The Road to Happy Finances
Getting financially stable is FRUSTRATING!
I won’t say that I’m financially *unstable*. But I could always wobble a little bit less. Before I went to Paraguay, I had eliminated my credit card debt and was working on Stage 3 of the Crown Money Map, which is establishing an emergency savings of 3 months expenses and paying off student loans. When I went to Paraguay, I put my loans into deferment, and eventually had to start tapping into my savings to pay off my mortgage when rent wasn’t coming in as timely as it should have been. I had to buy my flight home with my credit card, and I lived on it for a few weeks while I was getting my job back and a paycheck once again.
So here I am once again at Stage 2. Trying to pay off my credit card (singular…one is all you need) and establishing a savings of one month’s expenses. I’m about halfway on both fronts, but I’ve recently decided to stop saving as much and start putting more money to my credit card. I figure I’ll end up paying more in interest than I will get from my savings if I don’t. Additionally, I’m saving for my wedding, and I’ve committed to saving a specific amount each month no matter what. I don’t want to not have enough when the time comes, even if I have to skimp for right now.
For the first time in my life I am actually living from a budget. I developed a spreadsheet using a modified version of Crown’s spending plan (email me if you want it) that keeps track of everything I spend and what type of expense it is. I can play around with percentages to increase one category or another. Or let’s say I know I will need $1400 for home expenses, I can set its percentage to allocate that much, and then I can play with the rest to make sure I have enough for food and car and whatnot. It’s handy.
Now I can get to the frustrating part. I only get paid twice a month, so that means I can only see progress for about 20 minutes twice a month. The two things I’m working on are my savings and my credit card. So twice a month my savings go up a tad, I allocate money towards my credit card. I feel like I’ve been given the green light to go and make some progress, but it only lasts for a brief moment, then I have to wait again. Frustrating!
I know I’m making progress, and that’s the important part. If you’ve decided you need to straighten out your finances but don’t know where to start, I’ve included two links at the bottom that have provided direction and keep me motivated. This is definitely an exercise in patience, but it works out in the end. My goal is to be completely free of consumer debt in 5 years, which includes almost $30,000 in student loans. So you can expect to see more financial posts here between now and then.
Crown Financial’s Money Map – a guide through 7 destinations that will get you financial freedom
Get Rich Slowly – a personal finance blog that I find has lots of good tips and suggestions
-j
It’s Grace
Olivia’s middle name is Grace. 
Here are the photos I took and uploaded to my flickr. Please to enjoy the sliding show.
-j
I’m an uncle again…again…again
Olivia Something West. 6lbs 8oz, or thereabouts. She’s very small and has more hair than her brother. And her uncle. Combined.
-j
It’s Thursday and I have to title.
I forgot to post yesterday. That’s not entirely true…I didn’t have time to post. Anyway, my weight in the morning was 301.8. I’m not sure how that happened, but I’ll take it without complaining.
Today Olivia West was born. I can’t remember what her middle name is, so I’m saying it’s Newton. Just under 7lbs. And now I need a nap!
-j
It’s Wednesday Again
Well, I was found out. The plan was foiled. Nothing left to do but come clean. I intentionally didn’t post last week.
I could spend some time making excuses for myself, but I’ve adopted the idea that excuses are dumb and don’t fix anything. When something’s important, you figure out how to get it done. You only make excuses for things that you know you should have done, could have done, but for whatever reason didn’t. I used to call them “reasons”, but even they functioned as excuses.
I didn’t post last week because I was irritated with my weight gain for the week. My excuse would be that I had been traveling a lot, but we all know that if I really wanted to do things right, traveling wouldn’t have stopped my good habits. Last Wednesday I was 309.
Now, that frustrated me because apart from the trip to Yankee Stadium (also known as “The Greatest Road Trip of My Life”) I thought I had been doing well. As far as I could recall, I had eaten normally and the only difference was the trip food, including Stadium food, and a lack of exercise. So I gain 5 pounds in a week? I didn’t get it. But that’s how my life usually goes. I guess the positive part about making this all public is at least you all get to see what kind of a struggle it is for some people to lose weight. My brothers-in-law could do exactly what I did and not see a change in their weight at all. But when you look at the difference between us, they’re both way more active on a daily basis than I am.
So in retrospect, a lack of exercise is probably more detrimental to me than I realize. But on top of that, I still have a too-strong connection to food. I decided to start following the plan of the Bible study I’ve been doing, and today’s half-portion day has been killing me. After lunch I actually felt angry because I couldn’t eat more. Withdrawal, you are a terrible beast.
This morning my weight was down to 307. So basically since the first time I posted my weight, maybe five weeks ago, I haven’t moved an inch. Oh, I’ve had a lot of movement, down and up and down, but I’m still where I started a month ago. Maybe one of these weeks I’ll figure out why I can’t stick to things for long enough to make a difference!
Welcome to my life.
-j
ps> I don’t want to sound like I’m whining. I’m really not. I don’t feel all emo about this situation, but I said I would be honest, and that’s what I’m trying to do. For whatever reason, this is the particular struggle that Satan is using to get me down right now. It’s been others before, and it’ll be others later.
No, the irony is not lost on me
Warning: There’s a little more than slightly geeky content to follow. Not all of it, but a good deal of it.
