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2014 Resolutions - Financial and Some Others

December 31st, 2013 at 05:47 pm

The easiest resolutions were the personal ones:
- Stretch more - carried over from last year - stretch EVEN more! I did pretty well last year, but I have to remind myself that I sleep better when I stretch before bed and have a better morning when I stretch after I get up, even for just a few minutes.

- Digitize stuff - I need to digitize old family photos and also the penny postcards that my grandmother received during WWII from families of POWs (she sent them messages from the POWs, and they wrote back the most beautiful thank you messages). Also need to digitize the notes for teaching my weightlifting class and my spinning class.

- Use Chrome and Apple Mail instead of Firefox (which my husband calls my Budget Browser) and Thunderbird. I switched over to Chrome last weekend, so I'm ahead of the game!


Now the financial goals:
- Wills - Finally do our wills (I have the template forms and everything! I just need to sit down and DO IT!!)

- Retirement - $800/month to our IRAs (and find an extra $200 to put in there to be at $5000 each)

- Mortgage - $115 per month to mortgage principal

- Tuition - increase amount we pay out of our budget by $10/month so we don't dip into our tuition savings account as much. Also put $50 from the 52-week challenge per month into the tuition account. Move the tuition account to somewhere making some interest.

- Car Savings - continue putting in $150 per month.

- Clothing - based on my analysis of the ideal wardrobe (yes, and excel spreadsheet), I don't need any new clothing except a swimsuit. No clothes buying for me this year (except the swimsuit - just bought massively on sale from Landsend - hope it fits)

Posted in Frugal Living, Retirement | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “2014 Resolutions - Financial and Some Others”

  1. PatientSaver Says:
    December 31st, 2013 at 07:40 pm 1388518810
    1388518810

    How did your grandmother get the messages from POWs to send to their families?

  2. snafu Says:
    December 31st, 2013 at 08:13 pm 1388520802
    1388520802

    Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous NEW Year

    I wish I knew which words to choose to propel you to take immediate action to create Wills for you and DH before 2013 even ends. It's really not as negative experience as many imagine. While the Do-It-Yourself forms are adequate, it's really in your family's best interests to have your documents reviewed by a lawyer or at the very least certified paralegal, certified Law Clerk or Legal Assistant. To avoid having to make changes in the future we identified specific items [items of value, policies, banking/financial accounts, residence, autos, jewelry, heirlooms etc] we added 'or current holdings' to keep our Wills as current as possible. We also prepared what was called a 'Living Will' now Advanced Directive or Advanced Health Care Directive which took the most amount of thought.

    It's best to have the signatures witnessed and 'stamped' by a Notary Public or Commissioner of Oaths - perhaps in your state they have a different title. There is usually someone at your bank with that designation who offers that service, possibly part of your banking service package with no extra cost. It's important for your Executor to know where your copy of your Will is kept. I'm adding that because it took us a week of searching while we were horribly upset to locate our beloved dad's will. Meanwhile the bank had frozen all his assets, mom was scrambling to pay regular expenses and we all chipped in to pay for an unexpected funeral. It was a nightmare that I still vividly remember.

  3. Buendia Says:
    December 31st, 2013 at 08:14 pm 1388520868
    1388520868

    My grandparents couldn't afford a radio, but my grandfather worked in the PX, so he borrowed a shortwave radio. They listened to programs, and then late at night, my grandmother would stay up and listen to the messages from prisoners of war. She wrote their messages down on penny postcards, and sent them to their families. I have the letters back to her... they are incredible - a family treasure! Some people wrote that until they got my grandmother's postcard, they didn't know if their sons were alive or not! My mother says she ran to the mailbox, and she begged her mother to read those letters over and over. My mother gave me the letters a few years ago. I loved them when I was a kid, too, and will share them with my daughter next year (that's when they do WWII in school).

  4. Buendia Says:
    December 31st, 2013 at 08:17 pm 1388521066
    1388521066

    I am going to get the wills done asap, Snafu - I promise! I have a good friend who is a lawyer who will look them over, and we have the Living Will forms, too. They're specific for our state. If our lawyer friend says we need to do a more formal thing, we will, but at least we'll have this in place... Our bank does do notarizations for free- I will take them over there. Hope to be posting that this resolution is finished by Jan 15!!!

  5. rob62521 Says:
    January 1st, 2014 at 03:35 am 1388547307
    1388547307

    Please get those wills done! You protect your family.

    Your goals are worthy! May 2014 be a wonderful year for you!

  6. PNW Mom Says:
    January 1st, 2014 at 06:08 am 1388556531
    1388556531

    I was going to chime in on the wills, but it sounds like you are on it! Smile
    I enjoy your blog and look forward to reading in 2014! Smile

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