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It is that time of year again; tax season!
For many people, a tax return is more exciting than any holiday. Tax returns mean shopping sprees and vacations. We dream of Gucci shoes, Prada sunglasses and Coach purses with more anticipation than we do of sugar plums on Christmas morning.
A large return also means a chance to catch up on old bills, bulk up our savings account or pay down debts. Instead of using your tax return to buy more Stuff, take an honest look at your financial situation and use this as an opportunity to begin your journey toward financial freedom.
A refund can buy an expensive pair of shoes or it can be a chance for you to set the stage for a new phase of your life. Living with debt limits your potential. Living without savings restricts your ability to capture opportunity. Now is your chance to eliminate the limitations and prepare for opportunity.
Nothing you can buy at a store will change your life. An expensive purchase may bring a rush of endorphins that make you feel on top of the world, but at the end of the day, you are no better off than you were before and another opportunity has slipped through your fingertips.
A tax refund is only the beginning. A refund means little without a desire for real change. Your good intentions of paying down debt or building savings can be undone in a moment of indiscretion. Real change requires discipline and determination on a daily basis, the days when you make small financial decisions.
Tax time comes around but once a year and we are faced with the difficult choice of fiscal responsibility or personal indulgence, yet each day we are faced with countless financial choices that can accumulate and far exceed the value of any tax return, however, we don’t give them the same amount of consideration. For real change to occur, we need to question the day to day expenses as well.
Financial stability does not occur as a result of once a year decisions. Financial stability results from a daily diligence to save, to live frugally and spend wisely. Financial stability is a result of living within our means and staying out of debt. It isn’t an annual tax return that creates change. This is only the first step in the journey towards a life of financial stability.
Will you use this year’s tax return to buy Gucci shoes or will you use it as a stepping stone towards improving your financial situation and changing your life?
Posted in Consumerism, Life, Money, Opportunity, Preparation, Prioritizing, Taxes | 5 Comments »
Do you want to earn an extra $100?
Earning this $100 will require you to challenge yourself, confront and overcome fear, look at yourself with an honest perspective and persist against a desire to quit.
What is the Hundred Goals’ Hundred Dollar Challenge?
The challenge is a way for you to put $100 in your pocket in exchange for a little hard work. This challenge is about creating a better you and working to build a healthy, active lifestyle. This challenge is a way to motivate you to lose weight and get in shape. The $100 is your incentive to stick with it.
How does it work?
A hundred dollars sounds pretty good, right? Earn money to improve your life and get fit and healthy? It doesn’t get much better than that, so how can you get involved in the Hundred Goals’ Hundred Dollar Challenge?
1) Become a Fan of Hundred Goals on Facebook
2) Take a deep breath, summon up all of your courage and upload a “Before” picture of yourself in a comfortable state of undress, revealing enough to show your true physical condition. (Photos can be uploaded to any photo hosting site you chose, however, a link to the photo must be posted on the Hundred Goals’ Discussion Forum for the Challenge).
3) Exercise
4) At the beginning of each month, share your progress and/or post an updated photo.
5) Six months later participants will post an “After” photo and a winner will be chosen. I will contact that person to arrange payment of the $100 prize. Simple!!!
To get things started, I have posted my “Before Photo” on Facebook! I look forward to a good response, the more people who participate the more interesting the Challenge will be and the more support we are able to offer one another!
Please sign up by April 1st if you would like to participate!!!
Posted in Challenges, Exercising, Motivation | 6 Comments »
Here we are, two months into the New Year and while many people have all but given up hope on their resolutions, I am persisting, even if the progress is slow. It is my belief that real change does not take place overnight and that lasting lifestyle alterations require a period of evolution in which old habits are broken and forced actions become routine.
New Years Resolutions
Diet: “I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs. I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.”
By the end of January I realized that my plan to improve my diet had been almost entirely ignored. I had no way to quantify any improvements I might have been making so I made a promise to track my spending throughout February in order to establish a baseline which I can use to measure success or failure.
Here are the results (also includes Erin’s spending):
Fast Food: $310.78
Groceries: $174.76
Restaurants: $95.40
Other: $9.25
Total: $590.19
Numbers do not lie and seeing the totals has made us realize that there must be changes, not only for financial reasons but for our health. Our plan for the month of March is to reduce our Fast Food spending by half, which will result in an increase in our Grocery spending.
