had some serious reservations about purchasing new... but my previous car was always on the brink of explosion, and I got a great deal on a new 2013 leftover from last year. Honda Fit. Decent gas mileage, and it should last me forever. Also, the BF helped me out with the down payment - which was incredibly nice of him. $2k is quite a chunk of change!

Speaking of the BF... we moved in together back in April, and that's going very well. He pays a larger share of the bills (partially because he can, and partially because I wouldn't have moved into the apt he liked best unless that was the case. Because I wouldn't have been able to afford it). So my home living expenses are pretty low right now.

I get dinged more on business expenses and random stuff than anything else - so part of my focus right now is wrangling in my impulse purchases (do I really NEED that $60 marketing calendar and eBook? That random top at Target?).

My financial goals all revolve around paying off debt and saving, as I'm sure most everyone's are Smile Some highlights:

- Paying off the last of my CC debt
- Saving up for taxes in April
- Paying off my highest interest (9.75%) Sallie Mae Loan
- Saving up for a trip to Thailand that we're hoping to take next winter

I recently opened an Amazon CC to handle (and keep separate) my business expenses. I use Amazon usually to buy new equipment, so it made sense. Opened an Ally account to track savings for our trip.

Once taxes and our trip are covered (haha. Like that's going to happen soon...), I'll start putting money away for our move. It wont happen for another year and a half minimum, but we're planning on taking our lives to another US city - not sure where yet. We just know we aren't quite done moving around yet. The next year or so we'll be doing some traveling around to see what strikes our fancy, and go from there. Nonetheless, we'll need some cash tucked away for moving expenses, and just in case one of us hasn't nailed down a job have a few months worth of living expenses.

Throw in that I'm *hoping* to get married next year, and wham. I need to start raking in the cash fast.

So. That's a LOT. Apologies for the info overload. I just find it helps to articulate all of this somewhere Smile In the coming weeks, I'll be getting into more of the minutia of every day, rather than dumping a year's worth of financial planning on all of you!

Thanks for riding along!

End of Election and November Update!

November 6th, 2013 at 07:24 pm

Yesterday marked the end of the election, which is a huge sigh of relief for me. Our campaign won and the levy I was working to get passed did in fact do so- at 65% of the vote, which is pretty remarkable. Today I'm trying to catch up on some non-work related stuff (like paying bills!) and am struggling to stay awake. I haven't got much sleep in the last few days...

All that aside, I'm feeling really good. I have a trip to Seattle tomorrow with a girlfriend that I'm very excited about. Visiting one of my best friends I haven't seen in months, since he moved out there. The three of us were inseparable in grad school, and we'd looking forward to taking on the streets of that city in full force Smile

I'll be using my time in the airport to do some photo editing. I have two sets to complete in the next week. The business is going well. I had another engagement shoot last weekend, two more sessions booked, and 4 in the works. Not bad for only posting to Craigslist...

I have a job interview next week that I'm pretty excited about, so hopefully that will go over well and I'll have full time employment (wouldn't that be nice?).

November is really the month of adventure for me, though. On top of traveling to Seattle this weekend, I'm going to Frankfurt, Germany in just a couple of weeks! I found this gig through a friend for a logistics company that pays people to fly around and transport bone marrow donations to people who need it. They're covering my flights, hotels, and giving me $75/day to cover food and whatnot. I get to stay in Germany for 2 days and then head to New Jersey to drop off. It seemed too good to be true, but when my friend told me she did it without a hitch, I figured it was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up.

Consequently, I'm learning as much German as I can in the next two weeks and just reeling with excitement because I finally get to visit Europe. Adventure! I'll be doing some work while I'm traveling there as well. That's the nice thing about doing freelance work from home! I can take my work pretty much anywhere...

So while I'm a little worried about finding a full time job, I'm enjoying the flexibility of my current arrangement and am so very thankful that I'm in a financial situation that gives me that flexibility. I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever been able to say that. Saving has been pretty much nonexistent for me up to this point... and I know it is a luxury to feel comfortable in a state of uncertainty.

---

As for my financial update: I paid all my bills for November, save the one that doesn't get sent to me until later in the month. My minimum payments for my student loans are now under $400 every month, which is very exciting. It's always uplifting when you visibly see your hard work paying off. It also relieves a lot of pressure when your debt payments are less than your rent :/

I transferred $1,000 to my savings account, so I'm 1/3 of the way toward my savings goal for 2013 taxes. Woo!

