February 2014 Goal Recap

Another month in the books, and based on how busy I've been the last few weeks, I'm not sorry to see it go. Work has picked up, and grad school has REALLY picked up. I'm in an accelerated part-time MBA program at GMU, with two night classes a week after work. Each class meets for 3.5 hours per week (6:30 to 10:05!), and I've probably got to put in at least twice that amount of time to get the work done outside of class. I'm so exhausted by Thursday. To top off the work and school one-two punch, I'm also still trying to keep up with the blog and meet all my New Year's resolutions. Anyway, enough complaining, here's how I did:

FINANCES: Put $2000/month away in savings (target of $24,000 for the year and max out a Roth IRA ($5500/year).

We put another $4,380 in savings this month, bringing our yearly total to $8,398. That amount is kind of misleading because we got our tax return this month. We really should have been up in the $5,200-$5,400 range this month. I ended up spending $450 total for two tickets to Montreal over labor day weekend (which was actually an insanely good deal, and I'll get paid back for one of those tickets), another $150 for a race entry fee, $300 for a photography class for my wife, $120 to get a passport renewed, and a bunch of small but unexpected expenses. February was an expensive damn month.

I'm revising the goal from January. With a crazy wedding season looming, no more saving for a $4,500 trip. We have three weddings to go to this summer, two of which have bachelor parties in Canada (one in Montreal and one in Vancouver), and one of them is in Maine which promises to be about a $1,500 trip for the wife and I. All in all, I estimate we will spend between $3,500-$4,500 on wedding-related expenses this year. UGH.

I just opened a Roth IRA, and the yearly contribution limit is $5,500 which I fully intend to meet. More on this to come in a future post. 

FITNESS: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.

I went to the gym yesterday to see where I'm at with the pull-ups. I did 10 in a row, probably could have squeezed out one or two more as well, but it would have been ugly. I feel pretty good about where I am right now. I still hate pull-ups, but I'm seeing some improvement. 

I made some progress on the second half of the goal by signing up for a Tough Mudder (hence the $150 entry fee I mentioned). I'm doing it with my Dad who, at 63, physically puts most people my age to shame. Speaking of shame, NONE OF MY FRIENDS WOULD AGREE TO SIGN UP FOR IT. #sad #supersad #theywillbedeadby40. Anyway, June 14th. Get pummmmmped.

CREATIVITY: Average 4 blog posts a month by end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I did more reading of blogs than I did writing of blogs this month. I've been consuming all the information I can find on building wealth responsibly, personal finance, and investing in general, and there's a lot of information out there. Despite that time dump, I still managed to pump out 5 blog posts. I'm changing the goal from 2 posts per month to 4 posts per month, which is pretty much a layup. I NEED AN EASY WIN OK!?

I also posted one project! Check out these shelves I made for the wife, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. 

CAREER: Become a GS-13 by September.

Not much movement on this front. I did speak with my boss to see how to get this process started but I haven't had the chance to follow-up on his advice. This is definitely a huge priority for me, The position comes with a nice pay raise and added responsibility that I wouldn't mind at all.


SPIRITUAL: Find a Church by April and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity by the end of the year.

I FAILED! Still no church for me. I totally missed on this goal, and I'll be honest, I didn't even know I set the 1st of March as the deadline!! I'm going to push it back one month and get off my ass Sunday mornings.

At a school meeting a couple weeks ago, we were discussing different volunteering opportunities that students could take part in. One of them was Habitat for Humanity. I'm kind of holding out hope that I can volunteer with my classmates. 

Whole 30: Complete the Whole 30 Challenge (again!).

We already completed the Whole 30 challenge in January and it was awesome, but since I haven't been as strict with my diet, I'm starting to fall back into some of my old bad habits. No, I haven't been eating fast food, but I'd estimate that only 50% of what I eat is Paleo and I can definitely feel a difference. Ideally, I'd like to do Whole 30 around the same time I do the Tough Mudder in June, but I'll set a loose goal and say that I'd like to do it once more this year. 

