I just checked my credit score, and I'm just barely in that "excellent" range. But I've found some things that are pretty interesting online about how to improve your score.
I think the easiest way for me to improve my score is to decrease my debt to credit ratio. Right now I'm at 73%. I'd like to get that to 50% over the next year or so. There is two ways to do this. The easiest way is to increase the amount of credit that is available to me. The other day I actually closed the account for Meg's ring that I had paid off, now that I know more about this ratio, I probably should not have closed that account.
The more difficult, but better in the long run, is to actually pay down the debts that you owe. But for me to hit my 50% ratio, I'd have to decrease my debts by about $60,000. This probably isn't reasonable to expect to happen over the next year. So ultimately it'll probably need to be a combination of paying down debt and increasing the credit available to me.
I took one step towards this a week ago when I called my credit card company and asked to have my credit limit raised. They raised it by about $2,000. So it wasn't much, but it helped! And to me, it doesn't really matter because I pay off the balance every month.
But there is a risk of your debt to credit ratio being too low! They say a good range to stay within is 40%-60%. If your ratio is too low, then you have too much credit available to you.
If you have any questions let me know and I'll see what I can dig up.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
March 10, 2009
So I finally hopped on the Twitter bandwagon and started my own feed. It's really interesting, you can even text in your updates. It's a way to put yourself out there again. And I've really begun to realize that blogging, twittering, and facebooking are the ways that people network these days. No longer do you have to go hang out at the local bars and wait to see what business people might show up. Now you go home and let the world know what you're doing and how good you are at it!
Now to my goals:
The other day Megan and I were at a decorating store that was going out of business, and we made an impulse buy on a bed frame. But we got it for 60% off and it was on our list of things we wanted to get this year. So I think it was a good buy. I won't be able to pay off my car this month, but that's fine. As long as I can pay my bills and I don't carry a credit card debt, I'm good to go! But we need to set a budget and try to stick to it. But thanks to my company sending me different places to work we can decrease our costs!
My working out hasn't been the best, but I've tried to cut back on my eating, so it's balanced out. I've also tried to get more sleep, so that helps me feel better too.
My focus has been decent, but I need to get back in the office so I can get back in the zone.
I'm going to try to get through a couple of magazines tonight and maybe get a start on the book that I brought, but we'll see.
I'm hoping to get the ceiling fan that we bought put up this weekend, but we'll see, there's a lot going on.
Now to my goals:
The other day Megan and I were at a decorating store that was going out of business, and we made an impulse buy on a bed frame. But we got it for 60% off and it was on our list of things we wanted to get this year. So I think it was a good buy. I won't be able to pay off my car this month, but that's fine. As long as I can pay my bills and I don't carry a credit card debt, I'm good to go! But we need to set a budget and try to stick to it. But thanks to my company sending me different places to work we can decrease our costs!
My working out hasn't been the best, but I've tried to cut back on my eating, so it's balanced out. I've also tried to get more sleep, so that helps me feel better too.
My focus has been decent, but I need to get back in the office so I can get back in the zone.
I'm going to try to get through a couple of magazines tonight and maybe get a start on the book that I brought, but we'll see.
I'm hoping to get the ceiling fan that we bought put up this weekend, but we'll see, there's a lot going on.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
March 4
So much to do with no time! With all the layoffs and everything going on, how are people supposed to get their stuff done in the same amount of time? There's only one way to do it, and that's to sacrifice quality. To me, that's not a very good trade off. And like so many people have mentioned before, with all of the technology we have now, we should be able to get a lot more done in less time. But that's not how it works...
The ring is paid off! FINALLY! Next is the car!
My working out has sucked, I feel like crap, and I'm flabby! I need to get back into it. The good thing is that it's getting warmer out, so I'm ready to run outside instead of on the thumping treadmill.
My focus has been off because there's so much to do. I need to focus on certain tasks at certain times of the day instead of trying to do everything at once and getting distracted by people. Tomorrow there's some big actions that need to get done that I'm going to try to focus on.
Lately I've been reading lot of blogs and my magazines. I've fallen pretty far behind on those. I'm going to start reading through the books that are in my bookcase. I'm not sure what's up first.....
The house is great, Megan does an amazing job when I'm gone traveling!
The ring is paid off! FINALLY! Next is the car!
My working out has sucked, I feel like crap, and I'm flabby! I need to get back into it. The good thing is that it's getting warmer out, so I'm ready to run outside instead of on the thumping treadmill.
My focus has been off because there's so much to do. I need to focus on certain tasks at certain times of the day instead of trying to do everything at once and getting distracted by people. Tomorrow there's some big actions that need to get done that I'm going to try to focus on.
Lately I've been reading lot of blogs and my magazines. I've fallen pretty far behind on those. I'm going to start reading through the books that are in my bookcase. I'm not sure what's up first.....
The house is great, Megan does an amazing job when I'm gone traveling!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
February 28, 2009
It was a good week, I got a lot done, we found a good renter for our duplex, and we'll be officially signing a lease for our current renters! So things are getting a bit more organized.
Over the next few days, as soon as my payment goes through, the ring will be officially paid off! And hopefully after I get my profit sharing check on the 15th, I'll be able to pay off the car! I won't exactly get all that money to play with because I changed the allowances on my W-4 so I basically decreased my paycheck, but I increased the lump sum I'll get back next February when I do my taxes. I'm thinking a lot of that will go towards the wedding. Megan and I talked about going to a Hilton in the Caribbean instead of an all-inclusive so that I can use my points, and our honeymoon would be relatively cheap. But we don't need to make that decision until this September. So on the financial side of life, I'm living pretty easy right now. I'm also going to be participating in Ramit Sethi's Challenge, so it'll be interesting to see how much money he can help me save this month!
I've changed up my working out routine. Now I work out about every other day, but incorporate more physical exercise in all of my days. I've started taking the stairs and walking more. I've also started drinking a lot more water and eating less. And on the days that I don't work out I eat a lot less than the days that I do. So we'll see how that turns out. I can tell already that I'm feeling a little bit better though.
My focus has been pretty good. I've realized that I need to organize my things and spend more time on things I like and less on things that I don't really care about. Like this morning, I went through all the blogs that I have in my "Favorites" tab, and narrowed it down to the ones that I actually like to read. So instead of 15 blogs, I only have 10 that I'm following now. My next project is to go through all the articles I've ripped out of my magazines and see which ones I'll ever use. But doing these things helps me to focus my time and energy on things that I actually like, instead of trying to learn everything that's out there.
I finished reading a book called The 11th Element, but Robert Scheinfeld. It was an alright book. It talked about how you have this inner network who helps you accomplish your life goals, and you need to ask that network to find things for you and to make things happen. I can partially see this as not being complete bull because in my life, I've been able to acheive things that I really want to, and things have just happened. But on the other hand, making requests to some inner network that works for you is a bit out there... But it was a somewhat interesting read. The other day I realized that I had so many books on my bookshelf that I had never read. So I plan on reading some of those over the next few months.
I did a good cleaning of the house today. And either today or tomorrow Megan and I are going to go through the spare bedroom and see what's going to be given to Goodwill! We have so much junk in there and I have no idea what it all is...
Over the next few days, as soon as my payment goes through, the ring will be officially paid off! And hopefully after I get my profit sharing check on the 15th, I'll be able to pay off the car! I won't exactly get all that money to play with because I changed the allowances on my W-4 so I basically decreased my paycheck, but I increased the lump sum I'll get back next February when I do my taxes. I'm thinking a lot of that will go towards the wedding. Megan and I talked about going to a Hilton in the Caribbean instead of an all-inclusive so that I can use my points, and our honeymoon would be relatively cheap. But we don't need to make that decision until this September. So on the financial side of life, I'm living pretty easy right now. I'm also going to be participating in Ramit Sethi's Challenge, so it'll be interesting to see how much money he can help me save this month!
I've changed up my working out routine. Now I work out about every other day, but incorporate more physical exercise in all of my days. I've started taking the stairs and walking more. I've also started drinking a lot more water and eating less. And on the days that I don't work out I eat a lot less than the days that I do. So we'll see how that turns out. I can tell already that I'm feeling a little bit better though.
My focus has been pretty good. I've realized that I need to organize my things and spend more time on things I like and less on things that I don't really care about. Like this morning, I went through all the blogs that I have in my "Favorites" tab, and narrowed it down to the ones that I actually like to read. So instead of 15 blogs, I only have 10 that I'm following now. My next project is to go through all the articles I've ripped out of my magazines and see which ones I'll ever use. But doing these things helps me to focus my time and energy on things that I actually like, instead of trying to learn everything that's out there.
