Crafting Report: Jan 2021

So I set some goals for January of crafting / creative nature.  Why not?

I set 16 goals.  I did 11, which is 68.75%.  Not too shabby.  Here's how it went.  

Done:

Black spiderweb - I made one row and 2 corner blocks.  

Sox - Mend two pair.  Done on MCU Thursday.

Patches - sew on 15 to sweatshirts.

Trail Mix - started.

1 UFO - I totally cheated and just did the handwork for a binding for lap quilt.  But it counts.

1 bag scraps - OMG, I did a thing!  Yes really I completed a bag.

Temp quilt data - recorded another month

1 recipe per Saturday - not really quilting, but I did indeed add 5 recipes to the book.

Operation Christmas Child - made hats

IJDC - Started cutting out the 2 inch squares.  Think that step is done.

Frankenbatts - made 30 11" ones.  Think these will be blue, as that crate is overflowing with fabric.

Not Done:

Fix / Fit / Block / Finish one sweater - Just didn't get there and since I don't need the sweater for work attire....

Inventory - 2 Christmas stockings.  I did buy fabric and a new pattern.

Inventory - 2 quilts for inventory.  Just didn't get there.

1 wool hexie

Clean 1 machine

Bonus: 

Finished another pair of sox

Made storage bags for 2 Christmas wall hangings

Catitudes DS - top done, sandwiched, 1/4 quilted

1" QAYG strippy - 12 strips added

Purple and White B&SS - underway

Frugal Challenge Days 2, 3 and 4

Day 2 was long term goals.  Ha Ha Ha!  That's all been covered in the last posts!

Day 3 was the 72 hour rule before buying anything.  I will remember to be mindful.  Of course I actually bought something that day, but it had been 3 days!  I was able to buy the $9 item with Amex points, so technically it was free.  Right now I am making a quilt stop list and I have 3 things on it.  I do have gift certificates for the shop, so when I go, I can offset the expense.

Day 4, which was today, was buying food for a week and then committing to eat that food!  I did meal plan yesterday and I am good through Friday and there are ideas for the weekend.  I broadly plan about 20 meals out and then list about 6 to 8 that I am willing to make over a 5 day period and work that way.  Not too shabby.

I did plan a takeout lunch for Friday, but I am grabbing 2 meals and going into the office to meet my new boss.  She has been there a month, but it's not like we can go to the cafeteria or anything.  So we will eat and yak and all of that.  

C&C Goals 2021

Oh Coverlets & Counterpanes, how you drive me to distraction!

I just need to do it.  Nike was right all along.

I am a project manager of accounting things at work, so I just need to apply my work skills to this process.  I have a mental block and I just don't like doing work things at home; I already do them at work!  But once it's set up, it will be fine.  2021 is the year of setting it up.  

Ted is on board with this and really will push both me and himself to get this accomplished.  The biggest thing that happened was that he told me to buy a longarm.  This is not a small purchase.  It is a big thing and a big expense.  It is also my dream and he knows it.

So how does this all tie together - the last posts?  While I could technically buy a longarm tomorrow, I don't need that kind of financial stress.  I also don't want to wait until I am 100% out of debt; that could be up to 10 years! So Ted and I came up with an agreeable compromise - the Discover bill must go.  

So I hope that can be done in 2024 sometime.  

Meanwhile we have to get the house ready.  We're lazy and while we are motivated, we will take a long time to get things where we want them.  We've talked through some of it, and so we have an idea generally how we want it to go. 

We can do this!  

Meanwhile, back to work.

Retirement Goals 2021

 Oh wow, this one is a doozy.  Since I wrote my 10 year goals on my birthday, my work changed a few things regarding retirement (basically eliminating one decision point date on my timeline - really nothing big), and so it got me thinking.

Right now I am set at 6% with a traditional 401(k).  I need to up that percentage methodically over the next 10 years.  I just have to.  I'm just trying to figure out exactly when.  Just thinking here - I would love to up it by one percent each quarter so that I can eventually max out my contribution each year.  That is not foreseeably possible for this year, so for right now I will consider it a win to up it by 1% by my birthday.

Ted is at 10% in his and his a Roth one.  I will set the same goal for his contribution, but not by his birthday which is in 3 weeks.  I can't swing it yet.

I do have 2 small Roth IRA's.  One takes some doing to change the contribution amount, which is set at $50 per paycheck.  I hope to up it by $50 each year on my birthday, so in September.  This is fondly known as my quilting retirement fund.  My sister laughed at this and then she thought for a minute and said that this was pretty hecking smart on my part.  I know.