Changing Gears: Is it OK to not buy a house by the time I'm 30?

Oh Andrew-from-one-week-ago, you beautiful naive bastard. Did you actually think FHA loans were affordable? hahahahahaha lololololol no. You dummy. For starters, you lose half of your 3.5% down payment to an FHA funding fee so you're basically setting a loan for 98.25% of the home value, instead of 96.5% (which, If we're being honest, is ridiculous either way). Second, you get your monthly payment blown up by mortgage insurance. That's a lot of fun. Third, you can't deduct said mortgage insurance payments come tax time. Three hugeeeee reasons to avoid FHA loans if you can. I might even be missing some more reasons but I'm pretty sure I blacked out when the loan officer was talking and If my head hadn't been stuck in a loop of perpetual nodding, we'd still be in his office.

He did introduce us to a more affordable type of loan if we could scrounge up a 5% down payment. I'll give you a brief, possibly inaccurate, description: the bank sets us up with a loan from Fannie Mae up to $417k, and gives us a second loan for the difference between the first loan and the total amount you need to borrow. Overall, the interest rate would be much higher than what FHA offered once the two loans combined, but since you're not paying the mortgage insurance, you're saving quite a bit AND you start off with 5% of the home value paid for. 

In an ideal world, we would buy a place we loved, live in it until we both finished up school (Summer 2015), and then move abroad for a year or two while renting the place out. Sadly, even though both of those loans would have technically put us in a house in the neighborhood we love, our monthly payments would have been about half of our take home pay. (Why do banks even let people borrow like that? Isn't that how we got into this whole recession in the first place?) Also, unless we can come up with a 20% down payment right now (impossible), we'd never be able to rent the house out for anywhere near our monthly payment to the bank. 

NEW PLAN: Avoid the wanton destruction of our bank account.

Step 1: Don't buy a house right now. We can't afford to buy a place in the area we want to live in and we would have a hard time renting a place in the areas that are cheaper. If we're serious about going abroad, and we are, then buying just doesn't make sense right now. It did get me to thinking about the fact I will be on the other side of 30 (we're both 27 right now) before I'll buy my first place. I'm not sure why this freaks me out but I always thought I'd have a place by 30 and I don't want to feel like I'm falling behind. 

Step 2: Continue renting our current apartment until we move abroad. Debtblag.com has a good post about the value of renting. and it makes me feel a little bit better about our situation. 

Step 3: Continue saving as much as we can for the eventual 20% down payment. This is pretty much never a bad idea. 

Step 4: Find a job overseas that doesn't set us back financially or stall either of our careers (which we believe is possible). I will definitely be posting more on the search for these jobs later!

Step 5: Come back and buy a home. We'd be 31 or 32, and ready to start a family. We'd also have enough in the bank for a down payment of 20% (hopefully). 

Well there it is, our 5-step plan in all it's glory. I feel like I should stamp this post with a big fat "subject to change" stamp. Any comments? Suggestions? OVERSEAS JOB OFFERS?!?

January 2014 Goal Recap

One month is in the books, and I'm happy to report that I did pretty well in regards to my New Years Resolutions...

... but I'm not even sure if I like my goals anymore.

My wife and I have done some soul searching, looked at where we are in our lives, and what we want to do, and decided that we want to work abroad after we're through with grad school at the end of the summer 2015. We're juggling a bunch of ideas in the air like do we try to buy a house now then rent it out while we're abroad? Do we buy the house after we go abroad? What kind of work will we do? Are we willing to put some of our goals on hold indefinitely in order to do this? How long will we be gone? Where do we even want to go?! DOES SANTA EVEN GO TO OTHER COUNTRIES OR IS IT JUST AMERICA!? YOU HAVE TO TELL ME.

