Dawn's Evolution

I just had the weirdest, scariest weekend ever. My week or the last few weeks have been a bit stressful with work and school exams coming up, but I am trying to maintain a bit of positivity through it all.

I do have some good news though. As of this month I have reached my tuition goal!
Yep, it's at 100%. I am so happy with it.
I also have a small buffer or emergency fund saved up that I will be fattening.

Right now I am realigning my goals to add on some fun/play time. It's been a while since I have done anything just for fun and I have yet to set foot outside my country.
I plan on traveling, either spending a week abroad or spending a weekend outside the city just having fun.
I'm setting up a budget, I'm hoping to vacation in either September or October. I have to start my internship in November and want/have to be well rested by that time.
At this point my budget is not air tight, most of the amounts are guesses and I will be spending the next month ironing out the needed details.

What do I need:

• To renew my passport. I have been a procrastinator, this is bad as it could take me a few months to get this in order.
  
• Ticket costs of ~$400.
• Play money of ~ $300.
• No hotel cash needed as I have friends and family there who can and want to take me in.

I plan on staying a week, packing lightly and spending as much time outside as possible.
I'm being intentionally vague as to where I am going, but there will be further details when it is all set in stone.

THE HOME PURCHASE PLAN (from Dimple's)

The home I want:

Price: $0 -> $80,000

Down payment: $20,000

Ideal Monthly Mortgage (including taxes, PMI, HOA, & hazard): $1000 (max)

Location: close to the city(preferably a gated community)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1+1/2

Square footage: ?

Year Built: New (custom)

NEEDS/WANTS:

* Quiet neighborhood
* Quick access to major highways
* Close to where I work
* Nice neighborhood
* Gated community
* Hardwood flooring

I've already set my S.M.A.R.T. goals, now just for fun I will be setting my D.U.M.B. goals.
What are D.U.M.B. goals?
D.U.M.B. is an acronym for:
Dangerously
Unattainable,
Monstrously
Big

There are at least 2 other meanings for this acronym but all authors do agree that D.U.M.B. goals are virtually unattainable. D.U.M.B. goals encourage you to reach far farther than you thought possible. It's about writing down your dreams and secret(or not so secret) desires. Here you let your imagination soar.

So what are my D.U.M.B. goals for 2009?
- Double my net income withing the year
-Buy a brand new Toyota Harrier by Januari as a New year's gift to myself
-Go on a 2 week vacation in the Bahamas
-Go on a shopping spree in Los Angeless
-Go on vacation in Rome
-Buy myself a new Iphone and Blackberry also in Januari (more gifts yay!)
-Get my BsC by December 2009 (that means a 2 months to intern and to write my thesis)
-Buy my own Home by September 2009
-Get 1000 rss readers by Januari 2009
-Get 100,000 visitors per day by Februari 2009
-Write an article on Lifehack.org
-Write a guest post on Brazen careerist
-Write a guest post on fabulous financials
-Have my blog featured on a prominent website
-Write an episode for my favorite tv show
-Write a book of vampire fiction
-Create my own sci-fi series

I have soo many more but I'll stop there. But what are your D.U.M.B. goals for 2009?

Since I have already defined what my ultimate goals are, it’s time I listed my short term goals. To do this I will be using the SMART method just to put my schooling to good use. Hehe
What is the SMART method? You may ask, the SMART method helps you properly define your goals. SMART is an acronym for:
S=Specific
M=Measurable
A=Attainable
R=Realistic
T=Time based

So here goes:
My Specific goals:

• Pay my school Tuition
• Receive my 2010 goal salary in 2009 ( I need $14 more, hehe)
• Build up an Emergency fund

How will my goals be Measured:

• Save 2000 Euro’s by the end of February 2010, I still need 1500 Euro’s to pay for next schoolyear
• Get a great performance review and receive more than the minimal salary adjustment (+$14)
• Save up to $1400 and place this amount into a special account for my emergency fund

What do I need to do to Attain my goals:

• Put 150 Euro’s into my school savings account for 10 months
• Educate myself in my new work-project and make use of my contacts. Network some more.
• Put $200 into a separate savings account until I reach the desired amount in my E-fund

Are my goals Realistic based on my current resources:

• I can live comfortably off the money that will remain in my account.

Are my goals Time based? When will they be reached?

• I will reach my tuition goal before February 2010 when I have to make my last tuition payment
• I have my performance review on January 23 2009
• I will reach my E-fund amount within 7 months

I also have goals for this site but before I can fully flesh them out I will need to do some more research. When I have the information I need I will blog about it.
Now all I need to do is figure out how to put a tracking graph in my blog’s sidebar.

These are my short term SMART goals, what are yours?

To me budgeting is like dieting. If your diet is too strict you will end up binge eating. And most people tend to see a diet as something temporary, so that after they have reached their goal weight they resume their old eating habits. Thus they regain the unwanted weight.

That’s what happens to me when I budget. I go through periods of frugality which are always followed by moments of binge buying. And at the end of a certain period I look back and can’t believe that I spent so much money on unnecessary things that I either don’t use or weren’t even bought for me.