I'm clearly not going to be in a position to make my goal to hit $6,000 for my focus loan account, but it could be close depending on what my work situation is next month. I've got it under $10k, which I'm incredibly happy about.

I've been pretty good about not purchasing food at restaurants. Tonight I'll be cooking dinner. The rest of the week I'll be traveling, but thankfully my two friends are just as cheap as I am- so while I'm sure we'll get dinner out one of the nights, we'll be doing some cooking at his place as well.

I have a doctor's appointment next week, and I'm not sure what I'll end up spending, but I'm budgeting at least a couple hundred dollars. We shall see how this insurance works out.

I think that's about it for now. Sorry for the novel! Hope you all are doing well!

Update

October 15th, 2013 at 07:51 pm

So it's been a little over a week since I've updated. This past week has been hideously busy, and I'm starting to get worn down with all of the stuff I'm doing for work. Despite the fact that I don't have a job lined up quite yet, I'm really looking forward to the election being over.

That being said, it was a pricey week. The more I have to do, the less time I have to cook. I hit the grocery store yesterday, but prior to that it had been well over a week... so I ate a lot of meals at restaurants and fast food places.

I also went shopping with a friend of mine on Sunday, and bought probably more clothes than I should have. It was all stuff that was practical- things I can wear to work, sweaters (I'm dangerously low on warm tops I can wear to work), a Victoria's Secret bra on sale for $15 to replace the one my washer destroyed. Nonetheless, that's about $80 I wouldn't have otherwise spent. Sigh.

I bought my plane ticket to Seattle- and it was only $312. That's almost $100 less than I anticipated, so I'm very happy about that.

Talked to BF last week, and we've decided to postpone our Europe trip until the spring. Hitting Copenhagen, Germany, and Zurich in late December is going to be freezing, and we'd rather go when we'll enjoy the weather a bit more. That being said, my new target savings goal is the $3,000 I'm trying to save for my taxes in April. I'm hoping to hit that long before April, but we'll see!

I had a job interview that went fine last week, but is not a job that I'd ever want to take. I don't understand why a company would advertise a "marketing specialist" position that is nothing but direct sales... sigh.

I did get a response from a nonprofit I'd really like to work for, but the salary level is quite a bit lower than I would prefer. At the same time, if I don't get any other offers, that might have to be what I take. It's enough for me to live on, but I feel like I could do better. Nonetheless, I'm thrilled to get a response. I've been applying to many, many places. It's frustrating to not hear back.

I picked up a bit of freelance work for a previous employer. That'll be some nice extra income! It's looking like I'm probably not going to have drill this month, though, because of the government shutdown... so that's about $250 I've budgeted for that will likely not come to me this month. I guess it'll balance out?

I did my first engagement photoshoot this past weekend, too- which was really fun. I wish the weather would have been a bit nicer. It was really overcast, but didn't rain... so I guess it could have been worse! I'm hoping that I can start booking paid gigs at some point, so this was good practice.

As mentioned, I did go grocery shopping yesterday- and made a big dinner for the BF and myself. Being so busy, we haven't really had any alone time recently, so it was nice to have a relaxing night in. I have plenty of leftovers to show for it as well Smile

I think that's about it. Sorry for the all-over-the-place hodge podge of updates! Hope everyone is doing well and working effectively toward their goals!

Payday and Goal Update

October 5th, 2013 at 05:38 pm

So I got paid yesterday and deposited my check. This morning, then, I moved some money around.

I paid $1,750 to Sallie Mae. Happy to report that my target loan account is at $10,297! If I could drop it under $10k this month, I would be really excited about that.

I've been thinking about my goals, and cutting that loan down is supposed to be my main focus... but I'm getting anxious about still not having a job as of mid-next month. So I put another $1,000 in my EF, just in case. Hopefully once I find something I'll be able to just apply that to the loan.

I have some big purchases coming up-- about $400 on a plane ticket to Seattle to visit a friend. I'm thinking I wont have to spend more than $200 once I'm out there. I'm hoping it'll be even less than that.

BF is buying me a ticket to Europe for my graduation gift, but I have to handle all of my expenses once we get there. We're still not exactly sure what our route is going to be once we get there, but he really wants to visit London... and I know it's supposed to be incredibly expensive. I wanted to visit Paris, but I know it's the same story. Germany is the one place we know we're visiting-- and we'll have a free place to stay there, thankfully. We're still working out the kinks otherwise, but I've budgeted $1,000 for the trip. I would hope it's not going to be more than that for two weeks split between us (hotel-wise).

I know that spending money on traveling might seem counterintuitive to saving... but it's a really big priority in my life, I miss my friend terribly, and I've never been to Europe. Besides, it's kind of hard to pass up a free plane ticket. I just feel blessed that I'm in a position to be able to make these trips and cover my bills. I can honestly say that this is the first time I've ever been able to do that.

Because I'm a contracted worker, I have to budget in taxes prior to April. I'm shooting to save at least $3,000 for that, as I know I'll get a deduction for my student loan interest payments-- which cap at $2,500, but I've paid in far more than that this year, so I'll get at least that much. So $2k for federal, and I'm guessing roughly $1,000 between state and local.

I'm also really hoping that by the time my birthday rolls around in May that I'll be able to buy a new car. What I get will largely depend on what kind of money I'm making at my next job... we'll see.

All that being said, in order to cut that loan in half by the end of the year, I need to pay off $4,297 on it. That will be do-able if I find a good paying job (or any job) as of next month- so let's hope I do find something. I'll be scraping by until then.

I hope all of you are chugging along on your goals and finding some progress! Have a great weekend!

Can you Believe It's Already the End of September?

October 1st, 2013 at 03:19 am

The time really does fly by...

So let's take a look at spending for the month:



I'm overall really happy with how I did. Though I definitely went over budget in a few areas- mainly with restaurant eating, as usual- I'm still quite proud of the accomplishments of the month. I spent half what I did last month on food, and I think I only purchased coffee one time.

I had a few just really stupid expenses that I shouldn't even have bothered with- $20 in TV that came on Netflix 4 hours after I bought it on Amazon, and $20 in iCloud storage because I'm kind of an idiot when it comes to technology. That's $40 that could have been put to MUCH better use. Sigh...



Not included in this breakdown was the $1,562 payment to clear my CC, the $748 put toward my EF, or the $100 in car repairs I made.

It also doesn't include the $25 in Gas I spent today, which wont clear for a couple more days.

I didn't make any freelance income this month, which did put me a bit behind... but I still ended up with money leftover (though it's getting rotated into paying next month's bills at the moment).

Now on to budgeting for October!

I'm going to pad my EF a bit more, because I still haven't found a job to replace mine when the contract ends. I'm already a month ahead on my Student loans, but you can never be too careful. I don't have a CC payment anymore, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to add another $1,000 or so.

Crazy Week! Update.

September 24th, 2013 at 02:16 pm

Last week was incredibly busy with several events for work and being out Thursday afternoon and Friday for BF's sister's wedding. I'm playing catch-up this week, but feeling much better today about progress than I was yesterday. I had events all weekend for work as well, so I didn't get much of a break-- and because I had drill the weekend prior, I haven't really had a day off to just relax. I'm definitely starting to feel a little burnt out as a result. I'm trying to stay energetic and positive, though.

Despite all of that, I'm still managing to stay under budget overall. I should really get to the grocery store here soon, but I'm also trying to use up some of the random odds and ends I have in my kitchen. I just know if I let it go on too long that I'll start eating out because there's nothing convenient to grab. I feel like half the battle of budgeting/saving is knowing your own behaviors and pre-empting them. haha.

Because I'm about $150 under budget with only a week or so left in the month, I transferred $50 to my savings account. I have a few savings goals that I need to keep in mind, and with my car deteriorating fast I know it's not a terrible idea to start saving up for a new one. I'm hoping it holds out for another 6 months before completely falling apart. haha. But we'll see. I only have $1k in my EF, so I'm thinking that padding it might be good regardless-- at least until I secure a job for November. I really do want to focus on my loans, though. It's kind of sad when I have to decide between saving or paying off my loans. I guess it's good that this is where I struggle, rather than spending money on stuff I don't need.

Anyway, lots to do today, so this is a quick update! Below you'll see my current spending for the month (in green) compared to the same period last month (in yellow). Feeling pretty good about it Smile

That feels good :)

September 10th, 2013 at 01:06 pm

Alright. So my paycheck cleared and here were are:

September 15: Pay off CC

8/28: $1,563.88
9/10: $0

Goal Complete!

