People who collect experiences are more interesting than people who collect things.

You might notice that out of my 30 goals, only two involve buying something. I want to live a full life, and that doesn’t necessarily having a full house. These purchase goals will provide experiences to make my life richer. My wife and I have been wanting an Airstream for a few years now, and purchasing one would include the experience of remodeling and then living in it. Buying coffee for 12 strangers? The goal is to make myself meet people, coffee is just the medium.

So how do I plan on accomplishing these 30 goals in 366 days (since that leap year “bonus day” will fall in this time-frame)? By making them as automatic as possible. This means that I will be heavily relying on my calendar and automatic email reminders. I am still in the process of planning the schedule out, but here is the process that I’m using.

Know what I’m working with

You may have noticed that there is a pretty wide range of goals included on my list, free and fairly quick (#12 – read the Bible) to expensive (#13 – buy an Airstream) to time intensive (#1 – cross-country motorcycle trip). To help me come up with a realistic plan I have broken the goals into different categories based on the time and money needed to complete them.

Pre-arranged
A few of the goals have already been scheduled, and so they were the first to go on my calendar.

• move
• pay down school debt
• go on 7 day backpacking trip

Long term
A number of the goals will only be reached after investing quite a bit of time (from about a month to the entire year). I am scheduling them as a recurring weekly activity, with an initial focused burst at the beginning. This beginning burst of energy will allow me to stagger their starting dates so that I don’t end up beginning a lot of new projects in February and then burning myself out. Many of these goals are free, or only incur a small cost (like gas or the purchase of a book).

• read 1/2 of Personal MBA
• find 576 more geocaches
• learn 5 magic tricks
• read the Bible
• 30 informational interviews
• go on 30 dates
• make 30 things
• learn to weld
• some sort of fitness goal – to be further defined
• learn to program
• circumnavigate Land Between the Lakes
• get in touch with old friends on a regular basis
• buy coffee for 12 strangers
• see moonbow (again)
• become conversationally fluent in a language
• become a publicly recognized expert
• have a business of my own

Events
Most of the other goals are more of a multi-day event. Some planning, a big burst of energy, and some money, and they will be completed. These will be interspersed through the year, and combined whenever possible (ie: I can visit DC and the Grand Canyon during the cross-country motorcycle trip).

• visit the lower 48
• cross-country motorcycle trip
• stop in DC to visit the Wall
• see Grand Canyon
• hot air balloon ride
• see Northern Lights
• buy an Airstream
• take flying lessons – airplane
• learn to sail
• hang glide

Further Definition

Many of these goals are already pretty easy to measure (ie: go on 30 dates, go on a 7 day backpacking trip, etc). There are a few, however, that still need to be narrowed down a bit. So that I know when I have “learned to program” I will come up with a final project that I want to complete, and then I will have a definitive ending point to cross. Likewise, “learn to weld” will involve coming up with a final project to create.

I will write an explanatory post for most of these goals as I begin working on them, including the guidelines for completing each one, my detailed plan of attack, and the reasons behind each one.

Funding?

No, I don’t have a sponsor of any sort. These goals will be completed around work and my wife’s school/work schedule. The money comes from my pocket. Goal #4 (business of my own) will not only make some of the goals financially possible, but will also allow you to participate! Come back Wednesday to find out how.

Related posts:

1. The 30 in 30 Project
2. Go With the Flow – An Exercise In Changing the Plan
3. List Making

A few days later my boss just happened to receive some tickets to the concert that he was unable to attend and left them at the front desk for employees on a first-come, first-serve basis. Apparently I was not only the first, but also the one interested in them, since I didn’t get in to work until after everyone else and still managed to snag them.

So tonight my wife and I went to check out something we had never experienced before, driven by curiosity and free tickets. Not quite sure what to expect (because how trust can you really put in an example seen on a sitcom?) we went just to see what we would see.

The show was wonderful. The music was quite enjoyable, the setting was beautiful, the ladies in the ensemble clearly enjoyed themselves, and the group shared their sense of humor and love of what they were doing.

My wife and I had a thoroughly enjoyable break from our cram-before-finals evening, which wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t been open to trying something new. We would certainly have missed out if I had just brushed off “handbell concert tickets” as something that I wasn’t familiar with and therefore not interested in.