I finished reading a book called The 11th Element, but Robert Scheinfeld. It was an alright book. It talked about how you have this inner network who helps you accomplish your life goals, and you need to ask that network to find things for you and to make things happen. I can partially see this as not being complete bull because in my life, I've been able to acheive things that I really want to, and things have just happened. But on the other hand, making requests to some inner network that works for you is a bit out there... But it was a somewhat interesting read. The other day I realized that I had so many books on my bookshelf that I had never read. So I plan on reading some of those over the next few months.
I did a good cleaning of the house today. And either today or tomorrow Megan and I are going to go through the spare bedroom and see what's going to be given to Goodwill! We have so much junk in there and I have no idea what it all is...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
February 18, 2009
It's been so long since I've posted! Not good.... I need to work on that. I've been so ridiculously busy lately, with things really ramping up at work, and trying to rent out our duplex, and work on buying more property, and start my other part time job. I think something will need to go, and the first thing to go will be the part time job.
I've been putting all of my tax return toward the ring and I'm really close to paying that off! And next month is looking good to pay off the car. I also adjusted my tax deductions back to 1, instead of 8. Initially I did this so that I could stop giving the government an interest free loan. But now I see that it's kind of a hassel, and I'm really not losing much in interest. And it'll be nice to get a big refund check next February.
My working out has been pretty crappy. I've been eating pretty bad, and not working out enough.
My focus at work has been pretty good, but I think it's because I have so much to do, that I don't have any choice but to really focus on what's right in front of me. But I have gotten much better at delagating and deciding which projects are most important and which ones can be pushed off a little bit. But it makes sense because the projects that aren't that important won't get funded anyway. EVERYTHING is getting scrutenized harder than ever. But for me, that's nice because I have a good reason to push off some of these projects that won't have much effect on the overall company's well-being.
I finished reading a book about how to make you an employee that companies want to keep. It didn't bring up really anything new to me, but it reiterated a few good points. Basically, work hard, talk to the right people, make sure the right people know what you're doing, and don't waste your time with people who will hold you back. I'm not sure what my next book will be.... I need to find more time to read!
The house is in pretty good shape, I cleaned off the table tonight so we're doing alright. I think we need to do a deep clean soon!
I've been putting all of my tax return toward the ring and I'm really close to paying that off! And next month is looking good to pay off the car. I also adjusted my tax deductions back to 1, instead of 8. Initially I did this so that I could stop giving the government an interest free loan. But now I see that it's kind of a hassel, and I'm really not losing much in interest. And it'll be nice to get a big refund check next February.
My working out has been pretty crappy. I've been eating pretty bad, and not working out enough.
My focus at work has been pretty good, but I think it's because I have so much to do, that I don't have any choice but to really focus on what's right in front of me. But I have gotten much better at delagating and deciding which projects are most important and which ones can be pushed off a little bit. But it makes sense because the projects that aren't that important won't get funded anyway. EVERYTHING is getting scrutenized harder than ever. But for me, that's nice because I have a good reason to push off some of these projects that won't have much effect on the overall company's well-being.
I finished reading a book about how to make you an employee that companies want to keep. It didn't bring up really anything new to me, but it reiterated a few good points. Basically, work hard, talk to the right people, make sure the right people know what you're doing, and don't waste your time with people who will hold you back. I'm not sure what my next book will be.... I need to find more time to read!
The house is in pretty good shape, I cleaned off the table tonight so we're doing alright. I think we need to do a deep clean soon!
Monday, February 9, 2009
February 9, 2009
Alright, I'll touch on my New Year's resolutions again.
I've figured out my plan to pay off the ring and my car early! After I get my federal tax return this Friday I'll put that, and my state refund towards the ring. That should take care of that loan! That's a big one, because if I don't pay that off by July the interest rate goes WAY up, so really, it can be considered an investment! Then in March when I get my profit sharing (which will probably suck) then I'm hoping I'll be able to pay off my car a couple of months early. Paying off those two loans will give me an extra $500 per month! With a combination of that extra money per month and my new second job, we should be sitting pretty good, and we should be able to enjoy the Twin cities more.
I haven't been working out as much as I'd like to. But the other day I ran for 30 minutes and didn't die! So that was a good sign! Then for the next few days I'll be back out in LA, so we'll see what I can get accomplished out there. I know my eating is going to be terrible out there...but I'll try to keep it reasonable!
My focus at work has been alright, I've been able to prioritize and try to get some things checked off my enormous list. This has allowed me to focus more on the 80% of my projects that are actually going somewhere and put off the 20% that are pretty much meaningless. And some of those projects will never get spending approved anyway, so I choose to ignore them. It's the classic 80/20 rule!
I haven't started a new book yet, but I've been getting through my magazines and blogs pretty well. I have a few blogs that I really love reading. Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist Blog is excellent! Ramit Sethi has a lot of good points in his I Will Teach You to be a Millionaire blog. I've also subscribed to his Scrooge Strategy, which, so far, hasn't really been worth my $8 investment. Tim Ferriss has an interesting blog, he's the author of The Four Hour Workweek. Evidently he made too much money on his book deal and now just spends all his time traveling around and doing some really cool stuff! I also have a couple of guys that I knew in college that are doing some amazing things and blog about them. One of them is Chris Deal, who is a great guy and a very accomplished leader, he's been blogging about traveling in Africa. Another guy is Wes Meier who is traveling around Nicaragua and blogging about it. Both of these guys, along with Greg McGrath have started an organization called Emerging Opportunities for Sustainability, and they're doing some incredible things in third world countries.
We cleaned all the carpets in the house the other day, and it looks so much better! It really brought the carpet back to life and probably extended it's life by a couple of years! Other than that, we reorganized the furniture a little bit and I really like it.
I learned a lesson today. I was talking to one of my friends at work who is constantly bitching about her job and the people that she works with. She feels like everything gets dumped on her, and the people that she manages, basically can't/won't help her out. I've tried to give her some tips, but she's not receptive to them at all. So I learned that some people are perfectly content staying in a crappy job, and just complaining about it, you just can't help them. So I'm going to choose to just leave these people alone, their lives will play out just the way they think it will.
I've figured out my plan to pay off the ring and my car early! After I get my federal tax return this Friday I'll put that, and my state refund towards the ring. That should take care of that loan! That's a big one, because if I don't pay that off by July the interest rate goes WAY up, so really, it can be considered an investment! Then in March when I get my profit sharing (which will probably suck) then I'm hoping I'll be able to pay off my car a couple of months early. Paying off those two loans will give me an extra $500 per month! With a combination of that extra money per month and my new second job, we should be sitting pretty good, and we should be able to enjoy the Twin cities more.
I haven't been working out as much as I'd like to. But the other day I ran for 30 minutes and didn't die! So that was a good sign! Then for the next few days I'll be back out in LA, so we'll see what I can get accomplished out there. I know my eating is going to be terrible out there...but I'll try to keep it reasonable!
My focus at work has been alright, I've been able to prioritize and try to get some things checked off my enormous list. This has allowed me to focus more on the 80% of my projects that are actually going somewhere and put off the 20% that are pretty much meaningless. And some of those projects will never get spending approved anyway, so I choose to ignore them. It's the classic 80/20 rule!
I haven't started a new book yet, but I've been getting through my magazines and blogs pretty well. I have a few blogs that I really love reading. Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist Blog is excellent! Ramit Sethi has a lot of good points in his I Will Teach You to be a Millionaire blog. I've also subscribed to his Scrooge Strategy, which, so far, hasn't really been worth my $8 investment. Tim Ferriss has an interesting blog, he's the author of The Four Hour Workweek. Evidently he made too much money on his book deal and now just spends all his time traveling around and doing some really cool stuff! I also have a couple of guys that I knew in college that are doing some amazing things and blog about them. One of them is Chris Deal, who is a great guy and a very accomplished leader, he's been blogging about traveling in Africa. Another guy is Wes Meier who is traveling around Nicaragua and blogging about it. Both of these guys, along with Greg McGrath have started an organization called Emerging Opportunities for Sustainability, and they're doing some incredible things in third world countries.
We cleaned all the carpets in the house the other day, and it looks so much better! It really brought the carpet back to life and probably extended it's life by a couple of years! Other than that, we reorganized the furniture a little bit and I really like it.
I learned a lesson today. I was talking to one of my friends at work who is constantly bitching about her job and the people that she works with. She feels like everything gets dumped on her, and the people that she manages, basically can't/won't help her out. I've tried to give her some tips, but she's not receptive to them at all. So I learned that some people are perfectly content staying in a crappy job, and just complaining about it, you just can't help them. So I'm going to choose to just leave these people alone, their lives will play out just the way they think it will.
Friday, February 6, 2009
February 5, 2009
Today I’m going to skip talking about my resolutions. I’ll get back to those in a couple days.
