Goals

I'm amazed at my own lack of productivity. I never thought I'd be the kind of person who can stare into space for almost two weeks with absolutely no projects at hand, or at least try to do some work. I am writing a lot, which is the only thing I need to show that my brain has finally released its creative congestion. For the first time in a long time I feel a fluidity in my thoughts, and not the staccato rhythm I normally hear inside my own brain.

Goals.

One of my great revelations during this sabbatical is establishing new goals for the next nine months. I have a tendency to attack goals and write them off, guns blazing. I'm an editor by nature and nothing pleases me more than crossing off something in my never ending To Do list.

Number one on my goals list is to be better at money, really, for good this time. I have an impending 13.25% percent raise and I can open up my 401K account. Doing the numbers last night, I could easily live on first of two monthly paychecks. How cool is that? Except that I really don't, somehow I manage to eat away the next paycheck and the next...

I'm not in debt, far from it, but I'd really like to max my IRA contributions and my 401K once it kicks in and have a bigger emergency fund. All plausible things, for sure. I've made way less money before, and somehow I managed to max out my IRA when I was making minimum wage and banking on tips. These days I don't bank on tips and I'm still amazed at how much I make now (not a whole lot, really, but more than I've ever made) and yet I've only contributed $300 to my IRA.

Granted, school ate up all my money, and the huge tax bill is about to eat more of it, but still, there really should be more money left.  I read at The Billfold that most people treat their checking account as an allowance, and they rush to get it to $0. That pretty much sums up my checking account mind set, a rush to get it to zero.

All of my money issues summed up in a sentence, the internet never ceases to amaze me.

For the sake of transparency I'm going to lay out some numbers:

$3151: My tax bill, I've written the check and I have the funds to cover it. I'm mailing it out as soon as I return home.
$500: My fellowship check that I'll receive when I return home.
$585: State grant for school.
$1085: Money I owe for tuition, should get paid in full once the two checks are deposited.
$345: I sold my P&G shares, I've held on to it for two years and I'm ready to let it go. I made a 10% profit (I think, maybe more) and I'm happy to say I profited from the Market. I cashed it out because I wanted more liquidity and I'm thinking of putting the money into my IRA.
$900: My credit card balance this month. Yuck, I know, but this is the highest I've ever seen my credit card balance. I paid $200 (and some small change) to the tax prepaper, over $500 for my bi-annual car insurance payment for my sister and I, and it was time to pay the phone bill (same arrangement with my sister).

I'm hoping when my next paycheck shows up next week, I can zero out my CC balance. It drives me nuts carrying any balance on my CC.