Me and My Finances 2011

I have been sitting around here over the past month thinking about my finances.

I want some fancy smancy goals, man. You know, something big and bold.

But alas, I must admit, I don't have them.

For the past three years, it's been "Pay off my credit card debt!"

That was the big goal. The big target at which I've aimed many an arrow.

Then, last April, I paid off all my credit card debt.

It wasn't exactly a feel good event for me. Oh, I got excited later. But, I was a bit deflated, even upset for a minute? Why? Because everytime I got a nice piece of change over and beyond my normal paycheck, I had to look at some debt and pay it off. Yeah, yeah that's called being ungrateful, I suppose. But shoot, I need clothes and shoes. I wanna go splurge that money on a car. I want to take MORE trips per year.

I wanna put that money on ME and my desires. Period.

And this is bad. At least I acknowledge it. Spent time talking to God about it.

And it helped me understand within my own heart an interesting verse in the Bible, James 4:2-3

You want things, but you do not have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people, but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do not get what you want, because you do not ask God. Or when you ask, you do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so you can use them for your own pleasures.

Ugh.

An Oldgirl be having some serious pleasures in mind. They roll like thunder through my brain. That's what happened when the EXACT amount of what I needed to pay off my debt minus the mortgage in entirety fell into my hands. I was thinking about things other than debt payoff.

A movie titled The Pleasure Principle starring LadyLee, in full technicolor was in full full effect in my mind.

But I also thought of something in my personal vision statement...

Like the setting on a thermostat, the temperature of my life is set on the vision statement, but it ain't quite there yet.

And that is the very last line of it:

"I am a good steward, a fine manager over the finances He has blessed me with, to the point that God knows He can trust me."

That sobered me up. Made me go ahead a pay the last of my debt off.

Felt okay about it. I think I learned, if I'm praying about something, I better be searching the reasons and motives for it, and I better come through like a trooper if given the choice to do the right thing versus something else.

Afterall, it's a trust thing... Am I faithful in the little things or not? A hard question to answer. But deep down, the answer to that question is always crystal clear, if I'm being honest with myself.

No, I didn't want this to turn into a spiritual post... No sir.

That might be due to my current activities and state of mind.

So let's walk into another room of the House of LadyLee right now. I wanna talk about my goals for 2011.

Whelp. The debt thing is off the list.

And that's a GOOD thing!

Let's see... other goals for this year.

Continue to maintain an account for Grandma. It's a small account. I just want to be able to make sure she has all the gas she needs to get around, and can buy groceries without worrying about it. She seems to maintain it well. And it doesn't put a strain on me in any way. This woman sent me $50-$65 dollars a month for seven years while I was in grad school. I could at least make sure that she don't have to buy her own groceries and gas.

I was trying to tell her if she needed things done around the house, to let an Oldgirl know. It might take me a couple paychecks to save up the money to fix a furnace or something like that. But she janky on that. Won't tell me anything. So I can't worry about that. I can just help in any small way that I can.

Make and meet a Savings Goal for the year. Last year I missed my savings goal by about $80 dollars. And that was stupid, because when I saw how close I was in December, I was gonna transfer money. But I forgot. OH WELL. It'll be alright.

This year, I want to put away double that amount. That bothers me a bit, as it is a lofty goal, but I've learned from my own personal goals technologist, Ms. Not so Anonymous, to JUST TRY. If I don't meet it, then it's okay. Identify what went wrong and fix it. So that is definitely a goal. I do this by automatic transfer, so that will continue to be the order of the day.

Pay a little more on the house than what's due. This almost seems futile to me. Heck, I wish I could sell and go live in someone's basement because I don't really care for home ownership. But with the market the way it is, and my house not being some grand mansion, well.... that will have to wait. For now, I want to pay down, and simply enjoy my house.

This is like eating an elephant: do it one bite at a time. And I'm starting with the elephants toenail, lol.

Continue with my Financial Freedom Fighters, Triple F Possee activities. I'm fickle about this, because I'm not sure where our group is going. All I know is that I need to stay in some type of group activity concerning finances. It is helpful, and the number one reason why I paid off my debt last year.

Green Eyed Bandit wants step down as group leader. I was thinking about being the leader, but that ain't going on. I ain't a leader. I have trouble leading my ownself, much less other people. We have 12 people returning this year, which I find bizarre, taking that we never saw some of these women. And me being a leader AND as standoffish as I am, I would be a problem for them . But I won't gripe about that. I will just continue with it. I learn something new with each meeting, and it motivates me to hear others stories, and to come up with suggestions and to actually see someone meeting their goals. That's worth it right there.

