How Are Your New Year’s Resolutions Going?

Remember those?? Or has life thrown you back into “normal land” again along with your motivation? Haha… If so, consider me your alarm clock buzzing around your ears and the only way you can turn me off is to come up with a new one to tackle this month ;)

What’s changed in the past 4 weeks that you’d rather work on instead?

Personally, I haven’t gone a DAY without thinking of mine – mainly because it’s a change that NEEDS to happen more than just a want. Every week that goes by I see more and more stuff that needs to be simplified in my life, and slowly but surely I work on it piece by piece. (If you missed my post earlier on what I’m resolving to do in 2013, it’s to focus more and keep things simple – something I constantly need to work on…)

In fact, this post today came about from a huge surge of energy I got yesterday while opening up my 1,001 accounts! (Because I’m anonymous here, I pretty much have double EVERYTHING. Gmails, twitters, facebooks, you name it). So outside of me nudging y’all to remember to keep on track with this year’s goals, it’s also a selfish way for me to pat myself on the back for all that I’ve been accomplishing lately too, haha… Is that bad? ;)

Here’s everything I’ve simplified so far:

  • I unsubscribed myself from all future Woot.com and other “Daily deal” emails – something that I’ll probably miss a little, just cuz it’s exciting to see what the deals are each day!, but in reality doesn’t add much value outside of that… Especially since I rarely buy anything from them anyways – at least anything I *need*.
  • I cancelled my personal Facebook page! ACK! Something I would have never EVER ever believed I’d have done 4-5 years ago. But times are a changing and just knowing my stuff as out there not being touched at all just started bothering me… Perhaps I’m getting more conservative as the years go by? (Also, did you know you can download all your photos from your account at any time? OR that you can then re-activate your account anytime too, just by logging in again later? I found that to make my decision much less scary when I finally hit that button in the end :))
  • I cancelled all magazine subscriptions I no longer read anymore. Which so far has come to 5 out of my total 11 I signed up to last year in a fit of obsession ;) GQ, Fortune, and Veranda being amongst them. (I of course can never git rid of any of my money mags!)
  • I now answer all robo/spam phone calls and specifically ask them to take me off their crappy lists. Instead of ignoring them over and over and over again, day in and day out which gets super irritating. One time pains for future gains!
  • I also answer all calls from my friends & family now right away. Rather than waiting for a more convenient time to call them back in batches, which not only stresses me out since then I need more pockets of time to get them all done, but also leads me to forget more and/or upset my peeps. As evidence of them now all responding with “Wow, you answered your phone!” ;) This also cuts down on the chances of hour long phone calls of catching up from over the months and years gone by… Or is that just something I dread?
  • I’ve put to bed any ideas of owning more real estate and/or consignment shops. Which all leads to more “stuff” both physically AND mentally – even though financially they may or may not be better. I figure I never have a shortage of business ideas though, and there are a ton of different ways to invest your money as well. Possibly IN those new business ideas :)
  • I’m offloading more and more of my clothes and random stuff around the house. Straight to The Salvation Army! It def. gets harder as you dwindle down over time, but I find I’m getting a tad better knowing that eventually I’ll only be left with the stuff I really truly love, which is pretty cool.

I think that’s everything I’ve worked on so far here, but it’s definitely not the last of it. I’m actively trying to do at least *ONE* small thing a day to get closer and closer to my goals… which really doesn’t have an end in sight, considering I left it wide open and vague to begin with! Haha… But on the other hand you can apply the concepts of “simplicity” and “focusness” to all aspects of your life – both financial and otherwise. And since I’m doing well with the money parts so far, it leaves me a lot of time to concentrate on the other – less exciting – areas of life ;)

Your turn to divulge! What have you (or haven’t you) been working on this year? Are you over your resolutions already, or are you nice and motivated still? If you haven’t thought about them in a while, do yourself a favor and replace ’em with one new SIMPLER one today. Think of something you can really sink your teeth into and start working on right away! Something that excites you.

