Archives for posts with tag: 2009

Links of the Day

January 7, 09 //
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Over the last few days, I’ve stumbled upon a few blog posts that touch on the New Year’s resolutions I posted. All three are from blogs I highly recommend, so please check them out!

  • 9 Methods for Mastering Your Money in 2009 from Get Rich Slowly.  A great collection of tips, methods and tools for you to use to get your finances in order this year.
  • Do Children Really Cause Financial Burdens? from The Simple Dollar. This post focuses on a common misconception that having kids is extremely expensive. Trent says yes, the outlays are numerous and costly, but when you factor in tax deductions, credits, and how children change the way we spend money (less entertainment, luxury, and frivolous expenditures, etc), the cost per child (over 18 years) goes from the original estimate of $200k to around $52k using some quick math. Even if you double that figure, it still comes out to about $5700 per year, compared to the original $11k. Not nearly as bad as many experts will lead you to believe.
  • Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, Set More Manageable Goals from Parent Hacks. The gist of this post is using an alternative mindset when thinking about our resolutions through setting daily, weekly and monthly goals each month. Doing this makes these tasks and projects more manageable and actionable as they tend to be easier to wrap your head around than the usual big picture goals we tend to set on January 1st.  I like the idea!

2009 Resolutions

January 5, 09 //
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The fam

I’ll tackle my resolutions for the family first. I am sure Melisa has a few to add, but I’d like to see us focus on these this year:

  1. Continue on the budget path – in 2008 we created a budget and have done a decent job sticking to it, however we can do better and this really needs to stick as the #1 family goal for the future.
  2. Pay down our debt – we are making a concerted effort to get completely out of credit card debt as soon as possible. We are using the debt snowball method to focus a majority of our budgeted resources on one credit card until paid off, then directing all of the budgeted resources to the final credit card until paid off. It’s going to take some time (i.e. will not be done this year), so discipline is a must.
  3. Reduce clutter and organize – we have a lot of stuff we don’t use any longer, will most likely never need again, or never needed in the first place. First step will be to get rid of (donate, sell on eBay or Craigslist, throw out) the excess, then step two is organize what we have left. Pretty much a year long process to do this well (given our abundance of free time!), so we’ll most likely tackle an area of the house at a time.

On to my personal resolutions:

  1. Read more – like actual books. I’ve got the whole RSS/feed reader thing down pretty pat and can digest an enormous amount of information. But actual books are important too. I plan on frequenting the library often this year and even take in an audio book from time to time, as well. Not to mention, reading with the girls too!
  2. End the year weighing 175 pounds – that means I have about 20 lbs to lose. My plan is to eat a little better, exercise more frequently, and spend a lot of time with the girls outside once it’s nice again.
  3. Blog on this site more – I’ve neglected the site in the past and Missy has taken up a good deal of the slack, but I need to contribute if this is going to be a meaningful conversation.

I could probably come up with a dozen for each list, but I’m going to stop at three in order to focus my efforts. All of these resolutions come down to the basics anyway: health (mental and physical), wealth, and family/friends.

Anyway, best wishes to all of our family, friends and readers in 2009!