Checking Off My Goals: Setting up Savings Accounts

This weekend I completed one of my Day Zero goals: setting up individual savings accounts.  I already have savings and checking accounts with Ally (which I love, by the way), but I wanted to have individual accounts for each of my goals so that I could track my progress.

This weekend I got on the computer and set up my accounts.  Specifically, I wanted accounts for an emergency fund, a car, and vacation.  When I start getting paid I will schedule automatic depots from my checking account to each of these accounts.

I am planning on funding the emergency fund slowly (like $100 a month slowly), contrary to the advice of most experts.  Interest rates on savings accounts are basically nothing right now, while my student loans are drawing almost 7% interest.  My employment is very stable, and I will have disability insurance in case something happens to me that prevents me from working.  Also, I know that I could rely on my parents if needed in a pinch.  Obviously, I wouldn't be excited about it, but they would be happy to help and I could pay them back over time.  Also, I am a renter.  I would feel much less comfortable with this plan if I owned a home.

I am not excited at all about the car fund.  Right now my husband and I share a car, and this has worked very well for us.  However, in a year he will begin a job that is an hour and half from mine.  We're going to move so that we can split the difference in the commute, but the move will force us to buy another car.  We have estimated how much we will need to buy a fuel-efficient used car in cash and have divided this number over 12 months to get our monthly savings requirements.

Unlike the car fund, I am very excited about the vacation fund.  I love to travel and am happy to stash away some money to satisfy my wanderlust.  Still, our vacation fund will be pretty modest.  We are planning on taking shorter, closer trips to minimize costs.  We will probably coordinate our trips with visits to see friends so that we can minimize our lodging expenses.

I'm prepared to get some flak about the emergency fund decision, but my husband and I feel comfortable with that decision for right now.  Maybe once we have purchased the car we can use the extra money in our budget to fund our emergency account more aggressively.

Goal-Setting

My new favorite goal-setting tool is Day Zero, an awesome website that I found through Bridget's blog.  Day Zero has a list called 101 Things in 1001 Days that allows you to set up a list of goals and monitor your progress.  I like that the time line is long enough to give you time to accomplish your goals but short enough that you don't push them off forever.

I started my Day Zero list on March 20th, and I have accomplished 5 of my 68 items (I still need to come up with some more).  Most of my goals are related to personal finance, travel, my career, and personal improvement.  I also have a few goals related to maintaining connections with friends and family, such as my goals to send birthday and Christmas cards.

This weekend I completed my goal to compete in a triathlon.  Three years ago I thought that completing a triathlon was something that I would never be able to accomplish.   At that point I didn't even think that I could finish a 5K run!  It was so rewarding to check that goal off my list-and to know that it won't be my last triathlon.  (Side note: there was an 87-year-old woman competing in the triathlon this weekend.  How's that for inspiring?!)

What are your goals?  Do you have any recommendations for goals (especially PF goals) that I should add to my list?

The Post Where I Add Up My Student Loan Debt

I have alluded to my student loan debt already; the Debt is one of the biggest reasons that I started this blog.  I wanted a place where I could put it all down in black and white (or red, ha!), set goals for myself, and track my progress.

I can already tell you that this is not going a blog about how I erase six figures (yes, SIX figures) of debt in some ridiculously short time frame, a la No More Harvard Debt.  It won't even be gone in four years.  It's going to be a long process that will require me to balance my debt aversion, having a life, and preparing for the future.

So without further ado...my student loans:



Ouch.

The upside?  I have no credit card debt, no car payment, and no mortgage.

How to Remember to Pack Underwear

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Recently, I was invited to a beach weekend with a group of my friends.  In my excitement I completely forgot to pack some pretty crucial items.  I mean underwear and toothbrush crucial.  Fortunately, you can buy underwear and toothbrushes anywhere these days!  However, I would could have saved myself a huge amount of hassle (and a little bit of money) if I had a go-to packing list for occasions like this.

This winter when I was flying all over the country interviewing for jobs I had a specific interview packing list.  It included the clothing for my pre-interview dinner, and my interview, as well as the toiletries and other specific items that I would need.  This list made packing very easy, and it allowed me to feel secure knowing that I had not forgotten anything.

The beach trip made me painfully aware of how little I can trust my own brain to remember even important things.  So, with that experience behind me, I am setting out to try to ensure that it never happens again.  Here is my beach trip packing list:

A weekend beach trip:

bathing suit(s)

cover-up

casual outfits for lounging around

dressier outfits for going out

pajamas

sandals/shoes

underwear

bras

socks

workout clothes

sunscreen/aloe gel

shampoo/conditioner/hair product/hair ties

face wash/moisturizer

toothbrush/toothpaste

body wash/soap

razor

lotion

medications

book

cards/board games

beach towel

cell phone/cell phone charger

tea bags (I am not a coffee drinker, so I take tea bags with me pretty much everywhere.)

snacks

I have easily adapted this list to help pack for weekend trips to visit my family.   I removed all of the beachy items (sunscreen, bathing suits) and added church clothing.  Also, I keep a running pile in my house of things to return to my mom. That "return-to-mom" pile is also on my list.  I have saved both of these lists into my Google Docs and will reference it from now on when I am packing for a trip.

The Best Work Advice You'll Ever Get

Okay, that's probably a stretch, but anyway....

