Single Step Personal Finance Challenge

The Challenge

Earlier this week Mrs. Micah put a challenge out to all the personal finance bloggers. She called it the “Single Step Personal Finance Challenge”. Basically, the challenge is this:

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step… Find one step you can take to make your financial system better or more organized.

strolling

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Creative Commons License photo credit: joiseyshowaa

At our household

In thinking about our finances at the Money Matters household, we’ve made some great strides in the past couple of years.  All of those strides involved lots of smaller “single steps”.  We paid off our last non-mortgage debt (student loan), we bought a new home with a large down payment and we saved a nice emergency fund.

Only earlier this year did we begin more seriously exploring our finances and thinking of ways we could improve them after hearing about Dave Ramsey from a friend at church.   Up until then we’d been relatively successful because we both enjoyed being debt free, and neither one of us was a big spender.  But we realized that we WERE wasting a lot of money.  We could have been saving a lot more for retirement, vacations, and other things that we needed.

We are now going through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, and that was a huge single step for us on getting on the road to financial independence. If you haven’t take that step already, I would highly recommend it. Since taking the class we’ve stored away our emergency fund, and saved almost 6 months of expenses.  We’re firmly on board with the idea that you should pay cash for everything you buy.

Our Single Step

Now that we’re on our way to becoming financially independent, we have lots of smaller steps to take that we’ve just been procrastinating.  Probably the biggest one that I have been putting off is starting a retirement account.

For the longest time I’ve been saving money in our 401k, and i feel good about that.  The problem is that I’m not 100% confident in the investment choices that our 401k plan has, there is no company match and I’d rather start my own Roth IRA where I can sock money away after taxes.

I know I want to take this step, and believe it to be a good idea, but I keep putting it off because I don’t feel like I have the time, energy or the knowledge to do that right now.

So my single step is to take that first step towards opening the account, by doing some research on Roth IRAs this month. If you know of any good resources to point me to, please leave me a comment!

What’s your single step on the road to financial independence?

Here are some links to other bloggers and their “Single Step”:

  1. Reasons to Write a Last Will and Testament at The Wisdom Journal
  2. Mrs. Micah’s Single Step Personal Finance Challenge at The Dangling Conversation
  3. Single Step Personal Finance Challenge - Pay Off Remaining Medical Debt at My Two Dollars
  4. Personal finance challenge at We Like Money
  5. My single step personal finance challenge at Gather Little By Little
  6. Organize Your Finances: Take Just One Step at Prime Time Money
  7. House insurance challenge at Plonkee Money
  8. First Step Personal Finance Challenge: Budget My Last Paychecks at Green Panda Treehouse
  9. Single Step Personal Finance Challenge at Moolanomy.com
  10. Single Step Personal Finance Challenge at MyTwoDollars

If you’ve got a “single step” story and you’ve blogged about it - let me know!  I’ll post a link at the end of this list!

July 18, 2008 · Filed Under Commentary, finance, meme

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One Word Meme


I was tagged by Walk With Me in another blogger Meme today, The “one word meme”. All you have to do is answer the list of questions with a one word answer. When you’re done you tag four more bloggers to continue the meme. I don’t always like doing these memes, but I needed a post today, and I thought this one might allow the readers to get to know me a bit better, so here we go!

1. Where is your cell phone? pocket
2. Your significant other? sleeping
3. Your hair? blonde
4. Your mother? Oneida
5. Your father? Minneapolis
6. Your favorite thing? faith
7. Your dream last night? blank
8 Your favorite drink? stout
9. Your dream/goal? retire
10. The room you’re in? basement
11. Your hobby? tennis
12. Your fear? speaking
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? kids
14. What you’re not? rich
15. Muffins? chocolate
16. One of your wish list items? DSLR
17. Where you grew up? Minneapolis
18. The last thing you did? chew
19. What are you wearing? polo
20. Favorite Gadget? xbox
21. Your pets? Dog
22. Your computer? slow
23. Your mood? sleepy
24. Missing someone? No
25. Your car? Lumina
26. Something you’re not wearing? hat
27. Favorite store? Amazon.com
28. Like someone? Yes
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? month

Ok, so there you have it. Now you know more about me than most of my family!