This J. Money alarm clock is now turning off, so no more hitting snooze! ;)

UPDATE: I have now since cancelled my personal LinkedIn account and my personal Twitter account too… I’m getting lighter and lighter as the days go by, baby!

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[Photo by Hugo Quintero]

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76 Comments

  1. Jane Savers @ The Money Puzzle January 29, 2013 at 6:09 AM

    January has been a giant fail. Eating in a healthy way somehow turned in to a parade of multi-cultural fast food. The food from every country that I crave seems to have one thing in common – they fry everything.

    My house is not tidier and my pants are significantly snugger instead of baggy as I had planned, promised and hoped.

    I start again every day. Maybe today will be the day I get my sh#% together.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 11:53 AM

      Haha well at least you’re still *thinking* about it still ;) Maybe try for one day of healthy food (today) and see how that goes! You’d be on a new record for the year!

  2. Lance @ Money Life and More January 29, 2013 at 7:11 AM

    I’m slowly working toward my goals. I’ve lost some weight (yay!) and have continued to save to pay off the girlfriend’s loans. I am doing better than I thought I would but maybe it is because I’m considering them longer term goals rather than resolutions.

  3. Gene Roberts January 29, 2013 at 7:16 AM

    As coincidence would have it, I have just started my excercise/dieting thing this very day. (yes BEFORE I saw today’s post) :)

    I put it off in Jan due to a hacking cough that wasn’t looking to get better by excercising.

    Gotta get going on it though. I know I’ll feel better and be more healthy.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 11:53 AM

      Great timing then!

  4. Ashley January 29, 2013 at 7:37 AM

    So far so good. I’ve been thinking about the fitness goal every day and sticking to it. While I didn’t set a weight loss goal, that seems to be happening too.

    On the financial side, ask again on the first. I’ll be tracking that one monthly.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 11:53 AM

      Awesome – that’s what I want to hear!

  5. Michelle January 29, 2013 at 8:23 AM

    I’ve been doing pretty good. I think about my savings goals nearly everyday and that’s a big motivation!

  6. moneysavingmama January 29, 2013 at 9:05 AM

    Typically, I set a fitness goal for myself and fail miserably. I am in pretty goo shape, but after having the baby just haven’t had time. Lost all the baby weight and more, just not “Fit” anymore. (But I can hold the baby longer than hubby without complaining about my back or arms hurting, but maybe its a mom thing??)

    Other resolutions I set were to pay cash for things and we have been pretty successful. My husband is the hard sell since he doesn’t like to carry our Hello Kitty check card around. I have also been successfully setting aside an automatic savings on the 15th and 30th each month for the past couple months now, and am amazed at how quickly it added up!

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:30 PM

      Haha, nice… I was just complaining myself the other day after holding the baby! It does hurt after a while! :)

  7. SavvyFinancialLatina January 29, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    I’m working out weekly. So far, I have met my weekly goal! Financial goals are slow and steady.
    I can’t believe it’s the end of January already!

  8. m1nt5 January 29, 2013 at 9:13 AM

    Oh… resolutions
    Well, we are just about to move (in about two weeks) and one of my biggest new year’s resolution is that I won’t leave anything for the last minute.
    And I’m trying! it’s hard to plan ahead when the only thing you know is that you’ll get to an hotel and will have about a week to find a place to live.
    At least all of our possessions have been sold already and we’ll start a whole new life from scratch (literally, we are moving to the US with nothing that doesn’t fit in our car, zero debt, lots of savings and a well paid job… but without credit score, house, or anything a 30-ish year old couple would have by now)

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:39 PM

      wowwww that is SO EXCITING though!!! jeez!!! I’m totally jealous over here, what an adventure!! :) Promise to keep me updated on it?? You’re gonna have so much fun!!