Budget better. I need to have it on paper and know where the money is going. I'm in and out with this. I can always do better. Spreadsheets help, but I mess up spreadsheets something terrible. I'm going to try again not to destroy yet another version this year. (You have to understand, I am DEEPLY disturbed by spreadsheets. I must find a way to get over this, and I think the way to do that is to keep trying them, destroying them, and trying again.)

I think with the spreadsheet action, I can incorporate other goals, like a clothing budget, a travel budget, church giving budgeting, etc... I'm also considering buying a second car (with cash) and there are more things I simply like to do. That takes budgeting.

So that will take some spreadsheet action. I have to get over this spreadsheet fear though. I am determined to do that.

Those are my financial goals, in no particular order of importance. There's no stunning quality to them. The goal this year is to identify my problems, locate the truth of solving those problems, and consistently work that truth until the desired breakthrough takes place.

Can I do it?

I think I can.

If I can't do it... at least I can do better than I've been doing.

And that's what really matters.

~~~D U N~~~

*LadyLee walks out on the stage, grabs the microphone out of the microphone stand with BOTH hands*

"DUN"

*LadyLee slams the microphone to the ground. It explodes into a million pieces and sets the stage on fire*

"DUN"

That's what my blog bruh 12Kyle says on the social networks when he's done for the day and 'bout to go to bed.

That's what I, The Oldgirl, say now that my

21 day Financial Fast

is

over.

21 days, mayne. 21 days.

"DUN"

You know, I can't even begin to fully understand and comprehend what this has done for not only my finances....

But for my heart.

And my mentality, my attitude.

(It is bringing some serious tears to my eyes, ya'll. Had to step off into the kitchen and have some communion- a piece of wheat bread and a shot glass of berry juice.)

"DUN"

I am done.

And that had to be one of the most enlightening times of my life right there. Straight up.

Serenity is bugging me about writing a post about it. I will, but I'm still trying to tally up my numbers.

Let's just say, the amount of money I've calculated that I was wasting is gonna make you want to reach through your computer and slap the cheese out of me.

The amount of money I saved is gonna make your eyes pop. (Made me see *crickets*)

All in all, going through this has been a HUGE accomplishment and blessing. This was like, one big intangible gift to myself.

So hopefully I'll talk about it on Friday.

You know me and my longwinded tail. I'm gonna write a long version for me, then scale it way down.

Until then, go check out what that Original Oldgirl Serenity and crew are up to on their 21 day fast. They're handling some SERIOUS bizness over in the House of Serenity.

If you're not inspired by whatever it is that's going on with everybody financially, well... I don't know what to tell you!

My post will be up on Friday.

Until then.

I'm DUN.

Amen.

Goodnight.

I'll holler!

*LadyLee runs off stage doing the hard Rocky victory cheers*

Spring 2010 Financial Goals

I really like my book club meetings.

It's always good to see my book club sistas and discuss our thoughts on the book selections.

Star likes to shock me with her t-shirts. This one here is not all that shocking.


Funny, but tame (for Star, that is).

The young lady posing with her is one of THE funniest people I've ever met. Simply cracks me up. I sat next to her at the book club meeting. Her Mom was a famous comedian and Broadway star (I'll let you figure out who that is, since they look more and more alike everytime we see her), so Tracey is testament that genes are passed on. Tracey picked up the "funny" gene.

Tracey loves to pose. She's not camera shy at all!




She was a journalling sister at one time, and she would always introduce herself with "My name is Tracey, and I dance down at the Pink Pony!", and she'd even bust a classic stripper move, lol. (The Pink Pony is a famous ATL strip club). I always believed her, until someone hipped me to this being her own personal joke.

No she doesn't work at the Pony. And I was so moved by this "Pink Pony Pride" of hers that, as a birthday gift, I wrote a short story about her quest to become a Pink Pony dancer, lol.

She was wearing some fly shoes at the meeting. I thought of the Super shoe queen Serenity, so I took a few pictures of them.

(Serenity, are these an example of peep toes you've been trying to help me understand??)



LOL. Just a little shoe delight for you. You don't get that over here in the House of LadyLee.

I tend to be a Nike girl.

Anyway, this post is not about shoes or books. Not at all.

Like I said, I sat next to Tracey at the book club meeting. And we were all congratualting her on a specific financial goal.

