Tuesday

I haven’t had a lot of free time this past week to spend writing articles for my blog. Sans research time, I am only left to talk about myself and my own experiences.

This past weekend I spent at home. The original plan was to visit some friends in Minnesota. That fell through mainly because of my ignorance about the things that I really want and that are most important to me. My friendships are very important and it is sad to admit that sometimes I get in my own way when it comes to maintaining them. Luckily, as I am forgiving- so are my friends.

After a long sit down talk about goals and financial safety, Roo and I came to the agreement that we should hit some real goals before spending on something like a vacation. That doesn’t mean that my prior post about finding ways to make a vacation close to free isn’t still in the works.

SIDE NOTE on that- ClubBing.com- free, fun, earn tickets, get free miles. It works. I have only tried one game, but so far it’s not so bad. I’ll keep doing it to hopefully rack up a ton of tickets to offset the amount of miles I still need for a second free ticket. I have some time now that we are waiting another year for vacation. 9000 skymiles in a year shouldn’t be so hard.

My ultimate goal is to have my student loans paid completely and have at least one year of gross salary in the bank. I have done all the calculations and it seems to be a very attainable goal. At the rate I am going, there should be no reason for me to not reach this goal by the end of the year (which is only 10 months).

There are ways that I will be working towards this goal. All raises and bonuses will be going straight into savings. I was awarded a merit raise last week, so that extra amount each paycheck is going straight to the bank.

My company awards small “tokens” of their gratitude to employees who show extra initiatives. Today I received a small gift card award for going above and beyond for the company. That is going to offset other monthly costs so that amount in cash can go directly into savings.

I have even contemplated taking a week’s worth of vacation during the fair to work and make a few extra bucks. There are other incentives that are offered by my company, such as wellness workshops that when completed take a certain amount off my healthcare premium. I’m pretty stoked because a little here and a little there really adds up.