Retirement has been on my brain a lot lately. A year and a half ago, I didn't even have a 401K. And although my contribution is small and I do not get an employer match, I still feel like I am accomplishing something by having one. I had a 401K years ago, but due to financial "ignorance" I took a total distribution when I was laid off. But....you live and learn.

But retirement has become so overwhelming. According to Merryl Lynch, I need at least $600,000 at retirement. I do have over 30 years before retirement, but how in the world can I save 600K? Pay off debt and put that amount towards retirement? Even then, its not enough.

Retirement has been on my brain a lot lately. A year and a half ago, I didn't even have a 401K. I did have a 401K at my previous employer, but being financially dumb I took a distribution when I was laid off. Not the best decision. But you live and learn. My employer now doesn't match %, but I feel like I am accomplishing something by just having one. Unfortunately, I can't change my percentage for another couple of months, but I plan to raise it.


But retirement seems so overwhelming. How am I supposed to come up with $600,000 (According to the retirement calculator, that is the minimum I need)? Pay off debt, then use that money towards retirement? Find a different way to invest? I have over 30 years until retirement, but the days are just flying by. And I don't want to be stuck with nothing.

So, its Wednesday and I have 0.00 of my $2.96 left. I had to make 2 trips to our shop so I am completely out of gas. I had a little bit of cash set aside to get gas to get me through the week, but with the unplanned trips, that is gone. Luckily we do not need anything from the store until Friday, so I will have to steal from that jar for gas. Ugh. We also had a last minute invite to watch a show premiere at a local bar last night. My husband had cash so he bought our drinks. So that worked out.

My plan for tonight is to stay home and make a grocery list. We have not eaten off my meal plan so I should still have some things left. Luckily we have been eating off the inventory so its slowly going down. Husband will be home later than normal so maybe I can do some stuff around the house too. We have just been so busy lately...I am just glad I don't have to be anywhere tonight.

This past week we had some unexpected expenses - termite treatment (do it yourself kind), household items, and one of our insurance policies went up. So when I got paid today, I went ahead and did all my financial planning and paying...transferred money away for our utility bills, paid credit card payments, accounted for car insurance coming out in a week. And I have $2.96 left. I even took out cash for us to eat out once this week and filled my car up with gas. So I am hoping that I still have $2.96 left next Friday. Luckily I have groceries and I think I have $10 in my "Food" jar at home in case we need milk or something along those lines. But it will be a tight week. But next week will be better.


And even though I am saving for Christmas and my husband's birthday right now, I will be able to pay 4x the minimum on my 3 credit cards in October. I feel like I'm doing ok.

So last night I went through my freezer and pantry and made a list of every item I had. And although I did have some stuff in my freezer and a lot of starches in the pantry, I will still have to buy some things to make meals, plus milk and produce. But I was able to cross a lot of things off the list and reduce the amount. At least I am aware of what I have and with the meals I planned, I can clear out some of the older stock.

As I said yesterday, I grew up with the mentality that you should always have food in your pantry and freezer. Just in case. I don't have tons. I don't have a stockpile like an extreme couponer (although I am impressed by them). But I always have soups, beans, some veggies, pastas, and rice; things like that. So I'm trying this to see if I can just have less. I don't ever want to be where I have to go to the grocery store because we don't have anything I can make. Plus it take me 15-18 minutes to get to the store, so I don't want to have to make extra trips.

I made a grocery list yesterday. I have a pantry with food. And I have some food in the freezer. But my list is of all these foods that I want to make. Suddenly I am thinking....mark all of that off the list and only buy produce and milk. Am I being cheap? Or is this really the right thing to do? Maybe I should take an inventory and see what I can come up with? Maybe I could make it into a culinary challenge?

We celebrated my brother's birthday this weekend....a very last minute celebration. I was in charge of bread and dessert, which I thought would be easy and cheap. But it wasn't. My sister doesn't eat gluten, so I had to make sure I made something GF for her. And I stopped to get cupcakes because I thought it would be easier than baking. Well I should have just baked. I didn't think they would be very expensive for a dozen, but after she boxed them all up, she told me it was $40!!!! $40 for 12 cupcakes. Ugh. So I paid for the cupcakes. And my extra $40 for the week, went to that. One of my Rx was free, so I had an extra $20 from that, that I gave to my brother as his gift. So I have no extra money for the week, but at least I didn't have to take money from something else to cover it.

