September 2012 Goals

September will be spent in the US, so my goals and focus will change quite a bit as my normal routine will be disrupted. I am so excited to get home. :)

Non-Financial Goals: My SLEEP goal will not be difficult, as I will have nothing but time on my hands! :) EXERCISE will be difficult and take place mostly in shopping malls :), unless I can join a gym for 30 days. It is WAY TOO HOT to go outside to run without dying, unfortunately. EATING HEALTHY will also be a challenge as I'll have all my favorite American foods around, and my family tends to cook very Southern, fatty meals. 

1. NUMBER ONE GOAL: Sleep 8+ hours a night.  (all month)
2. Use SPF every day and night cream each evening.   (all month)
3. Floss every night.  (all month)
4. Use mouthwash every night.  (all month)
5. Eat breakfast every day.  (all month)
6. Get 30 minutes of light exercise 5x week.  (all month)
7. Write in gratitude journal every evening.
8. Do or say one nice thing to or for someone every day.
9. See HS friend. (Week 1 -2 ) Planned Monday.
10. See family. (Week 1)
11. See grad school friends. (Week 2) Planned Thursday - Monday.
12. See other HS friends? (Week 2) Planned dinner outing next week.
13. See college friends. (Week 3-4) Planned during last weekend.
14. Make list of places to visit in DC. (Week 1) 
15. Finish reading through camera CD. (Week 1)
16. Call L (Weeks 1 - 3)
17. Call Aunt. (Week 2)
18. Make rubbing of grandparents' stones in Arlington Cemetery for family book. (Week 3)
19. Scan photos of family for book.
20. get B&W film developed (dropped off Week 2).
21. Talk to mom re: Europe trip. (Week 1 - 4) Looks like she can't afford it, even with a free flight and hotels on credit card points.
22. Eye appointment. (Week 1)
23. Buy new glasses/orthoK. (Weeks 1 -4)
24. Order new contacts. (Weeks 1 - 3) Not doing this. Too tricky/expensive with new scrip and Ortho K and glasses.
25. Dental appointment. (Week 1)
26. Whiten teeth and fix chips. (Weeks 1 -4) They don't offer in-house teeth whitening at my dentist here. Will have to get this in NZ.
27. Buy smartphone (Samsung Exhibit II 4G?) and US SIM (T-mobile $100 gold). Port old phone #. (Weeks 1 -4)
28. Buy backpack.  (Weeks 1 -4)
29. Buy a new watch.  (Weeks 1 -4)
30. Buy boots.  (Weeks 1 -4)
31. Buy new luggage.  (Weeks 1 -4) gorgeous samsonite 29"
32. Buy a new laptop?  (Weeks 1 -4) Nope. Next year. Hope this baby holds out for that long!
33. Buy all on my US list.  (Weeks 1 -4)
34. Spend all gift cards.  (Weeks 1 -4) Still have $100 at Old Navy/Banana Republic/GAP left!
35. Start recording life and family stories from mom and dad.  (Weeks 1 -4)
36. Back up laptop.  (Week 3)
37. confirm voter registration and fill out absentee ballot form.

Financial Goals:

1. Track every penny. (all month) 
2. Save $500 to long-term goals. (Week 3)
3. Identify exactly how much I have to spend in the US. (Week 1)
4. Make sure Mom knows where and how to access my accounts and passwords and important information if I pass. Write list of assets. (Week 1)
5. Make sure she knows what my assets are comprised of. (Weeks 1 -2)
6. See if she can make similar arrangements or documents as I have. (Weeks 1 -4)
7. Visit BoA location to move account to trust. (Week 2) Done but instead, just made a POD order (payable on death).
8. Confirm all other US accounts (HSBC) can be moved into my Trust account. (Week 3)
9. Look seriously into long-term care insurance for my mom. (Week 2)
10. Decide which funds to invest my Roth IRA in at Vanguard, with an aim to get to $10K in one account in one fund to qualify for Admiral shares by the end of the year.    (Weeks 2 - 3)
11. Balance portfolio. (Week 2)
12. Go through the Big Book of Everything to make sure I've covered all my bases. (Weeks 3 - 4)

To do at end of month:

1.      cancel Amazon prime on _ _ _ # _ _ _ account before 26 September.

2.     Save third August paycheck to Non-Financial Slush Fund or Vanguard Fund, whichever needs it the most after September spending is done. (Week 4)

3.     Cancel cc that will incur a fee in October. (Week 2)

4.     Cancel health insurance, vision, dental as soon as the month is over and I won't be using it anymore. (Week 4)

5.     change t mobile plan from $30 unlimited to pay as you go

6.     unlock smartphone via a code

Gearing Up For My Trip

I just got back from Australia last night. It was a wonderful trip for work, but exhausting. On the days bracketing our work, my colleague and I did little road trips, seeing a wombat, kookaburras, and even wild kangaroos that let us pet them! We also spent a lot of time on the beach, soaking up the sun and warmth.