September 15: Have $1,000 in EF

8/28: $252.56
9/10: $1,00.25

Goal Complete!

By End of year: Get SM4 Loan down to $6,000

8/28: $12,729.32
9/10: $12,363.75

I know, it seems like not a ton when you're only down $400 or so-- but the money I had left over to pay my loans included all of my minimum payments as well. Next month there will be a much bigger dent on the loans themselves. Also, I will hopefully have some leftover budgeted money to put toward it at the end of this month. We'll see how I do!

Nonetheless, it feels good to have that CC paid off and a little money saved. I know that $1,000 is pretty easy for me to blow through without a job (hence why my CC was so high already), but I really do want to focus on these loans. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate after the first of the year.

---

So yesterday I spent all day at a nonprofit volunteering my creative services, and it was a blast. They also bought our group lunch and dinner, which was really nice of them. I brought coffee from home and ate breakfast before I left, so yesterday was a no-spend day.

BF also gave me his activated 5-day bus/train pass from this weekend, so for the next few days I'll be riding for free. Woo! I called my mechanic over the weekend, but never heard back. I need to call again today... as I really need it fixed by this weekend.

---

Today I'll be bringing coffee/lunch. BF and I are driving down to Columbus tonight to see the USMNT play their qualifier against Mexico. I told him I couldn't buy my ticket, as it wasn't in the budget-- so if he wanted me to go with, he would have to cover it. And cover it he did. He really is a sweetheart, that one. I'm thankful that only one of us is facing a serious student loan problem. Outside of the car loan he just got, he's debt-free. I'm sure it'll make our future marriage much happier the less debt we've got.

---

I have a super busy day at work today, so I'm going to get going. Hope you all are having a wonderful week, though!

Reward Points & "And Then We Saved."

September 5th, 2013 at 05:02 pm

So this week has been going *incredibly* well. No food or coffee purchased out, and I cooked up a big batch of soup last night-- so I have leftovers for a few days. Still have lunch in the fridge from yesterday, so I'm set for today.

I was looking at my PNC points yesterday, and realized that I had enough for a $50 Amazon gift card, so I ordered that. It's apparently on backorder, so it'll probably be a while, but it's nice to know it's on its way. It could make for a good gift, or possibly pay for a few items on my wish list.

I also have a $5 Amazon gift card from my Swagbucks account. I just started hopping on every day to start building up the points. I usually only do the things that take a minute or so (NOSO, daily poll, search a few random terms). Today I installed the Chrome plugin so it's my default search. Maybe that'll rack them up a bit.

I'm also a subscriber to Birchbox. It's $10/month, which is a good enough splurge for me. If I review everything in a month, too, I get 10 points per review (100 points gives me $10 to spend in the store, which can usually get me something useful).

I figure that racking up the rewards points isn't a terrible idea with the holidays coming up. It's terrible to start thinking about Christmas already, but I figure if I start planning now I might be able to prepare adequately. I also have 2 weddings that I need to plan gifts for (and a wedding shower this weekend...).

---

I stumbled upon a website yesterday that I thought was really great:

http://andthenwesaved.com/

Some of you may already be familiar, but it's all about saving and debt reduction. She's personable, and has a great blog. She also promotes the "Spending Fast" and the "Spending Diet." I was reading through, and it's all about writing out needs/wants lists and finding ways to make do with what you've got. I'm not sure I can go quite as intensely as she does, but I'm sure going to try!

It did get me thinking about a few purchases I'd really like to make in the next few months:

- New eyeshadow (the one I use every day is almost gone)
- Settlers of Catan (a board game that I absolutely love.. but has a pretty steep price tag)
- Membership to a local forum "Club" (it's great for networking and they have fantastic speakers)
- A new pair of boots for winter

These are definitely not "needs." They're wants, some of which are more justified than others. I have *plenty* of eyeshadow, just not in the shade that I use every day. Maybe it's time to switch things up? I own the iPad version of that game, and my friend has it... so it's more about having the convenience to play it with other people. But I have tons of board games as well.

The City Club membership would be nice, but can definitely wait (might put that one on the xmas list). And boots are certainly the most practical... maybe that will be a matter of selling off some clothes and getting them consignment. I should do a good raid of my closet regardless...

So many of these things are things I can do without... so I'm not going to account for them in the budget. I'll either make do, or find some other way to grab them.