The other small Roth IRA I have is on Stash.  Right now it's $5 per paycheck (don't laugh) and I will start my quarterly $5 increases on this starting with my next paycheck on Thursday.  This is fondly known as my knitting retirement fund.

My last investment is also with Stash and is just a personal fund invested in mutual funds.  I do $20 per paycheck, and I will start my quarterly $5 increases on this as well on Thursday.  This one actually doesn't have a name, but I think of it as pizza and beer / travel / whatever funds.

I just did my usual 5 minute retirement calc.  They say you need 80% of what you make when you retire.  I do have a pension, which will fund 45% of my retirement income.  I need another 35%.  I logged into SSA and if I retire at the max age, I will get that other 35% no problem.  That means all the saving is for other stuff, which is ideal.  Yes, I do have a better retirement calc process.  I just haven't done it in a while.  I'll make that a 2021 goal.

Lastly, there was a commercial where the financial guy asked what do want to do when you retire and the customer answered.  Then he asked what do you want to do between now and then.  She answered that she wanted to run with the bulls.  I remember this because I am trying to remember to do what I want NOW and not wait for retirement.  

Debt Goals 2021

Mortgage - no anticipated changes

My mortgage comes out of my paycheck every 2 weeks and I make sure that I am overpaying every paycheck, even if it's only by $2 at a time.  I am due to be done with this in 2028.  If I need to pay more into escrow, I will make sure to up my payment by a few extra dollars when I approve the paycheck payment.

Cars - no anticipated changes

Without doing anything, my car will be paid off by Memorial Day and Renee's will be paid by Labor Day.  Mine is right on time (another paycheck draw) and hers will be a year early, due to micropayments and quarterly $5 increases to those micropayments.

This makes life wonderful.  My 10 year plan has replacing both my car and Ted's car one more time in our 50's, and as long as we are both working from home, the day we need to replace either car extends longer out.  My goal is to get one year with no car payments for a car before replacing it.  For Ted, that year has long past and being home from work has been amazing (he drives 110 miles roundtrip every day).  

Capital One - Visa and MasterCard - no anticipated changes

I pay these handsomely each month, but we do use these each month too.  The payments generally are more than the charges and interest, so I don't get too worried about it.  Renee uses the Visa for textbooks.  While I would love these bills to go away, they are not the highest things on my list.

Discover - this must die

I hate this bill.  The interest rate is insane and so is the balance.  Not my proudest moment, but DH and I both know how we got here with this one and why we need it to go away.  

Student Loan - no anticipated changes

This is the parent portion of Renee's undergrad student loans.  I do not understand why anyone defers this - you gotta pay the piper so just start when you have to.  I did not have any student loans as a student, so this is all new to me, and I am learning as I go. I do use my micropayments and $5 quarterly increase approach on this as well.

So basically Discover is the goal this year.  Right now I pay $500/month which is a slow path to nowhere on this one (just trust me - it's bad). So the goal will be that by October's payment, I am paying in $800/month and by year end, the principal will need to go down by $1,000.  This may not seem like much but it will set us on a path.  Once that's the payment, then I'm hard pressed to change it.  

 

Frugal Challenge Day 1

 So last time, I wrote:

I want to be 100% out of debt.  This is doable, based on current trajectory of things.  We refinanced to a 15 year mortgage a while ago, car stuff should sort itself out, Renee's student loans will need some prepayment, but I have that sorted in my mind, etc.

I need to do some planning for retirement.  Kim retired at 56.  I of course work in a different industry, so my planning is different.  I have a decision point in April 2028, so I need to set some goals for that timeframe.  

I need to ramp up Coverlets & Counterpanes.  The long term goal for that is for that to be the side gig for retirement; the proverbial pizza & beer money.  I need to do a bit of a business plan and build up some inventory.  I'm just being a bit lazy here; I freely admit it.

So here I sit on January 1, 2021 (Happy New Year!) (Stay inside - it's an ice storm out there!), thinking about these goals in a jumbled fashion.  I've joined the Frugalwoods Uber Challenge and today is thinking about goals.

The above goals are still my goals.  They are pretty much my 10 year goals.  Now I need to break it down into 1 year goals here for 2021, and then even further into quarters and months.  I'm going to give each of them their own posts this month, and I'll start with Debt.