31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 20

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 20: Evaluating Your Expenses - Food

Eat out less. We've been really good about this lately. We're averaging less than 2 times/month.

Learn to cook. Mr. Gaia is the cook in the family but I've been working on developing a few meals of my own. I need to get Hyperion and Oceanus in the kitchen with me.

Eat leftovers. Ugh. We were doing so well, but I don't know what happened. We cleaned out the fridge this weekend and it was sooo gross. We are doing better again, though. We've started using glass jars to store food in the fridge and they just really draw your eye. We're also working on "planned leftovers". When we cook, we have an idea of what meal we can make with the leftovers, or when we can eat the leftovers as they are.

Buy a freezer. We have an upright freezer. A chest freezer is more energy efficient but with my hand issues, we never dug in the freezer and a lot of food sat in there for 5 years or more.

Organize potluck dinners. We don't yet have a group of friends to do this with. Maybe soon, though.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 19

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 19: Evaluating Your Expenses - Automobiles

Today is ways to save automobile expenses.

1) Coast to a stop. I always do this. If I see a "stale green" light (a light that has been green for several blocks), I take my foot off the brake so I don't have to slam on my brakes when it turns yellow. Doing this got me significantly more mileage on my brakes.

2) Don't speed. I'm so guilty of this. Although, I almost never drive on the highway anymore, so I don't get the chance to speed. Most of my commute is through school zones and I don't EVER speed through those.

3) Clean out your air filter. I never thought of this one - just shake or blow out the dirt.

4) Properly inflate your tires. I need to do this more regularly. I do check on it every other month or so, but that's not really enough.

5) Keep your car clean to reduce the weight. Another thing I'm guilty about. The kids dump their stuff in there and never take it out.

6) Keep an eye on gas station prices. This one really doesn't fit me. I only fill up once/month and only have 2 stations along my commute and both are the same company.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 18

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 18: Evaluating Your Expenses - Energy

Another good article.

1) Replace your lights with CFLs. We did this long ago and they move with us from house to house (because our realtor insisted that you have to have incandescents to sell a house and because I didn't want to leave a lot of CFLs in a rental house after they threw away all my nice finished compost).

2) Get a programmable thermostat. Our house came with one and it is marvelous. The only problem is that in the summer you can't turn the AC higher than 87.

3) Install surge protectors. I have a UPS for my computer and everything else is plugged into power strips that provide some protection. I'll have Mr. Gaia check to see if they're enough.

4) Turn off your home computer. My computer is never left on. At the least, I put it to sleep if I know I'm going to be doing something else for 5 minutes or more.

5) Air seal your home. This is one we haven't done, but need to look into it. Our house leaks like a sieve. It's not a big deal NOW when it's 69 outside, but it could really save us some money in the summer.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 17

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 17: Evaluating Your Expenses - Life Insurance

This is a fairly interesting entry. I'll admit I know waaaaay too little about life insurance, so I can't say if the figures presented here are correct or not. Right now, we all have life insurance through Mr. Gaia's employer. The kids' policy is just enough for burial expenses and some therapy for the rest of us (as a child, one of my brothers died after a car accident and that's exactly what his small policy was used for and it was a good thing we had it, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to afford the help we needed).

I'll definitely keep this bookmark for when we get our next social security statement. Basically, his math is such: 90% of your salary, subtract your dependent Social Security benefit, then divide that amount by 0.08.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 16

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 16: Evaluating Your Expenses - Home and Auto Insurance

This one is self explanatory. I'll admit I haven't priced homeowners insurance since I bought the house. At the time I called all the agents in town and checked online and this was the best deal.

Same with auto insurance.

Now, I should probably shop around again, but I don't want to have my credit score pulled right now. There's a chance we'll be moving in the summer, which would mean buying a new house and we're in major "credit score" mode. All credit cards are being paid down (we had some with 0% interest while the money was in the bank earning interest) and we're taking care not to do anything that would have any kind of negative impact on our score.

I've not heard of any insurance company that doesn't do a hard pull on your credit.