So I am thinking about my budget. Is my current budget good enough? What can I change? Is the living on cash/jar method the way to go? I have tried to do a budget through Mint.com, but it doesn't seem to work for me. I heard about YouNeedABudget.com today. I don't know anything about it except they want $60 for the year for the software. Are there other budgeting softwares? Should I stick with what I know?

Much to my surprise, I got a raise on Thursday and it was more than I thought I would get. I am excited to revamp my budget and see what I can do with the extra money.

I also survived the step daughter's birthday. I realize that I have a hard time budgeting when it comes to her because I want to give her everything. But she is only 18 once. At least that is my justification.

I also got an unexpected increase in our phone bill. My husband forgot to tell me that there was an upgrade fee that would be on our next bill. At least they are going to retro my raise back a few weeks, so hopefully the extra will cover it.

I have had 2 no spend days in a row!!! I love it. But today, I have to buy my lunch. But it seems like a NSD makes you gain focus. Suddenly you don't want to spend money.

I'm also gearing up for the weekend. My step daughter is turning 18! We already have her present and I have a budgeted amount for dinner. So it should go fine. I just have to buy some decorations, which I think I will just take out of my grocery budget for the week.

Still no changes to my finances, so I was taking time to go through and read the blogs. I always learn new things and find new inspiration. Its intersting to see how people are accomplishing their goals or even resetting goals. Just love this place.

While reading, I noticed that I had not read a post from Ima Saver lately, which I thought was unusual. I always look for her posts, so it threw me off.

I wish I could say that I have something great to report, but there really haven't been any changes for me. I have applied for many jobs. Many have told me that I am over-qualified. But they don't understand that its an extra job for me. I have a career, I am just looking for extra money. But I'll keep searching.

I did realize that if I want to get my husband a birthday gift in October, that I need to start saving now. I am hoping to find a really good kayak on Craigslist so hopefully I don't have to go to Cabelas! My mother and sisters are going in on it too, so that should bring the cost down. I also have my Christmas budget planned out. Maybe I will get a Christmas bonus at work again this year and I could use it for something such as debt payments and savings since Christmas will be taken care of.

I also worked on my budget a little bit and found that I will have an extra paycheck in October. So "Lord Willing and the creek don't rise" I will be able to make some extra debt payments.

Well, my budget didn't go exactly as planned. Our vacuum cleaner broke and we had to buy bug bombs. So since I only had $2.00 left, it had to come from the money that was going to savings. (sigh) What can you do?

And I just found out that my student loan was transfered to another company? They didn't call me or email me or anything. At least they haven't yet. But I went to make my payment and I couldn't. They did say they were not counting any payments late for July while they get everything settled.

Its going to be a busy week. Just hoping I can keep my gas use under control.

I can't believe Christmas is in about 5 months. How is this even possible?? To say that I find this a little overwhelming is an understatement. I feel like I have a lot on my financial plate right now, so adding Christmas seems extreme. But I have gone through my budget and trimmed here and there. And I am going to start putting the extra away so I have the cash to spend. Its not very much. If I can ever find a second (or technically 3rd job) then maybe I can use a little of it also. Of course, this is not starting this week, since I will only have 2 dollars. But at least I have come up with a plan. And I think everyone will get homemade shortbread cookies and jams. That should cut down on the gifts.

Well, I didn't do a whole lot this weekend since I was sick. I decided that the best thing to do was organize our closet. It took all day Saturday, and I had to buy some hangers, which only cost $3. I also filled my car up with gas for the week and we went to breakfast on Sunday because I was STARVING by then. So not too bad.

I also figured out that on Friday after I pay everything and take out my cash for the week, I will have 2 whole dollars left. The beautiful thing about this is that I think this means I have finally recovered. It even includes me putting money back in savings. I still need to work back up to some beefier credit card payments, but for right now, this is a victory.

Well, I can't say I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But at least I don't feel like the train is about to run me over. I'm going to update my numbers (as sad as they are) so I can be accountable for where I'm at. I've been on a real roller coaster, but I've decided I can only move forward.

I managed to make some small credit card payments while I am figuring out my cash flow. I have to come up with $29 that I'm short this week, but I know I can do that. And I think I have my budget on track, but it will probably take another week for it to be in full effect.