      1. m1nt5 January 30, 2013 at 9:30 AM

        You bet I will!
        Everything I know I learnt it from your blog…
        When my husband was asked if he wanted to max out his brand new 401K he didn’t even know what was that, at least I was able to give him some advice ;)

  9. Akiyo @ KitchenPenguin January 29, 2013 at 9:28 AM

    Congratulations on your progress with your resolutions. I’m trying to look at them as creating good habits instead of resolutions. January’s habit is not playing with my phone in the bathroom. I would perch my phone on the vanity and watch YouTube or Netflix while I brush my teeth or…contemplate the vastness of the universe. My chiropractor told me that he watched the first two seasons of a TV show on Netflix while in the bathroom. It isn’t very sanitary and I don’t need to spend every waking minute of the day connected to the internet.

    February is cleaning up the kitchen before bed. I’ve been very lax in my dish washing and I do know better but…lazy. But I have these beautiful new pots and pans and I want them to last for years so I need to take care of them. And I need to take care of my kitchen because I don’t think that we’re renovating anytime soon. *shakes fist at the electric range and oven*

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:41 PM

      Haha you’re like my father – he does everything in the bathroom!! Especially reading books, I never really got it. I want to be in and out as fast as possible ;) We used to leave a lot of dishes over night too, but now w/ the baby we actually do so on purpose as it’s something I look forward to doing in the morning now when the baby wakes up :) We do the “errands” together every morning and help let my wife sleep in more. Father & son bonding!

  10. Emmy January 29, 2013 at 9:28 AM

    I haven’t been doing great- but not terrible either. A lot of my resloutions/goals are more gradual vs. instant. I also have noticed that I had A LOT of goals for 2013. Yikes.

    I haven’t been doing yoga everyday like I said I would be – but I have pulled out the mat a couple of times.

    For work, I’ve accomplished the goal of starting the youth schedule from scratch. It’s really scary and so far it’s hard, but I’m really hoping overall it’ll make things much better.

    I had a goal of improving my blog and making it something I’m proud of. While there haven’t been a ton of changes, I’m working much harder on each post and making it something worthwhile/fun to read. My other “internety” goals are making some progress as well.

    For going on adventures – I just got back from Orlando. I say that’s a good start. ;)

    I think I’m doing better at being friendlier too, which was a HUGE resolution for me. I had a lot of really fun conversations while hanging out at the airport and on the plane. When you’re on the tiniest plane EVER and surrounded by a ton of really big guys, you tend to have some really funny conversations. Also, wearing fan/nerdy shirts I think is a must for traveling because they are really good conversation starters.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:43 PM

      You? Not be friendly??? Come on now – you’re a pro at that!! And I agree – you’ve got tons of goals, jeez, haha… I’d quit before I even got started ;) But keep it up over there, one day at a time my friend.

      1. Emmy January 29, 2013 at 2:20 PM

        I’m usually REALLY friendly. But for some reason I’ve kind of lost it… it’s weird. I feel like I walk around with a sign on my forehead saying “Don’t talk to me! Leave me alone!” So I’m making an effort to be sure that sign isn’t there. :)

  11. Christina @ Northern Cheapskate January 29, 2013 at 9:38 AM

    It sounds like you are making some fabulous progress!

    I on the other hand… er… um… not so much. For some reason I have had the biggest struggle with getting things done this new year.

    I’ve started to tackle things using a timer – If I tell myself I have to get it done in 20 minutes, 45 minutes, etc., it seems to get me off my duff.

    Every day is a new day – new chance to start again. Keep on keepin’ on!

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 1:36 PM

      I like that timing idea! It’s nice and finite… Maybe you should work on just *one* goal for now and then once you’re done more to a next one, etc? That usually helps me, for what it’s worth :)

  12. Sarah Greesonbach January 29, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    I’ve been cleaning out pretty consistently, too! It also saves time in cleaning because there’s never as much to put away.

