Being a Grown Up! WTH?!?

Two posts in one day! 

Who woulda thunk it?!?

This is gonna get serious!

With the new year, and my upcoming 30th birthday in a mere 18 months,

I have set myself some goals.

ONE: I would like to get my financial self in check!

Yes, I know at 28 this should have already happened... 

But it didn't so dont get crazy on me!

TWO: I would like to get rid of some of this weight that I seem to carry around year after year. I've seen the results from Stephanie & Kristen's blogs & I am seriously considering this whole yeast free diet. I dunno know ~ I really love carbs and sugar, but hey who doesn't?

THREE: I would like to be a better friend (to my girls) and girlfriend (to Alex).

I personally think Im a GREAT girlfriend, but there is always room for improvement.

FOUR: I would like to accomplish some of the things on my 30 before 30 list ~ more on this at a later time!

I think four is a good number of goals to have for the next 18 months!

I have already started on number one...

I sat my self down and had a serious conversation about my spending habits.

When I realized how much I spend on non essential things and how little I spend on the important things its no wonder that my savings account doesnt have very many digits in it.

So I made my self a budget for each month for the entire year on 2013! 

Now obviously this is just a rough estimate for the year, but I am the type of person that has to have everything planned out (money wise) or I will spend the money because its there.

I know, not a good thing!

 Also, as a way to help me stay on track I started using Mint.com

This website also has an app on iPhone so I can take it with me anywhere.

With this handy little helper you can link your bank & credit card accounts so that it will tell you you balance & transactions, it will also tell you when payments are due.

Plus you can set up budgets for all the different categories you need and it tracks your spending in these categories.

Also you can set up goals, like pay off debt or create an emergency fund, and it will calculate how much you need to pay & to which cards or how much you need to save per month for you emergency fund.

Ive never been so excited about budgeting before! 

Now looking over my finances I know that the next 6-8 weeks are gonna be kinda hairy, but after that it looks like blue skies and clear sailing

(I know, lame puns but I needed something cheery to end this with)

Until next time, its just one day at a time!!

XOXO ~ Ashley