Personal

*Increase productivity

After reading this article on Wise Bread, I realized that I spend way too much time being non productive. I really want to take the time to focus in things that will help develop my interests in personal finance, frugality and put more energy towards course work. My plan is to make sure that every waking moment counts and in doing that I will be more productive. No more waiting up late for Big Shots to start when we have Tivo.

*Join more personal finance forums and network with more personal finance bloggers

While I’ve been a reader of so many personal finance bloggers I never joined in on their discussions. While I enjoy many of the other blogs I read I plan to cut back so that I can make more time for the interests that drive this blog and many other personal interests. I have wanted to start this blog since securing the domain back in 2003 but never really found the time. Now I am making the time and it feels great!

*Spend more time with my husband

This really should go without saying but with our schedules sometimes its hard. Now that he is done with grad school we should have more time, ideally. This year I will make an active effort to spend more quality time together.

*Exercise and Increase Personal Health and Well Being

I am a part of a local exercise group so I plan to exercise regularly since we are imitating Biggest Loser by having teams and weigh ins. The challenge lasts through labor day so this gives us enough time to get on and fall off the wagon in pursuit of our collective goals.

Find 3-4 hours each week to workout. 3 times during the week and once over the weekend.

Yoga. I wish I did more of it but alas this semester I will only have time to do it at home because of 12 hour days. Nevertheless I hope to get some in before going to sleep at night and in the mornings before work.

Thai Massage and Phoenix Yoga are two other relaxation modalities I plan to increase this year. Hopefully I can get 2 sessions each season because not only are they useful in physical relaxation but they help in understanding where your body holds stress and the source of the stress.

Get back on the vegetarian bandwagon. Nuff Said.

Personal Finance (will expand on this in an upcoming post)

*Save $1000 per month.  Will increase to $1800 once debts are paid and even more once husband’s raise kicks in.

*Pay down minor debts less than $1500

*Dedicate $1500 per month towards debt reduction

*Determine how much to contribute to our 401k plans.

*Start paying ourselves first via ING and OneUnited Bank

*Start reading up on investing in the stock market

*Increase emergency fund to $30,000. I go back and forth with the figure because we are a young couple with no dependents but I need to do more research. I don’t like the ideal of having that much money in a HYS account when I can possibly net a higher ROI if I check out other avenues. Then come my concerns about liquidity. If we were in a bind, how fast can we have access and what would it cost us?  Must research this.

*Reconcile Mint transactions weekly in order to keep track of our spending

*Increase personal finance knowledge and implementation. Knowledge —> action is lacking on my part right now

Rules

I will not succumb to impulse shopping. I will allow myself one week to decide if I/we really need want an item over $50. This means that the Dyson Animal, new Faberware cookware set and ultimate carpet cleaning are a go!

We will reduce if not eliminate eating out for the rest of the winter months. We spend a bit on eating out and as such we really should cut back in this area. I don’t think this will be an issue in the colder months.

Reduce random trips to Target and CVS. They are the debil. 

Only shop on designated grocery shop days which will be the 2nd and 4th week of the month.  

Large 2008 Purchases/Savings Goals

$800-42 inch plasma TV

$1200-50 inch plasma TV

$2500-Dale Sofa from ComfortSource.com

$8000-Hardwood floors for upper and main levels

I think they should be a bit more specific and I will do that in an upcoming post. This just helped me lay out my plans and I will flush these out a bit more. This is a working document so it’s open to changes as I/we progress through the year.

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I signed up with Mint.com in September but didn’t fiddle too much with it until a few days ago. This is due to their system not being able to access our bank account because of the security prompts. Im not sure when it was fixed but I’d sent in a ticket and I just happened to log in the other day and I saw that it accessed everything just fine. Moving on—>The best part about this program is their account integration, expense tracking and web-based system. I didn’t have too much invested in Money Plus so this made the transition easier.

Account Integration

Mint pulls information from your bank accounts, organizes and lets you analyze it. Hubby and I are able to log in from separate locations and see the same information. We had a mini budget pow wow over the phone while logged into Mint and were able to get some things accomplished. I think he was really cautious at first about allowing a program (an online one at that!) to access our information. But after reviewing their security protocols he felt a bit more comfortable. We established a debt reduction and savings plan in about an hour after assigning categories to some of the line items. Mint does this for you based on the name of the charge but little things like Everlasting Life, a vegan restaurant we frequented had a Life Insurance tag. It takes way less time but after not logging in for so long we had to assign categories in order to get an accurate spending report.

Expense Tracking

Just like the other budget programs, you are able to track your spending and then break it down by category into neat little charts. Mint will also analyze your spending and tell you where you can cut back or switch services to save money. Granted these are partnerships but after check out a few myself, I would have saved money based on their recommendations. Keep in mind, you know your situation better than a computer. So while they recommended I stay with Verizon and get a cheaper phone/plan, I still made out better with ATT with the iPhone..

Software vs. Webware

In this case the webware wins! Nothing to download I can log on from any computer with an Internet connection to check our accounts. This makes it easier to track my spending when away from home or at work where I don’t have my laptop. I found that even with Money Plus I still liked the updated and intuitive features of Mint.com. The bright modern user interface is easy on the eyes and keeps you coming back.

Ease of Use

The program is very intuitive and we found that it resolved many of the issues we had with Money Plus such as not being able to batch assign transactions or spending categories. Imagine having to go through each and every transaction for the last 3 months when you make it every day? Example, Au Bon Pain, I would have to either keep up and assign this category weekly in Money Plus, while in Mint, I am able to batch assign the category at the end of the month and create a rule to assign the same category for all future transactions. *insert cheesy smile here*

Cost

Mint.com=FREE

Microsoft Money Plus $49.95

Need I say more?!

Geezeo.com, Wesabe.com and Mint.com are the main online personal finance software programs out there right now. I am really impressed with the ease of use and how intuitive the Mint.com program is with regards to daily account management.

Kudos to their developer for such a wonderful program!

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