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Goals for 2017 Habit oriented 1 - My wife and I are going to start using YNAB and regularly track our expenses actively instead of passively with Mint after the fact. By end of January, build the habit to religiously record everything we spend. 2 - My wife and I need to better structure our outside-of-work businesses. By end of January, build a schedule for our at-home projects that we can adhere to at 50%. By end of March, 80% adherence. Stick at 80% average level from March to December. 3 - I need to get more structured with my workouts and not go from great performance to weeks of lovely adherence. By end of January, build a workout schedule I can adhere to at 50%. By end of February, 80%. Stick at 80% average level from February to December. Expense oriented for both Sundae and Wife 1 - Right now, life is great because my company is paying most of my rent in the Bay Area. In June 2018, that subsidy supposedly ends. GOAL: Put aside $2,500 a month in savings each month in 2017 to simulate ability to live within budget in bay area without the rent subsidy. 2 - Limit our at-home alcohol purchases to $30 per month. (2 bottles of wine per month, basically.) 3 - Limit eating out (including lunch and dinner) to $148 a month. ($100 dinner, $48 lunch) 4 - Greed Limit (ooh shiny purchases): $200 for both per month. 5 - Glutton Limit (ooh tasty purchases): $100 for both per month. Business Oriented 1 - Publish three new stories per month, minimum. Wife will assist. 2 - Publish two new novels in 2017, minimum. 3 - Grow short story author mailing list by 500 names in 2017. 4 - Grow novel author mailing list by 500 names in 2017. 5 - Put aside all non-tax and non-expense income from side business as savings. (AKA, live entirely within the bounds of the day job salary.) Lifestyle Oriented 1 - Lose 12 pounds at minimum. If I fail at this, I loving suck. 12 pounds should be so goddamned easy that it's shameful. Stretch Goal: Lose 24 pounds. 2 - By end of February, schedule and attend a meeting with my day job company's financial advisor to determine how much, exactly, I'm allowed to put away for retirement in each eligible type. (I have a fairly complicated income package, with salary, self-employed income, RSUs and SARs. I'm maxing my 401(k) and putting some into a Roth IRA, but I want to figure out what I'm eligible to do and max things appropriately. I'm not using his suggestions, but I want dollar amounts.) 3 - STRETCH GOAL: If applicable from #2, increase my retirement contributions by no less than 5% to eligible non-401(k) sources in 2017. Sundae fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Dec 20, 2016 |
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Dec 20, 2016 20:27
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:37 |
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quote:You need to lower your standards She already married me. What more do you want of her, you monster? 
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Dec 21, 2016 04:37
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spwrozek posted:$8900 for me last year (probably a bit higher as I have a few days to reconcile). Having a GF is expensive. As long as we're doing this whole self-shaming thing:  This year, we're aiming for (inclusive of literally all food, alcohol, groceries, etc) about half of that total covering everything. Absolutely utterly shameful, and my wife and I had the gall to wonder how we gained so much weight last year. The only saving grace on it is that "fast food" actually means "company cafeteria, which is so damned great it's basically a restaurant." Still, it doesn't change the fact that we spent a ludicrous amount of money on unnecessary calories. New year, new fixes. gently caress 2016 and the gluttonous fatass me that went with it. 
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Jan 3, 2017 20:55
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spwrozek posted:At least we all know versus blindly running out of money and being dumbfounded. I doubt I will spend much less this year but the goal is $6900. Tell me about it.  "Why do I never seem to have extra money?" Because I loving EAT IT.
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Jan 4, 2017 20:08
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Progress for Jan 2017 Habit oriented 1 - Regularly using YNAB: SUCCESS. 2 - January 50% Work Adherence (At Home Time): SUCCESS. We have schedules and are working appropriately now, though with fits and starts. We're above 50%. Next stop, 80% by March. 3 - Exercise Goal: ACCEPTABLE FAILURE / DELAY. I'm currently being evaluated for a potential aneurysm, and I've been told I can't exercise at all until the hospital has sorted out wtf is happening. By mid-Feb, I expect to have clarity on this. Expense oriented for both Sundae and Wife 1 - Putting the subsidy aside: Success for January. On Track. 2 - We didn't hit $30 per month for January on alcohol purchases due to a vacation we previously had scheduled, but we were way better than December. We're looking to hit this in Feb. 3 - Limit eating out (including lunch and dinner): We didn't hit this in January due to a previously-scheduled vacation, but we were still better than December. We're looking to hit this in February. 4 - Greed Limit: SUCCESS for January. 5 - Glutton Limit: Close to success (aka still a failure) in January due to vacation trip. We'll hit this in Feb. Business Oriented 1-5: Too early to judge these. First update at 1Q2017 end. Lifestyle Oriented 1 - Down 4 pounds at end of January (Goal: Lose 12 pounds at minimum. Stretch Goal: Lose 24 pounds.) 2-3: (Retirement planning goals) In Progress, no update yet.