So now the fun part - playing tag..

remodelingthislife.com
PennyJobs.com
llamamoney.com
money-hacks.com

Tag you’re it! (of course no obligation if you’re not into the whole meme scene.)


June 11, 2008 · Filed Under Links, meme

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5 Budget Busters Challenge


I was just tagged over at Achingdebts.com for a new meme - the Budget Busters Challenge! “What is the Budget Busters Challenge? Well, here is how Cindy over at Achingdebts describes it:


I thought I would start a bit of a challenge to personal finance bloggers or anyone to list 5 things big or small that bust your budget. You would think that the bigger the budget the bigger the buster would need to be but that’s not necessarily so. Small things add up quickly and tend to break my budget wide open before I have caught on to them.

So with that said, here are a few things that bust my budget all the time, and that I struggle with continually:

  1. Snacks: Whenever I stop to get gas I’ll usualy go in and get a pop or a candy bar. When I’m at work, I’ll run to the vending machine and get some chips. If I’m just having a down day a lot of times I’ll stop at a store and get something to eat. It’s bad on the budget, and its bad on my waistline too!
  2. Eating out: Number 2 also has to do with food! My wife and I realized in the last month or so (after signing up for mint.com, check out my review HERE) that we eat out way too much. I asked a friend how much they were spending on food every month for a family of 5 (soon to be 6), and my wife and I were paying double that amount every month. Talk about eye opening!
  3. Gadgets/Electronic Toys: I’ve gotten a lot better about this one, but especially before I was married I loved having all the new gadgets. MP3 players, phones, video game systems, and computers. I still enjoy playing video games on the Xbox 360, and I have to check myself to make sure that I don’t go out and buy all the latest games, accessories, etc. Having a new game every once in a while isn’t going to break the budget, but if I were to buy every one I wanted, it quickly would be a problem.
  4. Clothes: This is more of a struggle for my wife, but I struggle with it as well. We’ve both lost some weight in the last year, there is a temptation to just go out and buy a whole new wardrobe with all new clothes, instead of budgeting out and buying mainly the things you need.
  5. Gifts for other people: My wife is a real giver, so at times she can tend to go overboard and buy expensive gifts for all the people we know on their birthdays, Christmas and so on. It can add up quick! She is getting better about handmaking gifts for people and buying things that maybe aren’t as expensive. They can still mean a lot, even if they don’t cost as much.

So what are the things that my wife and I do to steer clear of these budget busters?

  1. Create a budget: Set up spending categories and amounts we’re allowed to spend every month on certain areas. Our budget is still a work in progress, but we’ll get there.
  2. Keep each other accountable: We talk to each other about what we’re spending on, and if the other is spending too much on something, we’ll let them know.
  3. Remind ourselves why we don’t need all those things: Sometimes you buy things or eat out just to feel better about something in your life. It is a patch of sorts, but it never fixes anything. Just remember when you spend that money you may end up feeling worse down the line because you’re in debt, overweight, and have a bunch of clothes you can’t wear!

So those are my 5 budget busters, and some things we do about them. The rules of the challenge are that now I have to tag 3 people to carry on the challenge. Here are the people I’ve decided to tag:

PT @ Prime Time Money

Ana @ Debt Free Revolution

LJ @ Mommy Gets Paid

Have at it guys!

LINKS:
5 Budget Busters @ Achingdebts.com


April 11, 2008 · Filed Under Links, meme

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Monday Link Fun - the Link building Meme!

Free From Broke tagged me yesterday in the “Link Building Meme”, and now I’m going to pass it on. What’s the “Link Building Meme” you say? Well, its a great way to discover some new blogs you might not have read before, a way to get some linking authority through tecnorati - and just a fun little exercise to see how far we can keep the link chain going. So here we go, here is the list of links - and the last five links in the list will be my five that I’m tagging.

*Start Copying Here*

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)

It’s real easy!

Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!