Now, Mr. Gaia's car is paid off this month, so we need to figure out if we're going to keep full coverage or not.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 15

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 15: Coming In Under Budget And An Emergency Fund

Today's discussion was what to do about the money leftover each month. The idea is to put this money in a separate, high interest account until you've built up an emergency fund that contains at least 6 months' salary.

I do agree with this, but think it leaves a little bit out. It forgets that some of our "monthly expenses are actually annual or semi-annual expenses that were prorated to a monthly amount. So when you do this, be prepared to leave those amounts in the bank until the bill comes due. My examples would be home insurance, car insurance, property taxes, and car tag and inspection.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 14

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 14: Get Rid Of Debts (Slowly But Surely)

Today we're looking at our debts and making plans for paying them off. The amount in our budget that is supposed to go to debt payments is EXTRA debt payments, not the minimum.

I agree with him in theory, but right now I can make more money on investments than I can save by paying off my debts early. BUT, Mr. Gaia and I have our spreadsheet worked out and know exactly what our break even point is for interest rates. We know exactly what interest rate we need to get to make money over paying off debts. As interest rates are dropping, we're carefully weighing it all again.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 13

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 13: Pay For Your Dreams First

The advice for today is to open a new bank account. In theory, I agree whole heartedly with this advice, however we have several accounts now and I don't think Mr. Gaia would be easily convinced to open a new account.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 12

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 12: A Flexible “Budget” That Reflects Your Reality

Today, we take the list we made yesterday and multiple the hours by 52 (to get the yearly amount) and then divide by 12 (to get the monthly amount). We then multiply those numbers by our hourly wage to get a true budget.

Mortgage__________ 43.68___$549.93
Phone _____________5.55___ $ 69.83
Electricity___________5.94___$ 74.74
Gas________________1.17__ $ 14.73
Fuel_______________ 3.2___ $174.58
Water/Trash_________3.94___$ 49.65
Student Loan________14.26___$179.49
Car Insurance________6.33___ $ 79.65
Car Tags____________1.26___$ 15.82
Inspection Stickers_____0.13__ $ 1.64
Car maintenance______ 0.95___$ 12.00
Home Insurance______ 3.94___$ 49.65
Property Taxes______11.87___ $149.49
Maintenance Fee______2.34___$ 29.46
Groceries__________23.79___ $299.52
Kids' Activities_______1.56___ $ 19.64
School Lunches______ 2.3_____$ 28.92
Car Payment _______1.17_____$ 14.73 (notice, this is prorated for the 1 payment)
Paper Products _____0.78_____$ 9.82
Gifts_____________9.92_____$124.93
Cable ____________10.31____$129.84
Entertainment ______0.39____$ 4.91
Clothing ___________1.3_____$ 16.37
Eating Out _________4.72____$ 59.47
Medical ___________1.95____$ 24.55
Incidentals________17.42____$219.32
Credit Card_______82.18___$1,034.67
TX Master Naturalist_4.33____$ 54.56
Certified Arborist____6.5____$ 81.84
529 plan_________64.85____$816.44
organic foods______4.33____$ 54.56
Grow a garden_____2.17____$ 27.28

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 11

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 11: Dividing Up The Rest and Finishing Our “Time Budget”

Okay, today's exercise ...

A) List the 5 short term goals and our debts
1) Complete the Texas Master Naturalist course.
2) Complete Certified Arborist certification.
3) Start a 529 plan for each of the boys.
4) Continue to eat healthful and organic foods and lose this extra 20 pounds.
5) Grow a garden to provide at least 50% of our vegetables this year.
Car - $182.69 Student Loan - $10,425.96 House - $64,684.95 CC (0%) - $615.94

B) Take the leftover hours from yesterday and divide that by 2
Total hours each week = 81.97, hours leftover = 37.93 divided by 2 = 18.965

Half of these hours go to debts (as extra payments) and half go to short term goals.