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Feb 1, 2017 18:57
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spwrozek posted:Dang, I hope you are OK! Some of us have no lives except to count our (lack of) money. (I honestly think I'm fine. We'll see in a few days post-MRA!  )
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Feb 2, 2017 05:47
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End of February Update Habit oriented 1 - YNAB: Regularly using and reconciling. ON TRACK. 2 - Better Time Accounting: Just blew it to high hell because we got a puppy. GOAL NEEDS TWO MORE WALKS AND IS SCARED OF THE CAT. 3 - Workout Schedule: I've finally been cleared to exercise again. Hooray, no aneurysm! PERMISSIBLE RESTART Expense oriented for both Sundae and Wife 1 - Put aside $2,500 every month: ON TRACK 2 - Stop spending stupid amounts of money on alcohol: We cut our stupid by more than 50%, but that's still too much. March needs to be better. STILL A DRUNKEN FAILURE 3 - Limit how much we spend eating out to no more than $148 a month: This is so stupidly hard here because of how expensive eating out is, for like anything here. Tiny burrito? $14 please! We spent like $180. Way down from before, but still too high. FATTY FAT FAILURE 4 - Greed Limit (ooh shiny purchases): $200 for both per month. SUCCESS. 5 - Glutton Limit (ooh tasty purchases): $100 for both per month. SUCCESS IN A WAY. (Feels weird to have an eating out budget that we blew and an 'eating stupid poo poo' budget that we somehow didn't. I should probably merge these.) Business Oriented 1 - Publish three new stories per month, minimum. Wife will assist. NOPE. FAILURE. Only published one in February. 3 - Grow short story author mailing list by 500 names in 2017. TBD. 5 - Put aside all non-tax and non-expense income from side business as savings. So far so good! Lifestyle Oriented 1 - Lose 12 pounds at minimum. If I fail at this, I loving suck. Down 4 pounds still. 2 - Financial Advisor Session by End of February: Company advisor couldn't meet with me until March 9th. I scheduled the meeting in February, but it'll happen this Wednesday. ON TRACK
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Mar 6, 2017 19:51
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Sundae posted:Goals for 2017 Habits: 1 - YNAB is nice, but it honestly kept causing problems with synchronization between our phones. Sometimes it'd update, sometimes it wouldn't, etc etc. We went back to a big sheet of paper on our refrigerator with how much we're allowed to spend each day/week, and we write in our purchases daily. Same effect for us. Going nicely on the new approach, but YNAB itself ended up being a bit of a bust. 2 - My wife's schedule is structured and working nicely. Mine is less so, but I've basically dropped all my side-biz stuff in favor of a fun hobby instead, so BWM+GWL? 3 - Still a failure here. My bike commuting is going great, but I still haven't hit a sold schedule for working out. My wife is kicking my rear end here. Expense-oriented: 1 - So far so good. Every month, we put away the full subsidy. 2 - We're usually close on this, give or take $10. At our income level, I'll accept it. The big thing is that we wanted to not spend $100+ anymore. 3 - Ahahahahaha we suck. Still working on this. 4 - This, we've been okay with. Not bad so far. 5 - Ahahahaha we suck. Still working on this. Business Oriented: 1 - On hold. I have a fun hobby side-project I'm working on and I'm making more than enough to make ends meet in the bay area now. 2 - On hold. I have a fun hobby side-project I'm working on and I'm making more than enough to make ends meet in the bay area now. 3 - On hold. See above. 4 - On hold, see above. 5 - We're doing this with my wife's income and with the residual royalties from our existing novels and shorts. All of this stuff is going into savings. Lifestyle Oriented: 1 - Hanging in there. I'm 8 pounds down. 2 - Complete. Guy was a loving idiot, but it's complete. 3 - Not applicable. I'm maxing all of my tax-advantaged retirement accounts already. Good Problems To Have(TM). The big things I need to work on are the "stop being loving lazy" and "stop eating like a pig" categories. The financial side is actually going pretty well as of end of June.
