Goal setting...

I'm on a major goal setting kick lately, I think I feel inspired or motivated for some of these goals. I know though from past experience changing too much too fast will be a sure fire way for me to throw in the towel.

I have three major goals right now:

1) Getting my side business up and running
2) Eating healthier and exercising to start my weight loss goals
3) Getting my finances in order

With these things in mind, I'm trying to decide how to go about them best. I think blogging along the way about them will help keep me on track and stay motivated, plus be accountable. Can I count on all of you to help keep me accountable?

So what I've been doing lately to reach these goals

1) Getting my side business up and running
a) Did my first paid job, it wasn't much but it was something and asking for a testimonial
b) Making a mental plan to set up a website

2) Eating healthier and exercising to start my weight loss goals
a) Joined sparkpeople.com
i) Created my profile & personal page
ii) Set up my weight loss goals and target date
iii) Posted an intro on the introductory boards

3) Getting my finances in order
a) Blogging on my other blog, How I Became a Fiscal Fussbudget
b) Held a garage sale
c) Started work on an improved budget
d) See goal #1 ;)

Expect to see more from me in the coming days, weeks, months..... I want to make sure I'm goal setting. For now I'm just going to write down my goals and what I can do in the short term to reach those goals. I don't want to get overwhelmed with long term goals since organizing and this whole proper goal setting/reaching is newer to me.

Oh, and if someone can tell me how to do this whole indentation of my a),b),c) and i),ii), iii) that would be wonderful! I couldn't figure it out and its still too early to try to do so.

Frugal Vacation for the limited budget....

So I have vacation time scheduled in just about 2 weeks.

There is nothing planned, the money just isn't there. As a single parent I can't justify spending money that isn't there. Add in that Christmas is just really around the corner and YIKES!!!

We are going to have a staycation in a way but... a lot of people that do staycations jam pack it with local things to do. I don't know that we'll do much of anything.

My aunt and uncle have generously offered up their trailer at their camp ground for 2-3 days during the week and it isn't that far we may do that. All the equipment is there so really all I need is the cost to get in for each time we leave and come back (I think it is about $5), food, and gas money. Not so bad.

We also have a wave pool that is nearby it's $5 to get into the State park (I didn't get a pass this year) and $3 for each person to swim. We can bring our own picnic lunch.

When looking at it this way we'll have plenty to do and still have a relaxing time. Honestly... relaxing is what I want the most... my kid wants fun and adventure so we can have a combo of both.

We now live with my boyfriend and so it is a little easier to be able to spend a bit more freely with someone sharing the bills... but in order for us to all live together we had to upgrade the apartment, meaning I needed more than just one bedroom so we did that. Even with the added expense of the extra room its still cheaper in rent for me so thats good. That said things were just scrapping by most months and heaven forbid an emergency happens like the car breaking down. I'd rather make a cushion so I'm not living paycheck to paycheck and that's going to take quite a bit of time to do. Living as we were for as long as we were its easy to get excited and say wooohooo we can do so much more and my daughter can have so much more. Then I think about reality... reality is we could be alone again, I could struggle again... anything could happen and it'd be nice to have that cushion and THEN be able to say woohoo we can have a real vacation or YAY, I can buy my daughter x,y,z she really deserves it (although not lately with her preteen attitude lol).

Sooo, I'm not sure what we will do on vacation but I'm going to try to make it as fun and relaxing to appease everyone as possible.

What do other strapped for cash single parents do for things like this? How do you appease yourself (relaxation) and the kid(s) with excitement and adventure with limited to no funds to do so?

More stress... financial stress

So you'll have to view my blog entry at my other blog here in order to see but suffice it to say for this reason and some personal reasons I'm stressed.

I got Wii Fit this past Thursday as a gift for my birthday and actually that has been helping. The kicker is I had to see the lawyer on my Birthday to get a consult. I retained him.

I'm in this mess for several reasons a big one is custody crap the other big one is medical bills. I'm not even in credit card debt really.

I'm overwhelmed, completely and utterly... but I'm hanging in there and I'm doing things to not feel so overwhelmed.

There are also some family issues going on I'm not really ready to discuss here but its been rough. It will get better though... I hope.

