Today’s guest post is written by Kat of Chef on a Diet; Kat is a food blogger, chef, and entrepreneur in Brighton. Check her out at: chefondiet.blogspot.com.
As the title suggests, 2015 is the year Tina and I get our shit together. 2014 was a bust in many ways, so let’s just pretend it didn’t happen and move onto the next year. One major goal is to get our financial assets in order, either to pay off the debt we have and/or save money for 2016 goals. Yes, that’s right 2016.
I’m not sure what Tina’s long term goals are financially so I’ll just speak for myself. In 2016-2017 my two major goals are to buy a house and to start having kids. Both are expensive prospects. My first step is to pay off my bad debt. I don’t expect to pay off my car and school loans this year, but they are all in good standing so they are considered good credit. My bad credit is my credit cards, which I believe is entirely do-able. I should get my settlement from my car accident within the first month or so which will pay off about half my credit cards. I plan on keeping my cards in a “safe” place once paid off to prevent me from buying stuff willy-nilly, and if I do have to use one, make myself have to go out of my way to get them so I really have time to think whether something is worth it or not. Maybe I’ll do what Rebecca Bloomwood did in Confessions of a Shopaholic and freeze them in a block of ice.
While I pay off my bills I also really need to start saving up money to actually buy a house or sperm for children. Oh yeah, I’ve decided I’m sick of waiting for a man to come into my life in order to procreate. I’ve come to the decision that if I don’t find someone by the age of 35 then I’ll just have kids on my own. 2017 is when I turn 35 and when I googled “how much does a sperm bank cost” (yup that’s right, I googled it) it says it will cost around $700-$1000 for a vial of sperm (yes, there are cheaper ways to do it, aka, have random sex with strangers, but that requires the extra effort to go out and find guys to potentially have sex with).
So one thing I’m going to try (and make Tina do too) is the 52 Week Money Saving Challenge. Which I feel like is entirely do-able, at least at first. It gives me a weekly goal which if I just do a shift of instacart or Lyft can easily cover. And in the end I’ll have over a $1k saved to go on a vacation, perhaps? That could easily send me to a week away on a beach somewhere, or will buy some sperm. Or start a down payment for a house. Once you save money there are a world of possibilities to actually use it on things you need. The secondary goal really is to not spend the money I’ve saved until I’m done saving it and decide what it will be used for.
In more planning for having kids, besides money I need to prepare my body, and honestly I’m afraid my weight will possibly interfere with being able to get pregnant, so I need to really focus on getting this weight off. My chronic back pain gets in the way so I’m going to have to start off easy by committing to doing yoga or pilates 3 times a week. I think losing at least 30 pounds will do wonders, but if I can lose more that would be amazing. I just have to keep motivated and remind myself that I want to live to see my kid’s kids. I’m thinking of investing in a YMCA membership so I can go swimming.
I did just find some further motivation to save money and lose weight. A very good friend of mine informed me recently that he and his now fiancee have set a date for their wedding in June. It’s in Texas, which means it’s going to be hot. So, I need to feel comfortable in a dress that has very little fabric. And I want a hotel with a pool. So I will have to start saving for that as well.
My official checklist for 2015:
- Save Money – a lot.
- Lose Weight
- Find Sperm
