So back in 2012, I set 12 goals I wanted to accomplish by years end... My "12 for 2012" so to speak... and it's time to check in and see how I did.- Put $5,000.00 into a Roth IRA. -- Accomplished. I've been making a point of maxing out my Roth IRA ever since I heard about this awesome gem in 2007 back when the contribution level was only $4,000 a year.... and boy did that seem daughting. I was 21 years old and in my first full time job and didn't have a clue how retirement worked. All I knew was that the internet was telling me I should start saving money now because Retirement is expensive. Little did I know that the Roth IRA would become my best friend with the pension system. I put in after tax dollars and it grows tax free... so when I'm old and I need money, I pull it out and don't pay taxes on it all... which is great because if my pension is still around for me to take when I retire, that will be all taxable income. To date, I've put in $29,000 into my Roth IRAs (split at 2 places--- i'm still working on merging them into a single account at Vanguard now that I understand how investments work.) As of today, they total $30,813.03
- Add $1,200.00 to our emergency fund. -- Accomplished. Our emergency fund is finally fully funded and sits at $12,500.00, which is slightly over 6 months of expenses for our family on a bare bones budget. Additionally, I keep a short term EF of $2,000 split between my 2 checking accounts to make my budgetting easier so I don't have to worry about my paycheck "clearing" before sending in our monthly mortgage payment.
- Pay 2 additional mortgage payments this year. -- Fail. We did pay extra towards our mortgage in 2012, but it wasn't enough to equal 2 additional payments. We made sure to send a few dollars here and there, but we decided to cash flow the replacement of our windows in our condo instead of paying down the mortgage because I couldn't take the old ones anymore (they didn't sit in the frame right) and we realized we couldn't re-finance our mortgage that year. But hopefully 2013 will be the year of the mortgage meltdown!
- Open and put in $5,000.00 into a Roth IRA for South County Boy. --FAIL. SCB wasn't able to really work much in 2012 and unemployment money doesn't count as "earned income" and we only recieved it for a few months. We amended this goal to have him put 10% of his "earned income" into a Roth IRA, and if he has any income that qualifies when I do our taxes then we will try and set up an account for him since we should be elligible for the Saver's Tax Credit which will give us a 50% tax credit on every dollar he puts in there, up to $2k.
- Save $1,000.00 to start a "new car" fund. -- Fail. We started out with a "new car fund" when we thought my mom was going to let us buy her Truck off her for $2k-- and that we would need to turn in SCB's 20+ year old clunker due to smog standards... But my mom ended up selling the truck to my sister's fiance's twin brother for $1,800.00... and then SCB's car passed California Smog standards so we can keep her for another 2 years if she runs.... so we abandoned this goal...
- Change the rest of my accounts, etc to my new last name. --- Fail I forgot one... Just one measly account... I so badly want to say I accomplished this goal... but I have one credit card in my maiden name still... sniff sniff.
- Loose and keep off 15 lbs--- HAHAHAHA FAIL But I did manage to loose the weight I gained when I was all depressed from the birth control pills and my crazy family... but unfortunately it was not close to the 15 pounds I wanted to loose. I ended up loosing a net of 5... not 15....
- Finish a Marathon.-- Accomplished I did the LA Marathon for Child Share for a third time and finished :) For 2013 I'll be doing a half marathon because I'm too busy to train for a full, but i'm going to push myself to try and run and jog more of it then ever before.
- Read at least 6 books.-- Accomplished I actually read more than 6, but who's counting!
- Crochet a sweater--- fail.... But I did start learning to tat and I did sew 2 skirts... and learned about pintrest.
- Attempt to bake/cook 12 new recipes--- Accomplished:
- Meat balls
- Spinach bites
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Bread, rolls and pizza dough
- Fried Rice
- Crock pot beef stew
- Turkey... I roasted my own Turkey!
- learned to cook bacon in the oven and made my own breakfast sandwiches
- Roast Chicken breasts
- Authentic Gyoza (potstickers)
- Experimented with Greek yogurt as a swap for Mayo and Sour Cream
- and we tried a number of new prepared foods like soup and orange chicken (and I can count that because its my blog and i'm soooo close to this one that I get a freebie.)
- Attempt a small vegetable garden on my patio this spring/summer-- half win, half fail..We didn't start a garden because of our finances, in the fall my neighbor gifted me 2 plants, a tomato and a bell pepper and we now have an arrangement for spring to share my sunlight and produce if she buys the plants and I take care of them :)
So while I didn't fully meet all my goals for 2012... (and i'm okay with that) I think we had a fairly good year and I can't wait to see what happens in 2013...
Let's vote... shall I do my 13 for 2013??? Anyone want to make some suggestions for the list?
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