Resolutions update
Major resolutions
1. Go to the gym three times a week
2. Drink less alcohol
5. Practice mindfulness
6. Be a better friend - remember birthdays, think of good gifts, enjoy your social life
7. Get recording studio going, learn to use ProTools, keep up the good work with the band!
Minor resolutions
Mind expansion Sunday
Writing this blog
Spring cleaning the house
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With the Thursday just past being the last pay week of the year, I can officially say I have now completed the 26 Fortnight/52 Week Saving Challenge. The fundamental idea is that you can save about $1,400 over the course of a year - starting with just $1 - by saving one extra dollar each week than the previous week. I made a couple of modifications to this to fit my circumstances. For instance, I adjusted the amounts for a fortnightly pay cycle and reversed the order of the payments. I did this so that it got easier throughout the year and so that I wasn't trying to put away more money during the time of year where I would need the extra disposable income (basically from September to December or birthday/Christmas season). After a few pays, I also upped the ante by adding a fixed amount to make the end result prettier - after all Jess and I are trying to save for a house deposit so I wanted to have very little disposable income available.
Looking at how I went over the whole year, I only actually missed four payments. However, they took a long time to catch back up on. The culprits? Clearing credit card debt and registering my car. While I always try to keep my credit card completely paid off, if left unchecked, it's easy to let small amounts grow into bigger ones. And car rego always buggers me up; every year I vow to make sure I put a little bit away to prepare for it, but it never ends up happening.
Thinking about trying the challenge for yourself? Well, luckily for you I've made a modified version of the Excel spreadsheet I used to keep track of how I went. You can find it by clicking the link below:
It's pretty straightforward to use:
- Download the file and open it (you'll need Microsoft Excel to run it obviously)
- Click 'Enable Content' near the top of the screen to allow the macros to work. The macros in this workbook just hide rows in the table that you don't need to see, depending on whether you say you are paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly
- Complete the Salmon/Pink shaded cells on the Info worksheet
- Click the button
- You're done! Update this table each time you get paid to see how you are tracking.
If you have any problems, suggestions, questions or feedback, let me know in the comments.
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