But that's done now, and I can concentrate on packing for my US trip! I've got the clothes packed, I just need to review my toiletries, electronics, and plane carry-on supplies. <--that is the most important for a 24+ hour trip. If anything is uncomfortable, you are stuck without any recourse when you are trapped in a metal tube in the sky for 12+ hours.

Anyway, I have a month at home, and a huge number of tasks and goals for those 28 days I'm away. Most of it is shopping and wanting to make sure I get everything I need for the coming year. NZ isn't a third world country, but it sure feels like it sometimes, when you can't find your favorite foods or clothes or even just running shoes for < $100. So I stock up when at home. 

As for my resources, I have the following:

1) My mom and dad have generously loaned me their extra (beater) car. It used to be my sister's, but she couldn't keep up the payments on it so they took it back from her. I'll have to pay for gas, of course.

2) I'm staying with my parents for almost the entire time. I'll buy them something nice for the house and do more than my share of the housework, of course.

3) They are willingly buying me my favorite foods and probably cooking for me most nights. Love 'em! Of course, I'll be buying food and doing errands like the grocery shopping whenever they need me to.

4) I'm staying at my friends' house for the time I'm in DC.

5) I have the following in gift cards to use for shopping:

• $100 gift card to WalMart
• $25 gift card to WalMart
• $100 gift card to Banana Republic
• $100 gift card to Marshall's
• $50 gift card to Old Navy
• $50 gift card to amazon.com
• $10 gift card to Old Navy
• $10 gift card to Old Navy (yes another)
• $25 gift card to Target

$470 USD in gift cards, which won't be enough (esp. at Target!!)

6) I have the following cash reserves: 

• $1500 in savings for Life Upgrade, all of which will go to my Ortho-K lenses, if I get approved.
• $3000 in my 2012 US trip fund, saved for my flights but not needed as I used airpoints.
• About half of my September paycheck, since I won't be buying groceries or anything else in NZ.
• the contents of my NonFinancial Slush Fund (now $5.6K). 

Total cash: ~$10K+ leftover paycheck NZD 
I don't expect to use it all, but I won't be denying myself, either. About 2K NZD will go toward the ortho-K lenses (not ready for lasik!!!), maybe a $2K limit for clothes, and another $2K for big-ticket items like a watch, smartphone, laptop, boots, luggage, backpack, etc. Some will be spent on a beach vacation for my family, and some on gas, food, activities, and eating out when I go out with friends. I hope to have ~$3K leftover? So my limit is about $7K NZD, or ~$5600 USD. Definitely do-able.

7) I signed up for Amazon Prime's 30 day free trial. That should last me til I leave home! Perfect timing!

I'm not kidding when I say I save up for this ALL YEAR LONG. Time to go hard!!

How Much Should I Spend on a Phone?

I'm having trouble finding an affordable smartphone. It'll be my first foray into smartphones, so I have NO IDEA what I'm looking for, other than my current phone with upgrades. I was hoping to spend under $150 (USD), but there does not seem to be any options for me at that price point. It's just a phone.

Ideally, it would have an amazing battery. I charge my current phone about once every one and a half weeks, despite never turning it off and texting all day. I could settle for once every three days or so, though.

I'd like GPS/google maps without using data.

It has to be unlocked as it will be my main phone in the US and NZ. I'll just swap out the SIM cards when going between the two countries.

Right...it has to take SIM cards, vodafone and US-sized ones (T-Mobile?).

It has to be quad-band, because I will use it in both the US and NZ. GSM 900 and 1800 in NZ (2G).

It has to have a good organizer. I hope to use it to remind me of may workload and appointments.

I'll mainly use it for texting. I'm not a big talker.

Data in NZ is mostly 3G, I think. UMTS 900 and 2100 MHz. Data in the US is 1700/1900/2100 for T-Mobile (I think). 

I'd like to be able to connect to wifi hotspots to cut down on data charges when I'm out and about and happen to need to look something up.

I don't care what it looks like or how old it is, as long as I can text easily on it, find directions, occasionally (once a week?) look something up while away from my computer on it, and maybe take pictures if the occasion arises. I don't intend on using the internet much as I am on my computer ENOUGH at work and at home.

I plan on using Vodafone's PrePay Smart $19/month plan for 300 MB data, 300 texts (any network), 30 minutes of talk time (any network). This is double what I usually spend per month on my prepaid mobile plan ($10/mo for 5000 texts).

I'm not THAT picky, am I?

