Working towards goals

For a long time now, I've had future goals. But they run along the lines of we'll do this when we have money. And we'll never have money. Which is completely useless, of course. So no, my paychecks aren't quite big enough for us to save as much as I would LIKE to. I can usually squeeze out 50 bucks a month. Maybe. On a good month. So I suppose you can see how I've gotten this bad attitude, but really. That's no excuse.

So I've started the side hustle. Basically, I can complain as long as I want, but it's not going to change anything [uh, unless I win the lottery. But I can't even afford the ticket. [Boyfriend is still doing freelance, but it's unpredictable and slow at the moment. And he's looking for a full time job]. I've been taking on freelance work. I just finished a 1000 dollar contract. I've been selling stuff on ebay, half.com and craigslist. So far, I've made a few hundred dollars from that over just a couple weeks. And for practically NO effort! And for stuff I've been wanting to just get rid of for a really long time now. I've got another 50 dollars coming my way from craigslist tonight. Sweet! All in all, our emergency fund has grown significantly in the past month or two, and is now at 4500. Which is awesome. Nearly a third of our goal!

So my ambitious goal is to have the thing at 10k by the end of the year. [This of course, assumes that Japan won't happen. If it does, this will have to be revised]. Which will definitely take some effort, since I'm nearly +1k short of anticipated monies.

+ 1500 (freelance work)

+ 1450 (freelance work)

+ 1000 (Christmas bonus)

+ 100 (savings contributions from regular budget)

Which leaves us with 8850. Hopefully, I'll have a lot more sales of my stuff. Which will increase that number quite a bit. I also have that other freelance contract (but I can't count on that, because it may take several months to start… I have to finish the first half of it first, which is what I'm doing now.) This also discounts any freelance monies from BF, since that is so unpredictable.

So I'm going to really hustle. How great would it be to start the new year flush with 10 grand in my pocket? It'll definitely make our 15k+ goal achievable next year. Which takes my stress level down about 15,000 notches.

Summer?

Odd that summer is basically over. It really hasn't even felt like it began. Partially due to the gloomy weather California has been having. And partially because we haven't had the money to do summer type things, like go on vacations and such.

Speaking of travel. There is just over 1k sitting in our ING travel fund. And I'm not sure what to do with it. My options:

1. Move it to the emergency fund (I'm tempted. Because it would build that up a bit to 1/3 funded (we've upped our ideal number an additional 5k), and get us towards our goal faster.)

2. Japan is on hold. We were going to go visit my dad, who is working there. Only they've sent him stateside to do some training, and his dates to go back to Japan keep getting pushed back. So he'll go (most likely). But he's not sure when. And we may not be able to swing it depending on timing. So although I feel like I should keep it in the travel fund, realistically I'd rather have it elsewhere. Plus, I can always move it back.

3. Pay off the AMEX? Yeah. The one that was supposed to be paid off with freelance money? Never happened. I want to pay it off and be done with it. Boyfriend wants to save the money. We're at a standstill, so the money remains in the travel fund!

So who knows.

But I do have a freelance project. Part A (which I'm working on… and NEED to finish this weekend) will net me about 1500 dollars. Probably won't see that money for a month though. Part B will earn me close to 5 grand. But that will take several months, so I'm not counting on it yet.

I've also gone on a selling stuff binge. Like everything. I'm keeping 4 books (I use my iPad to read, exclusively). Everything else is listed on half.com + ebay (and I've already sold 5 books and a couple DVDs, so hopefully this keeps up. My profits are only like 17 bucks, but that's cool. I really just want to get rid of this stuff I've been hauling from place to place and NEVER TOUCHING. Ugh! I've listed clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry and everything else I can think of that I no longer want or need. Everything that doesn't sell is being sent to Goodwill. I can't wait.

I am excited for fall to get here (as non-existent as my summer was). 1. The "mood". I just love it. 2. Thanksgiving. 3. Christmas! (And my Christmas bonus!). I love fall.