What is something that you haven’t tried, just because you aren’t familiar with it?

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My wife and I love exploring, trying new things, and going new places. Many of our dates feature these activities in some fashion. Because we have been living in the same place for the last few years, however, we have noticed that our dates have fallen into the dinner and a movie rut.

And after years of exploring, dinner and a movie doesn’t always fit the bill. Sometimes we want something more. That might mean a treasure hunt where each clue leads to the next stage of the date or a date that has had details trickled out via a note a day over the course of a week. The only trouble is that figuring out the details those dates takes time. And that takes us back to the original issue: not enough time.

To solve this issue and ensure that my wife and I can focus on each other, we started keeping a list of our favorite date ideas. That way we always had ideas when we needed them.

It occurred to me that we might not be the only ones who fall back on dinner and a movie habit. Finally, I took my list and wrote an easy-to-read guide, Ready-to-go Dates. It ended up having 20 date ideas that take less than 20 minutes of preparation. Though I had more ideas, I only included ones that can be done anywhere.

The final draft is actually at my editor right now, but I was too excited to wait. Following the Cult of Done manifesto I decided to go ahead and make it available now. The edited version will be automatically sent out to those who pick up a copy of the current draft.

You can get yours here. Go and check it out!

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2. 10 Cheap Adventures That Anyone Can Have
3. Go With the Flow – An Exercise In Changing the Plan

As simple as this spreadsheet is, I’ve become a fan of Mint because it enters the information for me. Even though data entry doesn’t take me very long, it’s much easier to have a computer do it automatically.

It’s easy!

Fortunately, using Mint is quite simple. Part of being a Money Master is letting the finances run in the background so that we don’t have to focus on them. The goal is for our money to help us live the life we want to, instead of being a slave to the money.

Mint has created a series of simple instructions that outline how to complete each step. Since we have created our spending plans, now we can just follow mint’s advice to help us make sure we’re on track with our spending.

Set up

Yes, it will take some time at first to get everything put in place. However, this will be time well spent. Once you get everything set up you will be able to simply log in, check the details, and then use the tools that Mint provides to see how you are doing.

Overview

Being able to see a snapshot (no matter if you prefer bar graphs or pie charts) of your personal finances is an amazing feeling. You will be able to see the progress you are making towards paying off your debt, how your savings are growing, and how much of your fun money is left to spend. After all, that’s what it’s really all about, right?

Related posts:

1. New Free Finance Tracking System
2. Tell Your Money Where to Go
3. What I Am Tracking

Focus

By determining what you really want to spend money on, and what doesn’t matter to you, it is possible to save money while getting to spend more on what you love. This is not more frugality advice: “Stop getting a daily coffee and save $4 a day (approx. $100 a month).” Instead, this process will help focus on the actions that have the greatest impact: “If you don’t care where you live and only use your apartment for storage and sleeping, move to a smaller place and save $300 a month. Then you can spend $200 more a month in your guilt-free category while still investing $100 more.”

The key is to cut ruthlessly from any category that you don’t care about so you can spend extravagantly on things that truly interest you.

Finding your focus

There are two main approaches to figuring out where to cut and where you should spend.

• List areas that you love and don’t mind spending on.
• List areas you don’t care about and prefer not to spend money on.

I find that a combination of these two work best. While it is easy to list things that you enjoy doing and things that you will never spend money on, the middle ground is often where you can have the greatest impact.

Paying attention to your reactions will help you identify areas where you can cut back. It’s easy to fall into keeping up with the Joneses and spending money on things you otherwise wouldn’t. Here are some areas you may wish to examine:

• Housing
• Transportation
• Clothes
• Dining Out
• Partying
• Entertainment
• Traveling
• Hobbies

My favorite way to look at these is with the help of a friend. I pretend that they are telling me about a new purchase they are making in each of the categories and note my reaction. If it is negative, then I can generally cut my spending in that category. Positive? I have found one of my focus areas.

