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Fixing Update #1
Sep. 10th, 2006 04:46 pmHere is an update on my progress on fixing things.
Job - no progress
Weight - I did not do any aerobics, but I did do an extra body flow class, so that helps some. I didn't quite make a roller skating opportunity. I did go dancing, though I normally would have. But I've had slight achiness everywhere all weekend from exercise. That's good, right?
House - Negative. I washed dishes. Then I cooked Meatballs Scandia from an old recipe I got from Carl. The good news is although I could find only one of my skillets, Robin has a million, so I used one of his too. This made things go quicker.
The bad news is it still took an hour and a half. And there was so much stuff on our little cart that I moved it out of the way to get better access to the stove. I used so dang many dishes that I really didn't want to do them all. It got to the point where I was running out of places to set things. At least the dishes are done now.
Oh, the other good news is that supper was yummy and there's some left for lunch and Robin liked them too.
The only thing I've organized has been my financial spreadsheets. I created a cash flow spreadsheet while I was taking a class in personal finance, but I found it not helpful. There were too many categories. For example, you're supposed to enter the numbers on every line of your pay stub. I have been preferring to just use the bottom line, net income.
But now that we have that flexible spending program where you can remove money for health costs before taxes, using the bottom line isn't quite right anymore. Especially since my raise shows up next month, along with a higher withholding for flexible spending and a higher deductible for insurance, so the bottom line will actually look a bit worse.
Plus, I'm realizing I should make a separate line for medical expenses anyway instead of including them in "other" now that I'm actually going to the dentist and occasionally having health problems (a swollen thyroid a couple of years ago, a scary spider bite before that). If I really want to prepare properly for retirement, I should be looking at my medical expenses, not ignoring them like I have been, to get a better idea of what this is costing me.
I'm adding some subtotal lines to my cash flow spreadsheet so I can look at a smaller number of subcategories. I'm tired of wondering why my savings looks like it does, since one of my savings categories (early retirement savings) is the total I have saved minus the amount I have set aside for specific expenses (and which has been negative ever since I bought that extra year of service so I could retire a year earlier).
This cash flow spreadsheet still needs more work, though. I was trying to use it to see how I compare to the budget recommended on this Budget Planning and Management web page, but my percentages for each category only added up to 84%.
I also looked at insurance costs. I'm not sure I would have guessed how different insurances that I pay for compare. Below are my current monthly costs, in order from most to least expensive.
Health: 319.50
Homeowner: 56.32
Car: 41.75
Flood: 19.42
Long-term disability: 11.52
Dental: 10.73
Job - no progress
Weight - I did not do any aerobics, but I did do an extra body flow class, so that helps some. I didn't quite make a roller skating opportunity. I did go dancing, though I normally would have. But I've had slight achiness everywhere all weekend from exercise. That's good, right?
House - Negative. I washed dishes. Then I cooked Meatballs Scandia from an old recipe I got from Carl. The good news is although I could find only one of my skillets, Robin has a million, so I used one of his too. This made things go quicker.
The bad news is it still took an hour and a half. And there was so much stuff on our little cart that I moved it out of the way to get better access to the stove. I used so dang many dishes that I really didn't want to do them all. It got to the point where I was running out of places to set things. At least the dishes are done now.
Oh, the other good news is that supper was yummy and there's some left for lunch and Robin liked them too.
The only thing I've organized has been my financial spreadsheets. I created a cash flow spreadsheet while I was taking a class in personal finance, but I found it not helpful. There were too many categories. For example, you're supposed to enter the numbers on every line of your pay stub. I have been preferring to just use the bottom line, net income.
But now that we have that flexible spending program where you can remove money for health costs before taxes, using the bottom line isn't quite right anymore. Especially since my raise shows up next month, along with a higher withholding for flexible spending and a higher deductible for insurance, so the bottom line will actually look a bit worse.
Plus, I'm realizing I should make a separate line for medical expenses anyway instead of including them in "other" now that I'm actually going to the dentist and occasionally having health problems (a swollen thyroid a couple of years ago, a scary spider bite before that). If I really want to prepare properly for retirement, I should be looking at my medical expenses, not ignoring them like I have been, to get a better idea of what this is costing me.
I'm adding some subtotal lines to my cash flow spreadsheet so I can look at a smaller number of subcategories. I'm tired of wondering why my savings looks like it does, since one of my savings categories (early retirement savings) is the total I have saved minus the amount I have set aside for specific expenses (and which has been negative ever since I bought that extra year of service so I could retire a year earlier).
This cash flow spreadsheet still needs more work, though. I was trying to use it to see how I compare to the budget recommended on this Budget Planning and Management web page, but my percentages for each category only added up to 84%.
I also looked at insurance costs. I'm not sure I would have guessed how different insurances that I pay for compare. Below are my current monthly costs, in order from most to least expensive.
Health: 319.50
Homeowner: 56.32
Car: 41.75
Flood: 19.42
Long-term disability: 11.52
Dental: 10.73