  13. Budget & the Beach January 29, 2013 at 9:57 AM

    I imagine the FB cancellation is scary. I often wondered if I could do it but I think I’d feel even more isolated working at home alone. It gives me a window into the outside world when I’m at home. I just did January goals, but I’d say it was going very well. My exercise goals had to be modified because of being sick, but I’ve always been a regular exerciser and I just eased up a bit until I feel better. The best thing so far has been my savings and spending. I’m doing really well with both, which is good way to start the new year.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:45 PM

      Oh yeah, for sure!! But since my alter-ego here has his own accounts on FB, I still get all the fun and networking it brings :) And I’ve already been on it more recently because I’m not swapping back and forth to the “real” me all the time, what a pain… My fake me is much more interesting anyways ;)

  14. Grayson @ Debt Roundup January 29, 2013 at 10:09 AM

    I am running at a mediocre pace this year. I wanted to get into P2P investing, but that got squashed as soon as I found out my State doesn’t allow it, so I am working on finding another way around their crappy rules. I need to lose a few pounds so I can qualify for the great life insurance rate, so I am working on that, but not as good as I should be. So far, January is just not living up to what I wanted, but hey, it is almost over!

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:46 PM

      Yeah, I had to stop my excitement about P2P Lending too when I found out my state doesn’t allow it either, boooooo… Maybe we would have failed at it though?

  15. John S @ Frugal Rules January 29, 2013 at 10:32 AM

    We’re doing pretty good on our goals and January has looked great so far. Our main goal was to be able to get back to putting money away for retirement and it looks like that’s a big win. I left my job last year to help my wife run our business, so we were not able to put much of anything away. Our other main goal was to decrapify the house. We’re waiting til the Spring when it gets warmer, but there is a bunch of crap that HAS to go. Having three little ones has exponentially increased the stuff we have and it’s gotten to a point where we have to get rid of a ton of it.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:47 PM

      Fun!! That’s awesome you were able to quit your job to help run the biz like that – I bet it’s much more rewarding, yeah? It would be awesome if my wife joined me on mine :) Too bad we don’t talk about politics here though as that’s her passion, haha…

  16. Mike @Personal Finance Beat January 29, 2013 at 10:44 AM

    Well, I have my financial goals, and my “personal goals.”

    Financial: start and max out a Roth 401k, and start to get into P2P investing. I am, however, getting married this summer, so any “extra” cash laying around may need to wait to be put into action!

    Personal: I started a low-carb, high-protein diet, and I’m loving it so far. I was never overweight to begin with, but I could have used about 10 less pounds, and I achieved that in about two weeks. Next step: get back into exercise mode!

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:48 PM

      You’re loving a diet?? Woahhh that must be a special one indeed! :)

  17. Mortgage Mutilator @ Mutilate The Mortgage January 29, 2013 at 11:09 AM

    I don’t actually have “New Years Resolutions”. Instead I do a bit of a review each year around my birthday to make sure that my life is on track and hitting all the goals I want to. I think about what goals I had, why I did/didn’t hit them and what goals I want to have hit by next year. One of the main goals I set last birthday was to post at least once a week on my website and build it up more.

    So far so good! You can see the fruits of my work too if you want, even has a sexy looking budget to help kill that mortgage fast :-)

    http://www.mutilatethemortgage.com

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 1:37 PM

      Sounds like you’re on track indeed! way to go :)

  18. Joanna @ Our Freaking Budget January 29, 2013 at 11:25 AM

    Way to go!! I’ve completed one of my new year’s resolutions, which was to have our baby. Haha, but that was kind of a cheater resolution. The rest I’m hoping to *start* in the next few weeks.

    And I can totally empathize on the spam calls right now… someone used my number to sign up for payday loans, so I’ve been getting like 20 spam calls a day!! Not cool.

    1. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:49 PM

      Ouch. That’s messed up… You better start answering and telling every single one of them to take your name off! Eventually it should die down, but what a bunch of work and annoyance for nothing, jeez.

  19. Joe @ Retire By 40 January 29, 2013 at 11:57 AM

    Wow, you did great in January. I stayed on track for my no new clothing challenge. I also maxed out our Roth IRA contribution for 2013 and get that out of the way. Not a bad January.

  20. Financial Black Sheep January 29, 2013 at 12:11 PM

    Wow I was totally excited to have internet working yesterday… can’t believe I wrote yeah bitches lol. Well to add to that, I am still on track to pay off my last little bit of credit card debt. I have a plan for April 2013 and even if I have to drop some classes, I will pay it off. It bugs me to no end, and I want to be free of it while in school. I hate debt.