She had just completed a 21 day financial fast.

She talked of it periodically on Facebook. I was tripping, cuz if anybody knows her, she likes to SHOP! She likes to get her shop on like no other!

She has a PHAT decked out house. She drives a PHAT car!! She gives the PHATTEST baby showers! (I break my neck trying to get to her baby showers. She gives away gift cards as prizes!!! OH JOY! lol)

Yet she completed that financial goal. Hmmm. I imagined her shaking like a crackhead in the process. But she did it, and talked about it very calmly over on Facebook.

We talked about it. She followed the plan outlined in Michelle Singletary's The Power to Prosper: 21 days to Financial Freedom. The plan involves cutting out frivolous spending and an examination of personal financial behavior.

I told her I was gonna do it.

But I was moving the decimal point.

"Tracey, I'ma do a 2.1 day fast!"

This disturbed Erica (who was sitting nearby). She's a former FFF leader, and the first group member to go debt-free. She rolled her eyes.

"Come on now, Dr. Parker," Erica said.

My FFF prez, The Green Eyed Bandit, was giving me the side-eye too.

Tracey and I talked about it a little more.

I was still hollering about my "2.1 day fast".

"Write down your address. I'll send the book to you," she said. "That way, you can take a look at it, and see what you think."

"Alright, girl!" I said, as I wrote down my addy. "Send it to me!"

All the time continuing to holler about 2.1 days to freedom. LOL

I went home and forgot about it.

Lo and behold, the book came in the mail a few days later.

I've had it for a few weeks. I've thumbed through it, read a couple of chapters even. Tracey hightlighted some interesting parts. I read those, just to see what struck her fancy.

Looks interesting enough. And it's something I can do. I like to read a good mix of secular and spiritual financial material, and it is high time for a book on biblical economics.

So starting on the 15th, tax day, I'll get going. I think the last day will be around May 6th. I'm adding this to my other financial goals for the spring. Here they are:

1. Stay up on my Finance Journal. This is my budget notebook. For any given month, I have the budget on one page, and I have goals and to do lists on the adjacent page. I also keep FFF notes and ideas in there. The 21 day fast looks to require a bit of journalling, and I am set up for that. I spend about 15 minutes a week on this activity. I'm looking to double that.

2. Do some charting.. I want to examine the last 3 months (since the beginning of the year) of bank statements/online statements, and write out and add up how much I have spent (beyond mortgage, credit cards, and utilities). I want to figure out how much has been frivolous and what was necessary. I will come up with a spending plan from that.

3. Attend the Finance Conference at Church this week. I'm trying to make 2 out of 3 evenings. When I've attended in the past, I've gotten an idea or two for my own personal isshas that have stuck and worked really well.

4. Shore up my Automatic Bill pay. Throw as many bills as possible over onto automatic online pay. I've already started doing this. Works well for insurance, medical and phone bills. I also have my 2011 birthday cruise set up that way. I have about 7 more bills to figure out.

5. Save 1500 bucks. That's a TALL order indeed. But that's alright. I should be able to do that with the help of the 21 day financial fast plus our performance bonuses at work coming through soon.

6. Keep in touch with my Accountability Partners. I have two in FFF, and I need to send a simple email or something once per week. TGEB knows this is hard for me, but I will work around it. (I'm the only one that's not acting right. I hate bothering peeps!). But I plan on sendning weekly goals. It can be helpful, so I need to work it out!!

7. Do the 21 day fast. I plan on reading the book above, as it is set up to be read in 21 days. I hope to get an idea or two from it, in order to help me make a much needed correction or adjustment somewhere.

So those are my goals. I rarely list goals here, as they are private. But my goals technologist Ms. Not So Anonymous has taught me something important:

List the goals and strive to meet them.

If I fail, it's okay. Admit the failure, get back up, make the correction, and try again.

So that's what we's gonna do, mon!

At the base of all this, I am dealing with a couple of attitude problems that I wish to correct. I know that anytime I get to wailing about something or go into rock kicking mode in my prayer life, pathways start to open up. They lead to answers. Always.

It's just a matter of me having enough sense and fortitude to utilize the resources presented.

And I plan to do that.

Thanks for the book Miss Tracey. It looks like a great resource.

I'll let you know how it works out.