Onto some good things... my kiddo is in softball and its fun to watch, I took Sunday off as a floater and relaxed all day. Some laundry was done and dinner was cooked other than that I sat on the couch all day long it was bliss, sheer bliss.

Family time, work, school... LIFE

Yesterday, we went to a family function. My cousin's son made his First Communion. I had a really nice time and I realized something... it was relatively stress free, normally our family functions are not stress free.

The next thing I realized was that my Uncle was playing cards with the guys most of the day/evening so he wasn't there to cause ruckus among everyone. I also noticed my mother wasn't there and this allowed for me to relax and not be totally stressed.

The stress that my mother causes me is really unreal. I'm not quite understanding how a mother can do that to her child.

I realized I still have a lot of anger and resentment towards her and it isn't likely to go anywhere soon unless she takes on the responsibility for the things she did to cause those feelings towards her. That is likely to never happen.

Why do I stay in contact with her? I do not know, I can not answer that except to say I'm not ready to write her off completely and disown her.

She drives me batty though, and when you add her along with the other stresses in my life at the moment it doesn't make for good health that is for sure.

Work is another issue driving me crazy, I'm hoping that in the near future I can leave this office and not look back. Out of the few issues causing me enough stress to impact my health work is another one. Money issues, work, and my mother I can pin point the stressors in my life but there isn't much I can do about any of them.

School isn't going so well and again I can say the stress in my life has a negative impact on school. I need to be able to focus more on school, myself and my child. Work and my mother don't take heed and just take, take, take from me. My work schedule is pretty stressful at the moment and I never seem to have more than a day off at a time. They cut out overtime, which I was excited about until the impact of no overtime meant that really we work some crazy crap to make up for the no OT to cover the uncovered shifts (due to vacations, sickness....). I find myself needing/wanting a week off for mental health instead of an occasional mental health day. I find myself contemplating the foot surgery that really costs more than I can afford just so I can have time off of work. How crazy is that? I want surgery to get away from this place for a bit. Yeah that isn't a good thing I'm not thinking.

It seems as if I need a break lately... that's because a lot of crap is coming all at one time and I see no stress relief. I'm trying to be less of a bury your head in the sand type gal (that is how I've dealt with stressors in the past) and deal with things but I definitely need to find a balance somewhere.

I've decided that I can go to school part time instead, a concession I didn't want to make in good times school makes me happy and makes me feel good I'm working towards something for myself and for my daughter. I'm sure this will cause more resentment towards the job and other things but it is what it is for now. I'm used to giving concessions so it won't be anything new to me. I'll just make it work out for the best and do whatever it is I need to do.

I've decided to say no to people whenever possible on social things. Lately even social things stress me out because of my work schedule being what it is it is difficult for me to attend and not compromise my sleep and down time. This is one that is going to be extremely difficult for me to do.

I've decided too look into something I think whiles stressful might alleviate some of the other stressors. I'm looking into it at the moment so I'm not sure if its an option for me but we'll see.

So in ending for today, there is a lot going on more than I've even posted or let on to but I'm working at doing more than swimming against the current, I want to swim with it for once while I breath and enjoy.

Summer Softball begins...

I got a call from Sabby's new coach and practice starts tomorrow, she was able to get the field twice this week during the day. Since they are on spring break she thought they could get started this week.

Those of you that have been through this kids childhood with me will know that this is a huge thing for her. She has always resisted anything social or interacting with other kids and sports. Last summer she came to me and said she wanted to play softball. It was too late to sign her up then but I said we would this year. The sign up sheets went up and she was all excited and asked if she could do it.

What makes this even better is it is only $30 to play and our local fire department sponsors the girls so all they need is their pants and I've been told cleats are optional and most girls don't have them. YAY!!!

I'm so excited and proud of my little uhhh I mean growing girl. She is still getting a 4.0 in school too!!!

This is no small accomplishment for her at all she has worked hard and now is becoming like this blossoming kid. She used to struggle so hard and was so totally socially inept. I worried for years, if someone had told me she'd have come this far I'd have thought they were crazy now I'm clinging to this new phase we are in.

I couldn't be a happier or prouder parent.

It is hard for me to go to some of my friends who are still struggling with challenging children. The medications she started a little over a year ago have really made the difference. Her medications before that made a difference but this one has really helped her grow to her fullest potential.

I can't wait to see what more is in store and what she becomes!