I want to talk about what is going on in the world and how it’s affecting “regular” people. The first issue that has made the news is that Obama is limiting the salary of CEO’s of companies that are getting government help to $500K. I do see this as a good and bad thing. The good side is that some of these CEO’s are making ridiculous sums of money, and they’re screwing over the American people. And since we’re basically paying their salaries now, I think they should be limited. The downside is that I’m sure some of these CEO’s will leave their companies, and go to other companies where they can get paid what they’re worth. Granted, some of these CEO’s aren’t worth a dollar, but some of them are.
The other trend that I see in the business world is the balance between price and customer service. Many companies now are being MUCH more price sensitive and not looking as much into customer service. They’ll go out and get competitive bids, and the winner is the one with the lowest price. BUT this is a HUGE mistake! From my work as a project manager, even if a company has a low price, in the end they’ll cost you more. If they have terrible customer service you’ll end up having a lot of change orders, problems with delivery, timelines delayed, and in the end you’ll have to pay a lot to get the equipment up and running the way it should be. So it just kills me when I work on high visibility projects and all management cares about is the price. When they turn to this strategy I just add in more contingency because I know I’ll need it because of the reasons listed above.
As I was driving in my rental car to the airport tonight I heard a country song that said something along the lines of “momma asked if he was dipped in blood or water, and daddy asked if he made enough money to take care of her”. This made me think about Megan, our relationship, and our financial position. My ultimate dream is to become financially free and be able to travel and do whatever we want to do in life. Financially free to me, means making more in passive income than what you spend. To accomplish this we either need to build up a huge portfolio of stock investments, or build up a business that runs itself and pays us every month. To me, the route I’d like to take is to build up a business that has great profit margins. Right now my management company will make about $1,000 per month after we pay off some of our short term debts. Now, if we buy 9 more properties like this, then the 3 owners could quit our day jobs and just run the management company. This wouldn’t make me financially free, but it would give me the time to really focus on building up that company even more, and get to that financial freedom much quicker than if I work for a Fortune 500 company for the rest of my life.
But in the mean time, before Megan and I get to our financial freedom, I’d like to make enough to where my salary can pay for all of my, and Megan’s bills, and she can really do whatever she enjoys doing. I don’t know if she knows what that is yet, but I’m hoping she discovers it someday! I love working and doing what I’m doing. But eventually, I’d like the freedom to quit my day job and get into real estate full time without worrying how I’m going to pay the bills! Real estate is fascinating to me, and I think it’s something that I’ll enjoy for the rest of my life. It does come with it’s challenges, but if it’s not a challenge, it’s not any fun!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
February 3, 2009
Right now I'm out in sunny California, trying to keep my projects going and get all of my stuff done! Traveling seems to suck up a lot of time because you just spend more time driving, getting ready, eating, etc.... So you lose a few hours of every day. The upside is that I'm not at my house to work on the things I need to do there, so it kind of evens out.
And last night I filed my taxes so now I'm done! I should be getting my refund in about 8 business days. My refund wasn't as big as I was thinking it was going to be, but I'll be able to pay off all my loans on time so I won't get hit with any big APR's. So that makes me feel better. Now I just need to catch up to my credit card payments!
So since I've been traveling, I've tried really hard to eat reasonably, but sometimes it's so hard! The food out here is amazing, and they give me too much. But I've done a pretty good job of ordering things that are pretty healthy and eating decent portions. Today we went to this salad bar place and it was amazing! They had all the toppings you'd ever want to put on a salad, and you just made your own. They also had about 10 different soups and pizza and stuff like that. I wish MN had a restaurant like this, it was great. But it was a buffet style restaurant, and as I looked around at the people that were there, many of them were very obese, so that helped me keep my portions small. At that moment I vowed to avoid buffets whenever possible. It just made me sick to watch what some people were eating and what their KIDS were eating. Some of those kids will start having health problems when they're 18, it's really sad....
Since I'm traveling, I really have no personal expenses. And I'll be traveling about half of this month. And when I'm not traveling I'll either be working on the duplex or working at my new part time job. So that should keep me out of spending trouble and I'll be able to catch up with my credit card balance!
My focus at work has been off but I think that's because I'm in CA. When I'm out here it's really hard for me to get in "the zone". It's just not my normal atmosphere so I'm kind of out of it. Whenever I come out here my goal is to just take care of the things that HAVE to get done, and I'll take care of everything else when I get back in the office. The other thing that is getting my off focus at work is my management company and some opportunities that have shown their faces! It has real potential to take off! Then by the time I'm 30 maybe I'll be financially free and not have to work if I don't want to.
Right now I'm reading The Starbucks Experience. It's a pretty decent book about how to go above and beyond in regards to customer service but I'm not sure how much more there is to the book. Especially now knowing that Starbucks has taken a dive and isn't the mecca that it used to be. But there are some valid points to learn from it. I'm hoping to finish it by the time I land back in MN.
As for the house, I'm not sure what kind of shape it's in, I'm not there to mess it up, so I'm sure it's alright!
Also, I'm going to start trying to make my blogs more interactive, I just now learned how to put links in!
And last night I filed my taxes so now I'm done! I should be getting my refund in about 8 business days. My refund wasn't as big as I was thinking it was going to be, but I'll be able to pay off all my loans on time so I won't get hit with any big APR's. So that makes me feel better. Now I just need to catch up to my credit card payments!
So since I've been traveling, I've tried really hard to eat reasonably, but sometimes it's so hard! The food out here is amazing, and they give me too much. But I've done a pretty good job of ordering things that are pretty healthy and eating decent portions. Today we went to this salad bar place and it was amazing! They had all the toppings you'd ever want to put on a salad, and you just made your own. They also had about 10 different soups and pizza and stuff like that. I wish MN had a restaurant like this, it was great. But it was a buffet style restaurant, and as I looked around at the people that were there, many of them were very obese, so that helped me keep my portions small. At that moment I vowed to avoid buffets whenever possible. It just made me sick to watch what some people were eating and what their KIDS were eating. Some of those kids will start having health problems when they're 18, it's really sad....
Since I'm traveling, I really have no personal expenses. And I'll be traveling about half of this month. And when I'm not traveling I'll either be working on the duplex or working at my new part time job. So that should keep me out of spending trouble and I'll be able to catch up with my credit card balance!
My focus at work has been off but I think that's because I'm in CA. When I'm out here it's really hard for me to get in "the zone". It's just not my normal atmosphere so I'm kind of out of it. Whenever I come out here my goal is to just take care of the things that HAVE to get done, and I'll take care of everything else when I get back in the office. The other thing that is getting my off focus at work is my management company and some opportunities that have shown their faces! It has real potential to take off! Then by the time I'm 30 maybe I'll be financially free and not have to work if I don't want to.
Right now I'm reading The Starbucks Experience. It's a pretty decent book about how to go above and beyond in regards to customer service but I'm not sure how much more there is to the book. Especially now knowing that Starbucks has taken a dive and isn't the mecca that it used to be. But there are some valid points to learn from it. I'm hoping to finish it by the time I land back in MN.
As for the house, I'm not sure what kind of shape it's in, I'm not there to mess it up, so I'm sure it's alright!
Also, I'm going to start trying to make my blogs more interactive, I just now learned how to put links in!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
January 28, 2009
I got to the gym this morning and got a pretty good weight work out in. It wasn't as draining as cycling class, but I can't handle doing that every day, I would be exhausted. I figure I'll try to lift 3 days a week and go to cycling class 3 times a week. We'll see how it works.
I realized this week that I'd been doing something that I've read you should never do. I've been waiting for my financial situation to change before I get to that next stage in my life. I'm just waiting to pay off these loans before I can "be happy" with where I'm at. Over the last few days I've begun to realize this is happening and I've just stopped worrying about it. From now on I'm just going to watch my money a bit better and just letting things come as they are going to. Although it would be nice to have a bit more money to do a few of the things on Megan and my wish list. But pretty soon I will have my car and the rings paid off, that'll give me another $500 per month to do whatever with. Also, I'll be starting my part time job soon. So I'm thinking I'll invest the extra $500 and get ready to invest more money into the real estate business, and with my part time job, that'll be for the fun stuff Megan and I want to do and also for our wish list.
Yesterday I got put in my place at work because I had been slacking on one of my projects. At first I was mad that the guy had called me out, but today, it was all worth it, it gave me the motivation to buckle down and get a bunch of stuff done. Now, I'm out not only to just do my job, but to impress people about how quickly I can work and get stuff done. With my work ethic and focus, I want to set myself apart from everyone else.
