The Struggle This Week

It's only Tuesday and it's already been a rough week with more to come. Here's the struggle so far:

1. My boss is a gigantic pain.  He keeps emailing me and asking me for things that I prepared and sent him ages ago.  Most recent, a document he insisted that I prepare right that second.  I had prepared it and emailed it to him exactly 1 month ago. Also, it was a document he could have written himself.

2.  My boss is lazy.  Clients keep calling and emailing me for updates because they know I will respond quickly. These are cases that he is lead on and I am only assisting.  I have my own cases for which I am the lead attorney.

3. An attorney (opposing counsel) I don't know and have never worked with before was rude to me.  Without being too specific, he was mad because he did something wrong and I pointed it out.  However, I did not point it out in the way he wanted me to. He went out of his way to send a rude email. 

4. My long term toxic friend is still mad at me. We have known each other for 16 years.  He won't speak to me.  I don't really want him to speak to me, but I also feel bad.  I wish things had ended better. I'm not pushing him, but I feel guilty. 

5. I have a hearing next week that I'm worried about arguing.  It is not a area of the law I have ever practiced in previously.  My boss is no help and wants me to do it anyways. 

6.  I have an expensive work trip coming up.  Like $2,000 with flights and hotels.  It will probably be January before I am reimbursed.  I only keep a max of $1,000 in my work travel fund.

7.  I've been having a lot of joint pain lately.  I have no idea why.  Both parents suffer/suffered from arthritis.  It's very bothersome in my hands and hurts to type.  I'm only 35.

8.  An attorney (opposing counsel) is attempting to bully me in order to get what he wants even though he is doing it wrong.  There is an established procedure.  Why not follow it???

9. I'm worried about my mother.  Her blood pressure has been so high this week.  She takes her meds and works out a little everyday. Not sure what the problem is.

10. I can't afford to retire.

11.  My new neighbors dogs continue to bark incessantly.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Retirement Savings 2017 Complete!

This year, despite my unreasonable and ridiculous spending, I have completed my retirement savings for the year.  My goal was to put $9,500 into retirement for the year and I have accomplished that goal!  Where did all that money go? $2,000 into my 2016 Roth, $5,500 into my 2017 Roth and $2,000 into a taxable account. The contributions and dates are listed below:


1/18/17 - $1,000
4/4/17- $600
4/12/17- $400
4/14/17- $1,004
5/15/17- $1000
6/15/17- $1,000
7/15/17-$1,378
8/15/17- $1,118
8/17/17- $695
9/15/17 -$508
10/16/16 - $797

My retirement account is worth approximately $20,600 as of today. This is great as my goal was to have $20,000 saved for retirement by the end of this year. I finished my retirement savings in November of last year and in October this year.

Looking into the future for 2018, I plan to increase my contributions to $10,500.  That will mean $5,500 into my Roth and $5,000 into my taxable account. My goal will be to have $33,000 saved for retirement by the end of next year.

Mortgage Updates

Welcome to Tuesday! Monday actually went by so quickly and that actually was nice.  I know I often complain about time flying, but a Monday going by quickly was pleasant. 

On to the important things! As I have previously blogged I have been making extra principal payments on the mortgage this year.  Finally, as of the end of September/beginning of October, I have paid more in principal payments than in interest payments! The numbers are as follows:
  

Principal	$5,549.78
Interest	$5,425.01

Yay!! It sucks that so much has gone towards interest, but I keep thinking of all of the interest I am saving by paying extra on the principal. I have to keep this post short as a I have to get on the road (the travel never ends!).  Have a wonderful day!

It's Monday...again

Weekends fly by so quickly compared to the work week and it's now Monday...again.  I have been feeling a little under the weather the last several days, but I wanted to work on clearing some clutter from the house.  I forced myself to work on filing some paperwork in the office in order to clear the overflowing filing bin.  I now have a huge box of papers to shred.  I will save those for my mother since she likes to have tasks to do when she spends time at my house (she will be here next week).  I  cleaned off the desk and threw away a bunch of clutter obscuring the work space.  I managed to find a cabinet for about $80 at home depot that worked for the office.  It's almost 6 feet tall and I was able to clear a couple of boxes of office supplies that were sitting on the ground.  It's nice and organized now.  I just need to get rid of an armchair that is way too big for the small room.  Also, I need to purchase a bookshelf so I can unload a couple of boxes of books that are still in the closet from when I moved into the house. Maybe I can also get my Mother to work on organizing that closet when she comes next week!

After I get the office together, I plan to work on the guest room. Then I need to work on my room It never ends and everything always costs money!

Last week was a hard week for me.  I turn towards organizing, decluttering and cleaning when I am feeling down.  Being busy distracts me from the sad feelings.  I won't go into it on the blog, but I was trying to end a long term toxic relationship without hurting feelings. Well, I did the exact opposite (so much for tact).  So now there are hurt feelings and I feel guilty. Now I feel compelled to try and soothe the bad feelings without getting back into the toxic relationship (guilt complex much?).  Humans are complicated beings. 

Anyways, on to some financial good news!  Last year I earned a total of about $52 in interest on my savings account.  This year as of the end of September I have already earned $57!  I should earn approximately $80 in interest this year!! Now that is some motivation to go to work and earn money so that compounding interest can do its thing! Happy Monday!

Time is Not on My Side

I don't know how time keeps slipping by me.  It's October already.  I only put up one post in September. This has been one heck of a year and it seems to be going by so fast.  Maybe even faster than years past.  Maybe it's because I am older? Anyways on to updates. 

I'm sure everyone has heard about the mass shooting in Las Vegas, again I am late to the discussion.  How disheartening to hear these stories.  The only light in these repeated stories is the kindness of strangers helping strangers.

Financially things are going okay.  I have been overspending a lot lately and I can't seem to stop that.  It's definitely been a theme this year.  I have not been able to figure out why I am overspending so much this year.  However, I have been making progress on my goals so I will take that over nothing at all. 


I had some goals for September- those did not go well!
1. Finish out my retirement contributions for the year- just $1,305 more to go- DID NOT COMPLETE.  I have $797 left to contribute to retirement for the year. The remainder of the cash I had budgeted went to hurricane supplies.  Sigh! However, I am pleased to be more prepared for the next one.

2. Read a book- any book, maybe 2- DID NOT COMPLETE.  I did read, a lot, I just haven't finished anything.  Someone, please help me finish another book this year.

3. Exercise every week- 3 times a week PASS!! I did manage to exercise every week- at least 3 times a week!!

4. Review my budget, long term goals and short term goals. NOPE- didn't even crack a pad of paper or pen  (or computer or spreadsheet) to analyze these issues.

Now on to  October goals.
1. Finish out retirement contributions for the year
2. Work on decor for bedroom (finally after 4+ years)
3. Exercise every week for 3 times a week.
4. Add money to Emergency Fund
5. Blog more than once a month!
6. Purge possessions
7. Review budget, long term goals and short term goals.