Anyway, my brain is going crazy. We're meeting with a loan officer today to see if we can even afford the houses were interested which will (hopefully) give us some much needed clarity. I'm also planning on meeting with some career advisors at George Mason University (my school) to see if they have any insight. We'll make a decision sometime in the next 10 years, so you have my permission to hold your breath.

Without further ado, here's how I did on the goals.

FINANCES: Save $3,000 cash for a vacation before September 2014. Save $24,000 cash for a house by January 2015.

I think I said that we needed to save about $2,350/month to hit this goal and we saved $4,018! BOOYAH! I get paid bi-weekly which normally means I only get paid twice a month. Every so often I get a third paycheck and we have a fun month. This was one of those months WHICH was very timely (and I didn't actually know it was gonna happen) as Whole 30 cost more than expected and we weren't going to hit the $2,350 target. Next month, we may get our tax refund back which would give us an even bigger cushion going forward into the summer months which are typically more expensive for us. (wedding season y'all)

FITNESS: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.

Ummm. Can we skip going over this goal? I did 6 pull-ups last time I tried that out. I freaking hate them. FAIL. I haven't been to the gym very much in January as I was spending a lot of time cooking, being sick, and wrapping up some finals. Excuses, excuses. I'm going to aim for 9 pull-ups by the end of February.

Also, I haven't even registered for the Tough Mudder, but I haven't NOT done a Tough Mudder either. Let's call it a draw.

CREATIVITY: Average 2 blog posts a month by end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I had 8 posts. At this rate, in two more months I can quit this whole blog thing. I also knocked out 2 projects, which I'll blog about later if my darling wife deems me worthy and takes some photos. Once I reach these goals, I'll set some new ones.

CAREER: Become a GS-13 by September.

Little bit of background, I am a federal government employee and I am on the General Schedule (GS) pay scale. I am currently a GS-12 (it's a little bit like a rank in the military) and I will be up for a promotion to a GS-13 in September. In order to get there, I have to pass a written test, write some essays, and get interviewed by a board of people I'm gonna have to charm the pants off. I can always become a GS-13 after September, but I can't be one before then because you have to have "time-in-grade". This means I have to be a GS-12 for at least a year before I am eligible for promotion. September is my anniversary date. Anyway, as I get closer to the date, I have to start scheduling the training to prepare for the tests and the interview. I'll probably sweat through my suit and tie when the day comes which, unfortunately, is not very flattering.

SPIRITUAL: Find a church by March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity by the end of the year.

When I started this post, I was feeling pretty good about myself based on the fact I saved so much more money than expected. Now I feel awful. I didn't even GO to church once this past month. So no, I didn't find a church. I think I may have driven past a few on Sundays.

I did do some research into volunteering in DC with Habitat for Humanity. Definitely seems doable for me and something that would be rewarding.

WHOLE 30: Complete the Whole 30 Challenge

UMMMMMMM YEAH. I FRIGGIN' DID THAT. I plan on doing a wrap up post talking about it, but it was seriously life changing. I recommend it to everyone.

Whole 30: The Cost of Healthy Eating

One of my biggest hang-ups about starting the Whole 30 challenge, and eating a Paleo diet in general, was how much this "real" food costs. Have you all been in a Whole Foods lately? Just count on everything being at least 50% more expensive than what you're used to paying.

Since I've been tracking what we've been spending the last three years, both in grocery stores and restaurants, I have a good grasp on our historical spending habits. I'll show you what we've been spending,  but before you condemn us for how much we spend on food, the cost of living in northern Virginia (less than 10 miles out of Washington DC) is ridiculous. Prices on average are about 20% higher than Richmond (a nearby city about two hours south), and maybe 30-40% higher than non-metropolitan areas. Bottom Line: GET US OUT OF HERE.

Anyway, I created the following tables from my old Excel spreadsheets, they show the monthly cost of food for my wife and I:

WE'RE TERRIBLE. WHAT THE #&@$ HAPPENED!?