C) Assemble a big picture to show where all of our hours go:

Mortgage__________ 10.08
Phone ______________1.28
Electricity____________1.37
Gas_________________ 0.27
Fuel________________ 3.20
Water/Trash__________ 0.91
Student Loan_________ 3.29
Car Insurance_________1.46
Car Tags_____________0.29
Inspection Stickers______0.03
Car maintenance_______0.22
Home Insurance_______0.91
Property Taxes________2.74
Maintenance Fee_______0.54
Groceries____________5.49
Kids' Activities_________0.36
School Lunches________0.53
Car Payment __________0.27
Paper Products ________0.18
Gifts________________2.29
Cable _______________2.38
Entertainment ________0.09
Clothing _____________0.30
Eating Out ___________1.09
Medical _____________0.45
Incidentals___________4.02
Credit Card__________18.965
Texas Master Naturalist__1.0
Certified Arborist_______1.5
529 plan____________14.965
organic foods__________1.0
Grow a garden__________.5

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 10

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 10: Fitting Your Expenses Into The Bigger Picture

By the steps again:

1) Make 3 columns and list as follows:
1) each expense from day 8
2) amount per week from day 8
3) calculate true hourly wage for each item

Mortgage_______126.9231___ 10.08
Phone __________16.1538 ____1.28
Electricity________17.3076 ____1.37
Gas_____________3.4615____ 0.27
Fuel____________40.3846____ 3.20
Water/Trash______11.5384____ 0.91
Student Loan_____41.5384____ 3.29
Car Insurance_____18.4615____1.46
Car Tags_________ 3.6538____0.29
Inspection Stickers__0.3846____0.03
Car maintenance___ 2.8846____0.22
Home Insurance____11.5384 ___0.91
Property Taxes____34.6153____2.74
Maintenance Fee___ 6.9230____0.54
Groceries________69.2307____5.49
Kids' Activities______4.6153___0.36
School Lunches_____6.7307___0.53
Car Payment _______3.4615___0.27
Paper Products _____2.3076___0.18
Gifts_____________28.8461___2.29
Cable___________ 30 _______2.38
Entertainment______1.1538____0.09
Clothing __________3.8461____0.30
Eating Out________13.8461____1.09
Medical___________5.7692____0.45
Incidentals________50.6730____4.02

2) Total the number of hours spent each week for these items = 44.04 (there's a difference in rounding between this and Day 8). Together we spend 81.97 hours working. So we're at 54% of our hours each week are spent on these items. Which is lower than I thought. I suspect I'm still leaving something out.

Update on Day 3

Previously on Day 3 I set up a time line that included things to be done in the next 3 days. Umm, yeah, I kind of forgot about it, but here's my update:

1) Complete the Texas Master Naturalist course.
In the next 3 days I will confirm that they received my background check form. This is done, I've received my confirmation and even got the class list. It's 27 people - 14 women, 13 men.
In the next week I will find the schedule and get it added to my calendar. This is done as well, although it's Mr. Gaia that added it to the calendar.
Every week I will plan our family schedule to allow me to have the evening free. I've checked for conflicts so far and only have one conflict that will require either hiring a babysitter or taking the kids with me (with their DSs they should be fine)
Next month I will actually start the classes (yay!) Classes start February 6, I can't wait
In the next six months I will complete the classes and figure out the schedule to complete the necessary volunteer hours.

2) Complete Certified Arborist certification.
In the next 3 days I will find gather all of my study materials together. This is done
In the next week I will find a test date that works for me and register. My test date is April 18. I'm not registered yet because they don't have the registration forms available.
Every week I will study planning my time to study and have review before the test. I need to set up a schedule but haven't done it yet. Sigh.
Next month I will evaluate my study plan and make sure that I am studying the material as quickly as necessary to be ready for the exam.
In the next six months I will complete the exam and become certified (yay!)

3) Start a 529 plan for each of the boys.
In the next 3 days I will research the plan that will work for us (with an emphasis on social responsibility investments) and determine how much we will need to save for their education. Mr. Gaia has been researching plans (he's a wonderful man) and has decided that since Texas has no income tax, there's no real benefit to us if we keep the investment in Texas, but since the grandparents all live in Oklahoma, if they choose to contribute, they'd be better off if we set it up in Oklahoma. There's no social responsibility fund, but we can do community bonds.
In the next week I will evaluate the budget to figure out how much we can save. Mr. Gaia and I are working on this, I did get a small raise and his car is paid off next month. The plan is to figure out how much we will want to save for them (he believes strongly that they should have to use some of their own money) and how much we are willing to divert from debt repayment.
Every week I will put aside money to invest.
Next month I will evaluate if we are saving enough to actually cover most of their needs.
In the next six months I will have the plan started and have saved at least $1,000.

