Day $3 Financial Goals

Welcome to day 3 of goals week! Today we're going to talk about financial goals (btw I apologize for mixing up my days this should have been yesterday's post but owell!)

I have 3 goals!

1. Start saving to pay off my school loans: I am about $8,000 in dept for school which I know isn't a lot compared to some folks but it's a good chunk of change. My plan is to save enough to pay it off in one lump sum when it comes due a year after I graduate. I want to pay for it with my own money because I don't believe it's fair to ask my husband to pay it off for me.



2. Save to buy one of these bad boys! Yup I've been drooling over this camera for years now, and now that I am taking a photography course and I'll actually know how to use a camera the correct way by the end of it, I want a nice camera. I don't want it for professional reasons, I want it just for personal reasons. Just because I love to take nice pictures.

3. Make better financial decisions in a rough economy! Next time I go grocery shopping or clothes shopping or any kind of shopping for that matter I plan to ask myself a few questions: 1. Do I REALLY need that new shirt or magazine, 2. Could I do without it? 3. Would I actually use or wear what I'm purchasing enough to makeup for the price?

I have these goals because in middle to late 2011 we plan on buying (or building) a new house so we need to save our $$$ for the mortgage, fixing up the town house so we can rent it out, and new furniture and decor!

What are your financial goals for 2009?

Everything Happens For A Reason

Well ladies and gents,

I apologize for not writing in so long but I've been quite busy and stressed with no time to do anything! Not with wedding stuff either. We have gotten lots of bad news over the past week or so and it's stressful trying to figure out what to do about it all.

First we found out that J. starts UH-60's on Dec. 10th, so he's quite busy trying to get all of his information for the bird learned (which is a lot trust me) because they have no mercy on you if you don't know your information. So he's going to have quite a few weeks so pray for him to have patience.

Then on my way home on Tuesday my car broke down when I got 20 miles down the road. It's so dead that I have to actually buy a new car! It was going to be $5000-6000 to fix it, so we're just going to get a new car. This didn't happen at a good time obviously with having to pay for the rest of our wedding which is no small feat. So pray for me that we find a car that is reliable and a good deal.

I hope everyone has had a great thanksgiving holiday!

I'll be back Monday!

Meal Planning

I've recently been trying out meal planning after reading that it will help you stick to a budget and a list while grocery shopping because I will be the first to admit that I am not one that likes to go to the grocery store and buy whats on the list I see things I pick them up and put them in the cart which ultimately leads me to spending way more than I should have. So I've been giving this a try, it seems to help me stick to the list but it's still not cheap.

You see we get $192 per month in BAS (Basic Allowance for Subsistance aka Food) so we add $8 to make it an even $200 for the month so we break that down by 4 weeks because we shop on Sundays every week and it comes to $50 per week. But most of the time our bill comes out to $70-80 per week which is frusterating. Plus our commissary on base has a surcharge which you never know how much it is going to be we've had it anywhere between $3-$6 it just varies which is frusterating because 1. it's higher than taxes and 2. it always makes our bill higher and makes it worse when we go over and 3. you can't tell how much it is going to be there is no way to tell.

But anyway...here is my menu for the week

Sunday- Tuna Casserole with veggie
Monday- Salmon with pesto and veggies
Tuesday- Fried Steaks with baby potatos and veggie
Wednesday- Chicken and cheese quesedillas with beef rice and corn
Thursday- Baked chicken wild rice and veggie
Friday- Eat out or order in Pizza
Saturday- German keilbasa with stir fry veggies and saurkraut

It's probably because of all the meat we eat that we go over....