Struggling to be debt free

When I was young I thought practicing law was going to be glamorous and exciting.  It is not.  It is actually frustrating, exhausting and filled with gray areas.  Often times, practicing law has nothing to do with the law.  Whether you win or lose SOMETIMES (often times) depends on the bias of your Judge.  In my small town we have a Judge that is well known to be biased against companies and in favor of employees, individuals and underdogs.  The little guy.  The firm I work for usually represents companies.  I usually lose when I go in front of this Judge.  Not because I'm wrong, not because my argument is not compelling, but because this Judge does not like big companies.  We are humans and we all have biases and prejudices.  When I practice in some of the surrounding cities I often get "hometowned".  Meaning Judges in those cities are friends with and know the local attorneys.  Again, no matter how good my argument a...

 My goal this year to contribute $10,500 to my retirement savings. I plan to contribute $5,500 to my Roth and $5,000 to my taxable brokerage account.  For March I contributed $1,270 to my retirement account. That brings my total contributions for 2018 to $3,270! Only $2,230 more to go to fully fund my Roth for the year.  I hope to be max it out no later than May of this year (maybe April if I can scrounge up some extra money).  Once those contributions are complete I will contribute $5,000 to my taxable brokerage account. In case you were wondering (and I would because I am a nerd ), I have been tracking my retirement contributions for the year.  They are as follows: 1/15/18    $1,390 2/15/18    $610 3/15/18    $1,270  How are you doing with your retirement contributions for the year?  Frankly, I feel pretty blessed to be able to put any money towards retirement.  I feel even more blessed that...

and I am tired.  I had a week long trip leaving last Sunday (3/4) and returning this past Saturday(3/10). (It was over a 6 hour drive each way)  I still have not caught up on all my sleep yet.  I was so busy that I couldn't really do my work while on the trip, so now I am behind at work.  The good news is that I received my tax return yesterday morning!  It only took about 10 or 11 days from the date I filed until the date it was deposited in my account!  I now have $1,184 to put towards replacing my 15 year old mattress and bedroom furniture.  I think that brings the total I have saved up to about $1,700 dollars.  (I need to update my assets and liabilities page).  I'll have to write more later, as I need to rush to get ready for work.  Happy Thursday Everyone!

Can you believe that it is already March?  It's going to be another one of those years where it is summer before we know it. Last month, I worked a bit towards my yearly goals.  I put $610 towards retirement, I have been walking at least 4 times a week, I have been using mturk, I did something new by leaving a tip for the hotel cleaning staff (I had never done that before) and I put an extra $397 towards my mortgage payment. More or most importantly, I got the cell phone bill down by $40- it is now $208 for 4 lines! One more change and the bill will be down to $170 a month (which hopefully will take place in the next couple of months).  You don't know how great that is because when I took over paying the cell phone bill from my sister (we live together and share expenses) it was $372 a month.  In the last 2 years I have gotten the bill down almost $200!!! (Just a note- I know the cell phone bill is higher than most, but we do have Verizon as it has the best cover...