4) Continue to eat healthful and organic foods and lose this extra 20 pounds.
In the next 3 days I will list the vegetables and fruits I like. I haven't done this yet.
In the next week I will buy one new vegetable to add to my diet. Nor have I done this. Mr. Gaia has been doing the shopping
Every week I will track my calorie intake and nutritional value of my diet. I'm using fitday.com for this and so far it's going really well.
Next month I will figure out if I've managed to cut enough calories to lose weight.
In the next six months I will lose 10 pounds.

5) Grow a garden to provide at least 50% of our vegetables this year.
In the next 3 days I will make an inventory of my current seeds. Not done at all
In the next week I will clear a small area and plant one variety. Mr. Gaia suggests using containers and he's supposed to help me pick which ones and the potting soil.
Every week I will clear another small area and plant another variety.
Next month I will figure out a plan to grow all year round (yay! subtropics).
In the next 6 months I will supply at least 25% of our vegetables for our table.

Those are the short term goals. And now for the long term goals:

1) To work full time as a naturalist in a state or national park.
In the next week I will explore spanish lessons. I really need to do this. Mr. Gaia and I had talked about buying a program but we didn't and I don't know why we didn't. I'd rather do something at home than a formal class.
In the next month I will start working on my Master Naturalist and Certified Arborist certifications.
Every month I will learn about a new bird, animal, plant or tree and give mini lessons to my kids and any other kids around.
In the next year I will complete my Master Naturalist and Certified Arborist Certifications.
In the next 3 years I will learn spanish and at least be moderately conversant in it.

2) To provide financial and emotional support to my boys as they complete their college education.
In the next week I will work evaluate my budget with an eye to saving for college. We are working on this.
In the next month I will start funding their 529 plans.
Every month I will invest money in their plans.
In the next year I will invest $1,000 for each child.
In the next 3 years, I will make sure that each child has enough money saved to pay for at least one year of college (including books and housing expenses).

3) To find a meaningful and effective organization to work with as a volunteer and donor to work to achieve social justice.
In the next week I will seek to educate myself about the pressing issues in my area. Right now the most pressing issue is the border wall. I've found out that my work is apparently representing one of the landowners so I may have a chance to get involved in the lawsuit.
In the next month I will figure out what skills I can provide.
Every month I will donate at least a token amount to a worthy charity.
In the next year I will begin volunteer work with a worthy charity.
In the next 3 years I will involve my family in volunteering.

4) To maintain and healthy and active lifestyle including hiking and biking regularly.
In the next week I will figure out an exercise routine I can maintain. Other than walking to the school, I haven't figured this out. I'm making a conscious effort to have good posture which pulls in the abdominal muscles and speed walking.
In the next month I will start biking again.
Every month I will bike at least 10 miles.
In the next year I will figure out a way to bike to work.
In the next 3 years I will join a biking group.

5) To be financially independent and only work when and where we want.
In the next week I will make a list of all of our debts and liabilities. This is done
In the next month I will make a "snowball" schedule. Figuring this out - Mr. Gaia suggests we might want to invest while the stock market is low and our only debts are low interest.
Every month I will evaluate our expenditures versus our investment income.
In the next year I will figure out how much money we need to have invested to provide enough income to meet our current needs.
In the next 3 years I will pay off all debts except my mortgage and pay enough on my mortgage to have 75% equity.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 8

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 8: Breaking Down Your Expenses

Today we're listing expenses that are not related to work. So my list:

Mortgage - $6,660
Phone - $840
Electricity - $900
Gas - $180
Fuel - $2,100
Water/Trash - $600
Student Loan - $2,160
Car Insurance (not actually monthly) - $960
Car Tags - $190
Inspection stickers - $20
Car Maintenance - $150
Home Insurance - $600
Property Taxes - $1,800
Maintenance Fee - $360
Groceries - $3,600
Kids' activities - $240
School lunches - $350
Car Payment (February is last payment!!) - $180
Paper products/cleaning supplies - $120
Gifts - $1,500
Cable - $1,560
Entertainment - $60
Clothing - $200
Eating out - $720
Medical costs - $300

Total - $26,350

I feel like I must have left something out because that doesn't seem high enough. If I figure it out, I'll edit this.