    With CC debt gone I will then be able to add more money into retirement and of course continue with school. My “run in a race” goal hasn’t gone any where yet. I hate running, so as long as I at least use my bike or something similar, then I know I am still heading towards it.

  21. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 12:49 PM

    Your comment totally made my day yesterday! I wish everyone would incorporate “bitches” into their messages to me ;) Makes life MUCH more interesting, haha…

  22. Jenna January 29, 2013 at 12:51 PM

    J. Money — congrats on decluttering your house and your mind!

    Ah… the feeling of a clean house. My husband and I went through our entire 2 bedroom apt this weekend and pulled things out. There’s only one shelf left to sort and I am organizing my files.

    It sucks to do sometimes because it makes you confront how much money and energy you wasted obtaining stuff you don’t use. The feeling of having that stuff gone, however, is GREAT!

    I feel good about this year’s goals. I have a routine and a feedback mechanism for all of them.

    Losing weight — Weight Watchers and a workout buddy with a workout plan
    Money– Mint.com and a monthly budgeting system

    Here’s to a great 2013!

  23. J. Money January 29, 2013 at 1:09 PM

    Way to go!! You’re nice and on track – I love it :)

  24. Anne @ Unique Gifter January 29, 2013 at 1:47 PM

    Wow, those goals all sound great to me. (Except maybe the FB one, though it is interesting to know you can get all your pix downloaded at once.)
    I didn’t make any goals… so sticking to them is pretty cruisy, haha.

  25. stephanie January 29, 2013 at 3:28 PM

    Damn dude! Doing really well on your goals and might a say, I’m a bit envious! Thanks for making me check in and write/own up to mine.
    Okay, tomorrow the Pick-Up-My-Boxes-Donation-Truck comes through the neighborhood and I have boxes (notice the plural???). I felt really brave putting certain items in the box, but I’m happy I’ve not only met that quarterly goal, but also sent my things somewhere they will be used by someone who needs them more than me.
    I’ve lost 5.3 lbs in 2 weeks at Weight Watchers. Check that goal-I have lots left to lose; this is a good start.
    Saved my $1/$2/$3/$4 per week (I know, February = $5/$6/$7/$8), which seems minimal I know. It has really made me take a look at my savings habits (or lack thereof), and that’s one of my biggest goals this year. It’s one of those non-stop, keep checking in and doing the deed goals.
    I’ve also made a spreadsheet of sorts to have my credit cards paid off by June 2013. That feels good just looking at it; can’t wait til it’s actually a reality.
    I feel I’m on track, knowing there’s always room for improvement. Some goals I have are monthly, some are quarterly. As the weeks/months roll past, I keep checking in.
    This blog is one I hit every day, just to check in, smile, and get my butt kicked into gear.
    So there bitches, that’s what I’m doing. (good enough for the “bitches” request???)

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:43 PM

      Yeah bitch! You work that thing of yours! I hope you got those boxes out the door in time :)

  26. Melanie January 29, 2013 at 5:02 PM

    Great job! Simplification is a big one and can encompass SO many things, but it’s nice once you’ve made it happen.

    Our number one goal was to get all of our credit card and medical debt paid off by April 30 – we’ll do it by March 15! Then, it’s Emergency savings minimum (by April 1, on track) and student loan killing time… but I have no timeline for that student loan because he freaks me out. We’ve also put in place a savings “plan” to keep the Emergency savings growing, effective January 1, and so far/so good on that one too.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:45 PM

      Way to go! I hear ya on large debts freaking you out too :( It took me 4 years to finally get serious about tackling our mortgage and even now it makes me want to vomit, bleh… The good thing though is that once you look it in its eyes and start chipping away every month gets better! We’re now $30k less in our debt and it’s MUCH more satisfying than where we were ignoring it :) So you can do it! Keep going strong, baby!

  27. Jen | WanderOneDay January 29, 2013 at 5:26 PM

    Congrats on your major successes – my goals are going great as well!

