As you can see by the image on the bottom left side of the screen (scroll down a little bit) I'm nearly halfway through saving up for my Month Ahead Budget. Hurray!
I must admit I'm disappointed that Step 2 is already taking more than twice as long as Step 1. To be fair though, Step 2 is a greater sum and in comparison, it's far better that I spend more time saving up than paying off. Not to mention the fact that with two family trips my availability for babysitting, donating plasma, and overtime has been shortened. Then there was the Emergency Preparedness . . . I suppose I actually have done a decent job at this. I just need to be patient.
There's also the matter of the holidays coming up, and while I have a Christmas sinking fund, it's still going to be a stretch. However, I AM doing all I can to make homemade presents this year, so hopefully that gives me a bit more wiggle room. Plus, my parents have ever so graciously allowed me to take over my brother's phone while he's on his mission, so that's ~$60/month I can allocate elsewhere!
My plan is still to finish Step 2 by the end of this year, end of January if I really have to. It might end up being the low end of my monthly budget (because my total is a high end approximation), but it'll still count. As I've said before, once I can start budgeting on what I earned the previous month, I'll have a far easier time of controlling my finances.
Oh--one quick tip I found! I'm going to research which credit union would work best for me and then put some money into a checking account. This would serve multiple purposes. First, it will safeguard my money so it's not all in one spot. Second, I can bring that debit card with me on road trips, so in case my purse gets stolen they don't have access to all my money. Third, I can use that debit card purely for my Etsy business. (Maybe I should use two credit unions? One for travel and one for my Etsy business? I'll have to dwell on that) I got the third idea from reading one of Dave Ramsey's articles in the newspaper. Quite ingenious.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
NaNoWriMo Participation!
This year I am officially entering the National Novel Writing Month!
It's a free challenge where writers commit to writing a 50K novel during the month of November. It's a lot of work and I have absolutely no idea WHY it's held during the holidays, but what can you do? In years past I've merely committed to writing more, but this year I'm aiming for the full 50K.
I want to attend WIFYR this next summer and in order to do that I'm going to need something to actually submit. Participating in NaNo will give me something to work with. What I'm going to end up with won't be pretty, but if I do it then I'll have about 4 months to polish whatever is required for the group workshops I intend on participating in. But that will only work if I actually write.
I've done well so far! I wrote 2,015 words today! Granted, it was a bit of a cheat because I used a lot that had already been written in my previous drafts, but I'm starting over from scratch for this one, so there it is. As the days pass the writing will get easier and I'll make it. As a safe number, they say it's best to write about 2,000 words per day so you reach your goal.
Fingers crossed!
It's a free challenge where writers commit to writing a 50K novel during the month of November. It's a lot of work and I have absolutely no idea WHY it's held during the holidays, but what can you do? In years past I've merely committed to writing more, but this year I'm aiming for the full 50K.
I want to attend WIFYR this next summer and in order to do that I'm going to need something to actually submit. Participating in NaNo will give me something to work with. What I'm going to end up with won't be pretty, but if I do it then I'll have about 4 months to polish whatever is required for the group workshops I intend on participating in. But that will only work if I actually write.
I've done well so far! I wrote 2,015 words today! Granted, it was a bit of a cheat because I used a lot that had already been written in my previous drafts, but I'm starting over from scratch for this one, so there it is. As the days pass the writing will get easier and I'll make it. As a safe number, they say it's best to write about 2,000 words per day so you reach your goal.
Fingers crossed!
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