My new blog is up

I decided not to host it anywhere yet and pay for hosting, although that may come later.

Here is my new financial blog: How I Became a Financial Fussbudget I made my first post yay!!

I'll work on a post to combine my financial posts from here or maybe just add the posts individually as I see fit.

Hope you enjoy!

Don't worry this blog I'll still be updating as well.

I Wish! Also, an Update to My 'Things to Do' List

I wish that my finances were fixed, so that I could look for a home. I have found several homes in my area all say they are liveable and all are under 60K for sale. I'm the type of person I want a home of my own so badly, that I don't care if nothing is the way I want it because most likely won't be and even after I have all debt paid and am finished with school and finish paying off student loans I still won't be able to afford exactly what I want (man what a run on sentance).

I wish I could get financing, man a loan that low would cost like 1/3 of my rent (even with taxes, insurance and a monthly payment to my savings for housing costs/repairs). Think of what I could do for my debt and finances with 2/3 rds of my income freed up. Of course I wouldn't need to do anything for my debt and finances if I was in a position that someone would approve me.

Oh well. Such is life I guess... although I'm really not feeling that right now as I type this. I really need to stop looking at houses, I can't help it, I can't stop dreaming about it.

Onto my last post and update

Today I applied for a new checking account at Fifth Third Bank, they have a really nice one for students. Now I need $50 extra bucks to open it. At which time I will close my account I have now, the totally online banking thing (I have an online bank not a bank with branches) isn't working for me. I'm waivering between opening an ING Direct savings or just using my Credit Union savings. I can only have 3 accounts money is deposited into through my direct deposit and really I need 4. I'm not good at moving the money myself... for various reasons.

My budget is a work in progress, I'm currently working it out still, I get frustrated a lot and cry a lot and start over a lot, its really never been a strong suit of mine. I need to figure out how much I need and forget how much I have and that includes all the things like entertainment, emergency fund, all those little things like a gift fund etc... then figure out how much I need after my paycheck and get creative. Dawn at Fighting Foreclosure has inspired me to that last bit.

I also started my new blog for all my financial stuff (just moments ago) I haven't come up with my introductory post yet or any of its contents either. Here it is though for when I do start How I Became a Fiscal Fussbudget

The Good Life

So I can feel myself getting a wee bit depressed. What can I say a lot of stuff is going on that is affecting me negatively.

I should be using this blog to get that out, but for some reason I can't do that.

Instead I'm going to talk about the good.

My daughter brought home a 4.0 (all A's)... there surely was never a report card like that in my hands before I became a parent. HA!! I just didn't care about my grades like she does. So a big ole WTG Sabrina for a job well done.

I have a job, there is threat of layoffs in a year depending on if the customer renews our contract or not. It is looking like not. This is somewhat a good thing though because I can plan ahead. I can be in a better financial spot than I was in April of 2007 when I was laid off for over 6 months.
I'm excited about increasing my credit score, having an emergency fund for the first time ever, and generally not drowning in the financial torrent sea I have created. I have one big expense coming up but other than that the rest is saving money. If I don't get laid off then I can use some of the emergency fund to help pay off debt. Win, win all around right? I think so.

I have a list of things I have to do:

• Re-do my budget that currently isn't working for me
• Start a savings account which earns interest
• Make a list of purchases that will reduce my bills and expenditures (odd I know but this will get covered in the new blog when I start it).

I am quitting smoking... again! You can't quit if you quit trying right?

Things with T are going smashingly well, we've had a small 'disagreement' or two but no arguments or fights since we met. He really is a great man! He has helped to get me through the hardest parts of my life I've had and he's been through it himself. It brought us a million times closer.

What is going on good for you all?

Can't even come up with a good title

I can't seem to bring myself to blog about my life but I did make a few decisions the past few weeks.

I learned about different financial schtuff and I decided to open a new blog on my road to financial whatevers. Not sure when I'll start it. I have loads and loads of posts in my head to start this particular blog but I need to come up with an intro. How weird that the intro is stumping me.

Don't worry I'll still keep up with this blog I just wanted to keep the two seperate. I guess right now though I'm just not ready to talk about things in my personal life. There is good stuff but the bad stuff has me blah!!! I do have a lot to be thankful for and this financial blog I'm going to start has me very excited and feeling in control of how some of the potentially bad stuff will turn out (like I might not have a job to come to in about a year... AGAIN!!). Giving up is NOT an option, it never is and boy am I learning what giving up does to everyone else in your life lately.

