Goals for 2012

After taking unplanned break from forming goals for 2011, I am back. I am again trying to work on lots of issues at one time. It will be a big daunting failure if I will not decide on some (???) goals for 2012. I did OK in 2010 thanks to this blog. Hope to ATLEAST achieve that much and I will be one happy gal.

So here go my goals for 2012:

Health:
1) I have a new responsibility in my life. So it’s high time for me to be responsible for my health. I gained quite a lot of weight while pregnant (:)) and lost most of it but not all. I would like to go back to my pre-preg day’s weight. Ideally I would like to achieve this by the time my baby is 1 year. But, even if I achieve it by EOY (end of year), it will work. This will do lot of good to me financially, that might enable me to fit in my pre-preg days clothes.

Financial
My financial life is at lowest point ever. In 2011 I was not able to save even 5% of our in hand salary where this household is used to save close to 30% of its in hand. :( Plus me not working for first quarter in this year is also going to be a big strain on my finances. So my financial goals are going to be more challenging than first one.

1) I want to bring our mortgage to such an extent where my house can service itself. To achieve this by EOY, I need to bring in close to 8L money. This is going to be tough.

2) Maintain my EF as 3 months of expenses once I join back my job.

3) If I can save for retirement as much as I did in 2010, that will be a good punch to future expenses.

Personal
I wish I could become a SUPERMOM. :)
But Santa (on Christmas) and Lakshmiji (on Diwali), both of them told me that no wishes for you for this year. :( So, let’s formulate some goals in that case:

1) I am a late sleeper. What I mean by that is I sleep by 2:00 at night and love to get up at 10:00 in morning (I wish I could tell you the truth that 10:00 is actually 12 :)) But once you have a baby and you plan to join your job and you also decide that you will cook morning meal plus lunch yourself, this won't work right? So have to start the habit of getting up at 6:00 in the morning. Only if I would have thought of this while in school, I would have been favourite of all my teachers. :(. But it’s never too late, is it?

2) I think one of the most vague yet most important goals is to maintain a WORK-LIFE balance once I join back my job. This is going to be tough as there will be lots of unknown (to me) hurdles all along the way, but I will need your blessings and I sure can do it. If I can't, then I can always quit my job again (of course first I have to join again) and live this ideal life of being at home all day with my baby. :)

So 6 goals in all, what do you think will I be able to surprise myself by achieving at least few of them?

Are you also crazy enough to form goals in New Year?

My Blessing - that kept me away from here

This is one of the reasons that kept me away from my blog from so long and probably will not let me being regular even in future. :)

Yes, I delivered a baby this August.

2010 Goals Tracking - Year End

A caution, this is really a long post.
We are in last month of the year. I am already thinking about things I want to achieve in next year. This year for the first time I am finding it difficult to find the goals, because from last 4-5 years my goals always revolved around money and I kind of do very well in that department without much of the effort. Hence, while setting last year's goal, I actually for the first time added some non-PF goals in my life.

This revealed one of my big weaknesses to me, something that I can exploit to improve me. I so much hate writing fail for any of the goal that I consciously started working on those things that I used to hate at one time. And I know this is a PF blog and I generally don't write about personal experiences here other than one’s related to money, but I think that my goals for next year will hardly be PF dominated.

Now I look at goal setting as the technique to improve those areas in my life that I really want to improve. So in my year end review, I want to visit not only how many pass vs. fail but also what was hidden motivation behind all my goals.

These are my goals for 2010:
1) Continue learning new dishes to cook. One new dish per week.
Result: 7 Pass vs. 5 Fail
I used to hate cooking. When I got married some 3 years back, I couldn't even prepare a decent tea. I am lucky enough that my in-laws and my husband in particular are OK with it. In NOIDA we had a cook since beginning and my husband will happily prepare breakfast and tea for me (and I am a tea addict).

What got to me to want to change it? LOVE. Yes honestly, I love my hubby and he loves food. He is a big big foodie. After 2 years of my marriage, I started getting those feelings that I want to cook for him, I want him to say good things about my food and so on. In fact, I tried doing this even in second year of marriage, but resolution never lasted more than 2 weeks.

Setting this goal helped me improve my cooking. And after moving to Hyderabad I realized that it’s very difficult to get a decent cook of our taste here. Now I cook dinner everyday which is a big achievement for a person like me.

2) Continue to be on budget.
Result: 8 Pass vs. 4 Fail
What can I say more than the fact that I love budget and personal finance else why will I have this blog. Plus I like to see my savings grow rather than expenses grow. I started with a set budget to spend per month and exceeded it by 10K as per the need (see I am flexible and not at all that rigid or was it like I hated idea of writing fail over here). But I stayed in budget for most part of the year.

