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| March Radio Spot on Mix 93.3 FM |
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This past week was pretty uneventful, financially speaking. Jim is finally getting paychecks from his new job, which makes me a little less stressed out considering that for awhile we only had half as much money coming in from what we were used to. Jim and I have also been talking through Skype. We had talked about some different options such as cell phones and calling cards and this ended up being the best option, by far. He’s able to use Skype like a phone through the internet. We got a plan that’s about $30 for an entire year of unlimited calling to anywhere in the US! That’s made it a lot nicer for keeping in touch. We can use video chat with this, too so it’ll be fun to actually see each other face to face. I’m planning on using it to keep in touch with my nephew out of town, too.
Mostly, my life has been revolving around St. Patrick’s Day preparations. There have been lots of opportunities to dance at the pub and private events, and I’ve got family coming in town to celebrate with me. I can’t wait! This is definitely one of my favorite times of year.
My next coaching session is this week, so hopefully I’ll have some more interesting updates after that!
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by Bridgid Driscoll, March 8, 2010 at 8:58 AM | Add a Comment |
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Working to get financially fit feels a lot like trying to get physically fit. When I start a new workout plan, I’m so excited and ready to go out full speed. But then, after a couple weeks or months, getting to the gym seems harder and harder, the running shoes seem less exciting, and the couch seems ridiculously more inviting. This past week was definitely a “sit on the couch” week, financially speaking. One of the areas I’m focusing on is not dining out very much, but there were way too many delicious opportunities to dine or drink out this week. So, as I filled out my giant spreadsheet for the end of the month, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I’d still spent less than what I had allocated for the month. I’d been so good the other three weeks that this past week hardly made a dent! Phew! It’s kind of a nice realization that it’s ok to splurge a little here and there if you work hard the majority of the time.
March is one of my favorite months - spring is starting to arrive and we have St. Patrick's Day coming up! It's also typically a very busy month - lots of Irish dancing and time with family and friends. I'm anticipating it being a little trickier to keep my spending down, so I need to go in with a plan. The main focus for me this month is going to be coupons. I started taking note of how much money I actually saved by using the coupons, but I didn’t start until about half way through February. I’m excited to see how much I can really save over the course of a month. |
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by Bridgid Driscoll, March 1, 2010 at 8:16 AM | Add a Comment |
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One of the ideas that our coaches threw out at our last meeting was to open up a CommunityAmerica Platinum Visa card. At first I thought why would I want another credit card? Jim and I have been trying to reduce our credit card debt and this seemed counter-productive to add another one in to the mix. Then Leslie and Charlie explained the plan… by transferring our existing debt to the Community America Platinum Visa, we would have an APY of 9.25% instead of our current much higher rates. We’re setting aside money each month to get the existing balance down but in the mean time, we’ll be paying considerably less money on interest. The other perk (the really great part to this deal, if you ask me) is that opening the CACU Visa allows us to open up a Delta Savings account. With this super savings account, we can earn up to 5% on the money we deposit in this account! As my coach Charlie says, if your money is just going to sit somewhere, it might as well be working for you at the same time! Another advantage Jim pointed out is that we will both have access to this account so we can help each other keep on track and not let our credit card spending get out of control.
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by Bridgid Driscoll, February 22, 2010 at 9:47 AM | Add a Comment |
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I totally love the giant spreadsheet that Leslie and Charlie are having me fill out each month! Maybe I'm a little dorky, but sorting and organizing our spending makes it seem much more tangible and definitely gets me motivated to work to get the spending money down - like a game I'm playing with myself every time I spend money!
Last month was a hard month to gauge our typical spending – there was so much to do to get ready for Jim’s trip and we had lots of family and friends we wanted to spend time with. So, we spent a lot more than we usually would, especially in the entertainment category! This month is all about getting in a groove. Part of this new groove is going to involve my newest homework assignment: Decrease spending by at least $50 this month! Luckily, this is across all spending categories, not just one.
We’re starting with our phone minutes – obviously, we don’t need as many phone minutes now that Jim isn’t able to use his phone. That was an easy one. Another much harder one, for me – do I WANT or NEED HBO?? I love movies and I do have a couple shows I really like, but they’re not even on right now. So, HBO is going bye-bye. Instead, I’m going to rekindle my relationship with the library. I’ll keep you posted as to how this experiment goes! Other areas I’m going to cut back are “extras” for the dogs (Do you want or need that new toy, Dublin and Scoobie?!) and cut back on dining out (even though cooking for one can be boring!). And that's $50 for you, right there!
Bridgid
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by Bridgid Driscoll, February 15, 2010 at 9:42 AM | Add a Comment | Read Comments (2) |
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