January Goals Check In

Well that went incredibly fast!

I can't believe we are already at the end of the month. Without further ado, let's see how I did.

• 1.      No food purchases at work - D+
• 2.      Save $300 - A+
• 3.      Gather all my tax information to file 2015 taxes, and school forms for Boomer - A+
• 4.      Record all transaction in YNAB and do my darnedest to STAY. ON. BUDGET.- C

Let's start with #1. I started the month very strong, and didn't purchase ANYTHING for the first two weeks of January. Then the last two weeks we had buy meetings with partners from overseas and well...entertaining involves eating and snacking. Overall though I did pretty well and have gotten pretty good at planning a week's worth of lunches for Boomer and myself.

#2 - Saving money is a lot less painful when you automate it. If you count my retirement savings for the month I surpassed my $300 goal!

#3 - Again...very easy. Everyone mails you everything so all you have to do is make sure your address is up to date AND that you don't lose anything. I've actually already entered it all into Turbo Tax...I just haven't hit the file now button.  \

#4 - I've done pretty well with the budget for the month. I've stayed on track entering purchases and paying attention to category balances. The last two weeks have been a little crazy so I've probably missed a few, but I have this weekend to reconcile all my info. I definitely blew the budget in one category. My wheel broke (Thanks Ohio potholes) and I had to pay for a new one. I need to be a lot better about saving for car repairs. They are inevitable, and I know the next expense coming is tires. Yay.

So onto February goals!!!

• Read 4 books - I started The Prince Lestat last night and it seems pretty good so far.
• File taxes. Just do it Whitney. Also, send refund straight to savings.
• Start looking for/buy a dresser. Stop living like a college student.
• Keep up with the budgeting. - so far so good, just need to stay consistent.
• No food purchases at work. Yes this is a repeat, but its a HUGE money saver. Also its a lot healthier for me since I tend to choose burgers and fries at work. (Also cake, cookies, pies, you get the idea.)
• Save $300 - also a repeat, but I've got weddings to go to, trips to take, and concerts to attend!

So what are your goals for February? Also my mom's birthday is coming up...any gift suggestions?

A Girl and Her Money : January 2016 Goals and Check In

It's my first post of 2016!

Many moons ago (6/24/2014 to be exact) I was really into personal finance. I was writing 'A Girl and Her Money' posts on Wednesdays. Well, I'm really into personal finance still/again and it's Wednesday and I have money things to talk about.

In my last post I talked about how 'adulting' was my word for 2016, and one of the things I mentioned was rolling over a 401k into an IRA. I mentioned that if I didn't know how to do something like that, I would ask and figure it out. Technically I opened the IRA before the end of 2015, but that is neither here nor there. Turns out it is really easy. Pick a company. Call them. Tell them you want to open a roll over IRA account. Call your old retirement company. Tell them you wan to rollover your 401k. Tell them how to make out the check. Deposit check. DONE!

Last night, I received my check, and with the miracles of modern technology deposited that bad boy with my phone on my Fidelity app. (Fidelity isn't sponsoring this post, that is just the company I chose to go with.) It was super easy (once I got my hands to stop shaking....dang coffee) and this morning it was credited to my new IRA retirement account. Easy as pie!

By the way where did that statement 'easy as pie' come from? Have you made a pie? I wouldn't exactly call that easy.

So that is my financial check in for the beginning of the month! Now here are my goals for this month:

• 1.      No food purchases at work
•  I started a new job, and said new job has an AMAZING café. I was going to this cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack almost every day. This translated to 66+ debit card transaction last month and a busted budget. No bueno.
• 2.      Save $300
• This is automatically moved from checking to savings every pay day so I don’t even notice it is gone.
• 3.      Gather all my tax information to file 2015 taxes, and school forms for Boomer
• 4.      Record all transaction in YNAB and do my darnedest to STAY. ON. BUDGET.

I'll let you know on the 27th (last Wednesday of the month) how it went!

What are your goals, financial or otherwise, for this month?