Purging and eating my way to frugality

So I'm working on finances, and part of that is budgeting and practicing frugality. It is a good thing I have been poor (and still am but not as poor) before and I know how to be frugal. This is nothing new to me.

So I decided one thing I need to work on is the food bill, while I still want to eat healthy (as that is a goal this year is to loose weight), I need to do that in an economical way.

Step 1: I will be using up everything I already have in the house and will not replace until I use all of these things, minus perishables like bread, milk, meat....

I have already used almost all of the meat so I will need to make a trip to the store soon. This will be hard not to buy some snack or another, or additional ingrediants to make things we enjoy.

After this I will go onto Step 2, which is meal planning, coupon cutting, freezing meals etc... As I journey through this I'll post some of the great meal finds in the grocery strike and some of the not so great meals too, so you all can read my progress.

Wish me luck!!

Dental work, on the financial front

I have to say it felt so good that my $500 dental work on Friday was paid for by my flex spending card. I didn't have to worry where the money was coming from, its being paid weekly, tax free and worry free out of my check into that account. I put $2,000 into it this year for several reasons, I wanted to put $3,000 into it. Maybe next year I can.

Also this is one thing I can take out of the budget because anything that comes directly out of the paycheck isn't counted as income. I am needing to re-do my budget again anyway. Thanks to Jennifer at Lifestyle of a Divorced Single Mom and her budget spreadsheet things on the financial front are coming along. Pretty soon I may even have a savings account that has actual money in it. Who knows. All I do know is that is no longer a dream but a reality.

Flex Spending

One of the first orders of action of getting my life under control is taking care of myself. Since I now have a horrible health insurance plan I haven't been taking care of myself like I should. So I am investing quite a bit into my flex spending this year. Of course that includes off the top the $500 portion of my share of this years payments towards my kiddo's braces. It also includes a $500 temporary repair to my tooth until I can afford the permanent repair which is $3k and is not an option but can wait a tiny bit longer. So those are two planned expenses as it is, then my deductible is $400 another pretty much planned expense and then there is some unplanned money there too for rx's, co-pays (which are exorbitantly high) and other such things.

Now the money will be there without me having to do much to make sure it is. I just have it directly taken out of my check and put into flex spending. They give me a niffty little card I can use it without even having to worry about being reimbursed, me likey that.

More financial stuff to come but I figured I'd start a little blurb

Procrastination and happy holidays!

So I'm an expert at procrastination. It really is an art form, or a sport... whatev' I'm good at it.

Thus so I've been meaning to post some things that I haven't done so, some are in my dashboard, others (most of them) were in my head... all of which I've promptly forgotten.

One big thing is I think I'm going to finally start my financial portion of this blog. See I had every intention of making this blog my life but also having special spotlights on dating and finances (as mine are a mess and I've slowly been working at it). I figured those were two spots in my life that are always chaos and I could use the reflecting back and the discipline in finances and just the reflecting in the dating portion of my life. Since I found someone to be serious about it will mostly stick to finances I guess *shrugs* who knows what the future brings.

So I don't keep procrastinating on that portion of my blog I posted.

Oh, and yes... Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. I will be working but I hope you all enjoy yours!

ETA: Oh, and yes... I have not forgotten the meme Jeanie ;)

Excuse #1: Why I haven't been blogging

Well, really it will turn into more than one excuse this is just my first time excusing myself for not blogging. There are several factors

1) Nursing a sore child after extensive (and expensive) orthodontia work. Oye vey is what I say to both the extensive part and the expensive part. This is tiring for moms too let me tell you.

2) Work, work, and a little more work. I wish all that OT would get me out of the financial hole I am in but alas that only happens after some time. My some time isn't served yet apparently.

3) Stress!! Yes ladies and gents (well really I think I only have two readers so ladies ha ha ha), stress will cause you not to blog. Which actually brings me to another thought to blog about: finances... *said in my best TV announcer voice* please stay tuned to my local blog for another blog topic I may need some ideas here and I have lots that I am rolling off the presses.

Well that's it for now because work calls.