2009 Review

2009 Goals:

Accountability - Track savings, as well as spending: It wasn't long in to the year before I lost sight of this one. I never missed a penny in tracking our expenses, but I gave up on tracking our savings. A lot of that was because I switched to Wal-mart for a lot of my shopping. They don't show savings or original prices and it got overwhelming to try to figure out. Don't be surprised if this resurfaces in 2010.

Check it twice - Expand categories for better tracking: Again, I started off strong with this one and then lost track. I could blame it on my work load or crazy house, but it was just pure laziness.

Putting a price on it - Create a price book: Wow, I'm 0 for 3 so far! I have a lot of the things in my head, but I really need to try harder to get some of that on paper.

Refi and Refocus - Refinance the house: DONE! See more HERE!

Attack Debt - Reduce school loan by 50% by the end of the year: We blew this one out of the water!!! WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!

Cash for Glass - finish replacing windows and pay cash: DONE! I'm not 100% sold that it's saving us the claimed 44% on energy costs, but the job is done. The only thing we have left is to replace the sliding door, which wasn't on the schedule for this year.

Give Back - Save for holiday gratuities and give back to the community: We did pretty well with this one. I didn't save $5 per month, but I did give some sort of gratuity to our mail man and paper man. We've also done a lot of 'giving back' in the past few months and have really enjoyed it. It's an amazing feeling.

Real it in - Stop buying stuff just because it's a good deal: I've done pretty well with this one. We no longer have 10 tubes of toothpaste in our hall closet. Tim is happy about this!!!

Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without - reuse and repurpose more: I've made the switch to reusable bags and have tried recycling more, but don't feel I've done as well as I could have on this one.