Next step is to add 10% to that number for incidentals. New total = $28,985Weekly total = $557.40

Final step is to divide that by our true hourly wage to figure out how much we work just to pay the standard bills - $557.40/$12.59/hour = 44.27 hours

Of course, this is double counting the fuel, so it's not perfect.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 7

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 7: Work For Your Dreams, Not Your Money

Forgive me - I'm really tired tonight. We had some amazingly strong south winds last night and they kept me awake. I would never have survived on the plains in the pioneer days - strong winds make me restless and irritable. And I awoke today with a scratchy throat and not much voice (a smooth, mellow voice though, it's not unpleasant to my ear), I'm wondering what kind of pollutants blew in on the wind - so much agriculture to the south and then Mexico beyond with its American factories that moved there so they wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up their pollutants.

That said, on with the exercise. Okay, this one is confusing for me in my sleep deprived state. So, I'll take it step by step:

1) list your ten goals
1) To work full time as a naturalist in a state or national park.
2) To provide financial and emotional support to my boys as they complete their college education.
3) To find a meaningful and effective organization to work with as a volunteer and donor to work to achieve social justice.
4) To maintain and healthy and active lifestyle including hiking and biking regularly.
5) To be financially independent and only work when and where we want.
6) Complete the Texas Master Naturalist course.
7) Complete Certified Arborist certification.
8) Start a 529 plan for each of the boys.
9) Continue to eat healthful and organic foods and lose this extra 20 pounds.
10) Grow a garden to provide at least 50% of our vegetables this year.

2) Under these goals, make a list of each of your debts as well
Car - $182.69
Student Loan - $10,425.96
House - $64,684.95
CC (0%) - $615.94

3) add one last item: living expenses
$3500/month (average includes car payment, etc)

4) At the very bottom, write TOTAL and then over on the far right, write the total amount of hours you work in a week
Total - 82 hours

5) First thing, until you’re sure how your life will be rebalanced, include 60% of the total hours under the item “living expenses.”
Living Expenses - 49.2

6) If you have debts, you should spend 25% of your hours on paying off the debts. Note that this is extra debt payments; your basic minimum debt payments are included in the living expenses. When (or if) you have no debts, all of the time going into your debts can go straight to your dreams.
20.5 hours

7) The remaining 15% should be assigned in equal pieces to your dreams.
12.3 hours - total 1.23 each

I'm thinking this is not going to go so well in the next few days. Our living expenses are going to be more than the 60%.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 6

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 6: Your True Hourly Wage

Okay, today we take the last 2 days and use them to figure our true hourly wage.

So mine is - $21,905/1,700.5 hours = $12.88/hour

Mr. Gaia's is - $31,740/2,562 hours = $12.39/hour

I find it interesting that our wages work out the way they do. A lot of it is his commute and the fact that he takes an hour long lunch. I'm not sure that I think the hour long lunch should necessarily be included since he uses his lunch hour to do shopping and run errands, stuff one of us would have to do anyway, but for the purposes of this exercise, I'll leave it as it is.

Our combined hourly wage is - $53,645/4,262.5 = $12.59/hour

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 5

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 5: How Much Did You Work Last Year?

Today we're figuring out how much time we spend at work and on work related activities. This will include our lunch breaks, overtime, commute, business travel, business dinners/parties, etc.

This is fairly easy for me. I have no business travel and no business dinners. I also don't take a lunch break or work overtime (much).

So mine looks like this:
6.5 hours/day for 46 weeks of the year.
8 hours/day for 4 weeks of the year.
Total time paid work - 1,655 hours/year.

My commute is 20 minutes per day.
Total time spent commuting - 83 hours

Lunch - 1 hour/day for 4 weeks = 20 hours.

Comp time. This is a bit harder, but basically has worked out to about 10 hours this year.