Last night I got about half way through Rich Dad Poor Dad's "Increase Your Financial IQ". I love the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. If you ever want to be financially free and never worry about money, these books are a must read. I've only gotten half way through but I've got a few good tips. One is that you learn the most when you take on the risk of failure. Also, there are 4 sections of your financial situation, there are: Income, Expenses, Assets, and Liabilities. You want high income and assets, and low expenses and liabilities. If you focus on this, whether this country is in a recession or not, you'll be fine. And if you can get the income from your assets to exceed your expenses, that means you're financially free!
Megan has done a great job with the house, everything is put away and we don't spend hardly any time cleaning up our piles anymore! And because of that we have more time to each other!
I realized this week that I'd been doing something that I've read you should never do. I've been waiting for my financial situation to change before I get to that next stage in my life. I'm just waiting to pay off these loans before I can "be happy" with where I'm at. Over the last few days I've begun to realize this is happening and I've just stopped worrying about it. From now on I'm just going to watch my money a bit better and just letting things come as they are going to. Although it would be nice to have a bit more money to do a few of the things on Megan and my wish list. But pretty soon I will have my car and the rings paid off, that'll give me another $500 per month to do whatever with. Also, I'll be starting my part time job soon. So I'm thinking I'll invest the extra $500 and get ready to invest more money into the real estate business, and with my part time job, that'll be for the fun stuff Megan and I want to do and also for our wish list.
Yesterday I got put in my place at work because I had been slacking on one of my projects. At first I was mad that the guy had called me out, but today, it was all worth it, it gave me the motivation to buckle down and get a bunch of stuff done. Now, I'm out not only to just do my job, but to impress people about how quickly I can work and get stuff done. With my work ethic and focus, I want to set myself apart from everyone else.
Last night I got about half way through Rich Dad Poor Dad's "Increase Your Financial IQ". I love the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. If you ever want to be financially free and never worry about money, these books are a must read. I've only gotten half way through but I've got a few good tips. One is that you learn the most when you take on the risk of failure. Also, there are 4 sections of your financial situation, there are: Income, Expenses, Assets, and Liabilities. You want high income and assets, and low expenses and liabilities. If you focus on this, whether this country is in a recession or not, you'll be fine. And if you can get the income from your assets to exceed your expenses, that means you're financially free!
Megan has done a great job with the house, everything is put away and we don't spend hardly any time cleaning up our piles anymore! And because of that we have more time to each other!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
January 25, 2009
It's been a week since I've blogged, I'll need to try to do better!
This morning I went to the cycling class again and really pushed myself farther than usual. It's been four hours since I got out of the class and I can tell my body is still exhausted! I was weighed the other day, and I'm still at 196, so I haven't budged past my starting point. I know that I work out enough, the thing I'm having a very hard time controlling is what I eat. That'll be my focus for this week. More white meats, vegetables, and water, and less bread, sugars, and carbs.
The good news is that Megan and I have done a really good job at keeping our costs down this month, so I should be able to completely pay off the credit card! Also, I'm finally getting in a lot of my end of the year tax information so I'll be able to file my personal taxes and get my refund back in February. And with that refund I should be able to get my monthly expenses cut dramatically. My entire refund is going to be put towards paying off loans and getting rid of those nasty monthly payments! Today I'm also going to put together my 401(k) investments and stock investments and see where they're going to be in 10/20/30 years so that I'll be able to adjust them now, instead of waiting until I'm 50 and figuring out that I'm screwed!
My focus was better this week, I got quite a bit done. On one of my projects I'm getting into the last little bits, so it's getting pretty painful and people are wanting to change things and it's costing my project money! So this week I'll need to talk to people and let them know exactly what I need them to do in order to finish up the project. I also need to get into the details of some of my other projects but I just don't have time! So I'll need to block off time this week to dive into that.
This week I read "Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Quadrant". If you ever want to be financially free, you HAVE to read the Rich Dad Poor Dad books. They'll motivate you to take more control of your life and get things set straight. This isn't the first time I've read this book, but it always makes me think of things I can do in my life. One of the things that I thought about while reading this book is that yes, you need to take control of your money and do your research, but on that same thought you need to control your time. I'm not saying you need to plan all 24 hours of your day, but if you really want to focus on investing, you need to set time aside to do your research and planning. I have to spend time at my full time job, but I'd like to spend more time learning and researching the real estate market in the twin cities and watching how it's changing, so that when we do get enough cash to invest in another property, I'll have built up a wealth of knowledge. I'd also like to spend an hour a week on each of my investments that I have in stock and my 401(k) to make sure that I completely understand them.
Then today I'm going to spend about 30 minutes organizing the house and putting everything away, then that'll be all good!
This morning I went to the cycling class again and really pushed myself farther than usual. It's been four hours since I got out of the class and I can tell my body is still exhausted! I was weighed the other day, and I'm still at 196, so I haven't budged past my starting point. I know that I work out enough, the thing I'm having a very hard time controlling is what I eat. That'll be my focus for this week. More white meats, vegetables, and water, and less bread, sugars, and carbs.
The good news is that Megan and I have done a really good job at keeping our costs down this month, so I should be able to completely pay off the credit card! Also, I'm finally getting in a lot of my end of the year tax information so I'll be able to file my personal taxes and get my refund back in February. And with that refund I should be able to get my monthly expenses cut dramatically. My entire refund is going to be put towards paying off loans and getting rid of those nasty monthly payments! Today I'm also going to put together my 401(k) investments and stock investments and see where they're going to be in 10/20/30 years so that I'll be able to adjust them now, instead of waiting until I'm 50 and figuring out that I'm screwed!
My focus was better this week, I got quite a bit done. On one of my projects I'm getting into the last little bits, so it's getting pretty painful and people are wanting to change things and it's costing my project money! So this week I'll need to talk to people and let them know exactly what I need them to do in order to finish up the project. I also need to get into the details of some of my other projects but I just don't have time! So I'll need to block off time this week to dive into that.
This week I read "Rich Dad Poor Dad Cashflow Quadrant". If you ever want to be financially free, you HAVE to read the Rich Dad Poor Dad books. They'll motivate you to take more control of your life and get things set straight. This isn't the first time I've read this book, but it always makes me think of things I can do in my life. One of the things that I thought about while reading this book is that yes, you need to take control of your money and do your research, but on that same thought you need to control your time. I'm not saying you need to plan all 24 hours of your day, but if you really want to focus on investing, you need to set time aside to do your research and planning. I have to spend time at my full time job, but I'd like to spend more time learning and researching the real estate market in the twin cities and watching how it's changing, so that when we do get enough cash to invest in another property, I'll have built up a wealth of knowledge. I'd also like to spend an hour a week on each of my investments that I have in stock and my 401(k) to make sure that I completely understand them.
Then today I'm going to spend about 30 minutes organizing the house and putting everything away, then that'll be all good!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
January 18th
The last couple days have been pretty slow. I haven't gotten out much, although Megan and I did some window shopping yesterday, which was fun. We got to check out some of the things on our wish list and figure out how much they'll really cost us.
I got to the gym today, and got a pretty good work out in. Some of the people at the gym drive me crazy, they just have no respect for everyone else who's there. These are the types of people who scare off the new people at the gym, because they're grunting and hogging up all the equipment. But I just put in my headphones and ignore them. Last time I weighed myself I was down to 190. But that was a while ago, so I need to step on the scale again. But I can definitely tell that I feel a lot better and I don't get winded running up some stairs!
Megan and I have done really good about not spending too much money this month. I did get one surprise though, my energy bill was $212! That's more than double what it usually is! So that wasn't much fun. We will also be holding off on reimbursing the milage from my business because we ran into a few hick ups. If you want to check those out go to http://strongpointe.tumblr.com/ and you'll learn all about it. So hopefully we'll be able to get the credit card paid off at the end of this month and start with a clean slate.
This week I'm going to try to focus on work again and stop slacking like I have been the last few days. I'm going to stay in the office until at least 4, 5 if I can. But I will be starting up my part time job this week too, so I'll have to juggle them. But it'll be nice to have something else to do, and it'll also be nice to have a bit more income!
This week I read through Suze Orman's new book, "2009 Action Plan". I thought it had a lot of good points. But she kept saying the same things over and over again because the book was written in a way that you only needed to read the chapters that you wanted to, so I suppose it makes sense. Here's a few of the points she made that stuck out to me: put together an 8 month emergency fund (no longer a 6 month fund!), now to get decent loans you need a credit score of over 720, cut any spending that isn't necessary and make sure you consider EVERYTHING that you spend money on, 2009 is the year to get your finances back in order and do a real gut check.
Today I'm going to do a quick clean of the house, and I'll hopefully be done with that by the time Megan gets home!