3) Start saving for prepayment of mortgage. 2L should be saved for same.
Result: 9 Pass vs. 3 Fail
We survived a pay cut in 2009 and mortgage has been my first liability ever in life. So I realized the importance of reducing the mortgage amount by prepaying the same. This goal somewhere got modified as save 6 EMIs as emergency fund because my DH was not in favor of prepaying mortgage. I saved 9 EMIs as emergency fund, way more than my set goal.

4) Contribute to retirement as per the plan.
Result: 12 Pass vs. 0 Fail
Well, this part requires least of the effort as everything I do is automated. So I can hardly fail on it unless I don’t have funds in my accounts which have not happened even once in last year. Thanks Murphy and GOD for that.

5) Be less obsessive on daily tracking of things.
Result: 10 Pass vs. 2 Fail
I think I already confessed here that I was obsessed for tracking every penny spent. But then I realized that I should overcome my obsession or in fact was forced by my DH for same (he doesn’t like to be accountable for number of Pepsi’s he drinks in a day).

A confession, my life is stress free once I got rid of this habit. I still track how much we spend in a month but no need to know how much went for Pepsi and how much for other things.

And one last thing to mention on this point, I have started the tracking again because I want to get the idea of expenses we incur in new place and was suggested by DH himself but it is stress free so far.

6) Learn to swim.
Result: BIG FAIL
I love water and that’s why always wanted to learn to swim. And I have a sinusitis problem which once again made it impossible for me to swim. This will be in my list of things to do before I die.

7) Improve healthy eating.
Result: 8 Pass vs. 4 Fail
Though number shows another picture I can say that it is still close to failure. I need major improvement health wise. That’s one area of my life that I neglected till date (I was almost about to reveal my age. OMG). This area needs major focus next year.

8) Earning Rs 50250 (2010*25) extra in 2010
Result: 9 Pass vs. 3 Fail
I don’t do any extra work other then my full time job and house hold chores and I don’t pay myself for latter. This mainly comes from passive income, reward points and gifts. Yes I actually try to save all the cash gifts I receive and some amount corresponding to all the materialistic gifts as well from my budgeted amount. Did I hear insane? Well I’ll say it is just a mental technique to improve my savings.

Little Update on my end

My posting here became very sparse because I was very unhappy with my job and redirected all my energies to doing something about it.

Few months back I got an offer from some org in another city but couldn't join it because of personal reasons.

My DH and me, mutually, decided that we both wanna change our jobs and hence started hunt once again. He got a job in Hyderabad and finally I also got one there. So we are relocating to Hyderabad.

So, I am sure i'll be able to resume my thoughts on money here once my relocation is done. Its just few more days to go and I am really reverse counting them.

Any packing/relocating tips from any of you guys? Please do let me know.

Update Post

There has been a silence over here.
So a little update post about "whereabouts and whatabouts".

Well, I decided to let pass the opportunity I talked about. Simple reasons, it's not lucrative enough to leave my settled home and resettle everything in new state. That hassle needs more motivation then current offer is.

And I had a fight with my manager in my current position. So, I am more then determined to change my Job. This means rigorous study and hence no time for this blog for now.

In fact, this time this urge is so serious that first time in my life I have stopped tracking my expenses. Yes, this month I am not tracking my monthly expenses. Just took out a lump sum money and till everything is within that amount, I am going to be OK. I don't want to waste any time on tracking.

I will be posting scarcely here for now, but will definitely be catching with everybody on my GRS. It can't be all work after all.

For now, I am hoping, preparing and praying to get a new job soon.

my car music system got broken

Today morning at around 6'O clock somebody rang my door bell.
Irritated to be woken up so early, i came to knew that someone has broken my new car's back window pane to steal my music system. :(

Things broken:

1) Window Pane
2) AC duct
3) Music system
4) Indicators were also not working in the morning.

How I feel, terrible. :(
My DH is now at service station to get the car repaired.
And I am waiting for the bill.

Unexpected expenses just pop up unexpectedly and in sad sad way.

IDFC repeats the saga of HDFC fund house

I shared in my previous post how fund house or CAMS delayed sending ECS mandate form to my bank and I had hard time understanding the reasons.

IDFC fund house repeated this saga for me. On 15th when my HDFC ECS bounced, I was worried for IDFC ECS, which was due on 18th and mandate form was still not available with my bank. I called IDFC fund house almost 5 times in two days politely requesting them to tell me the status of ECS mandate form. They kept on telling me that they will get back to me in 1-2 hours but never called back. Hence, I had to make 5 calls for same. Then on 17th evening, I requested them to please stop the ECS for tomorrow. Guy told me he will call me back in 2 hours but I never got a call back.

Result of ridiculous customer service of IDFC fund house, I paid service charges for my bounced ECS. I can only wish that there are more entities like ABN Amro Bank.