Future Monthly Goals, 2012

Future months: 

1. Clean or organize 15 minutes per day. (I've actually been trying this a little bit already.)
2. Write in gratitude journal every evening. 
3. Do or say one nice thing to or for someone every day.
4. Work out or meditate for 1 hour a day.
5. Eat 3-5 servings of veggies and fruit each, every day.
6. Drink 64 oz (or appropriate amount) of water every day.
7. Call one friend a week.
8. Lose 10 pounds. (I'm hoping this happens naturally after working out an hour a day and eating better, but it may not.)

So...I'm Keeping the Blog

Recently I've been scaling back on posts here, and moving away from financial posts, and therefore considering going private or deleting the blog. I don't need the world to see my inner struggles with non-financial issues!

I do like having the blog around, though--and I still use it to keep track of my progress, financial and otherwise. So I'm definitely keeping it. But in what form?

I could go private at any time, and I may just do that if things get too...personal. But in the meantime, I've decided to take my blog off of search engines, and delete my RSS feed. I'm sorry about that, I know a lot of people use RSS to keep up with the multitude of updates that happen every day. But I don't like RSS. I learned recently that publishing to a feed keeps the originally published post as-is cached somewhere on the web, even if you change the post, instead of updating the post content. And I change my posts a lot. Sometimes I accidentally publish more detail than I want, and go back and remove it later. Also, there are some vampire RSS feeds that add your blog without your permission, which further caches that unwanted content there on the web. After a month of trying to get that unwanted detail off the 'net (I've finally succeeded), I've decided it just isn't worth the risk of having stuff out there that I can't change easily.

So old style clicking and URL entering will have to suffice, for those that bother. I'm happy to keep it here, and public, for a while. I like the feedback, but not the risks, of having a public blog, and this compromise seems to satisfy my needs. So there you have it.

Another Amazing New Year's Eve

Last year at this time, I was stoked to be going to Sydney for New Year's Eve. After that experience, I didn't anticipate doing anything big for NYE another few years.

Then, several weeks ago, my friend mentioned that we needed to make New Year's Eve travel plans. It being 6 months away, and with trips to Ruapehu, Oz, and the US occupying and satisfying my travel demons in the interim, it was honestly the furthest thing from my mind. But once she suggested it, it wouldn't go away.

The thing is, my absolute favorite thing in the world is traveling (the world). But I don't like to do it alone. I have the means to do as much traveling as I want to in my time off from work, but not the opportunity to go with friends that often. Travel companions are my limiting factor for travel, not money...not anymore. But they are either a world away or here in NZ and broke students or just plain broke, as most 'normal' folks seem to be outside of the PF community. I had saved up $2K in my Travel Slush Fund, just waiting for this kind of impromptu 'Let's go to _____!' statement from a friend.

So I was happy to oblige, although I absolutely refused to go anywhere in NZ. I've covered pretty much as much as I want to here...my travel dollars are best spent elsewhere. She had a budget of $1500 and we had to leave on a certain day. I hunted around for deals for several days away on a nearby island. Tonga, Rarotonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Kiribati, etc. So many options! 

Many of the above offer normal tropical beach experiences: laying out in the sun, drinks with umbrellas in hand. That is fun for an afternoon, but not my idea of the way to spend 7 whole days, which is how long we'd have to be away, given the flight schedules and package deal offers. My idea of travel is more like the jam-packed, 'let's make the most of every second and see EVERYTHING and cram as much adventure into the day' kind of travel. Rarotonga was one affordable option and the other was Vanuatu, but Raro is a small island. From my research, there's not much to do other than the sand, sun, drinks option, as nice as that would be.

So, we opted for Vanuatu. I know I've been there before, but the experience I had there was definitely worth repeating, and it was definitely full of what I thought was once in a lifetime kind of adventure. I'm happy I get to repeat the experience! And there is lots I didn't get to do last time, since my friend who traveled there with me had to work during the day and I was left on my own for much of the 4 day visit.

Costs so far:

$1334 NZD for flights and 7 days in a 4 star hotel.

$56 NZD for travel insurance (down from $112*)

$580 NZD for a special experience (down from $875*)

*I'll discuss those reductions in a later post.

August 2012 Goals

My monthly list of July goals worked so well I think I'll keep it up for August! I'll try to introduce one new habit a month.

Non-Financial Goals: I will keep the focus on SLEEP until it is down pat. If I'm doing well, I will add on one hour of EXERCISE per week (to start--will ramp up to 1 hour a day, and in addition to my 30 min. light exercise 5 x week).