These next few days should be good, I'm got a couple more projects to work on at work, and I'll keep myself busy with some of my other projects.
I got to the gym today, and got a pretty good work out in. Some of the people at the gym drive me crazy, they just have no respect for everyone else who's there. These are the types of people who scare off the new people at the gym, because they're grunting and hogging up all the equipment. But I just put in my headphones and ignore them. Last time I weighed myself I was down to 190. But that was a while ago, so I need to step on the scale again. But I can definitely tell that I feel a lot better and I don't get winded running up some stairs!
Megan and I have done really good about not spending too much money this month. I did get one surprise though, my energy bill was $212! That's more than double what it usually is! So that wasn't much fun. We will also be holding off on reimbursing the milage from my business because we ran into a few hick ups. If you want to check those out go to http://strongpointe.tumblr.com/ and you'll learn all about it. So hopefully we'll be able to get the credit card paid off at the end of this month and start with a clean slate.
This week I'm going to try to focus on work again and stop slacking like I have been the last few days. I'm going to stay in the office until at least 4, 5 if I can. But I will be starting up my part time job this week too, so I'll have to juggle them. But it'll be nice to have something else to do, and it'll also be nice to have a bit more income!
This week I read through Suze Orman's new book, "2009 Action Plan". I thought it had a lot of good points. But she kept saying the same things over and over again because the book was written in a way that you only needed to read the chapters that you wanted to, so I suppose it makes sense. Here's a few of the points she made that stuck out to me: put together an 8 month emergency fund (no longer a 6 month fund!), now to get decent loans you need a credit score of over 720, cut any spending that isn't necessary and make sure you consider EVERYTHING that you spend money on, 2009 is the year to get your finances back in order and do a real gut check.
Today I'm going to do a quick clean of the house, and I'll hopefully be done with that by the time Megan gets home!
These next few days should be good, I'm got a couple more projects to work on at work, and I'll keep myself busy with some of my other projects.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 14th
I’m finally flying home today, I can’t wait to see Megan and TC (our cat)! And even though it’s going to be the coldest day of the winter tomorrow, it’ll still feel good to be home.
I calculated the percentage of my before tax income that I was saving for retirement. Right now I’m at about 15%, which, from what I’ve read, is actually very good for someone my age. Actually, that was good for someone of any age! So that made me feel a little better. Although I’d still like to kick that up a bit, because I’m trying to save for 2 people, not just myself. But I also need to have more fun with my money. So I think I’ll keep my retirement saving between 15 and 20 percent. Probably closer to 20%. But after I pay off the car and ring, I’ll still have more money to ‘play’ with. I think I’ll help Megan attack her car payment, so we can get that off her back. Then we’ll save for the wedding and honeymoon, while crossing things off our wish list!
When I went to the gym this morning my legs were on fire and I didn’t have my normal energy. I am guessing the number one reason for this was my 2 mile run yesterday, and then eating a pretty lean, protein filled, meal. I should have added in some carbs. But at least I got the work out in, and I did some squats, which further impeded my ability to walk normally.
My focus still sucks. I’m hoping when I get back in the office tomorrow it’ll pick up and I can catch up on some things.
On the flight home I was able to get through an entire Men’s Health (my bible!) and a bunch of blogs. I also finished Mike Robbins’ book on tape today. It continued to be filled with fluff, so I don’t have much to add on my book review from yesterday.
I just flew over the Rocky Mountains, and they are spectacular from the air, especially when there’s a gorgeous sunset as a backdrop. I’ve resolved that when Megan and I have a bit more disposable income we’ll take a long weekend and just drive somewhere. I don’t care where, but we just need to go somewhere and see something. Maybe that could happen in February….
I calculated the percentage of my before tax income that I was saving for retirement. Right now I’m at about 15%, which, from what I’ve read, is actually very good for someone my age. Actually, that was good for someone of any age! So that made me feel a little better. Although I’d still like to kick that up a bit, because I’m trying to save for 2 people, not just myself. But I also need to have more fun with my money. So I think I’ll keep my retirement saving between 15 and 20 percent. Probably closer to 20%. But after I pay off the car and ring, I’ll still have more money to ‘play’ with. I think I’ll help Megan attack her car payment, so we can get that off her back. Then we’ll save for the wedding and honeymoon, while crossing things off our wish list!
When I went to the gym this morning my legs were on fire and I didn’t have my normal energy. I am guessing the number one reason for this was my 2 mile run yesterday, and then eating a pretty lean, protein filled, meal. I should have added in some carbs. But at least I got the work out in, and I did some squats, which further impeded my ability to walk normally.
My focus still sucks. I’m hoping when I get back in the office tomorrow it’ll pick up and I can catch up on some things.
On the flight home I was able to get through an entire Men’s Health (my bible!) and a bunch of blogs. I also finished Mike Robbins’ book on tape today. It continued to be filled with fluff, so I don’t have much to add on my book review from yesterday.
I just flew over the Rocky Mountains, and they are spectacular from the air, especially when there’s a gorgeous sunset as a backdrop. I’ve resolved that when Megan and I have a bit more disposable income we’ll take a long weekend and just drive somewhere. I don’t care where, but we just need to go somewhere and see something. Maybe that could happen in February….
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Books on Tape are one of the top 10 Inventions
I love books on tape/CD. When you spend a lot of time on the road, it's the easiest way to get through books. You can pop the CD in and sit in traffic and actually learn something. I've been listening to a book my Mike Robbins called "Focus on the Good Stuff". It's kind of a fluffy book but it does have some good points.
One of his suggestions is to list, and constantly remind yourself of all the things that you have grateful for. Here's a few of mine: my beautiful fiancee, having a great job, making enough money to support a pretty good lifestyle, and being able to live and travel to some beautiful places.
Another one of Mike's suggestions is to write down how you envision your perfect life, then go for it! I've never written this down, but I think that it's in my sub-consciousness. I think when I get back home I'll work with Megan and we can write down how we'd like our life to end up and how we envision it.
The last good tip I've got from his book so far is not a new one, it's how to think positive, and the good that comes when you do think like that. When you believe in what you're doing, and what you can actually do, good things usually come to you. Point taken.
Here's some quick updates on my resolutions...
Since I'm in California I went for a run today and it felt great! I've also watched what I've been eating, and I've been skipping my late night deserts that I usually have when I'm traveling! I thought that this trip would be difficult, and I would really stray from my diet and goals, but that hasn't been completely the case! So I'm pretty proud of myself....so far!
Since I'm traveling on the company's dime, I've been saving money! Hopefully this will enable me to pay off that entire credit card at the end of this month. And I should be getting my milage reimbursement from the business, and that would really help out, and give me a little cushion. But we'll see when we decide to do that.
My focus at work has been terrible. Since I'm out of the office it's hard for me to put my tunnel vision on and really focus on the work at hand. But I'm hoping to get done what I need to and maybe go home a day early! But we'll see how that works out... That reminds me, I need to call the travel agency tonight...
I've done alright with the reading resolution, as long as you count books on tape as reading... But I do feel like I'm growing (personally) and that's the whole goal of this resolution.
And I have no idea how the house is doing, hopefully Megan is keeping it clean enough for her to be comfortable!
Tomorrow I think I'll really focus on what I need to get done while I'm on site, but then I'll try to get out of there as soon as possible. So that will be a significant source of motivation!
One of his suggestions is to list, and constantly remind yourself of all the things that you have grateful for. Here's a few of mine: my beautiful fiancee, having a great job, making enough money to support a pretty good lifestyle, and being able to live and travel to some beautiful places.
Another one of Mike's suggestions is to write down how you envision your perfect life, then go for it! I've never written this down, but I think that it's in my sub-consciousness. I think when I get back home I'll work with Megan and we can write down how we'd like our life to end up and how we envision it.
The last good tip I've got from his book so far is not a new one, it's how to think positive, and the good that comes when you do think like that. When you believe in what you're doing, and what you can actually do, good things usually come to you. Point taken.
Here's some quick updates on my resolutions...
Since I'm in California I went for a run today and it felt great! I've also watched what I've been eating, and I've been skipping my late night deserts that I usually have when I'm traveling! I thought that this trip would be difficult, and I would really stray from my diet and goals, but that hasn't been completely the case! So I'm pretty proud of myself....so far!
Since I'm traveling on the company's dime, I've been saving money! Hopefully this will enable me to pay off that entire credit card at the end of this month. And I should be getting my milage reimbursement from the business, and that would really help out, and give me a little cushion. But we'll see when we decide to do that.
My focus at work has been terrible. Since I'm out of the office it's hard for me to put my tunnel vision on and really focus on the work at hand. But I'm hoping to get done what I need to and maybe go home a day early! But we'll see how that works out... That reminds me, I need to call the travel agency tonight...
I've done alright with the reading resolution, as long as you count books on tape as reading... But I do feel like I'm growing (personally) and that's the whole goal of this resolution.
And I have no idea how the house is doing, hopefully Megan is keeping it clean enough for her to be comfortable!
Tomorrow I think I'll really focus on what I need to get done while I'm on site, but then I'll try to get out of there as soon as possible. So that will be a significant source of motivation!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Don't Drink Water on a Plane
Right now I’m sitting on a plane on my way to
I did read a blog about figuring out what is really important to you. This really hit a nerve with me because one of my life goals is to be worth a million dollars by the time I’m 30 years old. I started thinking about why I wanted to be worth a million dollars, and the only thing that really hit me is that if I’m work a million, I’d be able to say “I’m a millionaire”. And to me, that’s a pretty crappy reason. So I decided to work on a list of reasons why I want to be worth a million dollars:
-I’d be able to financially provide for my wife, and probably kids (by that time)
-I’d be able to give back more to the community, and set up scholarships at my old high school
-I’d have the ability to make investments that I might not otherwise be able to make.
-If I lost my job, I’d be able to live for a while without really having to worry about money.
These are the only reasons I could come up with. But when I really look at these reasons, there are other ways that I could accomplish these. To provide for my family I could focus on decreasing the monthly expenses that I incur. This could include searching for a lower cost cell plan, and paying off my loans. Another way I could do this is to make sure that whenever I get a raise or a bonus I put that away, instead of increasing my lifestyle. The point is, that I shouldn’t be focused so much on the amount of money I want to be worth, but rather, the amount of money that I’m spending. If I spend less on the “necessities”, then I’ll be able to afford more of the “luxuries”. This is a pretty big attitude change for me, so it was a big accomplishment! And I’m sure Megan will appreciate my change of mind, even though if I wanted to be a millionaire, she’d support me in that too.
This morning I woke up and went to the gym and had an amazing work out! It ended up being about 2 hours long, but I felt great afterwards. I got in most of my weight lifts that I wanted to do, then joined in on the spinning class. I love having a group of people to work out with, and a leader pushing you to push yourself past the limits you thought you had. It turns out that most of the limits you think you have, are artificial limits that you impose on yourself. I think one of the reasons that I’ve been so successful in life is that I think I can do anything. I don’t mean to seem cocky, although Megan says I am sometimes, but if I want something, I go out and get it. I don’t wait around. So far, my timing has worked out alright!
On the financial resolution, not much has been done, I’ve really watched my spending and tried to keep it minimal. But the other night we went to the Swarm game and I spent about $20 on beer. But sometimes you just have to have fun, life can’t be serious all the time!
Now to my focus resolution. The last few days I have sort of relaxed, and it’s been really rejuvenating. I’ve come to realize that my current job is not going to take over my life. I work with some people that are so frazzled with their jobs that I’m sure the rest of their lives are in absolute chaos. I won’t allow that to happen to me. I love my job, but it isn’t my life. But lately, I’ve been focusing on having my job mean more than just a paycheck. I have the abilities and means to make a real difference in this world and the way things are normally done. I can’t write much of what I do in a public arena, but the work I’m doing now is becoming very meaningful to me because I can personally relate to it. Sometimes it really ticks me off when I’m in meetings and all they’re talking about is the unit cost and how much we can sell the product for etc… I just want to stand up and yell at them and remind them that not only can our product make the company money, but it could change lives and the paradigms that exist in the world today. (I do realize that for a business to exist it needs to make money, but sometimes I think that it is too much of a focus). So back to focus, I’m going to try to really focus on this new product and make sure that it does end up in the marketplace and that it does make a difference in people’s lives.
I’ve read quite a few magazines over the last couple days, in fact I’m almost all caught up with the magazines that I get mailed! So that’s been good and relaxing, and sometimes, very enlightening!
The house has been incredible. No longer do I need to come home and look at the piles on the dining room table and mumble to myself that I need to take care of them. Everything has been taken care of! It’s really relaxing to me to know that things are in their places and that I can find anything if I need it. I think my next project will be to put all of the important articles that I have ripped out of magazines on this blog. That’ll be quite the job….!
I get back on Thursday and I can’t wait to sleep next to my fiancée and feel her calming touch again. Whenever I go without her for long stretches of time I feel like I’m off kilter, and I need her back!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Focusing is EXHAUSTING!
The last two days have made me realize that when you really spend a lot of time focusing, it's absolutely draining! The last two days, I've been so spent that I couldn't stay awake long enough to blog or read! I've figured out that you only have so much energy for each day, and you need to figure out how to use it. After waking up at 4:45am, working out, going to work for 8 hours, then coming home and working on the "to do" list, there's not much left for anything else. Wednesday when I got home, I was a bum and did absolutely nothing. And last night when I got home last night I was all excited to watch the college football championship, then I sat down on the couch and closed my eyes, next thing I new, they were handing the trophy to the Gators. I had slept through the entire game!
This helps show me that I need to keep some sort of balance in my life, I can only do it all for so many days in a row before my body shuts down!
But this morning I went to gym, and on a whim ended up going into one of those spinning/cycling classes. It was a BLAST! I haven't had such a punishing work out in a very long time! At the end of the hour I was drenched in sweat but I felt great. I know I'll go back to that cycling class, and I might even try some of the other classes that they have at my gym. This should help keep my workouts new and exciting! And if I think I have any chance of keeping my new year's resolution and getting down to 175 lbs, I'll need to keep myself motivated to go to the gym.
On the financial front, I've tried to spend as little money as possible this month. Last month I wasn't able to pay off my entire credit card bill, and had to carry about $500 over to this month. That leaves me enough money to....buy food and pay the bills. So this month I need to cut back as much as possible so that at the end of this month I'll be able to pay off the credit card and start with a clean plate. I'm hoping to do my tax returns in February and get my tax rebate back. That should help a lot! I'll also be getting my profit sharing check at the end of February or beginning of March, and that should help a bit too. After I get some of my stuff sorted out I'm going to start helping Megan and we'll get her loans paid down and get those out of the way. I realize that her loans are her loans, but since we're getting married, we'll be putting everything together and we'll have to deal with it together. Her school loans aren't too big of a deal to me, but it'd be nice to get her car paid off and start paying her insurance and phone bills. Then her parents can start saving for the wedding! Lots of goals......we'll just need to prioritize.
My focus has been a bit off the last couple days at work, but I've been able to get done what I need to get done. So it's been good enough, but not where I'd like it. I need to get back to the intense focus I had earlier this week.
Reading, let's not talk about that. I haven't touched a book in the last 3 days.
The house is in good shape. It's been nice to have stuff organized. Once you get it organized, it's pretty easy to keep it organized.
This weekend should be relaxing, even though I'll miss Megs, I'll get a lot of stuff done.
This helps show me that I need to keep some sort of balance in my life, I can only do it all for so many days in a row before my body shuts down!
But this morning I went to gym, and on a whim ended up going into one of those spinning/cycling classes. It was a BLAST! I haven't had such a punishing work out in a very long time! At the end of the hour I was drenched in sweat but I felt great. I know I'll go back to that cycling class, and I might even try some of the other classes that they have at my gym. This should help keep my workouts new and exciting! And if I think I have any chance of keeping my new year's resolution and getting down to 175 lbs, I'll need to keep myself motivated to go to the gym.
On the financial front, I've tried to spend as little money as possible this month. Last month I wasn't able to pay off my entire credit card bill, and had to carry about $500 over to this month. That leaves me enough money to....buy food and pay the bills. So this month I need to cut back as much as possible so that at the end of this month I'll be able to pay off the credit card and start with a clean plate. I'm hoping to do my tax returns in February and get my tax rebate back. That should help a lot! I'll also be getting my profit sharing check at the end of February or beginning of March, and that should help a bit too. After I get some of my stuff sorted out I'm going to start helping Megan and we'll get her loans paid down and get those out of the way. I realize that her loans are her loans, but since we're getting married, we'll be putting everything together and we'll have to deal with it together. Her school loans aren't too big of a deal to me, but it'd be nice to get her car paid off and start paying her insurance and phone bills. Then her parents can start saving for the wedding! Lots of goals......we'll just need to prioritize.
My focus has been a bit off the last couple days at work, but I've been able to get done what I need to get done. So it's been good enough, but not where I'd like it. I need to get back to the intense focus I had earlier this week.
Reading, let's not talk about that. I haven't touched a book in the last 3 days.
The house is in good shape. It's been nice to have stuff organized. Once you get it organized, it's pretty easy to keep it organized.
