This month was obviously as far from “happy” as it gets, but with Justin’s help, somehow I still managed to accomplish the goals I set for myself. I’m glad I started out with money, because if I were trying to do anything else, I probably would have failed miserably.
Here are the resolutions I came up with for the first month of my Happiness Project. My theme was Money and my longtime goal is to save more than I spend!
- Read some books on money and devise a plan
- Get the debt snowball rolling
- Try the 50-30-20 Budget
- Build a savings account
- Sell stuff we don’t need
- Give something up
- Joint Bank Accounts
Here’s what I (we!) did:
- Finished reading the Happiness Project (more on that below)
- Read Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” and fell in love with his theory.
- Read Suze Orman’s “Women and Money”. I didn’t like this one as much, but I learned a lot more about some stuff I thought I knew.
- Began the debt snowball process! If we follow it, we will be 100% debt free by April, 2015! (or possibly even sooner)
- Figured out the payoff date for each piece of our debt, and wrote it down so we are more apt to stick with it!
- Did the math and attempted the 50-30-20. I failed this month, but this is just the beginning, and I know I’ll get better as time goes on!
- Officially put money in a savings account. Very little at this point, but should be able to build it pretty quickly with the new debt payment process we started.
- Justin sold some video games and in October I’m going to attempt selling all the stuff I dig up while organizing!
- Gave something up. Goodbye Netflix.
- Joined our bank accounts! MY money and HIS money is officially OUR money!
I’d call that a pretty successful first month!
Once I finished the Happiness Project book, I officially determined how I want to proceed with the rest of my year! I’m using my Erin Condren Life Planner to stay on track and document everything as I go. (I might do a review post on that soon, as well as my EC Wedding planner, cuz they’re both freaking wonderful!)
October – Declutter My Life (Get organized!)
November – Remember Love (Lots of shmoop)
December – Friends (Reconnecting with old, and making new)
January – Health and Wellness (Yoga! And Flossing?)
February – Blogging (Re-evaluating this space of mine)
March – Play! (Make time for fun!)
April – Contemplate the Heavens (Gratitude)
May – Pay Attention (Meditation)
June – Keep a Contented Heart (Wedding month!)
July – Find Authentic Joy (Redoing the Joy Equation!)
August – Pursue a Passion (Potentially BIG THINGS this month!)
Side note: I plan to read as many books as I can dealing with each goal, so if you have recommendations for any of the above categories, please send them my way!
{ 2 trackbacks }