---

Enough rambling from me. I'm going to eat the lunch I brought from home and finish up work so I can enjoy some of the gorgeous weather we're having here in Ohio! Hope you all have a great day.

September!

September 1st, 2013 at 05:30 pm

I can't believe it's already here. The time has just been flying by.

So it's Sunday. I'm thrilled for the long weekend-- I have a lot of catching up to do on different things professionally and around the house. It'll be nice to feel like I have a chance to get on top of things.

Friday I had the opportunity to go out, but I didn't feel terribly well, and certainly didn't want to go out and spend money on drinks I didn't really feel like drinking. So I stayed at home and binge-watched the second season of Once Upon a Time (that just got added to Netflix weeee!).

Yesterday I spent some time cleaning, submitted a job application, and then drove down to Columbus with BF for the soccer game. He pretty much covered everything except Arby's (kind of a weird tradition for us when we go). It was about $17 between the two of us, but he paid for the tickets, as well as drinks and snacks while we were there.

Today we're debating whether to go to his family's picnic. We'd both love to see the fam, but it's another couple-hour drive, and after being in the car so much yesterday we're both a bit pooped. If we don't do that, we'll probably go to a friend's for board games. I thankfully have drinks to bring, so that will be a zero expense night.

-----

Very excited to get my paycheck so I can start on these goals of mine. I'm kind of stuck until then.

This week I have some shorter-term goals:

[ ] Spend $0 on food from restaurants/fast food
[ ] Put in 2 job applications
[ ] Work out at least 3 times
[ ] Eat gluten free

Shouldn't be too difficult, but it's important to map them out!

At any rate, I should probably get to some of the things I'm trying to accomplish today. Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Goals, Big Ticket Items, and TGIF!

August 30th, 2013 at 02:53 pm

So the last couple of days have been good. I broke down my budget and what I'll be making through December, and came up with a few goals.

September 15: Pay off CC (8/28: $1,563.88)

September 15: Have $1,000 in EF (8/28: $252.56)

By End of year: Get SM4 Loan down to $6,000 (8/28: $12,729.32)

Really, the big goal is to get my highest interest rate loan down to $6,000- cutting it in half, essentially. It's definitely going to be a challenge to do so, particularly with interest. But I think if I can really keep my eye on the prize that I can do so by the end of the year.

The other two goals will be met as soon as I get my paycheck. I get paid once a month, so I'll get those out of the way first thing. It'll be good to pay off the CC (again) and have a little money in my savings account.

There are a few big ticket items I have coming up in the next few months as well, and hopefully they'll come in under budget:

Car Repairs - $500 (I'm really hoping this is less)
Plane ticket to Seattle - $500
Spending money in Seattle - $200
Spending money in Europe - $1,000
Christmas Presents - $200

BF said he would buy me a plane ticket to Europe for my graduation gift, but we wont be able to take the trip until after the election, so we're planning to go around the holidays. One of my best friends moved to Seattle a couple of months ago, and I'm going with another friend to visit him in November. We'll be staying with him, so it shouldn't be a costly trip overall.

What I didn't include in here is medical expenses. I reeeeeally need to go to the doctor, but haven't gotten around to navigating my insurance yet (I'm on military insurance, and we can only see certain doctors, etc). I should probably factor in at least a few hundred for that-- as I'm likely going to need some testing done at the dermatologist.

------

Now. The last couple of days have been good. I walked to the store and picked up some groceries (finally). Yesterday I didn't buy coffee or lunch. I packed and brought it to work. BF bought dinner. I did, however, purchase two beers at an event that we went to in the evening. And they ended up being far more costly than I had anticipated. Sigh. Ah well. $14 with tip gone, but I suppose it could have been much worse.

Today I'm working from home- so I'll be eating all of my meals here. I'm going to mail my rent check in today, and hopefully not spend on anything else. No plans for tonight yet, but I'm thinking it will be low-key. I really need to finish that editing project, and today I'll be filling out job applications along with working, so it might be a late(r) night.

I hope you all enjoy your Friday, and have a great 3-day weekend!

Car Troubles and Groceries

August 28th, 2013 at 05:04 pm

So I broke my car this past weekend. Bottomed it out a bit worse than I had thought when I got out. Halfway through my ride home I heard some hideously awful sounds, and then dragging... which turned out to be my exhaust pipe, still attached at the rear.