1. NUMBER ONE GOAL: Sleep 8+ hours a night.  (all month. NO EXCEPTIONS)
2. Track time at work each day. (all month) 
3. Dress up once per week at work. (Weeks 1-4) 
4. Use mouthwash every night.  (all month)
5. Use SPF every day and night cream each evening.   (all month)
6. Floss every night.  (all month)
7. Eat breakfast every day.  (all month)
8. Get 30 minutes of light exercise 5x week.  (all month)
9. Keep making a list of US goods to buy (yaaaaaaay!). (Weeks 1-4)
10. Take all work related courses that I have access to: Excel, Word, Illustrator, Outlook, Powerpoint (Week 1) Only had time for Excel and Outlook. Planned another learning session in October.
11. Finish planning and pay for NYE trip. (Week 1)  
12. Make itinerary for Sydney trip & print out road map. (Week 1 - 2) 
13. Set up schedule to see HS friend while at home. (Week 2) Emailed. Returned email. She is checking her calendar.
14. Make plan for DC trip while at home. (Week 2)
15. Read through camera CD. (Week 2)
16. Make dentist appointment for September. (Week 3)
17. Make eye appointment for September (as early as possible). (Week 3)
18. Scan photos for family book. (Week 4)
19. Finish family book. (Week 4)
20. Order 3 copies of the book, one for each family grouping on my Dad's side. (Week 4) scratch that. I know of some pictures and features I want in the book, and they are not accessible to me right now. I'll work on it while at home and over the next year to get it right.
21. Listen to the German language audio tapes from the library. (Weeks 1 - 4) Uh. Yeah. I listened. I don't think I learned anything.
22. Contact dermatologist re: cost and mole mapping appointment. (Week 3-4) Post poned until October.
23. Research costs and brands and models for each of the major items on my shopping list, narrowing the choice down to one:
24. Research smartphones (Week 3-4). I have no idea what I'm looking for here, except it needs to be unlocked and take a Vodafone-sized SIM card. it must be quad band. I may wander through vodafone and verizon to figure it out. Ideally, <$150, but I tried that already and the stupid companies stop offering apps for older phones (Windows). I guess I want an Android phone because my Windows experience sucked and I don't like Apple. Touchscreen. free GPS? wifi. Settled on Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G for ~$270; works with T-mobile, which has a plan to allow year-long pre-pay accounts/SIMs on an unlocked phone. It's the only one that I can find that will allow me to keep my number from year to year. I've inquired at Straight Talk about this, but it seems that it is a no, from what I can decipher from their website. Ugh. Revisited phone question, and it seems the Blaze won't work according to the 'compatible prepaid phones' on the tmobile website list. Need 1700/2100 UTMS and quad band GSM phone to work with 3G Tmobile prepaid service. maybe the exhibit 4G?
25. Research backpacks. (Week 3-4) I know what I want but can't find it. I love North Face. I'd like a muted, dark color, like navy or forest green, with an outside pocket for storing umbrella, fleece, etc. Must have inside organizer and a laptop and camelbak sleeve, but still be roomy enough on the inside for extra items like books. 33+ L, hip belt pockets a must, as are water bottle pockets. Would love lots of straps and places to hook carabiners on for hiking and rock climbing. Will keep searching. < $150 I guess I'll stick with the Recon, even though it isn't big enough for everything I want to carry (it's 33 L but seems a LOT smaller if you use the outer pocket at all). Ivy Green, offered at Altrec for $70 or so.
26. Research laptops. (I may wait until next year on this, as every article I read is telling me to, but I don't know how much longer my laptop will last!) (Week 3-4)
27. Research watches. (Week 3-4) Have made a list of options. I know what I want now: rectangular face, pref. blue, band sterling silver or brown leather, date window, not too large, highly rated, < $150, and maybe with an interesting detail, like a double wrap band if brown leather. hmmm...maybe I want two watches?
28. Research luggage. (Week 3-4) I want an interesting/different color, four swivel wheels, solid construction, less well known company if I spend megabucks, to deter thieves, and < $350 for a set of 3-4 pieces. Whatever. I'm fine with a crappy brand I'll replace in two years. I'll just go to Sear's or JCPenney's Home Store and pick out something on sale.
29. Make pictorial of my last year in NZ for family viewing. (Week 4)
30. Add Sydney trip pics to pictorial. (Week 4)

Financial Goals:

1. Track every penny. (all month) 
2. Make sure SuperLife disability and Life insurances are paid and my beneficiaries are up to date. Call SuperLife re: disability. (Week 1-4). Send disability form #2 in. Pay disability?? Get bill...
3. Submit lump sum payment form to SuperLife for life insurance.
4. Buy health insurance for my US trip home, incl. dental and vision. (Weeks 1 - 2) Need to xfer $$ for vision coverage to US bank acct.
5. Scan and save will, power of attorneys, and trust document to TrueCrypt container (Week 2).
6. Add tax forms to True Crypt container. (Week 3)
7. Make list of financial tasks to do while at home in September. (Weeks 1 - 4)
8. Send in forms to Vanguard. (Week 1)
9. Save $500 to long-term goals. (Week 3)