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{30 before 30} the update

hello my party people! okay waaaaay too much enthusiasm for a thursday afternoon. but one more day and it's a 3 day weekend!

got big plans!?! boy do we! i found a little something something the other day during my daily craigslist check. bad news - it just happens to be all the way in knoxville. thankfully my husband is the coolest ... ROAD TRIP! mini road trip/3-day weekend ... sounds like the perfect opportunity to do a little camping as well. so we found a tent on craigslist as well. ha! 

the funny thing about purchasing that something-something (i can't wait to blog share on monday) and a tent ... oh hey - we started budgeting today!

14 // create and keep a budget

i found dave ramsey's budget %s extremely helpful. let's face it i didn't have a clue where to start:

charitable gifts 10-15%
saving   5-10%
housing 25-35%
utilities   5-10%
food    5-15%
transportation 10-15%
clothing     2-7%
medical/dealth   5-10%
personal   5-10%
recreation   5-10%
debts   5-10%

and we're going to attempt the envelope system! i felt pretty crazy pulling so much cash this am - but i am excited to see how this works. for now i have simple white envelopes with black sharpie designating what each envelope is and the $ per pay period. boring. maybe a little project for the drive this weekend ... hello fantastic little diy. thanks, kelleigh:


i've also been reading a whole lot:

10 // read a book a month from time magazine's all time 100 novels.

i set out to read a book a month from a random 30 books everyone should read before they are 30 list i found while perusing the world wide web. this might be cheating but i decided a few weeks after my initial 30 before 30 list to instead pull books from time magazine's all time 100 novels. though the list on marc & angel's site was fantastic - i didn't think it was complete (and neither did my hubs ... who is very opinionated when it comes to books. ha).

so far i've read "the catcher in the rye" and "animal farm" both excellent and quick reads.  think it's cheating again if i read all 12 of my books in the first 2-3 months as long as i still read 12 books?

100 best english language books animal farm george orwell100 best english language books the catcher in the rye j.d. salinger

so many more 30 before 30 tasks keeping me busy busy. wade made a list of his own last week for his birthday. i love it. it's filled w/ trips and adventures i'll get to tag along on. we've also decided that we're going to document each task w/ a picture. fun times. maybe i should have picked more 1x events vs daily/weekly tasks. i'm knee deep:

1 // finish our wedding book! 
2 // be able to do 15 superman pushups.
9 // do an unexpected/romantic thing for wadely (at least) once a week.
13 // walk to work 2x a week. 
20 // relearn to write in cursive - and become comfortable w/ my penmanship. 

oh - and tonight we're making gnocci!
4 // learn how to make homemade gluten free gnocci. 

well that's the update. a little boring today but a good remind to self that there has been progress.

have you ever done a list of your own? would love to hear about it!
oh and any budgeting advice? do share.

8 comments :

shannonrhall said...

So I've actually had a super detailed budget for about 3 years now. (I'm an early bloomer). But I don't like having cash on me, so I just keep track of everything in an excel spreadsheet. I usually only update it once a week and that's enough for me. I try to use my debit card whenever possible to make it easier to track everything (with online banking), so this might not be the way to go if you like cash. But if the envelope system gets old, I recommend this approach. Am happy to share the template I made if you're ever curious!

AmberLeigh said...

I started reading the all time 100 novels list last year. I haven't set a deadline for myself, but I hope to read them all someday.

My favorites so far have been "Rebecca", which is a bit of a spooky murder mystery, and "On the Road" because I love stories about road trips.

Since a lot of these have been made into movies, I like to watch the movies after too. Rebecca is an old black and white film that really does the book justice and a new adaption of On the Road is coming out this year. :)

Jen Strange said...

ok I LOVE the envelope tutorial!!!! you always have the greatest links!

also, I read both of those books last year, pretty much in the same kind of quest - I want to catch up on all the classic literature no one ever made me read!!!! Have you gotten to Fahrenheit 451? Blew my mind, yo.

Unknown said...

@shannon thanks lovely. in college i was super dedicated w/ a spreadsheet that auto-filled etc. i created a little sheet this go 'round not nearly as intense. but i'll let you know! xo.

@amberleigh and @jen - awesome thanks for the suggestions. i'll have to pick up all 3.

mrslimestone said...

I tried to write up a 35 before 35 list but I couldn't seem to get through it without feeling bad about what I wasn't doing with my life. So I just scrapped it. Maybe I'll get motivated again but I always feel like my to-do is so long, I dont want to stress myself out.

That said - I like hearing about everyone elses list so keep it coming.

Jen said...

Oh girl. I SO hear you on this -- I have got to do some serious overhaul in the way I handle my budgeting, too. I'm not going to do a literal envelope system because I'm a little too skittish about losing my envelopes full of cash... but I'm going to be very strict with myself about marking every amount spent under the appropriate "envelope" I have on my spreadsheet at the end of the day. Things gotta change.

We still really need to have us a coffee and catch up sometime soon. I miss your face, lady!

Jen said...

This is Jen Sears, btw. The site is being a little fickle today, and when I finally got my comment to go through, I forgot to clarify on that. ;) D'oh!

Unknown said...

@mrslimestone - I COMPLETELY GET IT. it is in fact very overwhelming. :)

@jen - of course i knew it was you, lady! i'm skittish about cash too ... and afraid it will all go to purchasing "the contributor" - hard to pass up a street corner. definitely coffee. any time next week?

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