    My first goal was to TRAVEL MORE. Well, I’m headed off to Nashville this weekend and Connecticut the weekend after, and I’m in the middle of planning our big awesome mother/daughter trip to Europe for this summer. I’d say this goal is a huge success.

    My second goal was to IMPROVE MY FITNESS. I’ve been working out 2-3 times per week on my own and one day per week with a personal trainer. I’ve been watching what I eat, too, and drinking less. Again, this goal is a huge success.

    My final goal was to WASTE LESS TIME. I’m still working on this one. I’ve filled up my “goof off on the internet time” with “get serious about my blog” time, so I think I’ll count this goal as mostly successsful. Sometimes it’s hard to draw the line between things that will help grow the blog, and things that are complete side tangents.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:46 PM

      Haha… I like that “wast less time” one :) That’s what got THIS BLOG out the door, did you know that? I wanted to waste less time while at work waiting for projects… couple that with me buying a house when I shouldn’t have and voila – out pops a blog!

      Say hi to Nashville for me while out there – I love that place!

  28. Edward Antrobus January 29, 2013 at 6:02 PM

    I made two resolutions this year. Loose 20lbs and earn $3000 online.
    For the first, I really don’t know how I’m doing. My scale is packed up in storage until I move this weekend.
    But for the second, I’m nearly finished with a project that will pay nearly as well as all of my online endeavors did last year. That pace is unsustainable, but it gives me a nice head start compared to last year.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:47 PM

      heck yeah it does – wow! Great job!

  29. Brian January 29, 2013 at 6:18 PM

    I’m doing OK with my goals so far this year. One of my goals is actually similar to you: I created a new initiative at work where we answer all calls / emails within 24 hours, even if it’s just to say we won’t have a concrete idea, email, etc until later.

    With my other goals, I’m making progress. I definitely am looking to pour extra money into paying off my car loan sooner. In fact, I’m planning on paying twice a month going forward to lower my total interest.

    I think my goals may be too big to really evaluate after only 29 days. Let’s hope by year end both of us have crossed some good items off our lists!

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:49 PM

      That 24 hours rule is AWESOME, especially at work. Most times people just want to know someone’s working on their problem and it all helps with good customer or colleague support. So good job with that one :)

      And as an aside, one of my friends who read this literally JUST called me to see if I’d answer him! Haha… I did! 1st ring baby, even though I had just got off a 45 minute convo :) It’s starting to feel automatic now which is great.

  30. Sue D January 29, 2013 at 6:39 PM

    Well, what can I add? A few weeks back I ‘commited a clean’ as my Mom used to say, not sure where the energy came from, but I woke up one Saturday and cleaned out a freakin closet, (most of it was Xmass stuff) AND took the stuff to St.Vincent de Paul within seconds of finishing. I told the kid at the thrift shop I would be stopping by every Saturday, hope is not disappointed I have not shown!

    The other thing I had been putting off, was I finally divided my 200.00 per paycheck deduction in to half ROTH, which really adds up fast. So, we will have our HELOC which is at zero, our meager emergency fund (at about 2K atm) and our Roth to boot. We save way too much for retirement.

    DINKS! with one fat cat :o)

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:50 PM

      You can never have too much, so keep it up friend! Your future self will love you for it :)

      (And I’m totally gonna steal that later on – “committing a clean” haha.. that is hilarious)

  31. debtgirl January 29, 2013 at 7:08 PM

    Wow, you are doing GREAT!!! I think I am on track because I didn’t make any! ;-)

  32. Wayne @ Young Family Finance January 29, 2013 at 9:00 PM

    Well, I haven’t been exercising, but my wife has been de-cluttering. So I can take credit for her accomplishment, right? Haha. Good for you keeping up with the resolution! I am so happy with every box that leaves our house. Having less is definitely more.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:50 PM

      I need your wife to talk to MY wife! :)

  33. KK @ Student Debt Survivor January 29, 2013 at 9:29 PM

    I’m the worst about answering my phone. I guess I think I don’t have time in the moment to have a quality conversation so I don’t pick up. Then I end up not returning the call for several days. I really need to start picking up and having quick conversations.