So I will not live on a budget, what I will do is:
1. I will be changing my habits.
2. Instead of focusing on a budget amount I will focus on the amount or percentage of income that I can save.

1. The new habits.
I will change the way I deal with my money and make sure that I don’t feel restricted. Because when you feel restricted and deprived that’s when things tend to go very wrong. This to me means:
• Setting aside some play money for eating out, clothes shopping etc.
• Using this play money to allow myself a set amount of clothes e.g: 2 blouses every month
• Put away my ATM cards and only use the cash I have on hand.
• Have a “safe” amount of cash on my ATM card for splurges and small emergencies
• Every end of the month I will reward myself for good behavior 

2. Saving a fixed amount of cash.
This amount or percentage will be automatically relocated to a savings account. Depending on my income or my mood (lol) I may increase the amount that I put into the savings account but I will never go lower than a certain amount. I believe having a minimal amount that you want to save is important.

Why?
It’s all about feeling accomplished. Trust me on this, when you are used to putting away a certain amount of cash each month, you tend to feel a sense of accomplishment when you are able to exceed that set limit. It’s a great feeling and it encourages you to continue saving.

Also important is not looking at that savings account too often when you have just started saving. It can either discourage you or make you want to spend the cash.

This is how I plan on reaching my financial freedom while staying motivated and happy :)

What's you opinion on budgets?

I recently read an article that made me realize that my strategy for setting goals was all wrong. I was looking at it from entirely the wrong angle.

From the article I read I learned that the most important step a person should taken when setting (financial) goals is to ask his/herself :

What will make me happy?

· Traveling the world

· Seeing more of my country

· Owning my own home

· Not worrying about cash when I’m older

· Having enough cash to feel secure in times of economic crisis

How can I achieve all of these things?

· Saving money for the future

· Setting up an emergency fund

· Investing money for the future

· Earning a certain amount of income

How can I get the money I need?

· Earn enough money to cover expenses while still being able to put enough away

How can I earn enough?

· Increase my income

How can I increase my income?

· Focusing on career advancement

· Creating multiple streams of income

How can I do this?

· Furthering my education

· Learning new skills

· Hard work, accepting more responsibility and becoming a valued employee in my place of work

So those are my basic goals; everything I do should increase my quality of life. The goals at the top are the most important, because is nothing but the pursuit of happiness.

One of the most important things that personal finance blog taught me was to change my way of thinking from:” Spend less than you earn” to “Earn more than you spend”.

So in order for me to achieve that ultimate goal of happiness and serenity I will not deprive myself by sticking to a strict budget but strive to earn more to increase the amount I am able to put into saving.

I need to pay my school tuition in April 2009.
I right now have the beginnings of a E-fund on my bank account and am contemplating transferring that cash to my school fund.
But if I do that I won't have an E-fund anymore.
Decisions, decisions...

This month I will be opening up 2 bank accounts:
1- for salary: this will be opened by my new employer as is standard
2- for savings: I will be automatically relocating about $300 of my salary to this account.
This will be my car-fund.

I still have a few accounts that need to be either closed or be made into savings account. I'm still not sure what I'm going to close yet, I now have a account for every mayor currency. This makes it hard to track my cash. So I need to close a few and move my cash to other accounts I can better keep an eye on.
I will be going to the bank(s) later this month when it's quieter.
Experience has taught me never to go to the bank at the end or beginning of the month.

I still have to figure out when and how to pay for my laptop, I thankfully do not have to pay any interest on it :). But I hate being in debt.

I am still focusing on increasing my income not debt reduction. How?
I took a new job which increased my salary by 31%, (also new stress as it is way above my current skill set).

I am also looking into new ways to increase my income, trying to figure out what skills I can use to make money. Maybe I can get a part time job?

We'll see

How do you increase your income?

This is my starting point:

Thankfully I don't have much in the way of debt.

-I right now owe $500 that I spent on a laptop.

-I am a student and trying to remain student loan free by working my way through college. I work full time and go to school at night. Tuition $2,545.

- I want to buy my very own car in 2009, price range $7,000. I'm on the look out for a fuel efficient car.

-I need to finish school in 2 years time, so I am hard at work.

-I just started my job this month, so I am a bit nervous about impressing the new bosses. I get along great with my new coworkers, now I need to focus on getting myself noticed as a hard/smart worker and line myself up for a promotion as soon as possible.

-After I receive my under graduate degree in 2 years time I want to start work on my graduate degree, a MBA. My new boss says that they may fund my tuition if I prove that I am worth it. I plan on doing just that :).

Hi, I'm Dawn.

I have been reading blogs and collecting tips for a few years now. I always planned to start a blog of my own, but for some reason I never got around to it, until now.
This blog will chronicle my evolution into a financially independent, business savvy, articulate and assertive young woman.

I've had a few rough years behind me and I refuse to let it get me down. This is a new beginning, a new day and I am ready for a change.

Wanna join me?