Goals check in
Posted on March 1, 2008 9 Comments
It’s March. How are you lovelies doing on your 2008 goals?
These were mine:
- Increase my house savings account to $30k, or buy a place of my own; whichever comes first (I don’t want to be restrictive if something perfect comes up!).
- Decrease my loans to $2,500. Actually I’d like to pay them off completely this year, but I want my goal to be realistic and attainable, so I’m sticking with this number.
- Run a half marathon.
- Spend more time focusing on my happiness and my personal needs.
My savings account is coming along. I have an online bank account, and in January I goofed. Instead of making my monthly deposit I actually moved the money FROM my savings TO my checking. Luckily I caught it before I spent any of it. It’s a really easy mistake to make when you’re banking online, so be sure to watch out for that.
But in terms of my New Year’s goal, I need to save a total of $10k into the downpayment account in 2008. I put about $1,500 in in Jan and Feb., and I’m planning to put $1,000 in every month moving forward. It’s a lot of my monthly income, but I’ve got to do it.
For goal #2, I’m doing pretty good on my student loan payments. I have paid $700 so far this year, so I should be down to about $4,200-ish now (I never know how that crazy interest works). I’m in my seventh year of repayment, and I should be able to pay it off completely in year eight if not before.
For goal #3, I haven’t started half marathon training yet, but I am registered to run a four-mile race on March 30 (my first Shamrock, fellow Chicagoans! meet me at the finish line with green beer!) and I’m planning to run a 10k in May. I think my actual half marathon will be in the fall, Sept. or Oct., so I’ve got time before my training starts.
My final goal, #4, is a little more problematic. I’m finding it very difficult to spend any real time on my own happiness. I’ve been working a lot and my weekends are all kind of a blur. My January ski trip was a good start, but since then I’ve only managed to get to the gym once per week, I haven’t read any books and I haven’t really spent much time with friends. The only “me time” I’ve spent was a sick weekend earlier in February. I just looked at my calendar and realized I’m completely booked every weekend through April 5. Slowing down is something I definitely need to work on.
That’s me… now tell me about yourselves!
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March 1st, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
Greetings from Malaysia. Just came across your blog from 100kby25.com.
Financially, I’m on track to reach my own savings target, but happiness-wise, I do wish I had more time to spend with people I love too!
March 2nd, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
You’re doing great! Best of luck training for your half-marathon! It takes a lot of courage to do that, wow!
March 2nd, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Good luck at the Shamrock Shuffle! Maybe this horrible winter will be gone by then.
March 3rd, 2008 @ 5:47 pm
I too am doing better at accomplishing the financail goals than the personal, but admittedly mine where not as high as yours. Still, I am doing a slightly better time of management of time and money this year, long way to go. Have not had a vacation or time away, even a weekend, in over a year. Bought a fixer upper house, it is a second job. Safety Freak
March 3rd, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
we are looking at your blog right now in my emerging technologies session at school. haha! you rock…and i FINALLY noticed the picture on top. nice!!! also, you left some “TOTALLY RANCH” on my carseat. hilarious!
March 3rd, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
How on earth can you put away $1000 a month? Your rent must be small or you make a lot of money. Or my guess it’s a low cost of living in Chicago. More than half of my monthly income goes to my rent — I live in NYC.
Good luck with your half marathon goal — I am training for the San Diego Marathon through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program.
March 3rd, 2008 @ 10:44 pm
Wow, that’s a lot of money to put away monthly. How do you put away $1000 a month for 12 months? I sense this is a tough task to follow monthly.
March 4th, 2008 @ 1:31 am
I would also love to know how you manage to save so much. That’s awesome! Here are my monthly goals: 1. Finish the month under my budget. 2. The lunch-challenge. I will not buy lunch for the entire month of march. 4. Break up my monthly budget into weekly chunks. 3. Figure out what’s making me so tired and worn out. Since whatever is going on is hard to figure out I’m need to be my own advocate. 4. Start running again, at least twice a week in the beginning of the month and three times a week at the end.
March 15th, 2008 @ 5:58 am
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