I need to subract out the 9 holidays I get each year - so that's 61.5 hours (regular work days and commute)

So my total time spent at work is 1,700.5 hours/year.

Now, Mr. Gaia's is much harder to figure out. He works odd hours and does have some business travel, but generally his odd hours are worked out with comp time. He also gets more vacation than I do, but I'm not sure how much - 3 weeks I think.

So here we go
8 hours/day for 49 weeks each year - 1,960

Commute - one hour/day - 245 hours

Travel (figuring that he averages travel one night/month) 16 hours *12 = 192 hours

Lunch - 245 hours

Minus his 10 holidays = 80 hours

Total time he worked this year - 2,562 hours.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 4

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 4: How Much Did You Earn Last Year?

Okay, first we are supposed to state how much we made last year at all of our jobs. I have no record of how much I made at mystery shopping - I think it was around $100, but I don't know so I won't count it. So I have the one job.

Part time I made $26,000 with withholdings of $3,800 for a grand total of $22,200.

Next, we are supposed to list the costs associated with working:
Childcare - $10/year (Boys and Girls Club rocks!)
Driving to work, gas - $150 (figuring 2.80/gallon)
Driving to work, maintenance - $0
Wardrobe - $100 (this is probably an overestimate, I rarely buy clothes, my mom gives me so much)
Meals - $10 (rare occasions do I buy meals)
Gifts - $25

My salary after all expenses - $21,905

Mr. Gaia makes $36,600 with withholdings of $3,160 for a total of $33,440
Childcare (already accounted for in mine)
Driving to work, gas - $1,050
Driving to work, maintenance - $500 (an overestimation but the best I can do)
Wardrobe - $0 (uniforms are great!)
Meals - $150 (again, a guess, it's probably less)
Gifts - $0

His salary after all expenses - $31,740

Our total together - $53,645

We're in great shape since we are careful with our money. If I were to work full time, I wouldn't clear much more than I do now because of additional childcare expenses, that and the opportunity to shop over a lunch hour.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 3

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 3: Create A Plan For Each Goal

Today we are defining 5 specific actions for each goal.

For the short term goals our action plan should follow this format:
I will do this in the next three days.
I will do this in the next week.
I will do this every week.
I will do this in the next month.
I will do this in the next six months.

For our long term goals our action plan should follow this format:
I will do this in the next week.
I will do this in the next month.
I will do this every month.
I will do this in the next year.
I will do this in three years.

And awaaaaay we go ...

1) Complete the Texas Master Naturalist course.

1. In the next 3 days I will confirm that they received my background check form.
2. In the next week I will find the schedule and get it added to my calendar.
3. Every week I will plan our family schedule to allow me to have the evening free.
4. Next month I will actually start the classes (yay!)
5. In the next six months I will complete the classes and figure out the schedule to complete the necessary volunteer hours.

2) Complete Certified Arborist certification.

1. In the next 3 days I will find gather all of my study materials together.
2. In the next week I will find a test date that works for me and register.
3. Every week I will study planning my time to study and have review before the test.
4. Next month I will evaluate my study plan and make sure that I am studying the material as quickly as necessary to be ready for the exam.
5. In the next six months I will complete the exam and become certified (yay!)

3) Start a 529 plan for each of the boys.

1. In the next 3 days I will research the plan that will work for us (with an emphasis on social responsibility investments) and determine how much we will need to save for their education.
2. In the next week I will evaluate the budget to figure out how much we can save.
3. Every week I will put aside money to invest.
4. Next month I will evaluate if we are saving enough to actually cover most of their needs.
5. In the next six months I will have the plan started and have saved at least $1,000.

4) Continue to eat healthful and organic foods and lose this extra 20 pounds.

1. In the next 3 days I will list the vegetables and fruits I like.
2. In the next week I will buy one new vegetable to add to my diet.
3. Every week I will track my calorie intake and nutritional value of my diet.
4. Next month I will figure out if I've managed to cut enough calories to lose weight.
5. In the next six months I will lose 10 pounds.

5) Grow a garden to provide at least 50% of our vegetables this year.

