Europe / Progress

Europe
Like most people, I wish I could say that I have traveled more but it never seems like the right time. I realized a while ago that I have to make it the right time and set the plans in motion to take a trip to Europe. I know, that won't help with my financial aspirations, but it will help with the other aspects of my life and after all, this is about balance. I used my tax return to make a large payment on my Chase Disney card and I'll be using that card to buy my plane ticket (hopefully this weekend). I'm a sucker for the Disney points but at least this way I'll technically be paying it in advance and not just getting myself further in debt. By the time the trip comes around in September, I should have about $2000 worth of spending money (rail pass, hostels, food, etc) in Savings 1 which should cover the 12 days I'll be spending in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and England (yay!).

Two Steps Forward
Saturday was a fairly productive day for me. I snuck in four hours of overtime at work for a total of five hours last week which will help make a bigger credit card payment. Hopefully I'll be able to match or exceed that this week to get at least ten hours of OT (my goal per pay period) on this paycheck. I had lunch with my brother which was good for family time but bad on my budget. I fought my inner slacker and decided to go home after lunch and get some chores done. I did a few loads of laundry, vacuumed, planted a small herb garden on my balcony, deep-cleaned and re-assembled my outdoor George Foreman grill (yes, it's as awesome as it sounds) and still had time to go out later. Ruairi will be 'graduating' from obedience school tomorrow so I found time to do some training with her as well, though I'm still not sure it's doing any good.

One Step Back
I was supposed to start my "time budget" yesterday but woke up not feeling well and completely threw it off. At first I thought I should just re-do the time budget to start next week then realized, why not just re-do it for now? If I always say "Oh, I'll start it next week" it will never happen so it is officially reinstated. I also did not stick to my financial budget this last week (my budget is broken down per paycheck) which makes me feel a little guilty. Some of it was frivolous spending (mostly going to restaurants) but a big chunk was buying pet insurance. With the luck I have had in the past with my pets, this was a necessity and something I should have done a long time ago. Having a budget and trying to pay off my debt doesn't mean I can't spend any money, it just means that I have to be smart about what I do spend. Lesson learned: just say no to going out to eat.

Tomorrow I will continue my time budget and hopefully stick to it for a while which means it's time to walk Ruairi and then go to bed.

"Whatever you are, be a good one." - Abraham Lincoln