February 2012: The Plan

Now that I've worked one full month at new job, I know how much money I'm going to be making, so I can start to reevaluate my budget.  January was a month of a lot of expenses: Yoga class, gym membership, bike repair, snow boots, etc.  I have a Visa bill that I don't like the look of, and I barely saved anything this month.  January was a mad month of fancy dinners and fitness resolutions, so February is going to be more tame and sensible, which could sound boring, but I think sounds delightful.

Agenda Item One:  Car Repair.  
My turn signal has worked only intermittently for the past year and a half, but since I needed the car every single day to get to work, I wasn't ever able to get it fixed.  Now, I don't have that excuse, and I have a car repair place that is equidistant from work as my house is.  So one of these days, I just need to bite the bullet and get the damn thing fixed.

Agenda Item Two: Visa Bill.
I need to pay off that stupid Visa bill ASAP.  I rarely use that card except for purchases from Amazon, but lately, in my frenzy to eat out as much as possible, I kept winding up at restaurants that don't take America Express!  Since I rarely use the Visa, I don't monitor it as much as the Amex, and it got a bit unwieldy.  I also used it to buy my beautiful cowboy boots and my practical snow boots--boots add up quickly, it seems.

Agenda Item Three: Laptop.
I have an old laptop that a friend spruced up, that I need to sell.  But I've been dragging my feet, and haven't listed it on Craigslist.  Hopefully, I can get a decent amount of money for it, and put that toward the Visa bill.

Agenda Item Four: Gym Schedule.
Now that I've got these gym and yoga memberships, I need to figure out when to use them.  Despite what the trainer may have in mind, I'm most likely only going to the gym 2-3 days a week (unless it's too cold to run outside), but those days will probably be days when I need to get there early, so I need to get used to getting up early.  I used to be able to do it, or maybe I'll try going in the evening--it's a good way to wake up on a cold night.

Agenda Item Five: Salary Overconfidence
A friend used this term the other day, and I dig it in a big way.  Every time I start a new job, I totally get the salary overconfidence, and then when I get my first paycheck, I'm totally disappointed (but grateful that they're paying me!)  I'm slightly guilty of this for January, but I think my mania for buying things was more of a just-got-out-of-prison type feeling than the feeling that I'm now raking in the big bucks (cause I'm totally not).

Five goals is a reasonable number, so I'm going to stick with those for now.  What are your goals for the lively (short!) month of February?