I had posted my October Roundup & November Goals on Friday and decided after I posted it was too long and involved. At the end of this month I will make my wrap up a lot more simplistic. I decided as part of this I would start out November with my goals.
Pay off personal loan and credit card debt with home equity loan.
We went to our credit union yesterday and will find out tomorrow if we are approved and for how much. There are many advantages to this type of loan. We will reduce our minimum payments per month which will allow us to decide what to do with the money we keep every month as well as make it easier to pay extra on debt. We will reduce the amount of interest we are paying and we can write off a portion of our payments on our taxes.
Lose five pounds.
I have been sedentary for a while with the exception of my Sunday morning walks. Five pounds is probably easily achievable and I could go higher but just really don't want to set myself up for failure. If I lose more then cool beans. I plan to achieve this by using my elliptical trainer four times a week and continuing my Sunday morning walks. I will also make an effort to include more fruits and veggies in my daily diet and drink more water.
Drink coffee out only twice per week.
Coffee is one of my weaknesses. I think because coffee is a treat for me and it's relatively inexpensive at the time of purchase. Going and getting coffee every day or at least several times a week really adds up. I usually get coffee with my friend Sunday morning after my walks so that will be one of the days which leaves another day during the week for coffee out. The rest of the time the hubs and I will be utilizing our french press and espresso machine.
Complete seven hand crafted or purchased gifts for Christmas.
Thank you for your comments on my post about Holiday Gift Stress. This has definitely given me some food for thought as far as what I plan to buy or make for Christmas gifts this year. I know part of my problem is the guilt I feel over disappointing family members with something not from their list. I made some headway last night creating scrap book calendar pages for my niece and nephews scrap books.
Have twelve no spend days this month.
I'm taking an idea from Holly Is Stopping Shopping and FruGal and tracking my no spend days. I am guaranteed at least four this week since I have bought groceries and paid all my bills and have nothing due until Friday when the hubs and I get paid.
Manage extras ahead of time.
There are a few extras this month as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the states. My sister is hosting and I have voluntered to bring green bean casserole and squash to feed approximately 17 people. This should not be too bad on my grocery budget for the month.
It's also my dad's birthday which we always celebrate at Thanksgiving and which means we need to purchase a gift. We know what we are getting but need to wait until payday.
My niece is also being baptized the weekend of Thanksgiving so that means two trips up to my sister's house in one weekend. Hopefully that won't hurt too bad in the gas budget, especially since gas has come down and costs about $15 less to fill up my tank. We don't have the hubs kids this year for Turkey day so we will save some gas we would normally have spent driving to get them.
I need to pay the tabs for my car this month but first I need to take it through emissions. We will do that this weekend to get it over and done with.
Finally, the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace comes out this month. I don't know about you but I am sucker for this particular English gentleman. There will be money in the entertainment budget to go see it. The question will be if we go at midnight on the night it opens?
Have a great day!
2 comments:
Good luck with your No Spend Days - hopefully you'll do better than I did last month!
That's great that you can make your own gifts. I began to knit about 2 years ago so I don't have much confidence to give "my creations" away.
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