August Financial Challenge
Within the past couple of weeks, we encountered 2 financial bumps in the road totaling $600. This surely isn’t pocket change, and until tutoring starts up again, we really don’t have a lot of extra money. However, I am going to try to come up with $600 without dipping into our emergency fund or vacation fund. Here’s what happened:
1. New car tires – We weren’t really expecting this one, but when we got the car emissions and inspection done, we were told that new tires were in order pretty soon. We trust our auto mechanic – they have done a great job so far letting us know about upcoming maintenance ahead of time (ie. belt changes, tire changes, etc.). To date, we’ve been able to set the money aside ahead of time and then have it done at the next oil change. Our total bill was a little over $300 (includes our annual inspection and emissions tests). Usually, we just take the money out of our emergency fund and replenish it, but I would like to try to pay this without touching our emergency stash.
2. Car rental for trip to Arizona in November – We’re going to Arizona in November to visit our good friends. The flight is booked and paid for, but we have been discussing renting a minivan and splitting the cost 50/50 with our friends. We plan on visiting Phoenix, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon – with 2 kids in car seats and 4 adults, getting a larger vehicle to save on gas (as opposed to driving 2 separate vehicles, 1 of which would still need to be rented) seems like a good idea.
My friend called me last week with a great deal on a minivan for the entire week from hotwire.com. Our friends will pick it up and drop it off, and the cost was about $200 cheaper than what we had previously found. I booked it – the total was $295, and I’ll be getting back $15 for using my Discover Card. Our friends will be paying us their half ($140), but they are tight on money right now since they just got back from traveling themselves. They are good for the money, but I want to pay the total amount off without dipping into the vacation fund.
I’ll be keeping track of snowflakes throughout the month. So far, I should be getting $50 from RevResponse, and $25 from my credit union because I signed up for paperless statements. I’ve got some other tricks up my sleeve for this month as well.
Do you have any small financial goals this month? Do you think that I can do it?
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What do you want out of life?
Over the past week or so, I have been reading different blog sites looking for ideas on how to develop my own blog. The main question in my mind has been what topic to develop. I have a lot of ideas, but I don’t want the site to become too messy. I know that I could develop multiple blogs, but I think that a lot of topics are interrelated. After taking a look at Steve Pavlina’s website, I came to realize that I am interested in helping others develop themselves as a whole, and that this encompasses a number of different facets of life.
I specifically took a look at the article How to Discover Your Life Purpose in About 20 Minutes. I realized that there are a couple of big things I want out of life:
1. I want to be a good mom and wife, and I do not want to compromise my quality time with my son.
2. I want to have a job with a purpose that helps other people directly in a way that may change them for the better. I would also like to be able to develop some of my hobbies into potential side-income opportunities.
3. I want to be financially independent – this will help with #1 and #2. When speaking of financial independence, my primary goal would be for both my husband and I to be able to work whatever job we like.
After some more thought, I realized that the first thing I want to do is develop the financial side of this blog. I have seen a lot of different financial blogs, and many of them have wonderful advice. I would really enjoy adding my perspective to the mix, and becoming part of the financial blogging community.
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