December? Really?

That's not me, this guy is crazy

Guys, it's totally December today.  I'm flabbergasted, and I suspect I will be writing November 31st on a lot of things at work today, but that's beside the point.  With a new month, comes new financial goals, and precisely because it is the season of giving, I need to reign in my personal spending more than ever.  My goals for November kind of fell flat--not a total FAIL, but I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be.

Here's what I had planned for November:

1. One in/ One out i.e. getting rid of something when I buy something new.  Ok, I did get rid of some things, but I don't think it's equal to the number of things that I bought--gah!  BUT, one good thing that I did, the other day, I had the morning off, and I spent it hemming and mending whist watching 500 Days of Summer.  So I reclaimed three shirts/dresses that I wasn't wearing before!  Basically, as I've discussed before, dresses from Modcloth tend to be a bit short for my modest self.  So I shortened them further and made them into tunics!  I was wearing pants under them anyway, now I won't look quite so weird.

2. Save up enough for six months of car insurance.  Also, didn't quite make this, but I'm close, so that's something.  I always put my car insurance on my Amazon.com visa cause it nets me some sweet points that I can use for things that are more fun than buying car insurance.  So, to save up, I've been sending payments in to that credit card, even though I don't owe them anything.  So I have a nice credit balance to put toward the stupid car insurance; I'll also get a bit of cash from BF since he does use the car occasionally; and then I'll pay the rest promptly.  It's a plan!

3. Put any and all extra cash toward my student loans and Roth IRA.  I did ok here too.  Sadly, I didn't have a ton of extra cash, but I got a Thanksgiving gift check from my parents (they feel sorry for me, they know I'm broke), and I put that promptly in my IRA.  I also, finally, set up my bank account to debit twice the monthly required payment for those damn student loans.  So now, I won't even have to to think about making payments, and I can kick in a little extra every now and then.

Looking to December:
My brother is coming out for a visit over Christmas, so that will ease up on my spending considerably.  Why, you may ask?  Because my brother makes a ridiculous amount of money and has very few expenses.  The most frugal thing you can do--encourage your only sibling to choose a profession where he makes a lot of money!  Ok, maybe not, but it is nice when he comes to town because I love him, and because we get to have adventures without me worrying about how to pay for them.  With him around, I'll also be distracted from online shopping, like for those boots I've been coveting.

This is that last-minute kick to sock as much away in my IRA as I can--so I'm going to focus on that.  This is also the start of the winter break at my university, which means I finally get some time off, but also don't earn much money--once again, I challenge myself to enjoy my time without breaking the bank.

Wish me luck!!  What are your goals for this month?