Some Examples

• My eyes glaze over when fashion and the latest shopping spree are discussed. I buy timeless clothing that will last so that I can spend a minimum on my wardrobe.
• I will talk to anyone about any motorcycle, enthusiastically. However, while I love Ms. Peeps, I love the experience of motorcycling, no matter what brand. Thus, I need any motorcycle that is reliable and within my budget. Newest, fanciest, and fastes doesn’t interest me.
• Whenever a friend tells me of a trip they are going on, I wish that i could go. Travel is definitely a focus for me.
• I always wonder what people do with all the room they have in big houses. My two bedroom apartment sometimes seems extravagant to me. As long as my basic shelter requirements are met, I am happy.
• Any time a friend discusses a new restaurant I make sure to find out where it is. I love the experience of dining out.

The results

I only buy new clothes when I absolutely need them, intentionally keep my rent as low as possible, and don’t spend on accessories for my vehicles. This allows me to travel and go out to eat more often.

Recently, I have begun paying more attention to my reactions to spending. As I gain a better understanding of my financial reactions I will be able to create my Financial Short List. With this focus I will be able to spend more money on the things that I love and live a fuller life because of that freedom.

What are some items on your Financial Short List?

Related posts:

1. My Short List
2. Tell Your Money Where to Go
3. Finance Tracking

Why?

It’s nice to know that all of your bills are taken care of, and that you can go out and spend money guilt-free. A spending plan allows you to do exactly this. When the money in the “guilt-free spending” category is gone, I’m done for the month. However, I can spend that category on whatever I wish. Ahh… the freedom!

The basic idea

The first step in telling your money where it should go is to have an idea of where it currently disappears to. To find out, track your spending habits for a month. You might want to use Mint.com, an app on your smart phone, or a simple legal pad. Once you know where you spend your money, you will be able to build your spending plan.

A Template

The basic template that I used for my budget only has 5 broad categories. I love this simplicity.

• Fixed costs – 60%
• Retirement savings – 10%
• Long-term savings – 10%
• Short-term savings for irregular expenses – 10%
• Fun money – 10%

Fixed Costs

These are the things that you have to pay each month: rent, utilities, car payments, debt payments, insurance premiums, groceries, etc. Fortunately, they normally don’t fluctuate very much from month to month. This makes it easier to plan. After adding all of these together, add 15% to the total. Trust me, you’ll be glad that you have this bit of extra when you need it (think of those extra cold days when the heater is running over-time and runs your bill up).

Retirement Savings

If you’re not adding money to your retirement account on a regular basis, you should be. While 10% is a good rule of thumb, this amount is likely to change over your life. When you’re younger, it will probably be less, and increase as you get older. The most important thing is to be investing something each month, even if you can only manage $10.

Long-term Savings

Long-term savings include things like a wedding, new car, or the down payment for a new house. They’re called long-term for a reason, they’re often a number of years in the future. It’s easier to save big chunks of money over a lot of years than having to come up with it quickly, however.

Short-term Savings

These are often the items that blow our budgets, because we fail to plan for them. Save up a little each month for Christmas and birthday presents instead of having to put it all on your credit card when November rolls around. Vacations are so much more enjoyable when you have the cash set aside before you head out, so start saving for your trip now.

Fun Money

Finally, our favorite category! This category includes whatever you do for fun. It includes things like purses, eating out, going to the movies, drinking, buying books, or spending money on gadgets. There are two important things to keep in mind with this category: spend on whatever you want, until you run out of money. Once this category is gone for the month, stop spending! Knowing that you can go out with your friends, or buy that new thing you want without worrying about breaking the budget is an amazing feeling. Guilt-free spending at its best!

Now what?

I’ve put together my spending plan, so I know where my money goes each month. The next step is to figure out what I don’t want to spend money on so that I can live the fullest life possible.

In the next post I’ll show you how I am going to do all of the things that I want to, and you can do the same! Until then, I’d love to hear what your Fun Money will be going for. Leave a comment or shoot me an email.

Related posts:

1. Becoming a Money Master
2. Maximize Your Money
3. Financial Short List

What is a Money Master?

A Money Master is someone who is in control of their finances without requiring a lot of maintenance time each month. They know how much income they have, outgo they spend, and know how much they can spend on anything that they please. Ideally, they are debt free, or at least actively working toward that goal.

Where I stand

I have a good start to being a Money Master, but still have many improvements to make to my personal finance system. My finance tracker has helped me a great deal, though I have recently switched over to mint.com (because they automatically pull my information and I don’t have to enter it manually).