When Open Office came out, I was mostly happy that I didn’t have to spend money on software that I used every day. I said, “Well, it doesn’t *exactly* render Microsoft documents the way Word would, but it’s good enough for me.” When I started programming, I realized how wonderful open source was; I could get software bits for free and not have to write them myself. Then I found Ubuntu and thought, “Finally I can build a computer and only pay for parts! And no one write viruses for Linux! Plus it’s SO stable.” I was jumping on the open source bandwagon.
[Quick side-note lesson for any non-geeks that still may be reading:]
Open Source is basically a software movement where people write software, usually offering it for free with some type of license that says you can use it, copy it, give it away, whatever you want, as long as the license goes with it (when you buy MS Word, for example, you get a license that says you can’t copy it and give it away). They also make the code they wrote publicly available for anyone to use and modify. The idea is that it fosters better programming and results in more outstanding software.[/end side note lesson]
Then I met Apple. Not only do I love my macbook more than any other computer I’ve owned, I’ve also decided I’m OK with the closedness and proprietary…ness of the components (specific iPod cables, non-standard monitor connections, etc). Now I say, “If you’re smart enough to do that, more power to you. Besides, it’s based off of Linux, and no one writes viruses for Linux!”
We all know how I’m feeling about Facebook these days. They keep all my info and do only God knows what with it. And it enrages me. Well, that’s a bit harsh, but it doesn’t make me happy. But then Google provides me with yet another technology that means they’ll be able to collect habitual information about me, but I get giddy and declare my love for them all the more. Am I a flip-flopper?
I might be, but I’m OK with my inconsistency in that regard. I think the difference is that Apple and Google do some really awesome stuff with their technology, so I’m willing to sacrifice convenience or some privacy in order to take advantage of that awesome stuff. Things like Facebook, that also ask me to give up full privacy control, don’t offer me anything in return, so I can cry “foul!” and feel good about it.
I’m sure things were much more simple before all these gadgets came along. But I do enjoy my gadgets!
-j
ps> How awesome is it that Google TV will allow Kathy and I to watch the same show and translate it for her ON THE FLY?!
Facebook is pushing me away…
This is a post for anyone on Facebook who doesn’t check their privacy controls frequently. You may want to start.
Because of a tweet by a coworker, I went to my FB privacy settings. I noticed something alarming. Facebook has added a feature that connects you to many different sites. This isn’t really anything new; Facebook Connect has been around for a while and can be pretty helpful. But this one appalled me as a pretty (self-proclaimed) savvy web and Facebook user.
Take a minute to do this. Go to your Privacy Settings and click on “Applications and Websites”. Then click on the “What your friends can share about you” settings button. See that list of sites? Your friends on Facebook, totally unbeknown to you, will automatically transfer YOUR information to those websites without even realizing it when they hit the site. Likewise, if YOU hit the site, you’ll send THEIR information to the site. To me, that is a complete breach of privacy that I did NOT sign up for when I joined Facebook. If you want to allow that info to get automatically sent, then leave everything alone. If you’re a bit skeeved by it, uncheck the boxes and save those changes!
That’s step one. Step two is to click the settings button in “Instant Personalization Pilot Program”. You’ll have to uncheck that box and save it if you don’t want anything to go to these sites.
It doesn’t necessarily bother me that Facebook shares this info. What bothers me is that they share it by DEFAULT and don’t tell you about it in an obvious way. I used to laud Facebook like crazy, especially when the other option was MySpace (*shudder*). But if they keep this crap up, I might have to delete my account.
Remember, kids, what you post on Facebook is not personal and private. None of it. You have to work really hard to keep your life even within your specific circle of friends if you post things to Facebook. Just be aware.
-j
I missed it yesterday
My bad y’all. I don’t have a photo today, but I weighed in and it was about what I expected. When you don’t exercise hardly at all in a week and don’t pay attention to what you eat, you shouldn’t expect a weight loss.
My weight this morning was 304.4. Next week it will be 302 something (I don’t think I can get lower than that in a week).
I’ve been really tired since my FL trip and haven’t found the drive I’d had before to get outside in the morning. I still wake up at 6:30, but I’m really groggy until after 7 and by then I have no time to go out. I probably just need to walk around outside while I’m groggy until I get the blood pumping (which might actually be why I’m groggy when I think about it…I need to break the cycle).
-j
Rough weekends, but fun
I’ve learned that you really have to be on your game if you want to maintain consistent weight loss while traveling. I am completing a quick, long-weekend trip to Florida and I am nervous for positive results on Wednesday.
When you go to visit someone after dinner and they serve you sausage and cheese, then cake, then fruit, then nuts, you get to a point where you feel rude because you just can’t eat any more. It also makes you realize how important food is to our culture. It’s actually pretty frustrating.
The other problem is that it’s so stinkin’ humid in Florida, you want to be outside as little as possible. I guess I should just suck it up and get used to it. Richmond will be the same way in short order.
I’m just gonna have to push it at the beginning of this week. Maybe I can offset the damage that has been done so far. We’ll have to see on Wednesday.
-j
Wednesday Progress Report
Not too much difference: 1.4 lbs. But it’s 1.4 less, so that’s what I like to see! Within a week or two I want to be under 300.
Glory to God.
-j