Here are a few more things to add to the list:
- Learn to ride a bike. I am not embarrassed about my inability to ride a bike, just inconvenienced. I don't want to be limited or held back or excluded from activities because of my lack of this one silly skill. Yes, I learned when I was younger. But I didn't ride frequently as a kid (nobody, like, rides bikes in, like, The San Fernando Valley) and when I tried a few years ago, it was a complete failure. See Amsterdam 2005. Bad times. Just ask my sister or my cousin Casey. Anyway, I would like to re-learn so that I can feel confident and comfortable on a 2-wheeler. I want to ride a bike around the Yosemite Valley floor this summer. I am planning to take a class at REI (appropriately titled "How to Ride a Bike) on February 7th. I will let you know how it goes.
- Save more money. It's been a while since I talked about personal finance on this blog! My personal finances took a year off in 2009, what with the pay cut and the unemployment and all. I didn't go into further debt (unless you count interest that accrued while I was on student loan forbearance), and I didn't diminish my savings (ok, but only by about $400 total), but I did not save. At all. I did not put one dollar into my savings account. This is ok, because I needed that money to live. Now that I am getting back on my feet, here is my plan:
- Get my checking account to the point where I have $600 minimum in there at all times as a cushion. Why $600? $500 didn't seem like enough, and $1,000 seemed like too much (though it would be great, and sure, I'll aim for it, but $600 minimum)
- Start putting at least $100 into savings each month/build my emergency fund. They say you should have 6 months of living expenses saved, and right now I've got 2 or 3. $100/month is not very much, and I should really put about $250 (slightly more than 10% of my take-home pay), but I'm going to start with $100 a month, and here's why:
- Start paying more than the minimum on my outstanding loans. I currently pay roughly $140/month for my student loan and $260/month for my car payment. I'd like to round both of these numbers up to $200 and $300 (or even $350) respectively to pay off the principal on my loans quicker. I only have about 2 years left on my car payment, but if I can bring that down to a year and a half? Less? I currently owe $4,935.60 on my car and over $18,000 in student loans. That's if I paid them off today. I've got a ways to go. But if I can up my monthly contributions, I'll pay them off faster, right?
So those are my little resolution-addenda. It's good to have goals!