I haven't taken it in to get looked at yet. I've been taking the train to downtown-- and thankfully BF had a 5-day pass I could use, so that was free through the beginning of the week (used it the first time last week). I'm afraid to find out how much it's going to cost. I'm not sure the extent of the damage yet, and I'm not thrilled to be putting more money into this car. I was seriously thinking of getting rid of it already. Sigh.

Beyond that, I really let things get away from me this week. I still haven't gone grocery shopping, so I've been eating out a lot. Tonight I'm going to walk to the grocery store and grab some stuff. There's really no excuse for it.

It's been a long week. It's been difficult to focus at work, and the editing job I had sought to finish on Sunday got pushed back because revamping my website and putting in that job application took much longer than expected. It also turns out that the editing job is taking much longer as well. So I'm behind on that deadline.

I really need to do something to pull myself out of this funk. I don't think it's helping that I've been eating a bunch of junk, or that my allergies are running rampant. But I need to figure something out. It's a bit rough at the moment. I need to get excited. About anything, really.

I think part of the problem is that I've let my goals get away from me. I need to figure out some way to get them front and center. What I'm doing right now isn't working.

At any rate, I hope you all have a great day!

Getting Serious, and some updates

August 14th, 2013 at 07:00 pm

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 Smile 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 Smile Thanks all for reading my rambling. I hope you are all doing well!

Goal Achieved!

November 18th, 2012 at 12:20 am

I can happily say that I have paid off my very first loan!!! I know it's the smallest one, and the one with the lowest interest rate, but it feels good to cross one off the list Smile I've also simultaneously reached a goal an entire month and a half early. Paid the final $399.72 today because I got paid yesterday. I feel the progress indeed.

I'm still under budget total for the month. I over-budgeted for the vet, but that savings funded a new set of gloves, a hat, and a scarf for me. Considering I've treated myself very little in the past few months, I feel okay about the purchase despite the fact that they weren't necessarily a *need*.

I still feel that I'll come out of November under budget. I can't say I'll have much extra income... mostly because I've been strapped for time recently and not devoting as much to my freelance work. I still need to squeeze in at least 8 more hours this month just to make what I budgeted for. With the holiday coming up this week I'm hoping that's possible. I'm looking forward to xmas break. I feel like I'm going to really bank with the extra time I'll have. My client has another project he'd like me on as well. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I've been eating at restaurants a bit too much as of this week, though I'm still under budget. Just have to watch it in the coming weeks and stop with all the Dunkin Donuts coffee and wraps... Paid my internet bill today, and got all caught up on tracking. Feels good.

So the next goal... Paying off my highest interest loan by the end of next year. That's $12,802.56 in 13 months, or $884.81 every month-- or really more than that, because that doesn't include the tax. We're looking at close to $1,000/month-- so we'll see if I can reach the goal. I have faith (and more importantly, determination). I'll have a leg-up in January because I have a $1,000 in scholarship money coming my way. In April I'll be using any tax return money to put toward my debt, so that will also help.

Regardless, that is my mission and I hope to accomplish!!

Time for me to get to work. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your weekend.

End of Month Recap and Looking Toward November

November 1st, 2012 at 03:58 pm

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful October, and are managing to stay warm and dry. I've been without power since Monday night, but nonetheless am doing well. My thoughts are with all of those (severely) effected by the storm.

It's the first of November, which means it's time for my recap. This is the first month I'll be analyzing after deciding to do a serious financial makeover... and I'm happy to say that it's done well for me.

Here's how I panned out with the budget:



I ended up being in total $34.38 under budget for the month. This is pretty pivotal for me. I don't think I've ever created a budget for myself that I was able to stick to-- and that was including a $530 contribution to my emergency fund.

I don't think that's the best part, though. I ended up making way more money this month than I anticipated. Because of my raise at work, selling off over $200 worth of books on Amazon, returning items to IKEA, having a longer drill weekend than usual, taking on a big freelance project, and that little bit I got from doing a friend's laundry... I made $951.76 over my budget. Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped about that!!!

And every little bit of it is going toward student loans.

BOO-YAH.

It feels great to be making progress. I've budgeted $850 toward debt for November, which will have me reaching my goal to pay off the SM7 Loan a month earlier than I had hoped. I feel great about that. I applied a $650 payment this morning, which put me under $1k. Once I get my GI Bill payment I'll add the balance from October, and start paying toward my budgeted amount for November.

