Struggling to be debt free

I have a multitude of ideas for posts, but I lack the motivation and the inspiration to write about anything complicated.  So instead I will write about how my January has gone towards meeting my 2018 goals. I managed to finish one book this month, Camino Island, by John Grisham.  It was a quick and easy read that slightly held my interest.  I got through it based upon my goal of reading at least 20 pages a day.  I have started a new book by James Patterson, Cross Justice.  It's a rather lengthy book and I don't know if I can read throughout it.  I may switch to a shorter Agatha Christie book. As far as retirement, I contributed $1,390  this month.  Next month's contribution won't be so robust as it's my mother's birthday, HOA fees are due and my escrow shortage (again!) will be due. My charitable giving was kicked off with a $50 contribution to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. I managed to get some exercise in everyday this week, but my ea...

 Let's see how I did on my 2017 goals.  (I know this is super late as it is almost the end of January.) 1. Increase emergency fund from $15,000 to $17,500.-FAIL I only got my EF to $16,845 by the end of the year.  Close, but no cigar.  I gotta do better with this for 2018.  2. Add $9,500 to my retirement with an overall goal of having $20,000 in retirement savings by the end of the year.--PASS! I contributed $9,500 to retirement for the year. I believe between my roth and taxable I ended the year with approximately $22,000 for retirement.   3. Pay an extra $100 a month on the mortgage, with an end goal of having the balance under $210,000 by the end of the year.- PASS I paid at least $100 extra on each mortgage payment for the year.  After my raise, later in the year, I  put $290 extra on my mortgage each month.  4. Save an additional $2,500 into car replacement fund with the end goal of having $5,000 in the car replacement fun...

Yesterday I made my first contribution to my Roth for 2018.  It always feels good to put money away for retirement.  This first contribution totaled $1,390, so only $4,110 to go to fully fund my Roth for the year.  I try to blog about each contribution because I like to track how much I contribute (And when).  Also, this is a watershed year because this is the first time I have not had to finish funding my Roth from the previous year prior to the April deadline.  After I fully fund my Roth I will add $5,000 into my taxable account for the year.  I am considering putting any tax return towards my Roth this year.  (Any tax return could go towards my Roth, car replacement fund or furniture fund.  I just can't decide whether to do all 3 or just 1.) Yesterday, I made a $50 contribution to St. Jude's Children's Hospital to jump start my charitable giving goal.  It really felt good to start working towards my yearly goals in January.  I love ...

Have you ever asked for a raise?  In my 13 years of practicing law I have only formally asked for a raise once.  I was surprised at how infrequently I have asked for a raise.  At the beginning of my career, I switched jobs fairly frequently (about once every 2.5 years) in order to increase my pay rather than wait for pay increases.  I wonder how common it is for others to request raises.   I began my career making approximately $46,000 working for the State of Florida.  I received a raise (really 2 at the same time) and began making approximately $52,000 after about a year and half.  I left after 2.5 years (total) to work in a private law firm making $57,500 (private law firm "A").  I worked at private law firm A for about about 3 months (it was horrible).  I then went to another private law firm (private law firm "B") for the same salary ($57,500).   Private law firm B was run by a sole proprietor who did not like to give raises ...

I included in my 2018 goals a that I wanted to increase my charitable giving to $300.  I almost didn't want to include my charitable giving goals in such a publicly available forum because I felt ashamed.  My charitable giving goal last year was only $200 and this year only $300.  I make over $80,000 a year and I am debt free (except for my mortgage).  There are people who make substantially less than me, but give 10X what give.  It's shameful and embarrassing to admit my low giving percentage.   So why did I share my number?  One, I wanted to make sure that I track how much I am giving financially.  The only way I can improve the number is to add to it every year.  This blog will keep me accountable.  Two, I want to be honest and truthful on this blog.  I have a low charitable giving rate and it needs to improve, drastically.  Three, I want to relate to other people in this situation who are also ashamed.  It is our civ...

At long last, here are my goals for 2018: 1. Add $10,500 to retirement savings with the goal of having $35,000 saved for retirement by the end of the year.  $5,500 will go into my roth ira and $5,000 will go into a taxable account. Come on stock market growth and no recession! Last year I contributed $9,500 so this will be an  increase of $1,000.  2.Increase EF to $18,500. 3. Pay an extra $290/month toward principal on the mortgage.  My easily reachable goal is to have the mortgage paid down to $200,000 by the end of the year.  The ultimate goal is to have the balance paid down to $197,500 by the end of the year so that the PMI will drop off the mortgage. 4. Save an additional $5,000 for my car replacement fund with the goal of having $10,000 in my car replacement fund by the end of the year.  I will be aiming to purchase a new car in 2019.  I hope with a trade in and any money saved in 2019 to have $20,000 to put down for a new car. 5....