Struggling to be debt free

I received my first dividend on my retirement investments. The mutual fund paid $0.179 a share and I received a total of $23.12! I was so excited for free money! LOL- I wish someone had told me about this dividend thing sooner!  However, even with this dividend thing as of this morning-I'm only up about $15 in my retirement account.  I guess any amount of up is better than down, right?  This investing this is stressful!  I was listening to the radio the other day and one of the hosts on a nationally syndicated radio program stated that he only averaged a 1% return on his retirement account over all of the (20 plus) years of investing.  That's crazy!  He was upset and planning on transferring his investments elsewhere.  It reminded me that I really need to keep a close watch on my investments and if they are not working then I need to make a change. 

On my journey to building wealth and getting control of my finances I have learned that giving is an important factor.  Being single with no prospects, at 34, I am beginning to think that most if not all of the wealth that I will accumulate will end up going to a charitable organization upon my death. So I have started making giving more of a priority, I'm starting off small.  I made a $50 donation to my alma mater.   I sent my pregnant friend (actually she had the baby-but I'm really late!) a $50 gift card to celebrate the new addition. I'm also trying to think of other ways to give, small ways.  Not just to my family, but to my friends and community.  I think I will be on the look out for more community events so that I can volunteer and then not all of my giving will have to be monetary. I don't want to be ostentatious, I just feel compelled to give and help.  It seems these days the world is terrible and harsh.  I want to find a way to mak...

Remaining debt free (Except for my mortgage) is HARD!  There are so many temptations out in the world that make me want to spend money and finance things! For example, I really want to buy new furniture, pretty much for the whole house, but I don't have enough money saved.  However, all of these furniture stores have amazing Memorial Day and Labor sales!! My credit score is high and I would qualify for all sorts of amazing low or 0% deals on furniture. Somehow, I have managed to stick to my guns and I have not yet financed anything, but every time I see an ad...I start to salivate a little.  Also, since my recent vehicle scare- I have been noticing all of the nice, shiny, new cars around me.  It would be so easy to buy a new car.  I just would instantly regret the monthly payment!! Temptation is everywhere and all around me.  It's so hard to resist.  I am now realizing how people can fall into an entitlement mentality. I have been working excepti...

The other day, I was driving my 9, almost 10, year old vehicle to work.  On my way, I noticed the dashboard light for my emergency brake was on.  I thought it was odd because I could not recall using my emergency brake recently (especially since I had just left my garage).  Anyways, at the next red light I hit the emergency brake (it's a foot pedal) to see if it was engaged and it was not.  However, hitting the pedal and then releasing it caused the light to go off.  I thought that maybe a fuse was going bad in the dashboard. The light did not come back on again, at anytime during my drive back to work. However, on my way home from work the light came back on again, but it flickered.  Sometimes when I took a turn the light would come on and then go off again.  A mile or two from home it came on again.  This time it did not go off. All I could think was what a huge expense it would be to repair whatever was wrong. Instant stress and panic! ...

Sorry for the late post, but here is the budget breakdown for the first of June. $1,561 mortgage $348 cellular phone bill $60 pet plan $100 groceries $182 spending $100 gas $180 new vehicle fund. The mortgage payment includes the minimum payment, plus an extra $91! Slow and steady wins the race.  I plan to just keep plugging away! I plan on actually canceling the pet plan for one of the cats this year.  I think we signed up in August of 2013, but I can't quite remember.  I need to get on this as soon as possible, I forget to do this every year.   After this month I will have $540 set aside for a new vehicle! Baby steps, baby steps.  I have only bought 1 car in my 34 years.  I want to have some money set aside for a down payment this time.  I hope my car can hold out for 4 or 5 more years.  (It'll be 10 years old later this year).

Work has been stressful lately.  Very stressful, it makes me really want to figure out what I truly want to do with my life.  My boss continues not to do his job which causes problems for me.  The partner in the South/Central Florida office called today and was angry that a report did not go out as required.  She also claimed the report was not in the format required by the client.  I spoke to her calmly for a few minutes and by the end of the conversation she agreed that she would go back and double check on the report when she got back to the office.  In meanwhile, I forwarded her the email from my boss to me laying out the requirements for the report, a copy of the report and a copy of the email from me to my boss sending him a draft report 3 months again.  I waited all day to hear from her and I did not.  I debated whether to call her and point out her mistake, but decided against it. The next morning I finally heard from her.  She admi...