    The resolutions this month have been about 50-50. The ones that I’m doing well are going great, the others I haven’t even started on.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:52 PM

      Yes! Exactly why I didn’t used to answer quick too! There always seemed like a “better time” but the reality is there wasn’t. I mean, not ALL the time of course, but 80% of it so far.. I may have missed only 2 calls so far but only cuz I was on the other line or mid-important project… Those time it’s okay of course, but the others I feel bad about :(

  34. My Financial Independence Journey January 29, 2013 at 10:12 PM

    Let me check my goals page:
    – Regular investing, check.
    – Building up excessive emergency fund, check.
    – 401(k) contributions up to the employer match, check.
    – Simplifying my retirement accounts, I still need to do that.
    – Growing my new blog, check.
    – Educated myself about buying a house, in the process. Leaning heavily against buying at this time.
    – Educating myself about rental property, not started yet.

    So I think I’m doing okay.

    I would keep that Woot.com subscription just because the product descriptions so hilarious.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:53 PM

      They are pretty funny :) But now I have Twitter and other places to entertain me more! And I like that you have “leaning heavily against buying” a house, and then right below learning about rental properties, haha… But it is always good to be learning!

  35. Sandi January 29, 2013 at 11:40 PM

    So far so good. I’ve lost weight this month and have started training for my 1st half marathon! Financially we are moving along, slowly but surely. We are well on our way to paying off the 1st of our 2 credit cards!

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:54 PM

      Sweetness! Make sure to treat yourself to something small after that 1st one is paid off to give yourself a pat on the back :) Just don’t put it on the credit card!

  36. crashdamage1957 January 30, 2013 at 1:01 AM

    A thought on the spam/ robocall problem, a pet peeve of mine of late; As I have our phone number on the Do Not Call list, the only calls I get are 1 .Political organizations, that are exempt from the DNC regulations, and 2. Scam outfits ( like the infamous “Card Services” do you get those too?) that just flaunt the Do Not Call list completely. I have found that asking them to remove your name from their list is ineffectual, since they are operating outside the law from the getgo. The best method I have found to thwart them right back is to add their calling number right to my phone’s ” Block List”. Its not perfect, since the scammers can still call using a different originating number, but this has cut the frequency of these annoying calls significantly.

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:55 PM

      Oh, really? How do we get it to our block list? I didn’t know you could even do that??

      You’re right about the illegal stuff though – if they’re going against the law then yeah they’re not gonna listen to me unless maybe I threaten to report them? Not sure if there’s any real threat there or not though, haha… Guess we’ll find out soon if these places keep calling me back :)

      And yes!! I always get “card services!” Drives me nutso!

      1. crashdamage1957 January 31, 2013 at 1:24 AM

        If you have a phone that has an internal address book, it prolly also has a block list. its like a special address book for your “extra special friends” like Card Services ;-)) Scroll to the number, press menu or save, and see if “block list” is one of the choices. if it is , Bingo!!

        1. J. Money February 1, 2013 at 9:35 AM

          Interesting… I never knew that!

  37. Cranberry January 30, 2013 at 4:45 AM

    Made a start on purging my living space by participating in a clothing and accessories swap with about 6 other women on Sunday. A great opportunity to go thru all yr clothes and assess them for fit, style, and suitability for trading.
    Best bets are items you bought thinking you’d wear them and found you just didn’t, and it was too late to return them; or wore three times and realized it didn’t suit you.
    Any tops too rotten in the armpits, stained, torn, holes etc. never make it to the swap, going straight into the garbage.
    All clothes and other items left over after the swap get donated to a charity selected ahead of time (so they aren’t hanging around your house waiting to go to a new home!).
    I cleared out more than three suitcases’ worth of clothes I no longer wear, and picked up in exchange about six new-to-me items that suit me much better, plus some sunglasses and a great cuff bracelet.
    A charity supporting women fleeing abusive environments got about ten full shopping bags of decent clothing.
    We all enjoyed a few snacks, a glass of wine, impromptu fashion shows and an afternoon of good company.