The benefits of Viral Linking:
- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!
- Increase your Google PageRank fast
- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
- Build your community
- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook ~ Link Addiction ~ Ardour of the Heart ~ When Life Becomes a Book ~ The Malaysian Life ~ Yogatta.com ~ What goes under the sun ~ Roshidan’s Cyber Station ~ Sasha says ~ Arts of Physics ~ And the legend lives ~ My View, My Life ~ A Simple Life ~ Juliana RW ~ Mom Knows Everything ~ Beth & Cory’s Mom ~ A Mind Forever Voyaging~ enjoying the ride ~ Jennifer’s thoughts ~ Mom of 3 Girls ~ Amanda ~ Don’t Make Me Get The Flying Monkeys ~ ExPat Mom ~ Just Jessie ~ Wilson Six ~Krisitn ~ Nuttier Than You ~ Shonnte ~ Summer’s Nook ~ Laura Williams Musings ~ Melissa’s Idea Garden ~ Confessions of an Everyday Housewife ~ Blah Blah Blog ~ Stop the Ride! ~Soap, Blings & Girly Things ~ It’s All for the Best ~ Keeping Feet ~ Junky Love in Freehand ~ Getting Out of Debt ~ Free From Broke ~ Money Matters ~ Arohan’s Investing Life ~ My Investing Blog ~ Finance and Fat ~ Iowahippiechick ~

My Five Links

Daily Saving Blog ~ Girls Just Wanna Have Funds ~ Life Long Dollar ~ Being Frugal ~ Generation X Finance
*Stop Copying*

Thanks for checking out the links - and - tag you’re it my five!


February 18, 2008 · Filed Under meme

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What’s in my wallet?


Over at Prime Time Money today he has a post about the latest meme going around - What’s in my wallet? He actually took pictures of his wallet, went through and detailed everything that he carries around with him. It sounded like an interesting exercise to compare wallets - so I thought I’d give it a shot.

So here we go……

Pete’s Wallet: What is it?: My wallet is a nice $9.99 brown leather wallet that I got on clearance at Target when my old wallet ripped a seam. Its a bifold wallet with credit card slots on both sides, and two money/receipt slots in the top. It even has a nice little slot to hold your extra house key in one of the money slots. I’d never seen one of those before I got this wallet.

Pete’s Wallet: What’s in it?: Here’s whats on the inside of this thick wallet.

    Right Side Credit Card Slots

  • Minnesota Driver’s License
  • TCF Bank Visa Card number 4777-3329-4444-5555. Oops, never mind that last part.
  • Chase Rewards Mastercard
  • Xbox Live Diamond Discount Card
    Left Side Credit Card Slots

  • Northwest Airlines WorldPerks Card
  • Scott County Library Card: Big money saver here.
  • Body shop business card: I had an accident recently.
  • Video Store Cards: Cards for Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. I haven’t used either since i started using Redbox at mcdonald’s to get free movie rentals. (click on ‘free stuff’ in my sidebar to find the post about free redbox rentals)
  • Best Buy credit card and reward zone card: I use the reward zone card, but haven’t used the best buy credit card in 6-7 years.
  • RFID Badge to get into work.
    Inside pocket right (behind credit card slots)

  • Business Card for Jacinthproductions.com
  • Ryland Homes business card
  • Dunn Brothers Coffee loyalty card (yes, i drink a lot of coffee)
  • KPADesign.com business card
  • Men’s integrity questions reminder card
    Inside pocket left (behind credit card slots)

  • Health Partners dental insurance card
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield Health insurance card
  • Reminder note with wife’s driver’s license number: We were applying for new automobile insurance and I needed this number quite a bit
    Inside money slots

  • NOTHING.. not even a receipt. (ok, in the picture above, it has $80 in it. I just got cash) I just cleaned my wallet out the other night in preparation for a trip to San Francisco. Which reminds me, I better get cash before I leave, I hear it’s expensive there.

So there you have it. Those are the contents of my wallet. Zero dollars and zero cents, a credit card, a debit card and a bunch of other miscellaneous things.

So what’s in your wallet? (WIYW)

LINKS:
PTMoney.com - What’s in your wallet?
Free Money Finance - What’s in your wallet?
My Open Wallet - What’s in your wallet?
Consumerism Commentary - WIYW?
Stop Buying Crap - WIYW Post

February 6, 2008 · Filed Under meme

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