Tuesday, May 11, 2010

New job, new goals

BRAINSTORM

So, i'm sitting here brainstorming and have come up with some goals/ideas for myself. Now that I have one job, it's time to focus on things, other than WORK!


Health
So with this new job, I also need to think about me. I want to feel better. I will be getting more sleep, but I want to take vitamins everyday, calcium everyday, and drink more water.

run vs strength calendar--I created a calendar for this month that rotates running with strength training. I need to do strength training because I hope it helps with my back soreness i've had recently.


run with jackie and adam--last month I got to run with my sister, Jackie. I would like to do it again. We had a good time. It's just hard with Zak. Same thing with Adam, I want to get him running too. We want to run together, its just hard with the little one.


Personal/fun
So with this new job, I may have a LIFE! So things I want are

 playdates--I have a couple friends with kids. Kylee, Heather, Alison, to name a few. I would like to get our kids together, for Zak. He loves to play and I love to catch up with my friends.


game nights--We hosted the last game night at our house with our friends. I am waiting for someone to invite us for one. So far, i'm suppose to hear from my friend Dave at the end of the week. If not, I always have my friends Frank and Pam.


girls nights--For May, my friend Jordan and I want to get together for her birthday and my friend Sharon who is going to be moving. She is suppose to get back to me with their schedules. I can't wait.


date night--Adam and I never have alone time together. This past Friday we actually watched a movie together. It was so nice. I want to do it again. Date nights don't have to be us going out, finding a sitter, etc. We would like that, but we never know what to do besides spend money eating, which we can't afford to do right now.


dvd movies--I need to put my home movies to DVD. Also, Kelly's wedding onto her own DVD.


reading again--I would like to get into reading again. I found a website for a bookclub that I'll post once I get more ready to do it.


houseparty--I won a McDonald's house party on houseparty.com. I was so excited. In June, we're going to celebrate with the family.



make $$ (for wedding fund)


craigslist--Jackie helped me clean out my garage and I am slowly selling the items. That money will be split and then I will put it towards the wedding too.


ebay--ditto


cans--I established with the city of Eastlake to put recycable cans at the baseball fields. We're going to recycle the cans and hopefully it will give us a few extra bucks.


credit card--my credit card give me 2% cash back. That cash will go to the wedding fund as well. Also, with every purchase I make I round up the dollar and throw that into the money jar.


expotv--This is just a fun little website that doesn't earn anything towards $$, but little gifts that are a good thing to have, and the points are easy to get.


inbox dollars--I like this because the revenue is pretty high. I have $11 now and i can cash in at $25. I take surveys, search things and read emails.


hits4pay-- this is another read email site. It's really easy to get the $$, but it seems like its going to take forever to get to $25



Debt
I'm so proud of adam. Since he has moved in, he has paid off almost all his debt. By the end of June, its likely to be ALL gone!!!


adam's on his own here

House


I have put a lot of money into the house the last 6 months, but man was it worth it! It has brought the house such a nice look! Adam has worked his butt off painting and stuff. I think were an awesome team. But, there's always more to do:


  • scrub umbrella table
  • scrub grill cover
  • scrub garbage cans
  • lay mulch
  • fix overhang(adam)
  • change lightbulbs (adam)
  • garden (check westside market for deals)


Finance


What i'm trying to do is combine all my $$ into 2 accounts. One has over $15,000 the other only $2000, but I am making the second one grow to make $15,000 because then I get a 10% increase in interest at the end of the quarter


close discover accts--I called the guy tonight and he is watching them because I have pending interest. When the interest goes through he is going to call me and I will be closing them


budget 1st pay--I need to wait until I get my benefits in here and 72hrs per pay. Hopefully it's going to be a nice increase in pay.


$1000 to charles schwab--I need to keep a good amount in this acct to fund my roth. This month I didn't fund it due to the job switch and yard expenses.


open pnc acct--I will be going to visit adam at the bank to open this account for my checking. It's a nice account and it has a $150 bonus also. And an iphone app thats pretty good.


close life insurance--I have a term policy and that's all I need, I have been paying on this whole life, which was stupid of me.



Career


study calendar--I need to study for my exam. I am finding out this week about reimbursement for it. I want to register for it in 2 weeks, that's my goal.


register for ACLS--After this RNC is over with I would like to register for this


NRP--Mine expires 10/10, so I need to renew this as well this year


CEUs--I have a site that i'm going to start doing my CEUs through after my RNC, I also have my CBLs to do here through lake.



Save


Wedding--Smartypig has us covered. We have $500 right now.


big savings, now 2 accounts building up one to $15000--discussed this earlier and will come back to it at the end of may


Zak's savings--He needs his savings and his college


retirement--I rolled over my PERS, so I now have a tradiational IRA and a Roth, and a 401k that i'm currently not contributing to.


checking--I will be going through PNC for my main checking. Keeping $25 in first merit, $25 in chase, and $1000 in schwab.



Meals
A smart thing I did recently is start buying coupons from this site. It saved me a lot of $$ last week!

Freezer cooking--I want to do this freezer cooking. I am going to look through some healthy recipes


healthier snacks--I enjoyed the westside market this weekend. Got some yummy fruits. I also want to go to trader joes for some trail mix and zak likes their ZAK bars.

Cleaning
The other day I spent 4 hours cleaning the house. I like to clean that way, but I dont like it taking up my entire day.  I am going to adopt Colin's Stradegy over at Hip2Save starting next week.


Hope my ideas help you organize your life a little bit more!

2 comments:

Jackie said...

Good ideas! My thoughts:

drink more water---put a couple strawberries in your water it tastes good!

run with jackie--would love to if i had some time!!

game nights--Id like to join! Again, the whole work thing gets in the way.

date night--You can get a redbox make dinner at home thats what we do! You can go on a hike with the weather getting nicer!

close life insurance--I'll never say I told ya so lol its ok we all do stupid things...

CEUs--Whats the site? I gotta do this too!

Zak's savings--Dave ramsey says if you save $2000 a year from the time your kid is born to 18 you will have $126,000 tax free for college for him!


retirement--401k--contrbute only if they match!

healthier snacks--trader joes, what about whole foods? They usually have a bigger selection

Cleaning

Colin's Stradegy over at Hip2Save starting next week.---sign up for the fly lady, 15 min each day. Although, most the time i cant even do that!

Janine said...

I'm going to try that water thing tonight.

I would like to know when we can run together. What day works for you coming up?

I'm still waiting on Dave for the game night

It was a good thing at the time for the life insurance and he helped me budget, not all a bad thing...i'm gona email him right now.

It's a site I got thru a lady at metro. It was $7.00 for 24ceus!

I'm going to work on Zak's savings, i'll see what I can do

And yes, they will match after a yr

i heard whole foods is more expensive....

i'm gonna try colins, that fly lady seems like way too much lol