    Cran

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 7:57 PM

      Woahhhhhh I want one of those!!! That is brilliant!! Totally like the olden days too where people traded for stuff instead of using money :) So cool you have a group like that – I doubt I could get any of my guy friends to participate, haha… I don’t even know if I have the balls to ask them! Totally relaying this over to my wife though – I bet she’d love that kinda stuff :) Thanks!

  38. Glen @ Monster Piggy Bank January 30, 2013 at 5:05 AM

    I didn’t set any resolutions, but I do set myself monthly goals that I try to achieve.
    This month I am way behind as I am trying to adjust to the massive change in my lifestyle caused by the arrival of our first child.
    Hopefully next month I will be able to set more realistic goals now I know the amount of free time I should have available.

  39. Jason Price January 30, 2013 at 12:38 PM

    Thanks for the inspiration! I didn’t really set any New Year’s resolutions this year. I’m not sure why as I usually do have some. That’s not to say I don’t have my priorities straight. I have more tasks and lists than I know what to do with and keep them organized with RemembertheMilk.com.

    I like your resolution to simplify. I started doing this last year because I was tired of receiving so many emails and knew I was spending more and more time each day just reading and answering them when I could be focused on more important things.

    I’m also trying to simplify with clothes. I realized sometime last year that I don’t need to go buy a new shirt just because I have older shirts in my close that are still in good shape. I think I counted 30 dress shirts and realized I was actually thinking of buying a new one. Silly and expensive thinking!

    1. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 8:00 PM

      Haha, what’s sillier is if you have dress shirts AND suits AND tons of ties but you haven’t worn any of them in 6 years! Like me! :) I keep wondering if I’ll ever get back to a “real job” though in which case I may need them again?? It’s not like I attend that many weddings where I need to constantly be switching it up either – I need to work on this more. Thanks for the reminder :)

  40. Cristalle January 30, 2013 at 12:52 PM

    I made myself three concrete goals for this year:
    #1. Save 10K to beef up my emergency fund
    #2. Max out my Roth IRA (5.5K)
    #3. Read 100 books
    So far I am on track with 2K in savings (I have 1K from each monthy paycheck automatically put into my savings account…so as long as I don’t “borrow” back from it this goal should be easy), put $500 in my Roth IRA (dollar-cost-average each month), and I am on book #8. Reading 100 books will be the most difficult goal…we will see where I am in a couple of months! And because I love to be frugal I will not be buying any books for my personal goal, all of them will be from the library. I am also tracking the list price for each book to see how much $$ that is theoretically saved by using the library :) I love books but they can be a pain to store and move as well as costly, especially when you find yourself wandering an inviting bookstore!

  41. J. Money January 30, 2013 at 8:02 PM

    Holy crap that’s a large goal! I don’t even read 10 books a year! Or even 5 books! Haha… but if you count all my magazines and online articles I bet I come close ;)

    Good for you though – I admire those who soak up books like that. You’re always expanding your knowledge! Not to mention enjoying lots of your free time :)

  42. Country Girl January 30, 2013 at 9:54 PM

    My goals this year are pretty tame, but all stuff I need to get done. I’m working on them – like learning more about investing and going to the gym, but I can’t say I’ve accomplished one yet. I think the goal I’m most enjoying so far though, is my goal to come up with a 5 year financial plan (I’m such a nerd) – probably because I’m finding it challenging and it really makes me use the grey-matter.

  43. J. Money February 1, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    I think you’re in good company here with enjoying that stuff :) I’d love to sit down and do a 5 year plan – it’s been forever since I have!

  44. Cat February 4, 2013 at 11:47 AM

    Out of curiosity.. if you cancel your personal Facebook page, can you still manage other company pages?

  45. J. Money February 4, 2013 at 8:13 PM

    I don’t think you can anymore :( It needs to be attached to someone I believe who would manage it/vouch for it, ya know? But you could always give admin to someone else first OR make a new fb profile that’s more on “the low” to continue forward with it? luckily my personal one wasn’t attached to any, but my J. Money one sure is!