I'm sick....I think I have some sort of stomach bug. So hopefully I can use this to my advantage to stay at home over the weekend.

After hitting my bump in the road a few weeks ago, I thought that I would have recovered by now. Not sure why....but I haven't. I feel stuck on a treadmill....that never stops or slows down. My finances feel completely out of whack. How is this? My slip up wasn't that bad, but somehow it has made me feel lost. I've spent money for no good reason - and I don't do that. My budget is nowhere near balanced. How did that happen? I'm losing sleep over it and lost a lot of focus. I go to sit down and look at it all, but its like my brain has been treated like a slurpee and someone sucked all the matter out. Ugh. Beyond these feelings, I have made the decision that I am going to have to get another job. I did it to pay for our wedding. I did it to help pay for our house. So I am just going to have to do it to pay for our extras (Mainly siding for our fixer upper house). How will it work? I don't know. My goal is to work 3 days at the beginning of the week so I still have time on the weekend to do the accounting and paperwork for our own business, work there if I need to, and keep up with the house. I just need the treadmill to stop.

So I joined Swagbucks. I don't know much...but I figure if I can earn any gift cards out of it, it will be worth it. I joined today and I think I have 48. Anyone that has some words of wisdom, please send them my way.
As for life, I am muddling through. I am trying to be very low key since I had some mis-steps. I am still trying to gather control back over my finances. I am still looking for ways to bring in some extra cash, which is harder than I thought. We had a garage sale before we moved, so I don't have anything to sell. I work full time and I work and do the books for our own business, so I can't really do a part time job. I guess I just need to keep looking. Debt has not gone up, but savings has gone down. I just keep imagining how good recovery will feel.

First off, let me say that although I am writing about my mother in a somewhat negative light, I love her. And I am using this as a learning experience and to help with my own self realization.

I found out that my family members purchased the house my mother and her husband are living in. They took money from their retirement and a bonus to pay cash. My mother and her husband are financially unable to buy or finance a house. They are only charging my mother $700/ mo for a 3 bedroom house in a nice area. (Said family members also paid for more than half of a new car for my mother.) But I found out that they aren't making them pay "rent" until JANUARY 2013! Nice, right? Well their 2nd vehicle is having A/C problems, but my mom asked my husband to look at it because they didn't have money to fix it. This is before I found out that they aren't paying any bills right now. How can you be living rent & bill free but you don't have money to pay to get a car fixed. No rent for 2 months???? They should have at least 1000 bucks put away.

My goal is just to learn from this. I've said it before, but I don't want to be 60+ with no house, no reliable car, 2 bankruptcies under my belt, and no retirement. She is a good woman, but financially she is lost.

I live in Texas....and I love it. But boy, summer is in full swing and so is the heat. Today's high is 104. Sunday we will get a break and it will only get up to 97. I don't really want to complain about the heat, I just want to find ways to beat the heat. When we moved I bought the black out curtains for most of the rooms, hoping that would help. We are thinking about doing solar screens. And I try to keep the thermostat at 75-76 during the day and no lower than 72 at night. (I can't sleep when I'm hot). Not sure what else I can do, but I better come up with some ideas before this summer kicks my butt and my wallet's!

Ok, last post I was a little disheartened by my lack of financial responsibility/control lately. This is where I'm at.

Was/ Now
Credit Card 1: 527.55/ 515.66
Credit Card 2: 493.94/ 508.25
Credit Card 3: 216.84/ 259.38
Student Loan: 3421.59/ 3433.27 -missed payment

Retirement: 1235.00/ 1306.00
Savings: 1900.00/ 1750.00

I had some payments scheduled while this was going on, so luckily it helped soften the blow. I put $100.00 back in savings because I need it to get back to $1900.00. But now I have to come up with my student loan payment because somehow that got missed! I cannot take the money from savings, so I may have to do some rearranging and change searching to come up with it.

I know that overall its just a change of about $60.00 on my cards and $150.00 in savings, but I feel bad that I let myself do it. Its like when your parents tell you they are "disappointed in you." I feel sad and disappointed in myself. I should have more self control. Soooo..with my tail between my legs I am dusting myself off...and hopefully moving past this.

And I'm still looking for ways to make some extra money...if anyone has any ideas. (FYI - all my free time goes to working at our new business, so I can't work a second job at the moment.)

