Goals Update

I have been very lax in updating my goals since the computer problems in February. I guess I got off my schedule. Even though I haven't written about my goals, I have been making progress on the goals as a group, but I need to focus on the details. Here goes:

Financial goals

Track spending with YNAB weekly. I'm still enjoying using YNAB to track spending. I got a little off track when my computer was cleaned, but I was able to use my bank statements to reconstruct Jan. and Feb.
Begin sinking fund account. Keep in checking account. This is working well. I've started small funds for taxes, car repairs, life insurance, and house projects. I'll be able to modify the amounts needed because of tracking what I actually spend.
Pay off $6000 in credit cards by July 1 . Not doing so well with this one. In order to achieve this goal, I need to pay $800/month to credit cards. February was good, but March was only $600 and April will only be $400 because of car repair. I will have to modify this goal to September 1.
Save emergency fund of $3600 by Dec 31. This goal will also be modified, probably to $2600.



Personal goals

Work out or walk (1 mile) 2x week. February and the 1st 2 weeks of March were successful, but the past 2 weeks have been exerciseless.
Walk Gretsky every day . Not everyday anymore. I need to renew my commitment to this.
Do Flylady routines. Nope
Bible study. Yes! I started attending a Bible study group in February. I also have been learning from Beth Moore online.
Learn something new. Yes! I may be going overboard a little here, but it's fun!
Compost bin/garden. I'm stuck on making a new compost container because I can't find my drill! Organization is lacking!
Monthly house project Nope

Wow! I thought I was making adequate progress, but 6 out of 11 goals are in the red. It's time for me to refocus.

Target vs WalMart: Is there a lesser of the Superstore "Evils"?

This is a guest post by Shopping Ethically. Her blog has links to websites that feature Fair Trade and USA made merchandise.

I recently read an article, "Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector," on Washington Monthly. In the article, T.A. Frank recounts his experiences as a sweatshop inspector and gives insight into just how difficult it is to have a REAL inspection of most Chinese factories since most inspections are announced so that factory managers have time to hide anything shady, change employee time cards, coach factory employees on how to answer inspectors' questions, etc....

The real highlight of the article for me, was an answer to a question that I have asked myself many times over the past year since I started my ethical shopping makeover: is Target any better than Wal-mart or are all superstores created ethically equal? According to Frank, one test for determining how "good" or "bad" a company's social responsibility is finding what percentage of the company's factory inspections are unannounced. Obviously, unannounced inspections are much more accurate in determining the actual conditions of a factory than previously scheduled visits.

His findings: Wal-mart: 26% of inspections unannounced
Target: 100% of inspections unannounced

By this criteria alone, Target seems to have the lead over Wal-mart in social responsibility.

My verdict: if you absolutely have to shop at one of these superstores--make it Target.
***But, you really can avoid shopping at any superstore if you're willing to tack on a few extra dollars (depending on what you're buying) per shopping trip to patronize local businesses. For me, the extra dollars are worth spending to help keep these local businesses running--I don't want to be in a position where my only choice for shopping is a superstore. I have avoided both stores since January, and I haven't had to go without anything--nor have I noticed any huge changes in my expenditures (except for the costs of house-building, but that's another story!).

I'm back!

I apologize for the 2 week hiatus from posting. My computer was infected with nasty stuff (spyware and all kinds of nasty stuff). My Symantic antivirus could not get rid of it and it kept getting worse and worse. Finally, I took the computer to the local repair shop and after two attempts and I'm finally free of all the bugs.

The bad news is that through a series of unfortunate event, I accidentally tried to reinstall Windows and erased some of my programs--like YNAB. I spent yesterday evening entering the data from the last two months and I think I'm pretty accurate.

I'm glad to be back! Has anyone else had problems with computer bugs?

Debt is Going Down!

My credit card debt is coming down! It now stands at $4140! I am very excited to be below $5000 and I should be able to get below $4000 by the end of the month. Maybe a payoff of July is possible :).
Tracking my spending is still fun. I'm going to check my spending percentages in each category at the end of the month to see if my spending is in balance with what Dave and other financial gurus recommend. I don't want to be obsessed with spending, although I must confess that I am right now. My goal is to get a workable system in place, and then move my energy to other hobbies.
On another note, I mistakenly deleted my blog roll on Sunday. I'm slowly building it back up. If you see that your blog is missing from my blog list, please leave me a comment so I can add it!

Master Gardener's Class

I've wanted to take a Master Gardener's class for several years. The class is 13 weeks and is offered by our state university extension office. The requirements are passing a post test as well as 30 hours community service project.
I went to the first class this week. The topics were native animals and then landscaping possibilities with native plants. The speaker had studied both for over 40 years and was very knowledgeable. Using native plants for landscaping makes so much sense. I don't know why I had never considered it before! I'm looking forward to learning much more in the coming weeks.

Anybody have experience growing native plants?

How Did I Do in January?

January is finally over! It seemed like a really long month, because I actually started tracking my expenses on Dec. 29. How did I do on my 2009 goals?
Financial:

• Track spending with YNAB weekly. I love using YNAB. I've been updating almost every day. It just takes a few minutes. As I suspected, I don't really budget accurately. I went over budget by $299, I tend to be too optimistic about the expenses. YNAB will help me become more realistic. I also started putting money each month in irregular expense accounts which will help with unexpected expenses.
• Begin sinking fund account. I'm getting 5% interest at my credit union. I just had $5.14 credited to my account!
• Pay off $6000 in credit cards by July 1. I was only able to pay $600 instead to the scheduled $900 because of the plumbing expense. So I am -$300, so far.
• Save emergency fund of $3600 by Dec 31. I put $80 into my EF for a balance of $930. This amount will go up to $600/month in Sept.

Personal

• Work out or walk (1 mile) 2x week. I rejoined the gym for a 6-week strength training class. For the last two weeks, I went to class 2x/week. The walking has not been going well. I want to step the aerobic workout.
• Walk Gretsky every day. I missed 3 days out of 31--90%.
• Do Flylady routines. Not doing great with all the routines. The sink is going OK.
• Bible study. I signed up for a group Bible study that starts next Friday. I'm excited!
• Learn something new. I may be going overboard here. I joined the local astronomy club two weeks ago. I'm starting a Master Gardener class on Tuesday. Tonight, I went to a support group called DivorceCare for people who are separated or divorcing. I'll keep you all updated on these in the coming weeks.
• Compost bin/garden. On hold
• Monthly house project. I put up curtains on two basement windows. Still need to buy tension rods for the other two. Did not get the chairs recovered.

I'm a little disappointed that I won't be able to make my July 1 payoff goal, but I'm modifying the payoff goal to July 31, 2009. I'm still optimistic!

It's time for "The Office". DS is a big fan and I'm becoming a fan so that we can enjoy watching it together.

Looking for inspiration?

These are some posts that I have enjoyed this week.
Miss Money at M is for Money has an awesome series on getting out of debt. If you are struggling with the motivation to start on or continue with your debt reduction journey check out her posts.

Finally Frugal celebrated her one year blog anniversary this week. She has paid $4500 in credit card debt and is finding all sorts of frugal tactics.

I love reading the end-of-month updates from Won't Go Down Without a Fight , No More Spending, Sharon Rose, and Shaking the Money Tree. Keep up the good work!