Archive for December, 2007

End of 2007 Goals Review

31 Dec, 2007  1 Comment

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Wow! December 31st already. How does a year slip past so quickly? Before I even consider what I want to accomplish in 2008, I better see how I did with my 2007 Goals:

Physically

  • Bike 1,575 miles - Done! By inches… ;)
  • Add some exercise variation - Done! Over the summer, I took up walking at least a half hour a day when I get home. And let it be said, I will not miss winter when it ends! Some resistance training is in order, but this is review, not a resolution, post… :)

Financially

  • Find a new secondary income - Done! While still not quite there to fully replace my tech work income, things are definitely picking up on some web marketing and property development I’ve been doing. Even if I haven’t met the financial end of it, I’m getting a heck of a lot of enjoyment out of that new portion of my life!
  • Pay down $20,000 in debt - Not Done! The exact numbers aren’t in yet, as I haven’t added up this month’s payments. The first 11 months has us sitting at $14,983.64 getting axed, but I’m pretty positive $5,000 and change didn’t get paid down in December!
  • Sell or rent out the gifted property - Not Done! Still no (serious) activity on the property. Early on in the year, we decided we would much rather sell than rent the property; we just have no interest in being a landlord right now.

Mentally

  • Read 36 books - Not Done! If my list is correct, looks like I’m about six books short. I’m in the midst of three right now, but even if I finished them today I’d still fall a few short.
  • Watch less TV - Done! Although this was not a good S.M.A.R.T. goal, I’m still going to take it. I spent significantly less time in front of the old mind melter than in the past.
  • Blog more, think less… - Done! Though you wouldn’t know it by the posting pace here. I have a number of sites now that almost force me to get a post or two out there most days. Nonetheless, getting a few more into rotation here would be a good thing!

Overall

So five out of eight goals reached. Good? Bad? Indifferent?

I’m going to call Good. Heck, I’ll call Excellent. :) Two of those missed goal had some serious progress on them (debt paydown and books read). The other was really a poor goal, as it was almost entirely out of my hands (property sold). Plus, if I would have met them all, it just means I wasn’t really pushing myself!

Time to contemplate what I want for 2008…

Last Year’s Gifts Create A More Relaxed Christmas

27 Dec, 2007  3 Comments

Over the years, our family Christmas gatherings had been getting more and more overblown. The wife and I each come from fairly small families, so it wasn’t that we were buying for a ridiculous number of people. But for each of them, a number of not inexpensive gifts would find their way under the tree. In other words, far too many gifts costing far too much money.

Since we have finally come to the realization that more does not equal better, last year we scaled back our gifting giving quite a bit. It wasn’t a ‘just sock-n-underwear‘ Christmas by any means, but it also wasn’t a ‘hey, could you lend me a hand carrying all these boxes in?‘ one like in the past.

One gift we gave to our younger brothers and sisters on both sides last year was a copy of Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, in an attempt to give them some alternatives before they ended up dealing with painful levels of debt. And they read it! My sister and fiance even went so far as to tell me that it has changed their lives. Never heard that when I was giving out, say, $200 DVD players… ;)

Needless to say, this year revealed much more subdued gift giving all around. And guess what? We had just as much fun, appreciated everything just as much, and had even more time just to enjoy everyone’s company. Amazing how that works… :)

Hope you and yours had a Great Christmas!

State of the Debt, November ‘07

7 Dec, 2007  6 Comments

Oh so steadily inching up to that sub-6-figure total… :)

  Oct 31′07 Nov 30′07 Change
EVERYTHING We Owe
Credit Card Debts
Chase $20,850.57 $20,520.04 ($330.53)
Other Debts
Home Mortgage 38,947.77 38,900.53 (47.24)
Low Energy Loan 15,527.05 15,407.01 (120.04)
Line of Credit 26,549.30 26,114.93 (434.37)
TOTAL Liabilities $101,874.69 $100,942.51 ($932.18)

As always, not as fast as I dream, but a little less than $1,000 really isn’t terrible progress. Slow and steady wins the race.

Barring the unforeseen, the end of the year should show us just at or below that magically $100,000 barrier. Considering that is everything we owe, house and all, I can’t say we are in bad shape at all.