Saturday, December 31, 2011

January's goals

I am taking this goal/budgeting thing one month at a time.  My goals this month, well, every month are:
Finance
1. Pay tithing
2. Save at least 10% of income
3.  Pay all bills on time.  (not as easy as you would think, at least for me.)
Spiritual
1. Pay a full tithe..funny how finance and spiritual have the same entry for number 1.  Humm
2. Attend Church 100% of the time.  (Yikes, but it can be done..or so I am told)
3. Hold Family Home Evening at least 3 nights out of 4.  (or better)
4. Hold Family Prayer every night and every morning. (The morning has been hard for us)
5. Scriptures, Scriptures, Scriptures.
6. Host the missionaries at least once a month for dinner. (More if possible.)
 There are more, but still working on the list.
Home
1. Keep it clean.  

Fitness
So something!!!!  Anything!!!!!

And those are my goals for the new year for January.

What are yours?


Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Goal #1 for 2012

Save money!!!  I don't just mean, spend less but save money, in an account.
We have two main goals, which are: 1. Emergency Fund 2. Down payment on a house (in two years).
We have canceled a few things that take money out of our pocket.
1.  Netflix.  We realized that we are not taken full advantage of the rentals.  We usually keep a movie for weeks and end up averaging 2-3 movies a week.  That is too expensive when we can rent at red box and pay a total of $3 if and when we are ready to watch a movie.  My kids enjoy the streaming, but they don't need to watch so many movies when there are many other things to do in the day. (savings:$14.99
2. Debtwatchers:  A program through Primerica that we have been paying for many months and never even used.  It's a great program, if you use it.  We haven't, and we won't.  Hubby is just too busy and so am I.  Plus I work better using paper and pen. (savings: I don't remember..sad huh.  I think its around $20)
3. Melaluca:  Loved their products and would still be doing it, but decided to cancel for a few months and use homemade or other safe cleaners if I must.  (Saving: Between $50.00 and $75)

That is a grand total savings of round $100 depending on Melaluca, it varies, and the actual amount of Debtwatchers.

Saving those amounts will help toward my long term money goals.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

New Blog, for a new purpose.

I love to blog, and I have tried blogs on homeschooling, frugal living, and just plain everyday topics.
I have decided I wanted to start a blog on my New Year Resolutions.  I joked that it might only have two posts, a start and a finish..in other words..I won't get anything done.
I am trying to change my character and better myself, but as most of you know, changing a character flaw, or bad habit is not the easiest thing to do.
I need to exercise, save money, eat healthy, become a better parent, volunteer more, become more spiritual etc, etc, etc.  Most of my blogs start like that but this blog is going to show the good, the bad and the ugly.  I think there might be more ugly than good.  But I am on a journey, a journey that I expect will last for a couple of years at least and maybe more.  I might have more falls than jumps, more failures than successes, more sadness than elation.  But, I am going to be as transparent as I can be without divulging my account number.
My first goal is to make goals.  I have a few, but I am going to set monthly goals, and yearly goals.  I am going to link up with moneysavingmom.com when she has her goal reviews and updates.  I'm going to need help.
Wish me luck.
Thanks.
Next post:  THE GOALS.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!