My new angora wool sweater and Kurukshetra Trip

Last weekend I bought a new sweater for me, one made of angora wool. It was something I was trying to find from last two years. When I got it at 60% off, I couldn't resist, though I would have preferred different color. I won't be using it much this year; because winter will be almost gone by this month end but I am sure it will be used extensively in coming years.

In my opinion it's good to shop at off season sales as one can get good discounts.

What about you? Do you ever shop in off season sales?

Also, on weekend we went to Kurukshetra. I'll be posting its pictures soon. It's a beautiful pilgrimage kind of place with lots of historical temples from Mahabharata time.

Changes done in life

This is more of personal update kind of blog.

About 17 months ago, I listed things that I always waste my money on. I would like to see whether that listing has helped me to curb any of my bad habits or not. Here is the update

Wallets - I bought only one new wallet since then and yes got two new as gift. I'll count it as a success, because I curbed my urge to spend on this on my own. (Score: 1/8)

Strange Dresses - I took 2 trips since then and have not bought any traditional dress at any place. I also curbed to buy lovely Japanese Frock so many times. (Score: 2/8)

(P.S. I loved something similar to shown in photograph, in red color).

Key chains – Have not bought any new keychain since then but got 2 as a gift. To compensate, I have given away approx 20 key chains from my collection. (Score: 3/8)

Balloons – No more balloons for me. Wow. I am doing well. (Score: 4/8)

Handcrafted Stuff – Very hard to resist and I failed badly. I Bought lots of handcrafted stuff to decorate my home. This is a sure shot failure. :(

Sun Screens – No new sunscreens bought since I listed that I have fetish for them and also got none as a gift. Success. (Score: 5/8)

Gifts – No Comments. All I can say is: "Few Habits Die Hard". ;)

Stationary – Not even a penny spent here. Wow. (Score: 6/8)

Final Score: 6 out of 8 have been controlled. That is the fun of listing things down. If things can be seen in black and white, they can be worked upon.

Summary of 2009 - Financial Aspects

2009 has been a year of lots of financial turmoil and achievements.

My 7 picks of this year are:
Recession: Most of the growing economies including Japan were in recession in 2009. All the economies were either not growing or were growing at much smaller pace.
Loss of jobs/ pay cuts: Lay offs and pay cuts were one of the most common words around. Almost all the countries and all the industries saw layoffs and pay cuts.
Sensex fall and smart recovery: Sensex's free fall began in 2008 and continued till March 2009. In March, after touching 8K levels, it recovered back to 17K in less then 9 months. Whew.
Mutual Funds trading: MF trading saw lots of refinement. Entry loads were completely removed and also now they can be traded on sensex.
Fringe Benefit Tax: This is one of the changes that directly impacts salaried class. FBT has been removed and now more of my package is taxable.
Gold prices are on continuous Upswing: I love buying gold but have not done this since one year. Gold is at all time high price and breaking new upward records every other day. Time to switch to artificial jewellery.
Falling Interest Rates: Same bank's same duration FD last year was returning 10% and this year only 7%. On the other hand, 2009 saw new home loans at 8%.
Direct Tax Code: DTC was proposed.

2009 personal finance roundup

I never set any goals for 2009. But since we are in last week of 2009, I am trying to list how we (me and DH) fared financially in 2009.

1) We saved for my new car and bought it using down payment.
2) We are under budget in our yearly allocated expense amount by approximately 41K. This is not bad at all, given we faced so many unplanned home improvement projects in 2009.
3) We exhausted and exceeded my spending in 3 categories of my budget. Eating Out, Home and Gifts (No body gets any gift for guessing the third one).
4) We were able to reduce electricity bill of my house to two-third.
5) Fuel charges are also reduced significantly.
6) Though we are over-budget in Eating Out, we still reduced significantly compared to 2008. This is because this time I allocated half of what was allocated in 2008 and I am over-board by one Rs100.
7) I have curbed by shopping for clothes obsession significantly.
8) We have achieved our savings goal for the year.

How about you? How you all fared in 2010?

Me back... first blog in my second season

I was absent from this blog for quite some time now. But I was reading all the blogs on my GRS.
Finally, I re-gained my motivation and spirit to restart here. Hopefully, I’ll have more information to share with you all.

In the period in-between, what I have been doing? Well, a glimpse:
1) Trying to manage my home on budget.
2) Trying to be smiling in this tough time.
3) Trying to learn more about my new work.
4) Learning new recipes.

This tiny list was my to do along with so many other chores of house and office. Time management has been a challenge lately and also new problems that I faced in my professional life. Life has been a roller coaster ride for me from last 5 years. No matter how much I try to enjoy my ride, a bump or two makes me utterly disillusioned and frustrated. I am not at all a believer of luck, so seeking all the responsibility on my actions and onto myself really bog me down.

But here I am, once again to find solace in what I like the most, writing.