• It takes less than a hour a month to manage my finances.
• I know roughly how much income I have each month.
• On average, I know how much outgo I have.
• I have only school debt, and a plan to pay it down as soon as I graduate.

Improvements to make

The good start above can be improved further, so that I can become a Money Master.

• My finances can be further automated, so that my bills will be paid even when I am away on vacation.
• I can find an account that offers higher interest rates than I currently have.
• My budget can be tweaked to make it less complicated.
  Last but not least…
• I can earn more money

Join me!

Over the next few weeks I will be applying what I know about personal finance. Knowledge gleaned from books like I Will Teach You To Be Rich, The Total Money Makeover, and Financial Peace will be put to use. I will have a finance system that will require almost no time each month, but will ensure my bills are paid, savings are growing, investments are also growing, debt is being paid off, and that I have money left over to spend however I want.

Let me know if you’re going to join me!

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2. Make Some Money
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So far as I can tell, there are three main reasons for this:

1. Lack of money
2. Lack of time
3. Focusing on big adventures

These are all pretty common excuses that I have fallen subject to. Let’s discuss how to beat them.

Lack of money

While my finances are organized and pretty well under control, they could be better optimized. I just finished reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi and will be following the to-do’s that are outlined. It provides an easy-to-follow system that automates your finances.
Once I have this system put together, I will be in a good position to address the problem of not enough money (and really, how many people will say that they do have enough?) According to Ramit, it’s easier to make more money than it is to save more money. My wife and I are pretty frugal already, so now it’s time to raise the income.

Lack of time

School, work, marriage, and everything else in my life. There’s not enough time for everything that I want to do. Fortunately, I have my short list of important things. It’s time to go through my life again and pare down the items that don’t directly advance my interests in the items on the short list. I want to keep my focus on the truly important things in my life.

Focusing on big adventures

I’ve fallen into the trap of only thinking about big adventures. “I want to go see the Moonbow again!” “What about our week-long road trip next month?” These are great adventures, but it’s easy to overlook the small ones that I can take here at home. Trying a new restaurant, checking out the new exhibit at the art museum, enjoying a bike ride with my wife when the weather turns unseasonably warm for a weekend.

The Good News

These are common excuses that everyone falls into. Fortunately, they can be over-come. I can figure out how to make more money (even if it just means taking on a few more hours at work), can find some activities to cut out so that I can free up time (do I really need to be keeping up with those shows on netflix?) and paying attention to the opportunities for daily adventure (time to check out some of the restaurants on my to-try list).

What are you doing to find adventure in your life?

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And so I needed help. After looking around for some time, I decided to try Thrive90 Fitness. I don’t have a lot of time to spare, so I wanted a program that my wife and I could do at home, together, without a lot of special equipment. Thrive90 was designed to meet exactly those requirements.

Once I received the program, I was even more pleased with my choice. There isn’t a huge learning curve to understand the exercises, the workout routines are all simple to understand, and even the nutrition guidelines are laid out in a straightforward manner. My wife and I immediately implemented some of their advice (such as the sample recipes they give) and printed out the worksheets so that we could track our progress.

Help found

Sure, I know how to work out. I already understand the exercises that I need to do, both how to do them and what they will do for me. After a few years of sporadic reading I understand nutrition and how what I eat affects my body. All of this knowledge doesn’t make me get up a few minutes earlier each morning to complete the exercise routine that I want to do.

Having a plan laid out for me will, though. I know that if I miss one day’s workout, I’ll be behind. Even better, the creators of Thrive90 are there to motivate me. They send a weekly email to check in on you and see how you’re doing. If you respond to it with a question or comment, they reply (I just got some nutrition advice for when you’re sick). That external motivation makes a huge difference. I feel like I’m not only letting down myself, but those guys as well.

Find your help

Maybe you don’t need help working out, but you want financial advice. Or you need someone to tell you what you should and shouldn’t eat, or something else. Take the time to invest in yourself and find the information and motivation that you need.

If you do want to lose weight, feel sexier, and not waste a lot of time getting there, check out Thrive 90.

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Whether you already have something planned or not, here are 10 ideas of ways to make this Valentine’s special.

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