Well, I have a variety of excuses lined up for you:

1. We got a little lazy, there's no denying that. We clearly went out to eat more.
2. We both started grad school which meant our free nights to make dinner dwindled away.
3. We started buying healthier food at the grocery store, ditching places like Giant or Harris Teeter in favor of Whole Foods and Mom's. We also went to restaurants that served healthier food. 
4. Lifestyle Inflation. We made more money so we thought we'd spend more money. Makes sense right?

So the burning question: how much did Whole 30 cost us for the month?

$1,027.30 or approx $500/person.

$69.09 at a restaurant (which I got food poisoning from) and $958.19 at the store. It ended up being about $500/person which, admittedly, is pretty terrible considering we cooked all but one of our meals. However, there's a lot we could do to bring that cost down.

1. For starters, before we even went to the store once, we said that money wasn't going to be the reason we failed Whole 30. We wanted to make it as easy as we could to get through the challenge so we didn't really meal plan for then one or two meals in advance. This means we weren't really shopping for deals.
2. We also never cooked in bulk. We usually made just enough for dinner that night and lunch the next day. This sort of ties back in to shopping for deals.
3. We shopped Whole Foods versus Trader Joes which was our biggest mistake. Whole Foods prices are so much higher based on their ridiculous overhead. I'm tired of paying their prices just so they can make everything look pretty on the inside of their store. 
4. We didn't participate in a crop share. There are many services in our area where local farmers will directly ship produce to your front door. You end up getting great deals. We'd actually done this in the past, and loved it, but at the time we were throwing a lot of produce away. We wouldn't be doing that on this diet.

Of course, there are more ways to save money then those four things I listed. In fact, I read one article where a guy was recommending to a) eat less and b) do your own hunting. (UGH. Really?) All in all, I think we could bring the cost down significantly, and we plan on doing Whole 30 again this year. My goal for when we do it again, $400/person. I think this is very achievable.

If you haven't yet done Whole 30, I hope you can use this information to your advantage. Just make sure you adjust my cost of Whole 30 based on your Cost of Living to get a better ballpark figure.

This Resolution Plays for Keeps

New Year's resolutions are a tricky thing. According to StatisticBrain, approximately a quarter of the resolution-making population doesn't make it through the first week (wow, seriously?) and only 8% are successful in meeting their resolution (ok, it's official, we suck). Why so much suck? It's because we have sucky goals that suck worse than we suck.

Take a look at the goals we make each year. Lose some weight. Exercise more. Call mom more. Drink less. All good, but basically, they're just about "doing your best". Can we even measure it? When do we know we've met our goal? We're not likely to stay committed to these. Goals setting should be done with a purpose. Goals should be:

• Public: Telling people you're going to do something makes you more likely to commit to the goal. Tell people you're going to do something on Facebook, and you might do it just to save "face". (WORDPLAY! HOW MARVELOUS!)
• Time-bound and Specific: It should be clear what you're trying to do. Losing weight, for example: how much weight? by when? You need to give yourself a deadline so you'll get around to it and you need to know what the target is exactly.
• Attainable: This is kind of a no-brainer, but sometimes we don't think about it. If you don't believe you can possibly accomplish something (like running a marathon if you're not yet a runner), you're not going to get it done. Think about what it will take realistically to accomplish the goal.
• Difficult: You need to be able to tell the difference between the current state and the goal state. Too easy and it won't mean anything. Too hard and it may not be attainable.  

To steal a page from Red Debted Stepchild, I'm setting some goals that are "cross-off-able" and also taking a stab at using the guidelines above to make better goals.

FINANCIAL ANDREW 2014: Save $3,000 and ACTUALLY SPEND IT on a vacation before September and increase our cash savings by $24,000 by January 2015. 

No shortage of wants here, just a shortage of cash. We definitely want to buy a house soon (dropping $1,535/month on rent for a one bedroom is getting OLD), but we haven't been on an amazing vacation yet and we're not getting any younger. We're gonna have to stash $2350/month (currently on a $2,000/month pace) so it'll take some belt tightening. We can do it. I got faith.