November Final Update and December Goals

November is almost gone. I lost my CC and 50000 bucks in one second. That happened almost in mid of the month and then we were very demotivated to save. So we are little over budget this month, minus the loss. Major goof ups from our side:

1) Eating Out and Outing budget is over shoot.
2) Gifts is again high.
3) Bills were high, because we had some pending bills.
4) I had 6 No Spending Days from 8 planned.

I know what all I did wrong, so no point in analyzing.

My Cell phone is 5 years old and in very very bad shape. It switches off automatically every time i am talking to someone. I desperately need a new one. This is shaking my next month's budget too. I wanted to wrap everything in 30000, but it seems I have to goto 32000.

So this is my goal for next month: 32000 for all monthly expenses.

October Final Update

October is gone and that was my month. I struggled through out, reasons many:
1) Last month's goof up
2) Inflation increases as an every day phenomenon
3) Tight schedule in office
4) Festival season

But there was the biggest positive that came out of september, this month DH was supporting me rather then questioning me in budgeting. He really helped me in cutting down eating out expenses. My september experiment paid off really well, more then I expected it to. So I am glad with the results.

I spended Rs4000 more then I actually budgeted. Which is 26% more then I wanted to. Quite bad, isn't it. But I guess I should be able to control it as it seems to be in categories like Gift, Home Stuff and Misc.

Out of 10 No spend days that I planned, I got 5. Again only 50%.

Overall, atleast numbers wise, October was a failure. :(

One more no spend day

I got one more no spend day. Managing home and planning in a way to get no spend days seems to be so much difficult. Either grocery, or something pops up. :(

Well, here are my numbers so far:
No Spend Days - 3/10

Mid Month Update

I am really running busy now a days. With new work and festive season around makes life very busy. And here are my number so far, very de-motivating :(

2/10 (with 12 days already gone).

It seems to be almost impossible to meet my targets this month. :(

Septembers Final Update and October Goal

September is gone and my marriage is 5 months old. :) wow.

Neways, this blog is not about my life, only finacial part of it.
September was not my month, DH managed it and blown it off.

1) We needed more money then actually allocated, we went over budget. :)
2) CC bill is blown. Quite predictable but not all his fault. He only added some to it, rest were few bad things that just happened along the way.

But yes we really splurged, ate loads of Pizzas, watched 2 movies but not much of shopping. I also had two get together in last month, so all OK.

October, is again to me. Lets see how I fair, I hope of doing good. :)
My goal:

1) simple as always, limit my home budget with Rs. 15000, and lets see how I fair.
2) Have 10 no spend days in october. I am doing this for the first time but lets see how i fair. :)

And yes, I was checking on the contingency cash that I have accumulated through money that I saved while managing house. In just three months, I managed to save around Rs 6000, out of which we already took 1000 last month to meet the ends. So, now I am left with Rs 5000 and thinking of putting it in some saving account. Lets see how this goes! Will update you all, but thought of sharing this with you all.

Me seems to be back.. atleast for now

I missed this, reading and writing.
I almost read all that you all wrote in the meantime, even though not commented much.
First of all some updates from my side:
1) I recently changed my team I work for. It was tough, I was working on last product for almost 3 years and was completely in my confort zone, but thats exactly what I hate. I love everyday to be tough and challenging. Initial 15 days in this new project were very very tough. I don't know linux, I dread it. Now that will be main platform for my development, so things are going to be tough for another 6 months. But I am sure I'll learn a great deal in return.

2) Last month, DH managed home finances(or shall I say blown them up :)), but I guess he has tasted what I wanted him to know. This I'll be able to comment more only in coming days. Exactly about my finances later, but it was fun. I mean yuu just sitting and he managing the numbers, fun. :) We should do this every 6 months.

3) I finally recovered completely from my illness. My throat and mouth seems to be doing perfectly fine for now. Fingers are crossed.

I think put lots of things on track last month, so I call it a success month. :)

september update

One of my reader emailed me yesterday and asked that why am I not writing about money lately and writing more on this - that. Well because, I am not handling money this month. This is an experiment month where my DH is handling our monthly budget, he really needs little discipline. This is my first step to teach him same, discipline in his life and not only in his money. :)

Also I am planning few more things that he needs to learn regarding discipline. :)

So, I am now a days concentrating on other things, not directly related to saving.

And to update on goals I set for Sep, DH handling has not met any of them and we will never meet them in this month. :)

August Update

August was a bad month financially. I overshoot my budget and my credit card has given me even bigger dent for this month. Again there were many reasons:
1) So many birthdays (4 of my family members)
2) Festivals
3) I needed some furniture for my home
4) My car (eats a huge pie)
5) I fell ill and also my DH

Bad in all. :(
I hope to recover from it all this month and hopefully by next month I'll be back on my target. :)

My September Goals:
1) Manage all the expenses within cash budget
2) Use Credit card only for petrol
3) Save at least half of what I usually save monthly