This week I had the pleasure of grabbing dinner with a friend/mentor in the department that I am about to join.  This particular mentor has completed her residency and is now in the process of establishing her career as an attending.  We became friends because we had similar interests, and over the years I have found her advice to always be spot on.  I wanted to post some of the great advice that she gave me.  Even though she was clearly thinking about the hospital work environment, this advice is generalizable to lots of different workplaces.

1. Do the basics well.  Unfortunately medical training places a huge emphasis on the obscure, and sometimes trainees lose the forest for the trees.  It is better to perform the daily functions of your job well than to know every single random tidbit about your field.  Knowing that very rare complication of drug X is not very important if you can't actually order drug X correctly.  This year I am going to strive to write excellent notes, place accurate orders, and give good presentations.  All of the medical knowledge will come with time.

2. Triage every single day.  Be proactive and imagine the worst possible things that could go wrong.  Then specifically address those things first to keep them from happening.  In medicine this often means identifying the sickest patients and keeping a close watch on them.

3. Always get the full story.  It's very hard to make a management plan if you don't have the full history.  If things don't make sense, slow down or start over.  This hearkens back to #1.

4. Spend more time on the front end to save time later.  Spend time every morning planning the day.  Get a good history now so that you're not trying to chase it down later.  Establish good personal organization systems.

5. Don't get sucked into drama.  Patients will lie to you and ignore your advice.  Colleagues will inevitably screw up.  Once it has happened, move on and get work done.  When others complain don't get pulled down into the fray.  Surround yourself with positive people.

6.  Establish a healthy routine for dealing with immediate stress.  This routine should provide a physical practice to associate with relief of the stressor.  For example, when something bad happened one physician would wash his hands, figuratively removing the problem and allowing it to run down the drain.  It is better to spend some time dealing with your anger or stress in a way that works for you than to take it out on someone else.

I thought that all of this was really excellent advice, and I am excited to implement it into my routine.

April Updates and May Goals

After a very quick week, I'm here to let you know how I did with my April goals:

1. Make $250 dollars of side income - Done!  I have a pretty sweet side-hustle where I edit papers when I have time.  I can work from home, and I can decline work if I'm too busy.  It's probably the best side job ever.  In April, I only had a short amount of time to work because I was out of the country for most of the month, but I did make $259.50.  I like to set income goals for myself with this job.  It really motivates me to work harder and to keep pushing myself to take extra work.

2. Complete residency paperwork - Fail.  Big fail.  Well, I've actually completed a lot of the paperwork, I just haven't finished the 83459357 online training modules that go with it or actually faxed the paperwork that I have done.  Is anyone else completely helpless when it comes to the fax machine?  It baffles me how much trouble I have with that damn contraption.

3. Resume training for the triathlon that is coming up soon - You could say that I have resumed my training if you count working out twice in the last two weeks.  I could be doing better.

4. Complete a wardrobe inventory - Done!  See my post about it here!

5. Sell books to the local used bookstore - Nope.  Today though!  It is a May 1st goal.

6. Read up on disability insurance - I didn't get around to this either, so it will get added to my May goals.

May is going to be an exciting month.  I am graduating from medical school, preparing to move to a new apartment, and will generally be relaxing a little bit before the craziness of intern year begins.  Here are my goals for May:

1. Make $500 of side income -  This will be challenging (because I have several other big commitments this month) but doable.  I will need to set aside time every morning to get some work done.

2. Finish the residency paperwork AND the modules - Stepping it up, folks!

3. Set up individual savings accounts for my different savings goals.

4. Create monthly meal plans with grocery lists to use during residency.  I'm trying to make my life as organized and easy as possible for internship.

5. Hem the new skirt that I got at the clothing swap.

6. Fill out student loan repayment paperwork.

7. Sell books to the used bookstore.

7. Read up on disability insurance.

 

Freecycle

Sometimes I can't imagine life before Craigslist; how did we ever sell furniture without it?  As much as I love Craigslist, I am starting to love Freecycle even more.  Are you familiar with Freecycle?  If not, you should definitely pay attention because Freecycle can save you a lot of money and a bit of hassle too.

Basically, Freecycle allows people to post things that they would like to get rid of and request things that they would like to get for free.  The posts are shared on a listserve that serves a particular metropolitan region.  It's great for the environment because it diverts unwanted items from the landfill, and it's great for your budget because it can help you save some serious cash if you're smart.

I've had excellent experiences with Freecyle on both ends of the exchange.  When our microwave bit the dust  I knew that I couldn't fix it and I was less than excited about figuring out how to dispose of it.  Fortunately I didn't have to!  I posted the microwave on Freecycle (with a clear explanation that it was broken) and someone with mechanical skills took it off my hands.

As a person who hates wasting anything, I find that Freecycle allows me to get rid of things that might be hard to unload otherwise.  For example, I had lots of scrap paper that I didn't want to toss or even recycle, so I posted it and a woman with young children took the scraps for art projects.  Beauty products, like body sprays, are often popular too.  I am a much better declutterer thanks to Freecycle.

I have also picked up some great items because of Freecycle.  After playing Bananagrams with some friends, I decided that I really wanted to own this game.  It's compact (great for traveling) and lots of fun.  However, I wasn't really excited to drop $16 on something that definitely isn't a "need."  I posted a request for Bananagrams on Freecycle and almost instantly had an offer.  All I had to do was go pick it up!  I was also able to acquire about 30 Ball mason jars for my wedding using Freecyle.

I am trying to do a better job of turning to Freecyle first.  It is very hard to break the impulse to go to the store to get something that I "need," but I have found it so rewarding when I am victorious that it is quickly becoming addictive!