FITNESS ANDREW 2014: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August. 

I typically reserve this time of year for "finally" getting in shape. It's the same routine every year: go to closet, get dressed, put on shoes, lose track of ear phones, despair, "man up", step outside, run, and then condemn all other runners in my mind for making this whole damn thing socially acceptable while I nurse shin splints and eat a row of Double Stuf Oreos because I fucking earned it. Still, I don't want to die a fatty on the couch so here we go again. This past weekend, I could do 8 pull ups in a row, but I haven't really been working out recently because I tore three tendons in my left ankle last July playing basketball. This feels doable. Should also make a Tough Mudder doable, but I'll probably need to get some friends to do it with me.

CREATIVE ANDREW 2014: Average 2 blog posts a month by the end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.

I just want to stick with this whole blog fad, ride it out 'til the end. Who knows if the Internet is even ready for blogs? I DON'T CARE IF YOU READY WORLD WIDE WEB! YOU CAN STAY OR YOU CAN GO BUT THIS IS HAPPENING! .... and I like to refinish furniture and stuff. Gonna do some of that this year fo' sho'.

PROFESSIONAL ANDREW 2014: Become a GS-13 by October. 

I am a GS-12 right now, GS-13 is up next. As a Federal Government employee, this will be the first promotion I will have earned "competively". If you're not in the Government, this makes no sense to you. I'll explain later. Just go with it for now, OK?

SPIRITUAL ANDREW 2014: Find a church by the end of March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity at least once before the end of the year.

Not sure what the deal is with us, we are devout believers in God but we've been living together for 4 years and we've only tried once to find a church (it did not go well!). Time to get it together. Working on my relationship with God is a mega-priority. I'd also like to start volunteering again. My wife and I met in college at James Madison University in Virginia where we were both "brothers" in a co-ed service fraternity. Giving back does a body good. Habitat for Humanity, which I've never done, seems like a good place to reengage.

... and finally!

WHOLE 30 ANDREW 2014: Complete the Whole 30 challenge starting January 1st!

Much more on this to come, but this is definitely my shortest-term, but maybe the most challenging, goal.

If you're reading this, what are your goals? Let me know!

WHAT AM I SPENDING MY MONEY ON!?!

You might already know how important it is to stay on top of your finances but if you don't, let me just rehash a few of my favorite reasons:

• It's depressing as hell to have debt collectors call you about outstanding credit card bills.
• Knowing what you spend your money on is an eye-opener. It can show you the kind of person you are.
• Life is easier when you know what you can afford and can afford what you want.

When I got married a few years ago, one of our priorities was to figure out what were doing with our money. It was immediately overwhelming to us to be staring at what seemed like an insurmountable pile of student loans and car payments.

But we've come a long, long way in a short time, and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. We are now debt free. 

The first thing you should do, even before setting a budget for food or clothes, is track your spending (aka expenditures). To get you on your way, you can start with this: AOAT's Personal Budget Spreadsheet. The link should pull up a Google document  that you will be able to download as an Microsoft Excel file to your computer. It will look like this when you open it:

The file can be used as a free budget template to track your expenses each month. I arbitrarily filled in some numbers to use as an example of what a budget could like each month, and the formulas should work out so that you won't have to do any calculations by hand. Take a look and familiarize yourself with it.

Now that you have the spreadsheet, you gotta put your data in. What I mean is that you'll need to enter in your expenses and incomes. This will help you track every penny that comes in and every one that goes out. I want to stress that I do this every month and it is the single most important thing you can do to stay on top of your financial situation.

If you're just starting out, I recommend tracking your expenses for a month and then setting a budget based off of your current spending habits. It's going to take a few months for you to get an idea of what an accurate budget is, so don't even try for the first month. God forbid your food budget is too little...

Source: mediapickle.me, "Dog Gone Budget".