life.stuff.

2013 was a good year for me.  I had to grow a lot last year, and I had to face several things that I had put away in corners or closets to avoid and evade.  It was one of the roughest years for me, but it brought me to a new place of self-awareness and, oddly enough, peace.  I still have things I need to work on, but living differently did in fact produce some different outcomes for me.

Top Takeaways From 2013:

1) My Nighttime Routine - I'm still working on getting to bed on time, but getting more and better sleep has been fantastic.  Also, doing more morning things at night has greatly reduced my stress load in the morning since I'm not a morning person.  Little things like packing my lunch and picking out my clothes has really given me a lot of morning sanity, which I greatly need.

2) Planning - I've always been great about planning my work stuff, but I put my personal plans on the back burner.  From planning time to read to when I will have people over, it helps to make sure I get done some things that I truly enjoy.  I have more time for the people that matter in my life, and I'm having more fun while still working hard.  Planning that time also negates the guilt about doing fun, personal things when there's still work to be done.

3) Water Consumption - Not where I need to be, but so much better than I was.  And my body can tell the difference.

4) Tea Tree Oil - I wish I could have kept up the oil pulling.  I have a visit to the ENT that I hope will allow me to resume doing that.  However, adding tea tree oil to my toothpaste in the morning has been doing great things for my teeth and my mouth.  Not the best taste in the world, but boy does it make a difference.

5) Experimenting - I'm venturing out a little more, and trying a few new things.  There are lots of new things to try, from hairdos to writing by the lake, that actually don't cost a thing.  So, if I don't like it, I'm not out anything but time.  And I still learned something, so that's okay.

So, I have the pleasure of being in Oklahoma City (OKC if you're hip and cool like that) and Tulsa for business.  I have an overwhelming itinerary that is packed with work stuff, but I realized when I travel for work, I rarely find the treasures of the city I'm in.  So, here are five tips to do that:

1) Do your research.  Frommers and Fodor's both have great domestic tourist information, and you can also take advantage of sites like Urbanspoon or Chowhound for some great local places to grub.

2) Ask the locals.  Your hotel concierge is your number one stop, but I also ask the wait staff, the taxi driver, and just people on the street.  People love sharing their city, and usually they give you lots of great information.  Be as specific as possible with what you're looking for, and you'll probably be amazed at the information you receive in return.

3) Be a tourist.  Sign up for one of those crazy bus tours.  Visit the standard tourist traps.  These are great concise ways to learn more about the city you're in and some of its history. 

4) Arrive early or stay late.  I'm not talking about adding three extra days on to the company bill, but even adjusting your flight by five or six hours can give you a tremendous opportunity to have some fun before or after the work is in full swing.

5) Rent a car.  Now, this isn't necessary, but it is one of the best ways to really learn a city.  And you don't need it for the entire time you're there.  Just rent one for a few hours and drive around.  It gets you out of the area immediately surrounding the hotel, and it helps you really do options 1-4.

So, I combined two weeks because I have that much studying to do.  Taking a test as an adult is somewhat different than taking a test in college.  The biggest and most important thing is that my memory is not what it used to be.  So, here are a few tips I found helpful in studying this time.  And this will be short as I still need to study more!

1) Use flash cards - Writing a subject on one side and explaining it on the other is just a great investment of $1.00 for 100 index cards.  And I take them everywhere.  From lunch at Panera to waiting for a meeting to start, I can quiz myself well.

2) Concrete examples - Make people who are helping you study give you concrete examples and then be able to make them yourself.  If you can't give an example, you don't know it.

3) Use the Internet - I can finally justify all of that time I spend on YouTube and Pinterest.  It's amazing not only how much good information is out there, but there are a lot of handy tips as well.

4) Engage your friends and colleagues - I'm amazed at how many friends I have who know things completely different from what I know.  This is a good time to get them involved.  And ask, ask, ask (regardless of how stupid you look - this is a benefit of friendship)!!!

5) Seven is the magic number - I don't know why, but if you write something seven times, you'll have it as a part of your memory and lifestyle.  It's tedious and annoying, but it really works.

I had to combine these two weeks because Week 16 was a little rough and busy.  But I can fly through them quickly (hopefully!).  In Week 16, I looked at drinking my coffee in the morning and then water for the rest of the day.  I didn't drink as much as I normally do, which means I've got some issue with water.  Need to work on that.  However, what I realized that was shocking, is that I have a sugar addiction.  I don't think of myself as a sugar person - I don't really eat sweets that much, and I'll always choose chips over cake.  But, I just crashed, especially the first three days.  I was buying candy bars and M&Ms two and three times a day - which I NEVER do.  I was struggling to stay awake and function, and it was clearly because of sugar.  Definitely have to work on that.

I also continued with the Big Money Plan.  I tried to negotiate some lower interest rates on my credit cards, but that was unsuccessful.  So, I will investigate other options.  I'm still working through issues with my bank to get my credit report right, I'm detailing my budget in great detail, and I'm working with my friends to set up an investment club.  The BMP is moving!

So, for Week 17, I worked on becoming a morning person.  Let's start with the fact that I am NOT a morning person.  If I didn't have to work, I would go to bed about 4:00 am and sleep until 12:00 noon.  But, I'm having to get up early today and I have to get up even earlier soon, so I need to work on this.  I'm still a night owl, but a few tricks were very helpful:

Doing things at night - packing lunch, getting breakfast items ready, pre-setting my coffee, getting my clothes ready, etc.

Going to bed on time - That one is harder than it sounds, but it makes all the difference in the morning.

When I wake up, get up - No more snooze buttons or just staying in bed.  Get moving; it helps!

No computer, no TV - I didn't realize how much time this takes up, especially when I'm not at my peak.  I check the news and my email later in the day, and I'm still okay.

