Honestly, though, this is the goal section I struggle with most. Here are some of the goals I have for this year:
(*go to end for tl;dr)
1. Save over $20,000. I say over, because last year we saved ALMOST that amount, and this year, we decided to hit that number and surpass it. Now, this is where I *should* launch into details about our personally-tailored budget and other cool tips on how to stick to said budget. But... I have no budget. Adam and I have probably had 7 conversations wherein we discussed how we "need to make a budget and stick to it..." or how we "should really consider budgeting..." or just how we "spend more money than we should, probably..."
So far, our only real strategy is to outlaw the use of my bank card. We have separate accounts here in Korea, and so we reasoned that we should be able to live on just the one paycheck and save the other. Since Adam is less impulsive than I, it was quickly agreed that he would have the spending account and I would have the saving account. It's a decent system, except when I forget to get enough cash from him, and then end up using my card, because "we can just transfer the money later..." But overall, it's true that my paycheck is savings, and Adam's is used up every month.
The problem is, we shouldn't be using up Adam's paycheck every month. Our monthly spending is more than it was when we first came, despite the fact that we make several hundred MORE dollars every month. Especially over the past 4-5 months, we've been exceptionally free with our funds. We take taxis. We eat out. We buy big gifts for people. And worst of all, we aren't aware of and accountable for our own spending habits.
In August we tried to rectify this situation somewhat. We downloaded a money-tracking app, and used it diligently for approximately 3 weeks. Then one of us would miss a cash transaction, or forget it, or my phone would die, and I couldn't record the transaction immediately - and suddenly, the app was off by 100+ dollars, and fixing it seemed like a headache, so I didn't do it immediately, and then the app was off by too much to count and I quit. It wouldn't have been impossible to just start over, but we just... haven't. (Ugh. Depressing.) The worst part is that I really enjoyed keeping track of my money, and even in just those 3 weeks, we noticed some bad spending habits (... Starbucks...) and were able to make a couple small changes to cut back.
In the USA, I used mint.com, and had it linked to my bank accounts and debit card, and LOVED IT. If you can make use of that website, I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, it's not available for our Korean bank accounts, so it's useless for us now.
This is something I'd like to change about myself. I'd like to be more conscious/aware of my spending habits, and I'd like to be keeping track OR have a better budget system in place. I know some people who do the envelope method, and perhaps we need to give that a go...? I honestly don't know.
What about you? Do you have any fabulous tips for keeping track of money out-flow and in-flow? Any strategies or apps you find particularly useful? By all means, please let me know, because something's gotta give here.
Of course, I keep telling Adam that next year everything's going to change, because 4 of our closest friends here are leaving Korea. "So we just need to be careful to NOT make any new best friends, and then we won't ever leave the apartment and we'll never spend money!" Not my brightest idea, but possibly a valid prophecy for next year. :)
2. Get fit. This is another goal I haven't been seriously reaching for until this month. There were several months over the summer where Adam and I went to the gym together (I bought a membership and everything). However, since changing work locations in September, I've been getting home after 6:30 with no desire to go to the gym (which is no longer convenient), and no push from my partner, since he goes immediately after work. I don't like gyms anyways, so I'm not upset about it. But I haven't replaced it with anything yet. Dance? Yoga? Tennis? Bouldering? Running? Biking? I need to establish a workout - one that appeals to me, and that I'll stick to regardless of occasional inconveniences and disruptions. (ZUMBA! PLEASE COME TO KOREA AND SPECIFICALLY GWANGJU!)
3. Do work at work. THIS is the one goal I'm kicking butt at, but I can't exactly take credit for it. Last year was a long slog of late-night lesson planning and powerpoint slideshow-creating, and it was frustrating and time-consuming and unhealthy. The first semester of this year, I made valiant efforts to do work only at work and change my habits, but it didn't always happen. I always felt behind, always felt stressed. However, over the summer I applied for and GOT a brilliant new position as an online teacher for the Gwangju Office of Education. Suddenly, all that stress and those deadlines shrank to nearly nothing. I no longer plan lessons - I only make supplementary materials and teach. And now I walk home every night, perhaps later than before (I get off at 6 instead of 4:30), but with a night of free time stretching before me, and no work to do until the next day. I don't doubt that I'd still be struggling with this if I was teaching at my old middle school, so I count myself doubly lucky for getting such a great position here. I still procrastinate a little when I do have to create materials for classes, but I always finish them before the end of the last day.
Dear god, I've written an odyssey. Well, my apologies for those of you who plowed through all that. For the skimmers:
*Tl;dr: I suck at managing money and exercising, but I'm doing my work AT WORK. One out of three isn't terrible. Pass on tips, if you've got 'em.
Carpe November!
P.S. Abs, CHECK.(groan............)
Squats, CHECK. (105!)
Minimalism, I made some decent headway on uploading photos. Today's minimalism goal was to take an hour for yourself (away from phones and electronics), and GO AHEAD AND LAUGH, but I spent almost an hour digging the scabs from my dead warts out from under my skin, where they were buried. Grossly fascinating. Thoroughly satisfying. I also took a lovely walk in the sun by the river - it wasn't by myself, so I'm not sure it truly counts, but it was refreshing and wonderful just to be outside near something nature-y.
Photo proof!:
And here's another photo of my face:
