The second quarter of the year is officially over. (I don't know about y'all, but I don't like this time flying business. Wasn't it New Year's five minutes ago?)
It's time for a new toothbrush, time to switch to new baking soda boxes in the fridge and the freezer, time to flip the mattress and time to check in on the goals I set for myself this year.
Frankly, I was a little afraid to check in on my progress but it turns out I'm doing pretty well!
You may remember that I set out some (vague) goals at the start of the year, both financial and personal. I checked in at the end of the first quarter and was cooking on only half of them. I am doing better at the end of the second quarter!
Some numbers: I saved 20% of my income in the second quarter and have four months of living expenses saved in my e-fund.
* Contribute to my emergency fund with the goal of reaching six months of living expenses.
YES! On track for this one. When I got my bonus, I used about half the money to shore up the deficit I created in my emergency fund when I moved and had to pay to get my car fixed. But I wanted to get this done by the end of the year to move on to my next set of savings goals (me personally, I need to focus one at a time). I squeezed my budget a little tighter to put about TWICE what I thought I could afford to stash into my emergency fund. Right now, I have saved four months of living expenses! If I continue with my current savings, I should have the next two months saved by December (or sooner)!
What I do want to do here in the interim, though, smarter, more lucrative options for my e-fund because the rates on online savings accounts and CDs are no longer cutting it. I am CD laddering most of the money I have now with about 20% of it immediately liquid in my hi-yield (ha!) online account. There has got to be something better.
* Contribute to my 401k or open my own IRA.
Ok, no. I have been uber lazy on this. Instead of saving and investing in retirement, I've been saving in the e-fund.
* Get on the path to homeownership.
Yes! Ok, mostly I am in the research phase now reading books, blogs and news reports, looking at properties online and looking for Realtors to talk purely information with. I don't want any sales pitches, I don't even want to look right now. I am just curious what's out there, what would work best for me and just how much money I'd need to make this happen. Hence, this is another savings goal for me... I just don't know how much I need to save yet!
* Develop new skills and learn new techniques to help me on my career track.
Sort of! More on this in another post.
* Earn more money through various ventures including more freelance writing.
I completed three freelance assignment so far this year, two in the second quarter. That's better than I've ever done before. But I have not sent out any queries as I said I would do by the end of May... so that just means I have to send two out before the end of JULY. I will do that.
I am also thinking about side hustles and passive income. I don't want to necessarily work hard for every penny I earn and passive income can be invested. So... stay tuned on that.
* Go on a big vacation this year with the target date my 32nd birthday, September 25.
YES! I'm so gangsta, I am taking TWO big trips this year. I already went on an impromptu trip to Tokyo with my best friend in the start of June and loved every moment of our brief journey (well, except my tangle with American Airlines). I have booked our hotel, booked my flight and started making arrangement for my birthday trip to Hawaii! The cash is saved up and, so far, I'm coming under budget, which is exciting!
* Make new friends and make time for old ones.
Not so much in the new friends department, but I have been kicking it with old friends more often! After Michael Jackson passed, I met up with Single Ma and some of her friends to dance all night to MJ! Yes, I was doing as much of the Thriller dance as I remembered and I did hid kick and his little head waggle with the arms stretched out. I really didn't realize how much I loved MJ until now. *Sniff Sniff*
My guy and I have been working through a lot and having a lot more fun together.
This month, by best friend and her sister are coming to town and I've already got some off-the-wall stuff planned for them. Can you say trapeze lessons? Yes!
* Take better care of my physical self -- including taking up yoga, exercising regularly and improving my diet.
Almost! After nearly six months of blah blah blah, I finally started yoga classes! AND I get up to go to the 6:15 a.m. class twice a week and go at 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays! Now, some of you may be like, so what, I do yoga from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. every day and get to work showered and dressed by 8 a.m. But you don't know me. I have never been able to get up early, even as a little kid. Christmas Day was the one exception. And I like it! The early classes are geared more toward beginner's and I have been feeling pretty good all day, not tired at all (until I get home, then it's nightie night by 10 p.m.).
Besides the yoga, I haven't been doing much else and want to. Oh yeah, diet, um... McDonald's and I have met more times in the last three months than in the previous year. So, either I'm not hungry and skip meals altogether or it gets so late I ain't cooking and nothing is open save junk food joints. Gotta rectify this mess.
* Take better care of my emotional and spiritual self, including spending more time having fun!
YES! I feel great. I only feel so so about my finances and professional life, but all in all, I feel better than I have in a while. I also learned a lot about myself a lot about how to deal with things I would have avoided before or compromised far too much on. I am learning to stand my ground and ask for what I want.
* Write for myself. (I've always wanted to write a novel. So I will get started!)
YES! I've written three short stories in that many months which is phenomenal. It feels so good to finally do what I've always loved doing and put down for reasons I don't even remember. My goal is to go back and make those three perfect and write three more before the end of the quarter. Right now, I have no end goal for my writing. I just want to do it at this point. Having a creative outlet feels wonderful.
Not too shabby. What I want to do next is make some of these goals SMART. Vague, unspecific goals tend to be goals that are never met because, well, HOW do you meet them?
I'll work on that this weekend.
DH
Wow, look at you go girl!!! Very impressive, I'll buy you a beer during our next meetup to celebrate ;)
Posted by: J. Money | July 02, 2009 at 01:39 PM