So, this week, I looked at taking time for myself and Part One of The Big Money Plan.  The Big Money Plan is kind of extensive, so let’s talk about taking time for myself first.  My goal was to set aside 30 minutes every day where I did absolutely nothing and then took one day of the week off completely.  Utter failure.  There wasn’t one day I was successful.  It was driving me crazy to sit and do nothing for 30 minutes.  Things kept racing through my mind – all the things I need to do, all the things I should be doing.   I was plagued with anxiety and guilt; it was more stressful than doing the things I needed to do.  There were several times where, absent-mindedly, I forgot that I was taking time off and just started doing stuff.  Unplugging is important; everyone needs an opportunity to recharge.  But I haven’t learned how to turn my brain off, and it really starts racing when confronted with the option of nothing to do. So, to compensate, I took time to just have some fun.  I don’t watch a lot of television, and when I do, I’m pretty much a news junkie, so that’s not fun or relaxing.  I do watch Scandal religiously, but that show is so intense that it’s not relaxing or fun.  So, I took 30 minutes to watch a sitcom or something lite on television, I played games on my phone, and even bought a magazine and read it.  While it’s still not completely unplugging, it was enough to get refueled a little bit and it did make me function more productively.  It’s a little like 750 Words, where I can do the non-linear, stream of consciousness brain dump and get all of the gunky stuff out of the way and think more clearly for the rest of the day.  I need to work more on the complete unplug, but I need to do more unplugging in   general.

Now, for The Big Money Plan, Part I.  I did a lot this week, but I’ll try to make this more functional than just me rambling.  Part I was all about information and education, so I’ll lay out my process in a step by step process.

Step One: What accounts do you have?  Anything that holds money for you – checking, savings, money markets, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, whatever.  Get to know your accounts. In addition to how much money you have in them, document the features of the accounts.  What fees are associated with them?  What are the current interest rates (and look at you annual percentage yield – APY – that’s the best measurement)?    What features does it have – online transfer capabilities, online bill payment, money management and budgeting, etc. – and what do they cost?    I found that a couple of accounts had features I didn’t know about and one account didn’t have a feature I had just assumed it had.

Step Two:  What are you spending your money on?  At the beginning of the year, I started looking at my money more closely through LearnVest.  Expense by expense, my money is categorized and compared to budget.  Now, I’m looking at how I am spending as compared to my budget.  Why am I over on this line?  Why am I under on this line?  And looking at several months helps to identify patterns.  This is key as I start to make financial decisions.  I need to know what I need to what my fixed and variable expenses are as well as where are the first areas to target as I need to adjust expenses to pay things off or save more.

Step Three:  What accounts do you need?  As a single woman, I just need one checking account.  (If you’re married I’m an advocate for three – one for each spouse and one that is shared (all can even be joint checking accounts, but one person primarily controls the check).  Ladies, make sure you have accounts in your name!).  This is to pay bills and monthly expenses.  But I need several savings accounts:  one for six months’ worth of expenses that I set aside; one short-term savings for things like trips or Christmas; one for long-term savings like cars, addition to the house, etc; and one for cash flow for expenses that pop up like my car breaking down or having to get a new phone because I dropped it.  I also want a mad money account – this is a monthly amount I set aside to do whatever I want to with it.  I don’t have to document it or count it against budget; I just get to have fun.  And that doesn’t even have to be an account; that could just be a jar on the nightstand.  And then I need at least two types of accounts.  I need a growth investment account where I take a few more risks but have bigger rewards for those risks, and I need a more stable IRA-type of account.

Step Four:  The dreaded credit card.  So, get a list of all the cards you have, including cards you don’t use or don’t have a balance, and get the info.  How much do you owe on each account?  What is your minimum payment and when are payments due?  What’s your average payment?  And, most importantly, what’s your annual percentage rate (APR)?  So important because a 29% rate versus a 14% rate may be the difference in paying your card off in two years versus five.  And I think you should look at your credit cards in two ways – a) if I keep up my average payment, how long will it take me to pay off my card and b) if I want to pay my card off in XX amount of time, I need to pay how much every month?  Here’s a great CNN website to figure both of those out.

and….

Step Five:  Your credit score and your credit report.  You should know your score and you should set a goal for what you want it to be in a year.  You should also review your credit report – really review it.  I found two big errors on mine and I’m in the process of working those out now.  You can get a free credit report every year, so check it out at: annual free credit report. 

I’ve been going to the library (Week Two at work!) and getting a lot of books on the subject of financial management.  I have found Suze Orman to be really helpful, and she’s got a great website.  Check her out at www.suzeorman.com.

I had a birthday this week.  That birthday is significant for two reasons (as it relates to this theme): one, I'm halfway through my working life and two, I'm still single.  I've been treating my money like neither is the case.  Don't get me wrong, I can cover my bills and I have an investment or two.  However, for a single woman with no children, I have not managed my finances to a point where I can do what I want when I want and that I can care for myself, whatever my health may be, in my golden years.

So, I decided to look at investing this week.  And I did.  I did some research on ING's website and I read a few books.  However, the most significant one I read was Suze Orman's book, Women and Money.  At the beginning of the book, she talks about women's attitudes toward money.  And I realized that I have a lot of those attitudes.  I stick my head in the sand and refuse to deal with it because it means I'm a certain kind of person and I'm waiting for my soon-to-be spouse to swoop in and fix all of my finances for me.  And it's not because of inability; it's all attitude.

This is a big issue.  Too big for one week, in fact.  So, I'm taking the next month and truly delving into my finances.  While I'm going to look at my investments, I'm going to look at what type of accounts I need, what kind of yield I need on investments, what my "number" is that I need for retirement - everything.  I'm taking a hold of my financial ship and I'm getting ready to steer this thing in the direction I want to go in my life.