This weekend should be relaxing, even though I'll miss Megs, I'll get a lot of stuff done.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The day that wasn't supposed to be, but was
Yesterday I said that today would be a great day because I didn't have any meetings scheduled, and I'd be able to get a LOT done, but that's not exactly how it played out.
I started off the day with another punishing work out. It's 12 hours later, and I still feel it! But I weighed myself this morning so that I have a good baseline to go from. Weighing myself gave me good news and bad news. The bad news was that I weigh 194 lbs. The good news is that I only have 19 lbs to lose! I think this is as big as I have ever been. But I just need to make sure that I have a good balance of working out and resting my body. So I think tomorrow I'll sleep in, or go to work early. My body is telling me that I need a day off! Then tomorrow night I'll be able to go on a walk with Megan, so that'll count as my exercise.
Last night Megan and I read another chapter in our "Smart Couples Finish Rich". Reading a book like this as a couple is VERY beneficial, and I would highly recommend it! We've learned that 50% of marriages end in divorce because of financial problems. That's an astounding number, and given that right now there's a 50% divorce rate among marriages, that means that a quarter of all marriages end in divorce over money. That's something I never want to happen. I realize that we're making a pretty decent amount of money for a couple, and as long as we budget and stick to it, we'll be very happy and be able to do anything we want to do in this world. In the next couple of days we'll need to sit down and lay out our monthly budget and stick to it. We have our wish list of things that we want all laid out, and we just need to figure out how we going to get all of those done TOGETHER! The key is to make and agree on all of these financial decisions together, if you don't do them together, then you don't have "buy-in" from both parties and it'll never work. Maybe tomorrow night after our walk we'll sit down and lay out our goals and dreams for this year and start working towards them. (Note: after I showed Megan the amazing power of compound interest she got really excited about saving!)
Today at work I adjusted my computer settings so that I didn't get a notification every time I got an email. This helped a LOT! I was much less inclined to stop what I was doing and check my emails every time someone sent me something. I was able to focus much better on the task at hand and get some things done. I had no meetings planned today....but that got completely flipped upside down! Starting at 9am I was in meetings until about 3:30. I kept getting pulled into this manager's office, then that manager's office, it was very draining! I barely had time to eat any of my lunch. So needless to say I didn't get everything done that I wanted to. But I have my short list of things to do on an electronic Post-It on my desktop, so I'll continue to whittle that list down to nothing. But that just goes to show that when you have some slow days at work, you still need to work your ass off to get everything done, then you'll be ready for days like these that are absolute torture! So tomorrow morning when I don't go lift, maybe I'll get up a bit earlier and spend another hour at work catching up on what I wanted to get done today.
My reading has been sub-par. A chapter a night is not going to allow me to read a book a week. I need to increase the amount of time I spend with a book!
The house is getting more organized day by day. I think the only pile we have now is the small pile on the kitchen counter. And today Megan went through a lot of her clothes and got them ready to go to the Goodwill, so that helps. Tonight I'm going to try to take care of the pile on the kitchen counter and also try to clean up the fridge door, we have too much stuff stuck on it with magnets! After I get everything picked up, I'll have to figure out another way to make our house more efficient... If you have any ideas let me know!
So today wasn't as fruitful as I was hoping, but I did get a lot accomplished. But now I'm beat, hopefully I can stay awake long enough to read!
I started off the day with another punishing work out. It's 12 hours later, and I still feel it! But I weighed myself this morning so that I have a good baseline to go from. Weighing myself gave me good news and bad news. The bad news was that I weigh 194 lbs. The good news is that I only have 19 lbs to lose! I think this is as big as I have ever been. But I just need to make sure that I have a good balance of working out and resting my body. So I think tomorrow I'll sleep in, or go to work early. My body is telling me that I need a day off! Then tomorrow night I'll be able to go on a walk with Megan, so that'll count as my exercise.
Last night Megan and I read another chapter in our "Smart Couples Finish Rich". Reading a book like this as a couple is VERY beneficial, and I would highly recommend it! We've learned that 50% of marriages end in divorce because of financial problems. That's an astounding number, and given that right now there's a 50% divorce rate among marriages, that means that a quarter of all marriages end in divorce over money. That's something I never want to happen. I realize that we're making a pretty decent amount of money for a couple, and as long as we budget and stick to it, we'll be very happy and be able to do anything we want to do in this world. In the next couple of days we'll need to sit down and lay out our monthly budget and stick to it. We have our wish list of things that we want all laid out, and we just need to figure out how we going to get all of those done TOGETHER! The key is to make and agree on all of these financial decisions together, if you don't do them together, then you don't have "buy-in" from both parties and it'll never work. Maybe tomorrow night after our walk we'll sit down and lay out our goals and dreams for this year and start working towards them. (Note: after I showed Megan the amazing power of compound interest she got really excited about saving!)
Today at work I adjusted my computer settings so that I didn't get a notification every time I got an email. This helped a LOT! I was much less inclined to stop what I was doing and check my emails every time someone sent me something. I was able to focus much better on the task at hand and get some things done. I had no meetings planned today....but that got completely flipped upside down! Starting at 9am I was in meetings until about 3:30. I kept getting pulled into this manager's office, then that manager's office, it was very draining! I barely had time to eat any of my lunch. So needless to say I didn't get everything done that I wanted to. But I have my short list of things to do on an electronic Post-It on my desktop, so I'll continue to whittle that list down to nothing. But that just goes to show that when you have some slow days at work, you still need to work your ass off to get everything done, then you'll be ready for days like these that are absolute torture! So tomorrow morning when I don't go lift, maybe I'll get up a bit earlier and spend another hour at work catching up on what I wanted to get done today.
My reading has been sub-par. A chapter a night is not going to allow me to read a book a week. I need to increase the amount of time I spend with a book!
The house is getting more organized day by day. I think the only pile we have now is the small pile on the kitchen counter. And today Megan went through a lot of her clothes and got them ready to go to the Goodwill, so that helps. Tonight I'm going to try to take care of the pile on the kitchen counter and also try to clean up the fridge door, we have too much stuff stuck on it with magnets! After I get everything picked up, I'll have to figure out another way to make our house more efficient... If you have any ideas let me know!
So today wasn't as fruitful as I was hoping, but I did get a lot accomplished. But now I'm beat, hopefully I can stay awake long enough to read!
Monday, January 5, 2009
January 5th
So today was really the first day of focusing on my New Year's resolution. It actually went pretty well.
I got up at 5am and worked out at the Gym. This isn't much out of the ordinary, but what was different was that I pushed myself a lot more. Over the last few weeks I've really focused on doing some of the lifts that I don't usually like. For example, over the last 2 years I could count the number of times I did the dead lift and squat on one hand. Now I do one of those lifts every time I go work out. Men's Health was right, those lifts really do work your ENTIRE body! Also, if you like to feel immediate results, these are the lifts for that.
Today I also made the decision not to get an iPhone. In May my Verizon contract will be up, and I'll be able to switch providers without paying a penalty. Right now I pay about $80 per month for 900 minutes on my plan with unlimited texting. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to get the iPhone. I spend so much time in airports and in the middle of nowhere, it'd be really nice to always have access to the internet. But it'd cost me a couple hundred bucks up front just to get the phone, then every month it'd cost me about $30 in addition to the minutes I'd have to pay for. So in the first year, it'd probably cost me about $560 just to have the iPhone, and I'd rather do something different with that money. There's so many things in the Twin Cities I want to do! I also learned today that I won't get my W-2 until the end of January, which means I won't be able to file my taxes until then. So in January my SPM partners and I will have to try to get the business taxes done and filed so that we'll be able to do our personal taxes as soon as we get all of our paperwork mailed to us.
I think I only did incrementaly better on focusing at work. I got caught up on a lot of the emails and phone calls that I had, but I still spent a lot of time multi-tasking and getting distracted. I need to turn off my email alerts and leave my gmail closed. I get distracted by personal work too easily. By the end of this week I'd like to get to a point where I'm pro-active instead of being reactive to things that I need to get done in my projects. This will be especially important for next week because I'll be traveling out to Los Angeles to our plant and it's hard for me to do anything but watch over my projects when I'm out there. I also have some really important funding requests coming up that I need to be able to spend time on because as soon as the funding gets approved they'll want to move really fast!
I didn't do any reading today yet. I plan on reading a chapter in "Smart Couples Finish Rich" with my fiance Megan. Last night we read the intro and I thought it was a lot of fun to go through it together and be able to discuss the points together and agree on things that we may need to change in our lives.
As for my last resolution, the house is a mess. Maybe after we read our chapter I'll spend 10 minutes cleaning everything up and putting things in their places.
I feel like tomorrow will be a very productive day. I don't have any meetins planned for work, so I'll be able to spend some time in the gym in the morning and really focus on catching up on all the things at work that I need to do, especially all those tasks I am REALLY not looking forward to doing!