Then it's on to the next loan!

I struggle a bit with Dave Ramsey's logic. I went with the smallest loan for this first time around, and it happens to be the one with the lowest interest rate. I know I should be tackling the ones with the higher interest rates, but I agree with his logic that making progress is energizing. I'm thinking the next goal will be one of the mid-range total pricetags and interest rates, that way I get a bit of both worlds.



I adjusted my budget a bit this month, and it's a bit bigger-- to account for a larger debt payment and a couple of big items I need to address. My car, of course, is the big one there. My brakes are getting even worse, and I need an oil change. I also need to take my little fuzzball to the vet for some shots. In both cases I'm hoping the charges are not outrageous, but it feels good to know I have money available to me if something crazy happens nonetheless.

I think the real challenge will be keeping up with the workload that is supporting this progress. School is certainly gearing up and will be over before I know it. There's really only a little over a month left, after all.

I have a feeling I'll be able to make it work, though. And winter break I'll have even more time to pare away at this debt! Very exciting thoughts Smile

So here's to a successful October, and looking to an equally successful November!

Rethinking Time Management

October 7th, 2012 at 09:04 pm

So one thing I'm really good at doing is running myself ragged at work. I let it get in the way of everything, and give myself little time to breathe or recharge. It lasts for about a month or so, but when I hit my breaking point I end up very unproductive for weeks after. I'm in the recovery mode of that breakdown right now, with only a week before I'm on a flight for Boston for our National Meeting. Needless to say, this is a time where I really need to be on my game.

Over the weekend I had drill and spent most of yesterday sitting around waiting to shoot my weapon on the range. I had my phone with me and decided to download a book (because I have all of this Apple credit). I got one titled "What the Most Successful People do Before Breakfast" by Laura Vanderkam. I got through it really quickly, and felt pretty energized about revamping my mornings. She mentioned her other book, "168 Hours" along the way, and I ended up downloading that one right after I finished the first.

I think she has a really great outlook on time management, and made me rethink the way I handle mine. Making time for things like working out, relaxing, and spending time with the BF are really important. Making better use of my time at work is even more important. The best takeaway I gained from it is that there is no such thing as "not having enough time." We all have the same amount of time. We choose what is important enough to be included in our schedule. There are no excuses.

The good news is that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to "what is important." Paying our bills is obviously important. It's not necessarily a bad thing if we want to prioritize one thing over another. The idea is to keep our core competencies and goals in mind when budgeting our time. And we do budget our time, whether we think of it that way or not.

I'm in the process of not only budgeting my money right now, but also trying to rethink how I approach time management, and where I need to budget those precious minutes.

I will be the first to admit that I spend a lot of my time wasting time on the internet. I check my email likely a hundred times a day. I know I'm not all that productive in the evenings, that I have very little energy because I don't give myself breaks, and I should be working out regularly because it increases my energy levels and relieves stress. So we're going to work on all that.

She suggests getting up at 6am at the latest. I cannot do that. haha. I mean, I can do that. But we'll see how I operate when waking up at 7am first. We're going to use babysteps here.

I'm going to try scheduling time to do the social media thing. No more creeping on Facebook for several hours. Not checking my email more than 3 times a day. I created a schedule for the week, covering all 168 hours (split into half hours). I'm going to work out every morning (though only totaling 4 hours for the week). I'm also going to do 2 30-min yoga sessions.

The last important choice I made was to incorporate some relaxation time every few hours of my workday. I'm hoping that making these changes will increase my productivity at work and release some of the pressure on my brain and body.

So let's hope it all works out! Smile

As for money updates: Very low-spend weekend. Didn't spend anything Friday night or all day yesterday. Could have went off post last night, but I was exhausted and just wanted to relax in my room. On my way home this morning I stopped to get gas: $20.04. That's all I've spent on that this week. I also grabbed a coffee for a dollar, and paid for me and BF's lunch at Dunkin Donuts, $11.

My car started making these scraping noises as I was braking. I'm pretty sure that means I'm replacing my brake pads and rotors here very soon. I need an oil change as well. Thankfully I don't have any amount of distance to drive til next month. The 2-minute drive to the train station is nothing. So I'll be waiting at least a couple of weeks to get that taken care of. I may just wait it out til the beginning of next month. We shall see.