I never thought the name of my blog would be so fitting. When I say I have messed up...boy have I messed up. I used credit cards, took from savings, took from my household account, and I am so far beyond the lines of my budget. People, I messed everything up. So now what? Do I just try to start over? And how do I get the money to catch up? And further more, how could I let this happen? (Head in hands) I feel defeated.

So its summer time. During the month of June, my step daughter stays with us exclusively. So there are some added expenses there. And I am trying to do some activities so she has some fun. So I'm taking her to a concert at 6 Flags and I invited a friend who has a season pass. So I'm buying her concert ticket and she is letting me use her free friend pass. So that will save me $20! But just summer in general is so expensive. I buy more food and water and it seems like we drive more and we entertain more. I think I am going to do a "fiscal fast" for at least 2 weeks in July...just to recover.

I started the job I have now a little over 4 years ago. Although I do accounting, I work in the oil & gas industry which was BOOMING 4 years ago. I didn't realize how overly good I had it back then, and I wish I would have been smarter back then. We used to get paid for 5 hours of overtime every week...we didn't have to work 5 hours extra, we just got paid for it!!!! During that boom, I should have been socking that money away or paying off debt, instead of increasing my expenses. I still love my job. We don't have that perk anymore, but it has so many others. But I wish I would have been a little wiser 4 years ago. Amazing how much you can grow in 4 years and how your priorities change.

So I was on Dave Ramsey's website the other day, and I realized that they are giving away at least $1000.00 a day in a Home Improvement Giveaway. After taxes, its not a huge chunk of change, but it would would help towards our siding!!! And what do I have to lose? So show me the money Dave Ramsey....show me the money.

My work started a 401K program a little over a year ago. The only issue is that they do no match or make any contribution. It is just a way for us to do it on our own through them. I do not contribute very much because its just me socking money away. So I'm wondering if I should up my percentage or should I consider other options?

So glad I have a long weekend coming up. I'm actually off Friday - Monday. Eventhough its a long weekend, I am hoping I can spend as little as possible. Saturday we are going to a event to promote the business. One of our vendors provided us with free tickets and passes, so we are only out gas and food. Plus it will be a great way to reach new customers. My in-laws are coming next weekend, so this will be a great opportunity to finish getting my house in shape. Maybe if I'm busy cleaning I won't spend money.

As a side note...with the Texas heat coming, I decided I really want to buy an above ground pool. So if I want it, I have to find extra money to pay for it. Its a want...not a necessity, but it would be a great summer activity for me, the husband, and the step daughter that we wouldn't have to pay much to enjoy. Part of me says...use that money and put it towards debt. Ugh....torn.

Well...although my weekend wasn't as productive as I wanted it to be it was productive. I am finally done unpacking (Only took me 3 months....Jeez!). I went through each room and worked on everything. Got my office almost completely organized. All I have left is to redo my files and finish my laundry room. Then I can try to do my secondary goal of redoing my budget. So I'm still trucking.

I had a little extra money this last week, so I paid it toward my 3 credit cards. It wasn't a lot, but every little bit helps, right?

Have you ever been so flooded with thoughts that you can't stay focused? That's how I am feeling right now. Thinking about our business, the house, finances, life in general, things I want to do, things I wish I could buy.... (sigh)
I am off Friday from work so I am planning on doing as much around the house as possible and just GET IT DONE. Saturday I have to go to our shop and work, but then I am going to redo my budget and try to get to where I have nothing to do on Sunday.
Starting couch to 5K too and doing yoga once a week. Maybe the exercise will help me. A friend suggested I try to get some outside time - no cell phone/no computer/ no TV - to try to "center myself."

Positive note - the business turned a profit for April! Made me breathe a little easier.

When I first started blogging I wondered if financial habits were "hereditary." My mom has never been the best picture of financial fitness. But as the year has passed I have started to look at not only my mom, but other relatives and even friends. My father's family has always lived within their means and had money to show for it. They all owned properties or companies and had healthy savings. My mother, like I've said before, has no savings or home and is a spender. Her brothers, are the same way only worse. And recently I watched a friend take money out of retirement to pay bills and buy a car. So now her retirement is less, plus they will have to pay taxes, and I'm not if it solved the problem. Basically I am just trying to take pieces from all of these examples and realize that I can be like my father's family if I try. And I don't honestly feel like I have really been trying. Just going through the motions.