I got up at 5am and worked out at the Gym. This isn't much out of the ordinary, but what was different was that I pushed myself a lot more. Over the last few weeks I've really focused on doing some of the lifts that I don't usually like. For example, over the last 2 years I could count the number of times I did the dead lift and squat on one hand. Now I do one of those lifts every time I go work out. Men's Health was right, those lifts really do work your ENTIRE body! Also, if you like to feel immediate results, these are the lifts for that.
Today I also made the decision not to get an iPhone. In May my Verizon contract will be up, and I'll be able to switch providers without paying a penalty. Right now I pay about $80 per month for 900 minutes on my plan with unlimited texting. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to get the iPhone. I spend so much time in airports and in the middle of nowhere, it'd be really nice to always have access to the internet. But it'd cost me a couple hundred bucks up front just to get the phone, then every month it'd cost me about $30 in addition to the minutes I'd have to pay for. So in the first year, it'd probably cost me about $560 just to have the iPhone, and I'd rather do something different with that money. There's so many things in the Twin Cities I want to do! I also learned today that I won't get my W-2 until the end of January, which means I won't be able to file my taxes until then. So in January my SPM partners and I will have to try to get the business taxes done and filed so that we'll be able to do our personal taxes as soon as we get all of our paperwork mailed to us.
I think I only did incrementaly better on focusing at work. I got caught up on a lot of the emails and phone calls that I had, but I still spent a lot of time multi-tasking and getting distracted. I need to turn off my email alerts and leave my gmail closed. I get distracted by personal work too easily. By the end of this week I'd like to get to a point where I'm pro-active instead of being reactive to things that I need to get done in my projects. This will be especially important for next week because I'll be traveling out to Los Angeles to our plant and it's hard for me to do anything but watch over my projects when I'm out there. I also have some really important funding requests coming up that I need to be able to spend time on because as soon as the funding gets approved they'll want to move really fast!
I didn't do any reading today yet. I plan on reading a chapter in "Smart Couples Finish Rich" with my fiance Megan. Last night we read the intro and I thought it was a lot of fun to go through it together and be able to discuss the points together and agree on things that we may need to change in our lives.
As for my last resolution, the house is a mess. Maybe after we read our chapter I'll spend 10 minutes cleaning everything up and putting things in their places.
I feel like tomorrow will be a very productive day. I don't have any meetins planned for work, so I'll be able to spend some time in the gym in the morning and really focus on catching up on all the things at work that I need to do, especially all those tasks I am REALLY not looking forward to doing!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Goals for 2009
My blog is going to focus on what my New Year's Resolutions are. (Side note, I'm a Generation Y kid but I don't feel that the world needs to hand me everything on a silver platter, I want to work for it all so I know what it's worth!)
Here are my top 5 resolutions:
1. Get to 175 lbs.
2. Be financially disciplined with my investments
3. Focus on the work that needs to get done
4. Read a book a week
5. Keep the house organized, get rid of piles
Let me elaborate a little bit on each of these.
1. The last time I weighed myself I was at 195 lbs. For my frame, that's not bad, but I'm not in the best of shape either. And over the last year or so I've put on about 15 lbs, and that's just something I don't need to carry around. To do this I plan on spending more time in the gym, eating less, and doing more cross training. I'd also like to run the Twin Cities Marathon.
2. This year I have a tremendous opportunity to get my financial life really squared away. If my tax return comes back the way I think it will I'll be able to pay off Megan's engagement ring, my car, and still have a bit to put away for my emergency account. But I don't want to be completely serious with my money, I live in one of the greatest cities in the nation, and I need to get out and do more of the activities that there are to do in the Cities. 2009 should be a great year for setting up my next few years!
3. I've noticed lately that it's really hard for me to really focus on work. I get sidelined doing the easy tasks that I want to do, answering emails, phone calls, and talking to people as they pass by my cube. ENOUGH! I love what I do, and I want to be the best at it. I want to prove to all my coworkers that Generation Y isn't full of a bunch of coddled privileged kids who don't know how to work. Every morning I want to sit down, lay out exactly what I need to get done that day, and do it. Not only do I want to do this at my full time job, but for SPM (the property management company me and two friends started). Right now is prime time to buy real estate if you know where to look. If I really focus on where I want this company to go, we'll get it there and by the time we're 30, we'll be using our full time jobs for the benefits instead of for a paycheck.
4. One of the best ways to stay educated is to read. I want to read one book a week, which should be relatively easy. If I'm not challenged enough with one book a week, I may bump it up to two. I usually read books about leadership, finances, or entrepreneurship. I want to expand a little bit and read some fiction books.
5. Previously my best way to keep the house organized is to put all my junk in a pile, then at least I FEEL like I have everything organized! But in reality, I'm just putting it off until the pile gets high enough then I usually end up throwing away a lot of it. I'll use our file cabinet more, and as soon as something comes in the door, it's put in it's correct place. Maybe I'll even use some of my Lean 6 Sigma to keep the house in shape!
So I'll be blogging about how I do with all of these goals, and I'm sure I'll also be writing blogs about interesting books, or articles that I find. I've got a ton of magazine pages ripped out from magazines that I need to combine and share with anyone like me, who has big goals for themselves!
I hope you enjoy this year's postings and I'll do my best to blog a few times a week and achieve the goals I've laid out for myself this year.
Thanks for reading!
Here are my top 5 resolutions:
1. Get to 175 lbs.
2. Be financially disciplined with my investments
3. Focus on the work that needs to get done
4. Read a book a week
5. Keep the house organized, get rid of piles
Let me elaborate a little bit on each of these.
1. The last time I weighed myself I was at 195 lbs. For my frame, that's not bad, but I'm not in the best of shape either. And over the last year or so I've put on about 15 lbs, and that's just something I don't need to carry around. To do this I plan on spending more time in the gym, eating less, and doing more cross training. I'd also like to run the Twin Cities Marathon.
2. This year I have a tremendous opportunity to get my financial life really squared away. If my tax return comes back the way I think it will I'll be able to pay off Megan's engagement ring, my car, and still have a bit to put away for my emergency account. But I don't want to be completely serious with my money, I live in one of the greatest cities in the nation, and I need to get out and do more of the activities that there are to do in the Cities. 2009 should be a great year for setting up my next few years!
3. I've noticed lately that it's really hard for me to really focus on work. I get sidelined doing the easy tasks that I want to do, answering emails, phone calls, and talking to people as they pass by my cube. ENOUGH! I love what I do, and I want to be the best at it. I want to prove to all my coworkers that Generation Y isn't full of a bunch of coddled privileged kids who don't know how to work. Every morning I want to sit down, lay out exactly what I need to get done that day, and do it. Not only do I want to do this at my full time job, but for SPM (the property management company me and two friends started). Right now is prime time to buy real estate if you know where to look. If I really focus on where I want this company to go, we'll get it there and by the time we're 30, we'll be using our full time jobs for the benefits instead of for a paycheck.
4. One of the best ways to stay educated is to read. I want to read one book a week, which should be relatively easy. If I'm not challenged enough with one book a week, I may bump it up to two. I usually read books about leadership, finances, or entrepreneurship. I want to expand a little bit and read some fiction books.
5. Previously my best way to keep the house organized is to put all my junk in a pile, then at least I FEEL like I have everything organized! But in reality, I'm just putting it off until the pile gets high enough then I usually end up throwing away a lot of it. I'll use our file cabinet more, and as soon as something comes in the door, it's put in it's correct place. Maybe I'll even use some of my Lean 6 Sigma to keep the house in shape!
So I'll be blogging about how I do with all of these goals, and I'm sure I'll also be writing blogs about interesting books, or articles that I find. I've got a ton of magazine pages ripped out from magazines that I need to combine and share with anyone like me, who has big goals for themselves!
I hope you enjoy this year's postings and I'll do my best to blog a few times a week and achieve the goals I've laid out for myself this year.
Thanks for reading!
Catch up Post
Wow, it's been a very long time since I last blogged. So much has happened since the summer of 2007, here's a quick summary:
-Bought a townhouse
-Girlfriend moved into the townhouse
-Bought an engagement ring
-Traveled to Los Angeles, Montreal, and Tampa for work
-Got promoted at work, bought an investment duplex, and got engaged all in about 2 weeks.
That's the short version! From now on, we'll talk about the present.
-Bought a townhouse
-Girlfriend moved into the townhouse
-Bought an engagement ring
-Traveled to Los Angeles, Montreal, and Tampa for work
-Got promoted at work, bought an investment duplex, and got engaged all in about 2 weeks.
That's the short version! From now on, we'll talk about the present.
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