Tonight I plan on cooking at home, doing some cleaning, laundry, and getting prepared for the week ahead. It's my weekly icrecream date day with the BF, but he'll pay for that (particularly if I cook!). I'll be grocery shopping tomorrow, so I'll also be making out my grocery list. Think I may watch a movie or something tonight, but I'm planning on getting to bed early. Want to get a good start tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Hit my October Goal Already!

October 4th, 2012 at 01:57 pm

So yesterday my GI Bill money hit the account, and I moved a few hundred dollars into my savings account to add to my EF. But then I realized I'm getting my paycheck tomorrow, have over $100 on the way from the books I sold on Amazon, and will get a bigger than normal drill pay this month because it's longer than our usual 2-day.

So I said what the hey, let's just round it off. I made another $230 contribution and there it was. I had $1,000 in my savings account.

It's only the 4th of the month and I've hit my goal Smile

It feels good to have a little money in savings. It also feels good to know I can start jumping on my debt payments as well. I feel like my goal to have that loan paid off by the end of the year will be no problem.

It feels good to be on track and in control of my finances. I thought pulling together that kind of money would take a while... because I've had such trouble saving up any amount of money in the past. But really I just made a few changes, looked for a way to generate a little more income this month, and BAM. There it is. I like this game. haha.

I really haven't spent any extra money this week. I've spent $0 on food at restaurants. That's a huge deal. Not one cup of Starbucks coffee has been purchased. Not one lunch. Not one dinner. That has freed up quite a bit of money.

This weekend I'll be at drill, which means all of my meals are covered and I wont really have money to go out. I need to be hiding in the barracks when I'm not busy, anyway, doing schoolwork. I have a lot of reading to catch up on.

The only expenses I see coming up are my trip to Boston and Halloween. My flight and hotel room are covered by work (it's for our yearly conference), but food and whatnot there I'm assuming I will have to cover. I have no idea what I'm doing for Halloween, but I can usually keep it pretty cheap. An oil change is the only other special expense I can think of for this month. Oh, and soccer fees.

But anyhoo. Back to today. Excited to hit that goal, and looking forward to hitting more!

Cheers, everyone!

October Budget and Goals

October 1st, 2012 at 01:10 am

So September is wrapping up and I'm getting my finances in order to be on the right track for the rest of the year. I have my budget all mapped out for October:



I broke down yesterday and cancelled my Netflix account. If I really want to watch something, I can use the BF's account, anyway. The hard part was canceling my Birchbox subscription. I'm a bit obsessed. But after accumulating quite a few products I still haven't used, I feel that I can at least take a break for a while. So that frees up $17.99 more a month. Not a huge leap, of course, but every little bit helps and I have to be committed to this thing.

Went to the grocery store today- and putting that expense on October, as I'll actually be eating all of the food in that month. Went to Aldi, only spent $23.47. I still have a bunch of stuff from last week, and I of course wont use everything this week. I'm sure I'll still have at least half the bag of chicken breasts I bought next week. I'm trying to stick with only frozen veggies these days. I just don't have time to cook, and I like the idea of not everything going bad before I have the opportunity to make it. I am, though, about to make a huge pot of chili to eat throughout the week. Last Sunday I cooked two different meals and it lasted me pretty much all week. I'm hoping to eat out at restaurants even less this week.

Verified my enrollment in the GI Bill system, transferred some money from my oDesk account I forgot was there, and have some money coming from a couple of text books I sold over the weekend on Amazon.

My emergency fund is sitting at $387.21 right now. My budget for October is $1,601.34 and my projected income is $1,607.58 (not including the extra income I've generated in the last couple of days). I factored in a $400 contribution to my emergency fund in there, but that income will (hopefully) be added as well. If I could hit $1,000 by the end of the month I would be absolutely stoked.... so that's the goal I'm shooting for. I think it's entirely do-able.

I'm going to keep my eye on that goal for the month, and it'll be my only one. If I hit it much sooner than later, even better. My next goal will be paying off my smallest loan- which is $1,603.26. It's not the smallest interest rate, but I totally believe the logic behind Dave Ramsey's smallest-first pitch. It's not my lowest interest rate, either, so I don't feel awful about tackling that one first. I think my big (and potentially far too lofty) goal is to have that one paid off by the first of the year. That really only gives me 2 months to pay it off after saving up my $1,00 in emergency fund money. But we'll see if I can make any miracles happen. Baby steps!

Hope you all had a great September, and have a successful October either way!


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