Another aspect of my diet that needs to improve is the amount of soda I drink. I will employ the same approach as I did with tracking my food expenses and track the amount of money I spend on soda in the month of March. From there I will work towards reducing that amount until I reach a point where I am no longer drinking soda. This will be a major feat as I have attempted to stop drinking soda in the past and failed. I have stopped drinking caffeinated beverages since the end of December, so I am past that hurdle. Now, more than anything, it is about breaking an established habit.
Finance: ”I will establish a savings plan to compliment my debt repayment plan. In doing so, I will create a balance in my finances which will help accomplish both goals simultaneously.”
At the end of January I still had not found balance in my finances and made it my goal for February to establish a formal savings and debt repayment plan. Two weeks ago I created a formal budget and began following the guidelines I established. A consequence of creating this budget is that I am not able to focus my full attention on debt or savings. Instead, I am working towards both goals simultaneously, which slows progress on both.
My goal for March is to further refine the categorical details and continue following the savings and debt repayment plan that I established within the budget.
Fitness: “In order to refocus my attention on physical fitness, I have purchased a gym membership and have been exercising on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks.”
My fitness goal for February included establishing a regular schedule in which to exercise. I created an hour a day in my schedule for exercising but regret to say that I have not been following that schedule and that I have not been to the gym for the past couple of weeks. I could blame it on a plethora of things such as my school schedule, tests and homework…but it really just boils down to not taking initiative.
March will be different. I may not make it to the gym 6 days a week like I was at the beginning of the year but I want to exercise a minimum of 3 or 4 days a week for an hour each day.
Personal Resolutions
Travel: My goal is to travel 50,000 miles in 2010. In February I did not do any traveling however I was able to finalize plans to visit Hawaii this summer, roundtrip is approximately 9,400 miles. In March I am spending a week in Germany to visit a friend; ~9,300 miles roundtrip. In May I will accomplish my goal of traveling to Iceland; ~6,100 miles. With the traveling I did in January (~5,000 miles), I will be left with approximately 20,000 miles. That is a huge distance, and though I have a couple of plans in mind, none of them will come close to closing that gap. It is still early in the year and it is impossible to say what might transpire over the course of the year, so I will remain optimistic!
Education: Classes this semester are proving more difficult than the last. I am struggling with Chemistry and almost failed my first test. I can still pass the class with an A, though it will be a monumental challenge. I will work as hard as I can to keep my GPA above 3.5 for the semester.
Student Loans: February was the first month with my new budget and I made my first budgeted payment to my Student Loan account, $350.
February was an opportunity to take an honest look at the progress I am making on my resolutions and realize the failures in a quantifiable way. March is sure to bring about its own set of challenges but opportunity and success will follow.
Posted in Goal Updates | 2 Comments »
Rather than a lengthy article, today I am calling for action.
In the few moments which you would usually spend reading about motivation and goals, use this time as an opportunity to improve or change a small piece of your life.
Pick up the phone and call your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter, for no other reason than to say “Hello.”
Write an old fashioned letter to your significant other telling them how much you appreciate and love them.
Lace up your shoes and go for a walk.
Send an email inquiring about how you can become involved in a local charity or organization.
Change in life begins small, the same way the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Posted in Motivation, Opportunity, Prioritizing | 3 Comments »
Being a new blogger is tough.
The hardest part isn’t finding a topic you are passionate to write about or even writing insightful, quality articles. The hardest part is getting people to read it and join in on the conversation.
I want to change that, and this Blog Carnival is my attempt to spread the word about upcoming blogs. Here is how it will work, and it depends on you to make this Carnival a huge success.
1) Post your “Elevator Speech” about your blog in the Comment Section. Let everyone know a little bit about yourself and what topics you write about on your blog.
2) Post a link to your blog at the end of your comment.
3) Post a link to the Blog Carnival on your blog and promote the Carnival as much, or as little, as you like. Have a Facebook account? Share a link with your friends.
It is that simple, and with everyone working together, this could be a great chance for you to spread your message and share your blog with the world. I can’t do this on my own and from here, it is up to you!
If you don’t have a blog, I encourage you to check out the comments and visit some new & upcoming blogs!!!
Cheers!
Posted in Link Collection | 5 Comments »
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