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Jul 5, 2017 19:38
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Haven't updated in several months, but here we go:Goals for 2017 posted:
Habits: 1 - Complete failure. It just didn't loving stick. We're writing the spending on a calendar instead because we're dinosaurs who love pencils and paper, but we're bad at keeping up with it. Serious criticism of self: If I didn't make a fuckload of money, I'd be in a lot of trouble with my inability to maintain a solid budget / stick to spending targets. I have to get better about this. 2 - We're doing okay here. I think we're set on structure for businesses. 3 - I'm doing okay here. 3 days per week, every week. Expense-Oriented: 1 - We haven't been good about this for the last two months because we had to replace our car. I bought a used Prius for $7K, paid cash, and then spent the next two months recovering the safety balances using that $2,500 instead of setting it into the regular savings area. We'll be fine on this starting this month I think. 2 - We're doing fine on this because we're only allowing ourselves to drink one drink a week, each. 3 - Doing okay here. 4 - I have to review this one and honestly don't know how we're doing because of the complete failure to use YNAB. I suspect that we failed. 5 - I have to review this one and honestly don't know how we're doing because of the complete failure to use YNAB. I suspect that we succeeded because ongoing diets. Business Oriented 1-4: Entire goal is on-hold because my wife has picked up a fairly large contract for her art and I'm working on a separate project. This isn't a failure as much as it is a complete change of priorities. Goal canceled except for #5. 5 - We're still putting aside all of our royalties from existing works. Ongoing and still doing fine. Lifestyle Oriented 1 - I am down 16 pounds. Probably not hitting the 24# mark, but I'm trying. 2 - Complete. 3 - Not applicable. I'm maxing everything I'm eligible for.
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Oct 5, 2017 22:58
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 11:37 |
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Final tally time: Nothing much is going to change in the final three weeks. 2016 was nice, but 2017 kinda hosed up. Goals for 2017 Habit oriented 1 - My wife and I are going to start using YNAB and regularly track our expenses actively instead of passively with Mint after the fact. By end of January, build the habit to religiously record everything we spend. 2 - My wife and I need to better structure our outside-of-work businesses. By end of January, build a schedule for our at-home projects that we can adhere to at 50%. By end of March, 80% adherence. Stick at 80% average level from March to December. 3 - I need to get more structured with my workouts and not go from great performance to weeks of lovely adherence. By end of January, build a workout schedule I can adhere to at 50%. By end of February, 80%. Stick at 80% average level from February to December. #1 - Failed. We didn't stick to it. We ended up doing okay with the usual Mint tracking, but YNAB fell off habit. #2 - Success. #3 - Failed. I got injured again and blew up the schedule. It's going okay right now, but I missed several months of exercise. Expense oriented for both Sundae and Wife 1 - Right now, life is great because my company is paying most of my rent in the Bay Area. In June 2018, that subsidy supposedly ends. GOAL: Put aside $2,500 a month in savings each month in 2017 to simulate ability to live within budget in bay area without the rent subsidy. 2 - Limit our at-home alcohol purchases to $30 per month. (2 bottles of wine per month, basically.) 3 - Limit eating out (including lunch and dinner) to $148 a month. ($100 dinner, $48 lunch) 4 - Greed Limit (ooh shiny purchases): $200 for both per month. 5 - Glutton Limit (ooh tasty purchases): $100 for both per month. #1 - Partial Success - I don't want to call this one a failure when I missed a few months of the extra savings because I used those extra missed months to pay medical bills for myself, my wife, and also my mother whose insurance wouldn't cover things. I opted to pay cash rather than deal with credit for those since I had the money, but could have reversed that if needed. #2 - Failed - God, we love wine too much. #3 - Success - Took us several months but we got there. =) #4 - Not sure - I honestly don't know. It's probably a failure, but given our poor tracking under that YNAB thingie.... yeah, let's call this a FAILURE #5 - Success - Took us several months but we got there! Finally! Business Oriented 5 - Put aside all non-tax and non-expense income from side business as savings. (AKA, live entirely within the bounds of the day job salary.) #5 - Success - My wife put all of her incoming royalties and illustration income into savings and all my residual royalties were also sent to savings. Lifestyle Oriented 1 - Lose 12 pounds at minimum. If I fail at this, I loving suck. 12 pounds should be so goddamned easy that it's shameful. Stretch Goal: Lose 24 pounds. 2 - By end of February, schedule and attend a meeting with my day job company's financial advisor to determine how much, exactly, I'm allowed to put away for retirement in each eligible type. (I have a fairly complicated income package, with salary, self-employed income, RSUs and SARs. I'm maxing my 401(k) and putting some into a Roth IRA, but I want to figure out what I'm eligible to do and max things appropriately. I'm not using his suggestions, but I want dollar amounts.) 3 - STRETCH GOAL: If applicable from #2, increase my retirement contributions by no less than 5% to eligible non-401(k) sources in 2017. #1 - BARELY A loving SUCCESS - I lost twelve pounds. And that's it. Goddamnit, wine. (And lack of self-control.) Failed stretch goal. #2 - Success. The guy was a loving idiot, but I did it. Everything I could max was maxed anyway. #3 - Not applicable. Total Summary: Failed miserably at habits. Partial success on expenses. Success on lifestyle-oriented. N/A on the biz side mostly.
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Dec 11, 2017 18:35
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