1. In the next 3 days I will make an inventory of my current seeds.
2. In the next week I will clear a small area and plant one variety.
3. Every week I will clear another small area and plant another variety.
4. Next month I will figure out a plan to grow all year round (yay! subtropics).
5. In the next 6 months I will supply at least 25% of our vegetables for our table.

Long Term Goals

1) To work full time as a naturalist in a state or national park.

1. In the next week I will explore spanish lessons.
2. In the next month I will start working on my Master Naturalist and Certified Arborist certifications.
3. Every month I will learn about a new bird, animal, plant or tree and give mini lessons to my kids and any other kids around.
4. In the next year I will complete my Master Naturalist and Certified Arborist Certifications.
5. In the next 3 years I will learn spanish and at least be moderately conversant in it.

2) To provide financial and emotional support to my boys as they complete their college education.

1. In the next week I will work evaluate my budget with an eye to saving for college.
2. In the next month I will start funding their 529 plans.
3. Every month I will invest money in their plans.
4. In the next year I will invest $1,000 for each child.
5. In the next 3 years, I will make sure that each child has enough money saved to pay for at least one year of college (including books and housing expenses).

3) To find a meaningful and effective organization to work with as a volunteer and donor to work to achieve social justice.

1. In the next week I will seek to educate myself about the pressing issues in my area.
2. In the next month I will figure out what skills I can provide.
3. Every month I will donate at least a token amount to a worthy charity.
4. In the next year I will begin volunteer work with a worthy charity.
5. In the next 3 years I will involve my family in volunteering.

4) To maintain and healthy and active lifestyle including hiking and biking regularly.

1. In the next week I will figure out an exercise routine I can maintain.
2. In the next month I will start biking again.
3. Every month I will bike at least 10 miles.
4. In the next year I will figure out a way to bike to work.
5. In the next 3 years I will join a biking group.

5) To be financially independent and only work when and where we want.

1. In the next week I will make a list of all of our debts and liabilities.
2. In the next month I will make a "snowball" schedule.
3. Every month I will evaluate our expenditures versus our investment income.
4. In the next year I will figure out how much money we need to have invested to provide enough income to meet our current needs.
5. In the next 3 years I will pay off all debts except my mortgage and pay enough on my mortgage to have 75% equity.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 2

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 2: Defining Your Goals From Your Values

Today's exercise is to figure out our goals in life based on our personal values.

Recap of my personal values:
1) The environment
2) Family
3) Social Justice
4) Health
5) Self Sufficiency/Financial Independence
First we are supposed to define our goals for the next twenty-five years.

Longterm Goals:

1) To work full time as a naturalist in a state or national park.
2) To provide financial and emotional support to my boys as they complete their college education.
3) To find a meaningful and effective organization to work with as a volunteer and donor to work to achieve social justice.
4) To maintain and healthy and active lifestyle including hiking and biking regularly.
5) To be financially independent and only work when and where we want.

Then we are supposed to define our goals for the next year.

Shortterm Goals:
1) Complete the Texas Master Naturalist course.
2) Complete Certified Arborist certification.
3) Start a 529 plan for each of the boys.
4) Continue to eat healthful and organic foods and lose this extra 20 pounds.
5) Grow a garden to provide at least 50% of our vegetables this year.

31 Days To Fix Your Finances - Day 1

31 Days To Fix Your Finances, Day 1: Your Five Main Values

Define the values by which we live our lives. This step challenges us to name and define the 4-6 main values that guide our lives.

1) The environment. It is very important to my family to consider the environment and live in a way to have the least impact on the environment and hopefully allow us to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren.

2) Family. Mr. Gaia and I are committed to raising educated and socially aware children. We are interested in them having the standard knowledge set but we are also very interested in making sure they have a deeper understanding of the shades of gray in life.

3) Social justice. I think this and our commitment to the environment go hand in hand. We desperately want to make this world more even and fair (I don't want to hear "no one ever said life was fair" I know that but can't see any reason why we can't work toward making it more fair).

4) Health. We work hard to make sure that what we eat is as healthful as possible and that our kids are being brought up to get enough exercise. We do this by trying to be the best models possible. We're human, though, so we do fail. But we are trying.

5) Self Sufficiency/Financially Independent. The plan is to be debt free and to be able to survive no matter what the economy does.